<html>
<body>
<h1><b>Obama’s Supervised Shame</b></h1><font size=2>by FIDEL
CASTRO<br><br>
Not because it was brutal or clumsy or anticipated was there any less
indignation about the Yankee judge from the South Florida District
denying René González, the Cuban anti-terrorist hero, the right to return
to the heart of his family in Cuba after having served the unfair
sentence imposed on him.<br><br>
After a cruel and undeserved 13-year prison sentence, the United States
government – that gave birth to monsters such as Posada Carriles and
Orlando Bosch who, as CIA agents had a hand in the exploding of a Cuban
airliner full of passengers in mid-flight – forces René to remain in that
nation, where he shall be at the mercy of unpunished murderers for three
long years, under a regime described as supervised “freedom”. Still
unfairly and vengefully imprisoned for long terms of confinement, are
another three Cuban heroes, and another one sentenced to two life
terms. That is how the empire responds to the growing world clamour
for the freedom of these men.<br><br>
If that were not the case, then the empire would cease to be an empire;
and Obama would cease to be a fool.<br><br>
Of course the Cuban heroes shall not be there forever. On the foundations
of the unequalled example of dignity and steadfastness, solidarity in the
world and in the very heart of the American people shall grow, and it
shall put an end to the stupid and unsustainable injustice.<br><br>
The uncouth decision was made when the UN General Assembly was in the
midst of developing a profound debate on the necessity of re-founding
that institution. Never have we heard such solid and energetic
criticisms.<br><br>
The Bolivarian leader Hugo Chávez opened it up with his first message to
the General Assembly published on the evening of September 21st.
Chávez’ second letter, transmitted in an energetic and vibrant tone by
Chancellor Nicolás Maduro, was lapidary. In that message, he also
denounced the criminal imperialist blockade against our Homeland and the
scandalous and cruel vengeance against the 5 Cuban anti-terrorist
Heroes.<br><br>
Such circumstances have forced me to write a third Reflection. I
shall transmit the essential ideas of that forceful message, using the
very words of the author:<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd> “[…] We do not look for the peace of the cemetery, as said Kant
ironically, but a peace based on the most zealous respect for
international law. Unfortunately, the UN, through all its history,
instead of adding and multiplying efforts in favor of peace among
nations, ends up supporting, sometimes through its actions and other
times by omission, the most ruthless injustices.”<br><br>
<dd>“From 1945 on, wars have done nothing but inexorably increase and
multiply themselves.”<br><br>
<dd>“I want to call on the governments of the world to reflect: since
September 11th, 2001, a new and unprecedented imperialist war began, a
permanent war, in perpetuity.<br><br>
<dd>“We have to look directly at the terrifying reality of the world we
live in. […] Why is the United States the only country that scatters the
planet with military bases? What is it afraid of to allocate such a
staggering budget for increasing its military power? Why has it unleashed
so many wars, violating the sovereignty of other nations which have the
same rights on their own fates? How can international law be enforced
against its insensible aspiration to militarily hegemonizing the world in
order to ensure energy sources to sustain their predatory and consumer
model? Why does the UN do nothing to stop Washington? […] the empire has
awarded itself the role of judge of the world, without being granted this
responsibility […] therefore, imperialist war threatens us
all.<br><br>
<dd>“Washington knows that a multi-polar world is already an irreversible
reality. Its strategy consists of stopping, at any price, the sustained
rise of a group of emerging countries […] the goal is to reconfigure the
world so it is based on Yankee military hegemony.”<br><br>
<dd>“What is behind this new Armageddon?: the absolute power of the
military-financial leadership which is destroying the world in order to
accumulate ever more profits; the military-financial leadership which is
subordinated, de facto, to an increasingly larger group of States. Keep
in mind that war is capital’s modus operandi: the war that ruins the
majority and makes richer, up to the unthinkable, a few people.<br><br>
<dd>“Right now, there is a very serious threat to global peace: a new
cycle of colonial wars, which started in Libya, with the sinister
objective of refreshing the capitalist global system, within a structural
crisis today, but without any limit to its consumerist and destructive
voracity.”<br><br>
<dd>“Humanity is on the brink of an unimaginable catastrophe: the world
is marching inexorably toward the most devastating ecocide; global
warming and its frightening consequences are announcing it, but their
perspective on the ecosystem, which resembles the ideology of the
conquistadors Cortés and Pizarro , as the influential French thinker
Edgar Morin rightly pointed out […] The energy and food crises are
sharpening, but capitalism continues to trespass all the limits with
impunity.<br><br>
<dd>“…the great U.S. scientist Linus Pauling, awarded the Nobel Prize on
two occasions, continues enlightening our path: “I believe that there is
a greater power in the world than the evil power of military force, of
nuclear bombs there is the power of good, of morality, of
humanitarianism. I believe in the power of the human spirit”. Let us
mobilize all the power of the human spirit: it is time now. It is
imperative that we unleash a great political counter-offensive in order
to prevent the powers of darkness from finding justifications for going
to war, from unleashing a widespread global war through which they
attempt to save the western capital.”<br><br>
<dd>“The warmongers, and especially the military-financial leadership
that sponsors and leads them, must be defeated.<br><br>
<dd>“Let’s build the balance of the universe foreseen by the Liberator,
Simón Bolívar – the balance that, according to his words, cannot be found
within war; the balance that is born out of peace.”<br><br>
<dd>“…Venezuela, alongside the member countries of the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), was actively advocating
for a peaceful and negotiated solution to the Libyan conflict. That is
also what the African Union did. However, in the end, the logic of war
decreed by the UN Security Council and put into practice by NATO, the
armed wing of the Yankee empire, was imposed. […] the “Libyan Case”
was brought before the Security Council on the basis of an intense
propaganda by the western mass media, who lied about the alleged bombing
of innocent civilians by the Libyan Air Force, not to mention the
grotesque media setting of the Green Square of Tripoli. This premeditated
bunch of lies was used to justify irresponsible and hasty decisions by
the Security Council, which paved the way for NATO’s military regime
change policy in Libya.”<br><br>
<dd>“… What has the no-fly zone established by Security Council
resolution 1973 become? How could NATO perform more than 20,000 missions
against the Libyan people if there was a no-fly zone? After the Libyan
Air Force was completely annihilated, the continued “humanitarian”
bombing shows that the West, through NATO, intends to impose their
interests in North Africa, turning Libya into a colonial
protectorate.”<br><br>
<dd>“What is the real reason for this military intervention?:
Recolonizing Libya in order to capture its wealth. Everything else is
related to this goal.<br><br>
<dd>“…the Residence of the Venezuelan Ambassador in Tripoli was invaded
and looted, and the UN kept it to itself, remaining ignominiously
silent.”<br><br>
<dd>“…Why is the Libyan seat in the UN granted to the “national
transitional council,” while the admission of Palestine is blocked by
ignoring, not only its lawful aspiration, but also the existing will of
the majority of the General Assembly? Venezuela hereby ratifies its
unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian people and its total
support for the Palestinian national cause, which naturally includes the
immediate admission of Palestine as a full member state within the United
Nations.<br><br>
<dd>“And the same imperialist pattern is being repeated regarding
Syria.”<br><br>
<dd>“It is intolerable that the powerful of this world intend to claim
for themselves the right to order legitimate and sovereign governments
rulers to step down. This was the case in Libya, and they want to do the
same in Syria. Such are the existing asymmetries in the international
setting and such are the abuses against the weakest nations.”<br><br>
<dd>“If we direct our eyes to the Horn of Africa we will witness a
heartbreaking example of the UN’s historical failure: most serious news
agencies report that 20-29,000 children under the age of 5 have died in
the last three months.”<br><br>
<dd>“What is needed to face this situation is $400 million, not to solve
the problem, but just to address the emergency that Somalia, Kenya,
Djibouti and Ethiopia are going through. According to all sources, the
next two months will be crucial to prevent more than 12 million people
from dying, and the worst situation is that of Somalia.<br><br>
<dd>“This reality could not be more atrocious, especially if, at the same
time, we ask ourselves how much is being spent to destroy Libya. This is
the answer of U.S. congressman Dennis Kucinich, who said: “This new War
will cost us $500 million during its first week alone. Obviously, we do
not have financial resources for that and we will end up cutting off
other important domestic programs’ funding.” According to Kucinich
himself, with the amount spent during the first three weeks in Northern
Africa to massacre the Libyan people, much could have been done to help
the entire region of the Horn of Africa, saving tens of thousands of
lives.”<br><br>
<dd>“…it is frankly regrettable that in the opening address of the 66th
General Assembly of the UN, an immediate appeal to solve humanitarian
crisis in the Horn of Africa was not made, while instead we were assured
that “the time has come to act” on Syria.”<br><br>
<dd>“We are also crying out for the end to the shameful and criminal
blockade of our sister Republic of Cuba: a blockade that, for more than
fifty years, is being exercised by the empire with cruelty and brutality,
against the heroic peoples of José Martí.<br><br>
<dd>“As of 2010, 19 UN General Assembly votes confirm the universal will
demanding that the United States stop the economic and trade blockade
against Cuba. Since all sensible international arguments have been
exhausted, we have no choice but to believe that such cruel actions
against the Cuban Revolution result from imperial arrogance in view of
the dignity and courage shown by the unsubmissive Cuban people in their
sovereign decision to determine their own fate and fight for their
happiness.<br><br>
<dd>“From Venezuela, we believe it is time to demand of the U.S. not only
an immediate and unconditional end to the criminal blockade imposed
against the Cuban people, but also the release of the five Cuban
antiterrorist fighters held hostage in the prisons of the American Empire
for the sole reason of seeking to prevent the illegal actions of
terrorist groups against Cuba, under the shelter of the U.S.
government.”<br><br>
<dd>“For us, it is obvious that the UN is not improving, nor will it
improve from the inside. If the Secretary General, along with the
President of the International Criminal Court, take part in an act of
war, as in the case of Libya, nothing can be expected from the current
structure of this organization and there is no longer time for
reform.”<br><br>
<dd>“It is unbearable that there is a Security Council that turns its
back, whenever it wants to, on the clamor of the majority of nations by
deliberately failing to acknowledge the will of the General Assembly. If
the Security Council is some sort of club with privileged members, what
can the General Assembly do? Where is its room for maneuver, when
Security Council members violate international law?<br><br>
<dd>“Paraphrasing Bolívar when he spoke of nascent Yankee imperialism in
1818, we have had enough of the weak following the law while the strong
commit abuses. It cannot be us, the peoples of the South, who respect
international law while the North violates it, destroying and plundering
us.<br><br>
<dd>“If we do not make a commitment, once and for all, to rebuilding the
United Nations, this organization will lose its remaining credibility.
Its crisis of legitimacy will be accelerated until it finally implodes.
In fact, that is what happened to its immediate predecessor: the League
of Nations.”<br><br>
<dd>“The future of a multi-polar world in peace lies with us. In
the articulation of the majority peoples on the planet to defend
ourselves from the new colonialism and to attain balance in the universe
that neutralizes imperialism and arrogance.<br><br>
<dd>“This broad, generous, respectful call with no exclusions is
addressed to all the peoples of the world, but especially to the emerging
powers of The South that must take on with courage the role they are
being called upon to play in the immediate future.<br><br>
<dd>“From Latin America and the Caribbean, powerful and dynamic regional
alliances have arisen, seeking to configure a democratic regional space,
respectful of special characteristics and wishing to accentuate
solidarity and complementariness, fostering what unites us and
politically resolving whatever divides us. And this new regionalism
admits diversity and respects the rhythms of all. […] the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) moves forward as an
experiment of the vanguard of progressive and anti-imperialist
governments, seeking formulas to break with the governing international
order and strengthening the capacity of the peoples to collectively face
the factual powers. But this does not impede our members from
making a decisive and enthusiastic thrust for the strengthening of the
Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), a political bloc confederating
the 12 sovereign states of South America with the aim of grouping them in
what The Liberator Simón Bolívar called “a Nation of Republics”. And
further along down the road, we the 33 countries of Latin America and the
Caribbean are getting ready to take that historic step and found a great
regional entity that will group us all together, with no exclusions,
where we may jointly design the policies that must guarantee our
well-being, our independence, our sovereignty, on the basis of equality,
solidarity and complementariness. Caracas, capital of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is now swelling with pride to host the
Summit of the Heads of State and Government next December 2nd and 3rd, an
event that shall definitively found our Community of Latin American and
Caribbean States (CELAC).” <br><br>
</dl><font size=3>With these profound ideas, thus concludes the second
message of the Bolivarian President Hugo Chávez to the UN General
Assembly.<br><br>
According to the AFP dispatch dated today in Washington: US
President Barack Obama declared this Wednesday that while he is president
he shall be willing to change the policy with Cuba, as long as
significant political and social changes are produced.<br><br>
What a nice man! How smart he is! So much virtue has not allowed him to
understand yet that 50 years of blockade and the crimes against our
Homeland have not been able to bring our people to their knees.
Many things shall change in Cuba, but they shall change because of our
efforts and despite the United States. Perhaps that empire shall
crumble first.<br><br>
The unyielding resistance of the Cuban patriots is symbolized by our 5
Heroes. They shall never back down! They shall never
surrender! As Martí proclaimed, and I have mentioned on other
occasions: “Before continuous efforts to free and prosperous country,
will join the South Sea to the North Sea and a snake will hatch from
an eagle’s egg.”<br><br>
It is obvious that the judge from the South Florida District has put the
spotlight on “Obama’s supervised shame”.<br><br>
<br><br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>