“La Hojilla,” a program on the Venezolana de Televisión TV channel, took it upon itself to select, for months up to March 5, information and phrases that precisely reflect the imperialist plan to do with Chávez what was done with Milosevic after the genocidal war of Kosovo: to try him in the International Criminal Court.
Yesterday after 12 midnight Cuban time —that is, today— after I heard an official statement to the press by a group of officials in charge of the pertinent legal paperwork in Colombia, I no longer had any doubts whatsoever. It is not a secret. It is a battle of prior opinion. I had “La Hojilla’s” excellent compilation very much in mind as I wrote these lines.
What has been said about Chávez in very recent days? He was elected by majority vote of the population. Immediately it is added: just like Hitler. Of course, what is not explained is what is all too well-known: that Hitler was a genuine product of the capitalist system, which was expressed via the Treaty of Versailles and the imposition of sanctions —I mentioned this before in a “Reflection”— which exalted nationalism in the newly-born Republic of Germany. Fascism murdered countless numbers of people. Chávez never killed anyone; he has been elected several times, and the most incredible insults against him are published and broadcast on a daily basis by all the media. They will never achieve the submission of the president of Venezuela.
When the government of the United States was sure that it could destroy missiles in full flight from California by using special satellites, it then spoke completely shamelessly of atomic wars, and is not concealing its intention of ruling the world with great violence. Millions of millions are being spent on weapons that do nothing to contribute to meeting the needs and well-being of human beings; on the contrary, they maintain the world economy in constant tension; they impose on other countries —like the adventurers of the U.S. West— the order of ‘your money or your life.’
Listening for hours to economists meeting in Havana discussing globalization and problems of development in a civilized manner, we can appreciate the tremendous clash of ideas and the contradictions that are emerging with growing force and complexity in our world today. In my mind, I preserve a good number of facts that were certainly addressed in that meeting.
The solidarity with the people of Ecuador expressed at that conference is valuable in and of itself.
The president of that nation, Rafael Correa, said today that if the Organization of American States “does not condemn the aggression against his country, it should be thrown into the dustbin of history.” He added, “We have to make decisions tomorrow in Santo Domingo to clearly condemn the aggression against Ecuador.” I heard these two statements not just in Correa’s interview on television; they also appear in various news agency reports.
The seriousness of the problem created by the United States government cannot be underestimated.
Yesterday, Bush gave his support to Republican candidate McCain, who is committed to the war in Iraq and enjoys dropping bombs on the civilian population; he is opposed to any negotiations and swears he will maintain the economic blockade of the Cuban nation. Two days ago, the news agencies reported new measures by Bush to further extend the blockade of Cuba onto the Internet.
What can the peoples of Latin America who aspire to the safeguarding of their national sovereignty expect from the empire?
Can such tyranny, which does so much damage to the planet’s population, be sustainable or not?
Fidel Castro Ruz
March 6, 2008