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<font size=3>Dear comrade Alarcón:<br>
<br>
Please
read the following message, addressed to the National Assembly, when you
open the morning session.<br>
<br>
A heartfelt embrace,<br>
<br>
<i>(Signed)<br>
</i>Fidel Castro Ruz<br>
<br>
December 27, 2007<br>
8:40 p.m.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Comrades of the National Assembly:<br>
<br>
You
have no easy task on your hands. On January 1st, 1959, surrounded by the
accumulated and deepening grievances that our society inherited from its
neo-colonial past under U.S. domination, many of us dreamed of creating a
fully independent nation where justice prevailed. In the arduous and
uneven struggle, there came the moment when we were left completely
alone. <br>
<br>
Nearly
50 years since the triumph of the Revolution, we can justifiably feel
proud of ourselves, as we have held our ground, for almost half a
century, in the struggle against the most powerful empire ever to exist
in history. In the Proclamation I signed on July 31, 2006, none of you
saw any signs of nepotism or an attempt to usurp parliamentary powers.
That year, at once difficult and promising for the Revolution, the unity
of the people, the Party and State were essential to continue moving
forward and to face the declared threat of a military action by the
United States. <br>
<br>
This
past December 24, during his visit to the various districts of the
municipality which honored me with the nomination of candidate to
parliament, Raúl noted that all of the numerous candidates proposed by
the people of a district famous for its combativeness, but with a low
educational level, had completed their higher education. This, as he said
on Cuban television, made a profound impression in him. <br>
<br>
Party,
State and Government cadres and grassroots organizations face new
problems in their work with an intelligent, watchful and educated people
who detest bureaucratic hurdles and inconsiderate justifications. Deep
down, every citizen wages an individual battle against humanity's innate
tendency to stick to its survival instincts, a natural law which governs
all life. <br>
<br>
We are
all born marked by that instinct, which science defines as primary.
Coming face to face with this instinct is rewarding because it leads us
to a dialectical process and to a constant and altruistic struggle,
bringing us closer to Martí and making us true communists. <br>
<br>
What
the international press has emphasized most in its reports on Cuba in
recent days is the statement I made on the 17th of this month, in a
letter to the director of Cuban television's Round Table program, where I
said that I am not clinging to power. I could add that for some time I
did, due to my youth and lack of awareness, when, without any guidance, I
started to leave my political ignorance behind and became a utopian
socialist. It was a stage in my life when I believed I knew what had to
be done and <b>wanted to be in a position to do it!</b> What made me
change? Life did, delving more deeply into Martí’s ideas and those of the
classics of socialism. The more deeply I became involved in the struggle,
the stronger was my identification with those aims and, well before the
revolutionary victory I was already convinced that it was my duty to
fight for these aims or to die in combat. <br>
<br>
We also face great risks that threaten the human species as a whole. This
has become more and more evident to me since I predicted, for the first
time in Rio de Janeiro, --over 15 years ago, in June 1992-- that a
species was threatened with extinction as a result of the destruction of
its natural habitat. Today, the number of people who understand the real
danger of this grows every day. <br>
<br>
A recent book by Joseph Stiglitz, former Vice-President of the World Bank
and President Clinton's chief economic advisor until 2002, Nobel Prize
laureate and best selling author in the United States, offers up-to-date
and irrefutable facts on the subject. He criticizes the United States, a
country which did not sign the Kyoto Protocol, for being the largest
producer of carbon dioxide in the world, with annual emissions of 6
billion tons of this gas which disturbs the atmosphere without which life
is impossible. In addition to this, the United States is the largest
producer of other greenhouse gases. <br>
<br>
Few
people are aware of these facts. The same economic system which forced
this unsustainable wastefulness on us impedes the distribution of
Stiglitz' book. Only a few thousand copies of an excellent edition have
been published, enough to guarantee a margin of profit. This responds to
a market demand, which the publishing house cannot ignore if it is to
survive. <br>
<br>
Today,
we know that life on Earth has been protected by the ozone layer, located
in the atmosphere’s outer ring, at an altitude between 15 to 50
kilometers, in the region known as the stratosphere, which acts as the
planet’s shield against the type of solar radiation which can prove
harmful. There are greenhouse gases whose warming potential is higher
than that of carbon dioxide and which widen the hole in the ozone layer
above Antarctica, which loses as much as 70 percent of its volume every
spring. The effects of this phenomenon, which is gradually taking place,
are humanity's responsibility. <br>
To have a clear sense of this phenomenon, suffice it to say that the
world produces an average of 4.37 metric tons of carbon dioxide per
capita. In the case of the United States, the average is 20.14, nearly 5
times as much. In Africa, it is 1.17, while in Asia and Oceania it is
2.87. <br>
<br>
The
ozone layer, in brief, protects us from ultraviolet and heat radiation
which affects the immune system, sight, skin and life of human beings.
Under extreme conditions, the destruction of that layer by human beings
would affect all forms of life on the planet. <br>
<br>
Other
problems, foreign to our nation and many others under similar conditions,
also threaten us. A victorious counterrevolution would spell a disaster
for us, worse than Indonesia's tragedy. Sukarno, overthrown in 1967, was
a nationalist leader who, loyal to Indonesia, headed the guerrillas who
fought the Japanese. <br>
<br>
General Suharto, who overthrew him, had been trained by Japanese
occupation forces. At the conclusion of World War II, Holland, a U.S.
ally, re-established control over that distant, extensive and populated
territory. Suharto maneuvered. He hoisted the banners of U.S.
imperialism. He committed an atrocious act of genocide. Today we know
that, under instructions from the CIA, he not only killed hundreds of
thousands but also imprisoned a million communists and deprived them and
their relatives of all properties or rights; his family amassed a fortune
of 40 billion dollars which, at today's exchange rate, would be
equivalent to hundreds of billions by handing over the country's natural
resources, the sweat of Indonesians, to foreign investors. The West paid
up. Texan-born Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy's successor, was then the
President of the United States. <br>
<br>
The
news on the events in Pakistan we received today also attest to the
dangers that threaten our species: internal conflict in a country that
possesses nuclear weapons. This is a consequence of the adventurous
policies of and the wars aimed at securing the world's natural resources
unleashed by the United States. <br>
<br>
Pakistan, involved in a conflict it did not unleash, faced the threat of
being taken back to the Stone Age. <br>
<br>
The
extraordinary circumstances faced by Pakistan had an immediate effect on
oil prices and stock exchange shares. No country or region in the world
can disassociate itself from the consequences. We must be prepared for
anything. <br>
<br>
There
hasn't been a day in my life in which I haven't learned something. <br>
<br>
Martí
taught us that "all of the world's glory fits in a kernel of
corn". Many times have I said and repeated this phrase, which
carries in eleven words a veritable school of ethics. <br>
<br>
Cuba's
Five Heroes, imprisoned by the empire, are to be held up as examples for
the new generations. <br>
<br>
Fortunately, exemplary conducts will continue to flourish with the
consciousness of our peoples as long as our species exists. <br>
<br>
I am
certain that many young Cubans, in their struggle against the Giant in
the Seven-League Boots, would do as they did. Money can buy everything
save the soul of a people who has never gone down on its knees. <br>
<br>
I read
the brief and concise report which Raúl wrote and sent me. We must not
waste a minute as we continue to move forward. I will raise my hand, next
to you, to show my support. <br>
<br>
<i>(Signed)<br>
</i>Fidel Castro Ruz<br>
December 27, 2007<br>
8:35 p.m.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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