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'Nothing Can Ever Justify Cowardice and Lies' by Fidel Castro
Speech given by Fidel
Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba, at the Plenary
Session of the 105th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
held in the International Conference Center, Havana, April 5,
2001
Madame President and other members of the Presidency;
Distinguished Parliamentarians:
Let nobody try to fool or
confuse us with the new terminology spawned by the hypocritical
propaganda of specialists in deception and lies, working in the
service of those who have subjected humanity to an increasingly
unequal and unfair economic and political order, one that is
completely devoid of solidarity or democracy or even an iota
of respect for the minimum rights owed to human beings.
I was not exaggerating when
I made that statement. The Third World's foreign debt, which
totaled some 500 billion dollars in 1981, had reached 2.1 trillion
dollars in the year 2000. The share corresponding to Latin America
was 255.188 billion dollars in 1981; by 2000, it was 750.855
billion.
The servicing of the Third
World debt, which amounted to 44.2 billion USD in 1981, had reached
347.4 billion USD in 2000.
The per capita gross national
product (GDP) in the developed countries was 8,070 USD in 1978.
Twenty years later, in 1998, per capita GDP in those countries
had grown to 25,870 USD. In the meantime, the per capita GDP
in the countries with the lowest incomes, which was 200 USD in
1978, had risen to only 530 USD by the year 1998. The abysmal
gap had grown even wider.
The number of undernourished
people, almost all of whom live in Third World countries, rose
from 570 million in 1981 to 800 million in 2000.
The number of unemployed
grew from 1.103 billion in 1981 to 1.6 billion in 2000.
Today, the wealthiest 20%
of the world's population accounts for 86% of all spending on
private consumption, while the poorest 20% accounts for only
1.3%.
In the wealthy countries,
per capita electricity consumption is 10 times higher than in
all the poor countries combined.
According to United Nations
figures, in 1960 the income of 20% of the world population living
in the wealthiest nations was 30 times that of the poorest nations;
by 1997 it was 74 times greater.
Studies carried out by the
FAO between 1987 and 1998 reveal that two out of every five children
in the underdeveloped world suffer from growth retardation, while
one out of every three is underweight for his or her age.
There are 1.3 billion poor
people in the Third World, that is, one out of every three lives
in poverty. The World Bank, in its latest report on poverty,
predicts that the number of people living in absolute poverty
could reach 1.5 billion as the New Millennium begins.
The wealthiest 25% of the
world's population consume 45% of all meat and fish; the poorest
25% consume only 5%.
In sub-Saharan Africa, infant
mortality rate is 107 per 1000 live births during the first year
of life, and 173 per thousand live births before the age of five.
In South Asia, the rates are 76 and 114, respectively. In the
case of Latin America, according to UNICEF, infant mortality
before the age of five is 39 per 1000 live births.
More than 800 million adults
remain illiterate.
More than 130 million school-age
children are growing up without access to basic education.
The truth, which cannot be
hidden, is that there are currently over 800 million people suffering
chronic hunger while lacking access to health care services,
which is why it is estimated that 507 million people living in
the Third World today will not live past 40 years of age. South
of the Sahara, almost 30% of the population will die before they
are 40.
In 1981, climate change was
seldom mentioned, and very few people had ever even heard the
word AIDS. Today these are two harrowing threats that have been
added to the calamities already mentioned.
In 1981, the world population
had surpassed four billion; 75% of them living in Third World
countries. Today, in 2001, there are already more than 6.1 billion
of us on the planet. In just 20 years, the world population grew
by 1.7 billion, more than it had grown since the emergence of
the human species until the beginning of the 20th century.
In short, the world income
share of the countries that now constitute the Third World has
shrunk so much that a century and a half ago it was 56%, while
today it is only 15%. This is truly a peculiar way of expressing
the real meaning for the Third World and the immense majority
of humanity of capitalism and imperialism, with their crises,
chaos, economic anarchy and selfish and inhuman value system.
Then, after four centuries
of Spanish colonial domination and 57 years as a United States
colony, our country, a poor nation, has been subjected to a brutal
economic blockade from the very moment that, for the first time
in history, we achieved our double freedom, for we freed ourselves
from both the tyranny and the empire.
This small and blockaded
Third World country, against which the United States has used
all of its resources in terms of subversion, destabilization,
sabotage, pirate attacks, hundreds of plots to assassinate the
Revolution's leaders, a dirty war, economic warfare, biological
warfare, a military invasion using personnel recruited, paid,
supplied, escorted by U.S. naval units and directed by the U.S.
government, and ultimately the very real threat of nuclear extermination,
has succeeded in honorably withstanding all of the blows dealt
to it by the major superpower in history, a Rome multiplied by
a thousand, given its political, economic, military and technological
power.
This merciless economic war
and the blockade have now lasted 42 years. In addition to this,
we have endured ten years of a special period, after the collapse
of the socialist camp and disintegration of the Soviet Union
left us devoid of markets and sources of supplies. And it was
under these circumstances that the United States even further
tightened the blockade with the Torricelli and Helms-Burton Acts.
No country has ever withstood such a trial.
Many believed that we were
but a simple satellite of a great power. The fall of the Revolution
was expected within a matter of weeks, or months at the most.
But the satellite proved that it had its own light, and its own
extraordinary power, like a small sun of true freedom, sovereignty,
patriotism, social justice, real equality of opportunities, solidarity
within and beyond its borders, and unshakable ethical and human
principles.
Did this power, this enormous
prestige, this strength and unity of the people, achieved through
the Revolution, serve to satisfy personal vanity, or greed for
power or material goods? No, it served to heroically withstand
the assault launched by the empire at one of the most dangerous
and difficult moments in the history of our country.
Let no one even try to give
us lessons on history and politics, treating Cuba's leaders like
preschool children. It is even possible that Cuban preschool
children know more about these matters than some well-known politicians.
Under horrendous circumstances,
a social project has been carried out that is overwhelming, irrefutable,
insurmountable. Illiteracy was eradicated in just one year, in
a country where almost a third of the population between the
ages of 15 and 60 could not read and write. At the same time,
thousands of classrooms were created in isolated places and almost
inaccessible regions. Medical services were also established
in the countryside and the cities, despite the fact that the
United States had taken away half the 6000 doctors in the country
at the time and over half of the medical school professors, with
visas and promises of a better material life. Thousands of schools
were built, and teachers and professors were trained for elementary
school, junior and senior high school education, polytechnic
institutes, training centers for teachers and professors of music,
dance, art, physical education, sports, and other subjects. Dozens
of higher education institutions were established throughout
the country, where there had previously been only three. These
included 21 medical schools --which now total 22, with the creation
of the Latin American School of Medical Sciences--and 15 university
level teacher-training schools.
In less than 30 years, Cuba
became the first country in Latin America and the Third World
to reduce infant mortality to less than 10 per 1000 life births
in the first year of life, achieving a rate of 6.4, and life
expectancy of 75, in the very midst of the special period. Cuba
has brought free medical care to all its citizens; raised the
average educational level to the ninth grade; graduated over
700,000 university-trained professionals; developed a powerful
artistic and cultural movement; and placed among the top ten
countries in the Olympics, winning more gold medals per capita
than any other. In regional competitions and international events,
Cuba has garnered thousands of medals, occupying second place
in this hemisphere, behind the United States. Its children achieve
top scores in mathematics and science competitions.
According to UNESCO research,
our primary school students have almost twice as much knowledge
as the average student in the rest of Latin America. Today our
country is first among all countries in the world, both developed
and underdeveloped, in terms of the number of professors and
teachers, doctors, and high-level physical education and sports
instructors. These are three decisive areas for the wellbeing
and social and economic development of any nation.
In all, we have 250,000 educators,
67,500 medical doctors, and 34,000 physical education and sports
professors and technicians.
Presently, we are sharing
this immense human capital with our sister nations of the Third
World, without charging a cent. [Applause] Our cooperants
working overseas boast not only extensive technical and scientific
capacity, but also the most important traits of all: extraordinary
human solidarity and an unsurpassed spirit of sacrifice.
Hundreds of thousands of
our compatriots have discharged internationalist missions in
many Third World countries, particularly in Africa, as technical
personnel and especially as combatants against colonialism and
the racist, fascist apartheid system.
You may be wondering why
I am elaborating so much on these facts.
Firstly: Because I wonder
if this is why some try to condemn us every year in Geneva.
Secondly: Because I wonder
if this is why we have been subjected to harassment, economic
warfare and a blockade for 42 years now.
Thirdly: Because I wonder
if this is why some want to destroy the Cuban Revolution.
I should add something else.
In 42 years of Revolution, not once has there been a case of
tear gas used against the people, or the spectacle of police
with riot gear, horses or armored cars suppressing the people,
things that are seen very frequently in Europe and the United
States. There have never been death squads in our country, nor
a single missing person, nor a single political assassination,
nor a single victim of torture, despite the thousands of brazen
lies disseminated by a frustrated and unscrupulous empire that
would like to wipe the image and example of Cuba off the face
of Earth.
You may travel around the
country, ask the people, look for a single piece of evidence,
try to find a single case where the Revolutionary government
has ordered or tolerated such an action, and if you find them,
then I will never speak in public again.
Only a fool would believe
that the Cuban people could be governed by force or in any way
other than through the consensus that arises from the work achieved,
the elevated political consciousness of our people and the enviable
relationship between the masses and their leadership. In the
elections for the Assemblies of People's Power, over 95% of the
country's eligible voters willingly and enthusiastically cast
their ballots.
The ethics and politics of
imperialism are quite a different matter.
When Cuban troops were fighting
in Angola, in 1988, at a time of the decisive battle against
the South African troops was being waged in Cuito Cuanavale and
40,000 Cuban soldiers and 30,000 Angolans were marching on the
Namibian border in southwest Angola, the racist South Africans
had seven nuclear warheads similar to the bombs dropped on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. NATO knew it, the United States knew it, but no
one said a word about it, in the hopes that they would be used
against the Cuban-Angolan forces.
During the 15 long years
we were in southern Africa, mounting the guard against the forces
of apartheid or actively fighting them, the major capitalist
countries had large investments in South Africa and their trade
with this racist regime amounted to billions of USD every year.
The U.S. investments in South Africa at that time totaled three
billion USD and their annual trade six billion, while an additional
three billion USD in bank credits were granted to that country.
It is common knowledge that
the United States was a military ally of South Africa --could
this possibly be forgotten?-- and that through South Africa it
supplied UNITA with copious sums in weapons, including portable
anti-aircraft missiles and millions of anti-personnel mines,
which it planted throughout Angolan territory. UNITA wiped out
entire villages and killed hundreds of thousands of civilians,
including women and children. I am not exaggerating in the slightest.
Once Cuba's internationalist
mission had been concluded with honor, and an agreement had been
reached that led to the implementation of UN resolution 435,
and to Namibian independence, we rigorously complied with the
commitments made by the parties involved and withdrew our forces.
And when our forces left Africa, they took nothing with them
but the remains of their comrades who had fallen in combat. We
did not own a single square meter of land there --as I said a
few days ago-- or a single screw in a factory. No Western country
had shed a single drop of blood there. Only one country had done
this, a small and faraway country, located 10,000 kilometers
from Africa: Cuba. [Applause]
And now, added to everything
I said at the beginning of this speech about the dramatic economic
and social situation currently facing the peoples of the Third
World, there are the arrogant steps taken by the new U.S. administration
in the international sphere. These could create serious complications
at a moment when the international economy, and above all the
U.S. economy, is facing a serious threat of stagnation, recession
and crisis. The effects of this are already beginning to be felt
around the world, in the form of drops in the volume of exports,
falling prices for basic commodities, a fall in stock prices,
and massive layoffs and downsizing everywhere.
The most serious events have
taken place over the course of just a few weeks.
First: The decision to create
a nuclear missile shield, which would unilaterally break the
commitments entered into under the ABM Treaty, and inexorably
lead to an arms race.
Since May of 1990, the United
States has exercised its right to veto on five occasions, four
of them in relation to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The
last time the United States applied its veto was on March 21,
1997, in support of Israeli interests and to the detriment of
the Palestinians, against a resolution demanding that Israel
stopped the building of a settlement in East Jerusalem.
Since 1972, the United States
has used its veto on 23 occasions against resolutions aimed at
solving the Palestinian issue.
The complicated situation
in the Middle East has been further aggravated by this latest
U.S. veto, when an extreme right-wing government has just taken
power in Israel.
Third: The equally unilateral
decision to break the commitments made at the third session of
the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, held in Kyoto in late 1997, when
34 industrialized countries agreed to reduce emissions of greenhouse
gases by 5.2% by the year 2012 --a goal that is crucial for humanity.
The United States had committed itself to reducing those emissions
by 7%. This was a real blow to world public opinion, especially
to the European countries which had made the greatest contributions
to this Convention for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Fourth: Official statements
that are insulting and humiliating for Russia and China, using
typical cold war language, a reflection of the mentality clearly
surfacing in many of the members of the team surrounding and
advising the current president of the United States.
Fifth: Tangible contempt,
which cannot be disguised, towards Latin America, in proposing
as the new administration's assistant under-Secretary of State
for Latin American affairs a sinister individual, with a fascist
mentality. That man is notorious for his participation alongside
Oliver North as a special public opinion advisor to the Secretary
of State during the Reagan administration, at the time of the
scandal involving the sale of weapons to raise funds for the
dirty war against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. These
arms sales were in fact prohibited at the time by agreements
adopted by the U.S. Congress itself. He has published documents
and statements that he had signed with the name of Nicaraguan
counterrevolutionary leaders, some of whom could neither read
nor write, he has broken the law, and showed a total lack of
ethics. Quite a number of U.S. press agencies have harshly criticized
this decision, and many Latin American leaders are not at all
happy about it.
In any event, these steps
clearly reflect the traits and personality of the new occupant
of the presidential throne in the United States of America.
None of this comes as a surprise
to Cuba. We are well aware of Mr. Bush's close ties with and
commitments to the Cuban-American National Foundation, a terrorist
mob --I repeat, a terrorist mob-- that financed the planting
of bombs in hotels in Havana, several of which went off, with
the aim of destroying the Cuban tourism industry. This same Foundation
organized the plot to assassinate yours truly at the Margarita
Island Summit. The would-be perpetrators of the plot were accidentally
picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard --perhaps they believing they
were carrying drugs-- off the coast of Puerto Rico, on the way
to fulfilling their mission. They themselves have declared what
they planned to do and who had organized the plot, but despite
all irrefutable proof, they were acquitted.
The Foundation's latest major
on the occasion of the Ibero-American Summit in Panama last November.
This time they used the most notorious terrorist in the hemisphere,
the author of the blowing up of a Cuban plane in mid-flight on
October 6, 1976. A total of 73 people were killed, including
the entire Cuban juvenile fencing team, returning home from Venezuela
after winning all the gold medals in the Central American and
Caribbean Games. This time, powerful explosives were brought
from El Salvador, to be set off in the University of Panama while
I was speaking to the students there. The plot was timely exposed
leading to the arrest of the group leader and three other Cuban-born
terrorists members of the Miami mob with a long and bloody history
in the service of the U.S. special agencies. The U.S. authorities
and government are fully aware of the truth of what I am saying.
This past January 3, a bill
was introduced in the House of Representatives Foreign Relations
Committee by Representative Bob Barr. The aim of the bill is
to overturn an executive order issued by the Ford Administration
on February 18, 1976, concerning U.S. intelligence activities
overseas. Section 5, paragraph g) of this executive order expressly
states that no employee of the U.S. government is to participate
or conspire to participate in political assassinations.
Who is Bob Barr? A Republican
representative for the state of Georgia. He worked for the CIA
and in 1986 was appointed by Reagan U.S. district attorney for
northern Georgia. He is a life member of the National Rifle Association
and a member of its board of directors. He has been honored as
the Congressional Leader of the Year by the U.S. Shooting Sports
Council; Legislator of the Year by the Citizens Committee for
the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (the same ones used by children
to kill each other in school after being bombarded with violent
messages by the mass media); and New Legislator of the Year by
the Conservative Political Action Committee.
The Miami terrorist mob and
extreme right in the United States are feverishly at work drafting
plans, bills and repressive measures against Cuba. These machinations
openly include direct ties with the so-called Cuban opposition
and the allocation of millions of dollars to finance subversion
and destabilization in our country. Let no one be mistaken: Cuba
will adopt the necessary measures to respond.
The U.S. government dirty
hands have kept busy doing everything possible to provoke conflict
and to disrupt this conference. They have even tried to use it
to serve their own treacherous purposes.
U.S. embassies around the
world were sent letters to an unspecified number of parliamentarians
scheduled to participate in this conference. Friendly hands brought
them to the attention of our authorities.
One of them reads as follows:
"The IPU is thus directly
linked to the human rights situation on the island, and has a
chance now to send a principled and clear message of the IPU
support and that of your parliament for human rights and Cuba
by meeting with said activists. During the 1999 Ibero-American
Summit in Havana, a number of Latin American leaders similarly
reached out to the Cuban activists. This effort sent a clear
signal and was a boost to the activists.
"We know that internationally
highly-respected activists like Elizardo Sánchez and Marta
Beatriz Roque are eager to meet with foreign parliamentarians
to express their views on the prospects for democratic and economic
opening."
Another letter includes the
following statements:
"This deterioration
has increased over the past six months; hundreds of activists
have been detained since December alone."
"Hundreds remain incarcerated,
most for innocuous acts, like passing out copies of the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights.
"Cuba recently cancelled
a visit by German Deputy Foreign Minister Volmer because he dared
suggest that he would raise human rights issues on his trip.
"Cuba lashed out against
Argentina in February after an Argentine newspaper claimed that
Argentina would support a United Nations Commission on Human
Rights (UNCHR) resolution on Cuba.
"Earlier this year,
a Czech member of parliament, Ivan Pilip, and former member of
parliament Jan Bubenik, were detained for over three weeks in
January, simply for meeting with Cuban activists and independent
journalists."
"No U.S. member of Congress
has participated in an IPU event in a decade.
"In 1998, the U.S. Congress
determined to terminate its IPU membership unless the U.S. contribution
to the organization were reduced.
"The contribution was
not reduced, so in October 2000, the IPU secretary general was
informed formally of U.S. intention to terminate its membership
effective immediately."
After reading these documents,
there can be no doubt as to who is conspiring, who is organizing,
who is lying, who is plotting, who is paying, and who is calling
the shots. [Applause]
It takes no great effort
to comprehend the extent to which the arrogance, frustration
and endless failures of the U.S. government have led it to disrespect
international institutions, provoke conflict and interfere with
international organizations and the domestic affairs of other
countries.
They have been recruiting
mercenaries for four decades now. Today our people are more united
and the Revolution is stronger than ever. All of the conspiracies,
plots and crimes aimed against our country will simply crash
up against this strength. We will continue to expose their maneuvers
and denounce their treachery and lies, and we will not hesitate
to accuse and expose their accomplices. No one will be exempt
from the most fair and appalling censure, no matter how high-placed;
no economic interest or threat of reprisal will override our
people's dignity and courage. Thus, we do not hesitate to describe
as disgustingly hypocritical the behavior of those who resort
to the naïve and ridiculous maneuver of using their condemnation
of the blockade as a fig leaf to cover the infamy of accusing
Cuba of alleged violations of human rights.
Nothing can ever justify
cowardice and lies.
Cuba scorns those who behave
this way. We are not interested in the votes against the blockade
of those who hypocritically support the arguments with which
the empire attempts to justify its crimes.
Nothing ever has or ever
will succeed in defeating the dignity, ethics and heroism of
a people who have written an indelible page in the history of
this era. [Applause]
I am deeply grateful for
the noble company of the many highly worthy parliamentarians
who have honored us with their presence and inspired us with
their solidarity.
I hope you will forgive me
for all the time I have taken.
I am eternally grateful.
I wish this excellent conference
all of the success it deserves.
Hasta la victoria siempre!
Thank you very much.
_____________
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