[News] Fidel's 80th Birthday Message - It Is Our Duty to Save Our Species

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.counterpunch.org/castro11302006.html

November 30, 2006


80th Birthday Message


It Is Our Duty to Save Our Species

By FIDEL CASTRO RUIZ

Dear compatriots and friends from all over the world:

In this period I have worked intensively ensure the objectives set 
for our country in the Proclamation of July 31st.

Currently, we are facing an adversary who has dragged the United 
States to such a disaster that the American people are almost sure to 
prevent him from completing his presidential term.

In thinking how to address you, intellectuals and prestigious 
personalities from the world, I found myself in a dilemma, since we 
could not assemble in a small room. It was only in the Karl Marx 
Theater that all the guests would fit but, according to the doctors, 
I was not yet ready for such a challenging engagement.

I opted for this way to address you all. You are well aware of my 
identification with Marti's ideas about honor and glory, when he said 
that all the glory of the world fits in a kernel of corn.

Your generosity to me is truly overwhelming. There are so many people 
whose names I would like to mention here that I chose not to do that 
either. I beg your pardon for only mentioning one name, that of 
<>Oswaldo Guayasamin, since he embodied many of your greatest virtues.

He painted four portraits of me; the first in 1961. That one is lost. 
I have looked for it everywhere but it has not appeared. It was 
particularly painful as it became apparent to me what an exceptional 
person Guayasamin was. The second one, which he painted in 1981, is 
preserved at Guayasamin's House in Old Havana. The third one, painted 
in 1986, is kept at the "Antonio Nunez Jimenez Foundation of Man and 
Nature". When we met, we were very far from even imagining that his 
fourth portrait would be his birthday present to me on August 1996.

His words were inspirational when he said: "In Quito or any other 
corner of the Earth leave the lights on, as I will be coming back late."

At the inaugural ceremony of the Man's Chapel, I said about Oswaldo 
Guayasamin: "He was the noblest, most honorable and humane person I 
ever met. He created his work at light-speed and his human dimension 
defied all limits."

The work of creators will never be lost while this planet exists and 
human beings can breathe.

Today, thanks to technology, the works and knowledge created by man 
in thousands of years are within everybody's reach, even if the 
impact of radiation from billions of computers and cell phones is 
still unknown.

A few days ago, the prestigious organization World Wildlife 
Foundation, based in Switzerland and considered the most important 
NGO in the world to monitor global environment, acknowledged that the 
set of measures implemented by Cuba to protect the environment made 
it the only country on Earth to meet the minimum requirements for 
sustainable development. This was for our country an encouraging 
honor, albeit one of limited world impact due to the low significance 
of its economy. Therefore, on November 23, I sent a message to 
President Hugo Chavez that read:

"Dear Hugo:

"The adoption of a Comprehensive Energy-Saving Program would make you 
the world's most prestigious defender of the environment.

"The fact of Venezuela's being the country with the largest oil 
reserves is of enormous importance, and would influence other other 
energy consumers to do the same, thus saving incalculable sums in investments.

"Just like Cuba, a nickel producing country, can mobilize resources 
amounting to billions of dollars for its development, Venezuela, a 
hydrocarbons exporter, could mobilize trillions.

"If the industrialized and wealthy countries were to succeed in 
achieving the miracle, of reproducing on the planet, solar fusion 
within the next decades, after first devastating the environment with 
their hydrocarbon emissions, how could the poor peoples that make up 
the immense majority of mankind live in this world?

"Hasta la victoria siempre!"

Finally, dearest friends who have honored us immensely with this 
visit to our country, it is with great sorrow that I bid you farewell 
for not being able to personally thank you and embrace every one of 
you. It is our duty to save our species.


The Freedom Archives
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