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<font size=3><b>A REFLECTION BY THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF - THE ETERNAL
FLAME<br>
<br>
</b>This is a political reflection. To be more precise: it is another
proclamation. Exactly one year ago today, on July 31, 2006, I issued the
first proclamation. But the year gone by is worth 10, for I have had the
opportunity to live a unique experience which has afforded me information
and knowledge on vital questions facing humanity, knowledge I have
conveyed to the people of Cuba with the utmost honesty. <br>
Today, I am bombarded with questions as to when I will take up again what
some call power, as though that power were possible without independence.
The world knows a real and destructive power, wielded by a decadent
empire which threatens everyone. <br>
Raúl has already responded that, as I recover, every important decision
is consulted with me. What will I do? I will fight tirelessly as I have
done my entire life. <br>
One year after the first Proclamation, I can share with the people of
Cuba the satisfaction of seeing that what was then promised is reflected
by today’s unquestionable reality: Raúl, the Party, the government, the
National Assembly, the Young Communists League and grassroots and social
organizations, headed by the workers, move forward, guided by the
unshakable principle of unity. <br>
With the same conviction, we continue to struggle relentlessly to have
the Five Heroes, who provided Cuba with information on the United States’
anti-Cuban terrorist plans, released from cruel and merciless prison.
<br>
The struggle against our own deficiencies and against the insolent enemy
which seeks to take possession of Cuba must be unrelenting. <br>
On this point, I am obliged to insist on something which the leaders of
the Revolution can never forget: it is our duty to work untiringly to
strengthen our defensive capability and preparedness, under the principle
that, regardless of the circumstances, an unpayable price must be paid
for any invasion. <br>
No one should entertain the slightest illusion that the empire, which
carries the genes of its own destruction, will negotiate with Cuba.
Though we have said, again and again, that our struggle is not against
the people of the United Sates something which is absolutely true the
latter is not in a position to curtail the apocalyptic impulses of its
government or the foul and insane call for what they label a
"democratic Cuba", as though leaders here put themselves forth
and elect themselves without having to pass through that inflexible
filter embodied by the overwhelming majority of an educated and
cultivated people who must support them. <br>
In a previous reflection, I invoked the historical figures of Martí,
Maceo, Agramonte and Cespedes. To keep alight the memory of the
innumerable people who fell in combat, of those who fought and sacrificed
themselves for the homeland, Raúl lit a flame that shall burn for
eternity, 50 years after Frank País, the young 22-year-old hero whose
example moved all of us, fell in combat. <br>
Life is meaningless without ideas. There is no greater joy than to
struggle in their name. <br>
<br>
<br>
Fidel Castro Ruz<br>
July 31, 2007<br>
5:35 p.m. <br><br>
<br><br>
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