|
Latin America’s time is now
•
Bolivia signs agreement to implement
the Bolivarian Alternative for the peoples of Our
America and the People’s Trade Agreement. On the 1st
anniversary of the creation of the ALBA between Cuba
and Venezuela, the figures speak for themselves
regarding a new integration model based on fairness
and respect. In the Plaza de la Revolucion, Fidel
exposes the double standard of the United States in
its supposed war against terrorism
BY NIDIA DÍAZ—Granma International staff
writer—
ONCE again, these April days have gone down in
history. April 19 was the day, 45 years ago, that
U.S. imperialism suffered its first military defeat
in Latin America, on the Cuban sands of Playa Girón,
in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion — and it has yet
to recover. This April 29, 2006 in Havana, capital
of the first socialist country in the hemisphere,
the empire has suffered another defeat, and this
time a more far-reaching one, because it is the
defeat of its ideas and the imposition of its model
of domination.
 This
time, Cuba was not alone in the battle: Bolivarian
Venezuela, under Hugo Chávez, and the Bolivia under
indigenous leader Evo Morales were with us.
On the first anniversary of the agreements to
implement the Bolivarian Alternative for the
Americas (ALBA), signed by Cuba and Venezuela, a
revolutionary triad has formed with the
incorporation of Bolivia into this tool of
integration, and the Bolivian president’s proposal,
moreover, of a People’s Trade Agreement (TPC) as an
alternative to the free trade agreements used by the
U.S. government in its attempts to sink our people
into greater exploitation and dependence.
In the documents signed by the three leaders, which
include a Joint Communiqué, positions are
established on an integration process that, they
agreed, must be “based on principles of mutual aid,
solidarity and respect for self-determination” with
the goal of “providing an appropriate response to
raising up social justice, cultural diversity,
equity and the right to development that the peoples
deserve and demand.”
With this step taken by Bolivia, the integrationist
efforts taking place throughout the continent under
new nationalist and popular governments are
deepening, efforts that are already bearing fruit in
the case of Cuba and Venezuela.
Fidel, Chávez and Evo also agreed that only a new
and genuine form of integration that goes in the
opposite direction of the economic and political
relations established by the Free Trade Area of the
Americas and other free trade agreements can
guarantee sustainable and sovereign development for
our peoples.
THE START OF A GREAT DAY
It was at the International Conference Center in
Havana where the meeting was held of – as Evo
Morales said – those who represent three generations
of revolutionaries: Fidel, Hugo Chávez and the
indigenous leader himself, all of whom signed the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA)
Implementation Agreement and the People’s Trade
Agreement (TPC).
Right at 2 p.m., Marta Lomas, Cuba’s minister of
foreign investment and economic cooperation,
explained, demonstrating the ALBA’s justice and
viability, how far Cuban-Venezuelan relations have
progressed since October 30, 2000 when the two
countries’ president signed the Comprehensive
Cooperation Agreement that served as a basis for the
December 14, 2004 signing of the Joint Declaration
and the ALBA Implementation Agreement.
Consequently, Lomas noted, Cuban and Venezuelan
delegations met on April 28 and 29, 2005 in what was
the first meeting for the ALBA’s implementation, and
where the first Strategic Plan was approved to set
it into motion.
The outcome has been extremely eloquent and
encouraging, and is an expression of what the
peoples can achieve with agreements in which honor,
solidarity and love for the people are the main
objective.
It was pointed to as the most outstanding
achievement of the period when, this past October
28, UNESCO declared Venezuela to be Illiteracy-Free
Territory, something accomplished in less than two
years of hard-fought struggle against that disgrace.
Likewise, it was announced this past March 20 that
Bolivia will begin a literacy campaign with the
participation of 20 Venezuelan literacy educators,
Bolivian experts and 48 Cuban consultants.
ALBA’S FIGURES...
-
In 2001, trade between Cuba and Venezuela was $973
million. In 2005, that figure went up to $2.4
billion, representing growth of 255% in non-oil
Venezuelan exports to Cuba compared to 2004.
-
In 2001, Cuban medical cooperation did not yet exist
in Venezuela. Today, 23,601 Cuban health
professionals are lending their services, providing
care for more than 17 million Venezuelans, with a
historic record of 175 million medical
consultations.
–
Currently, 3,328 Venezuelans are studying General
Comprehensive Medicine in Cuba, and 12,940 are doing
so in Venezuela under the Comprehensive Community
Program, under the guidance of 6,525 Cuban experts
who part of the Mission Barrio Adentro (Into the
Barrio) Program.
-
As of April 28, under the Operation Miracle program,
220,571 vision restoration operations had been
performed, with 188,389 of them on Venezuelans. In
2001, Operation Miracle did not yet exist; today,
patients from 17 Latin America and Caribbean nations
are benefiting, and others are joining in.
-
In 2001, there were more than one million illiterate
people in Venezuela; today, that country is an
Illiteracy-Free Territory. With Cuba’s advisement
and the “Yes, I Can!” teaching method, 1,482,543
people learned how to read and write, 76,369 of them
from indigenous groups.
-
In 2001, Venezuela and Cuba began down the road of
ALBA, and now Bolivia has joined, and others will
join.
After the documents were signed, Fidel was asked by
a Telesur network reporter how he felt, 45 years
after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, about
sharing his central revolutionary role with other
presidents. The Cuban president was precise in his
answer: “I feel like the happiest man in the world.”
He reiterated this idea at the massively attended
event in the Plaza de la Revolucion this Saturday,
April 29, topping off a day of solidarity,
integration and revolution.
CULMINATION OF A SPECIAL AND HISTORIC DAY
In the Plaza de la Revolucion, where – as Chávez
said – we were accompanied by Bolivarian winds, the
winds of ALBA and the winds of Che Guevara who is
with us again, Fidel exposed the double standard of
the anti-terror campaign carried out by the United
States; Chávez warned that the 21st century will be
the end of the empire; and Evo noted that the time
to reclaim the Americas had come, constituting a
historic night of unity and hope for the hemisphere.
At 6:10 p.m., with more than 25,000 guests in place,
the 29th came to an end, a day in which – as Chávez
said – “one’s emotions are stirred” because it is
one of those groundbreaking days that take root in
the collective memory and become revolutionary
commitment.
Participants in the event included official visiting
delegations, along with leaders of Venezuela’s
Bolivarian secondary schools and Bolivian social
organizations; students from the Latin American
School of Medicine (ELAM); the International School
of Sports; the new Latin American Doctors Training
Program; and members of the Francisco de Miranda
Venezuelan Social Fighters Front.
In addition, participants included doctors and
technicians from the Henry Reeve International
Contingent; Operation Miracle; engineers and
technicians preparing to lend their services in
Venezuela’s Comprehensive Health Centers and young
people involved in various programs of the Cuban
Revolution.
Evo gave the first speech, and after thanking the
Cuban and Venezuelan peoples and their top leaders,
Fidel and Chávez, said that the time had come for
unity, “a unity that is for life and for
independence, and that is over and above any
sectorial or regional interest.”
After recounting anecdotes from his early days as a
revolutionary and as a person committed to the
peoples and the Cuban Revolution, he affirmed that
three generations of revolutionaries had come
together in Havana and three revolutions: “the Cuban
one, the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela and the
Bolivian Revolution to liberate all of Latin America
and the world.”
Evo noted that only by rescuing their natural
resources will the peoples be liberated, and in that
sense, he referred to the call he made for a
Constituent Assembly for the refoundation of
Bolivia, a Bolivia that “must stop being a beggar,
even though oligarchic sectors are attempting to put
up resistance.”
Moreover, the Bolivian president said that his
country intends to nationalize not just its
hydrocarbon resources, but all of its natural
riches, to benefit the people.
“Our government will never abandon the struggle to
return to the Bolivian people the resources that
belong to them,” he emphasized. In that sense, he
stated that he has a mandate to guarantee a
democratic and social revolution in Bolivia to do
away with the neoliberal model and de-colonize the
nation’s riches. “I am sure that with the unity of
the Bolivian people, we will defeat the exploiting
oligarchy,” he affirmed.
He added that he is convinced that his people are
not alone, just as Cuba is not alone either; it is
accompanied by Venezuela and Bolivia, he said.
Regarding the agreements that were signed, he said
that only the ALBA can confront and defeat the FTAA,
and it is the only way to overcome colonialism and
neoliberalism.
Thanks to Operation Miracle, which is the fruit of
ALBA, more than 7,000 Bolivians have had their
vision restored, and many Cuban doctors are already
lending their services in his country’s provinces,
he noted.
Finally, he used the opportunity to congratulate
Fidel, in the name of the Bolivian people, for his
upcoming 80th birthday, and – ahead of everybody
else – presented him with three gifts, framed images
using coca leaves of José Martí, Comandante Ernesto
Che Guevara, and Fidel himself.
BOLIVIA IS A COMMMITMENT
President Hugo Chávez spoke next, and with his usual
colloquial and impassioned tones, gave us a masterly
class on Latin American history.
He
wanted to begin by talking about Bolivia, which is,
he said, “a commitment, a challenge, a unbridled
love of freedom, of equality.” It is, he reiterated,
“the heart of America and utopia made feasible.”
He
noted that that nation was born as a project, as a
dream, 180 years ago. The Bolivarian Revolution,
which has declared itself to be anti-imperialist and
socialist, he said, reaffirms its determination and
decision to support Bolivia and its government in
all of its goals.
Chávez had words of praise for the Andean country’s
incorporation into the ALBA just 24 hours after
Evo’s first 100 days in power.
With
that incorporation, “we are moving onto another
aspect of the ALBA, because it was he who proposed a
new tactical piece: the People’s Trade Agreement
(TCP),” the Venezuelan president added.
The
ALBA will continue to open the road to that new
model of integration against the FTAA, against
capitalism and against imperialism, he said.
“It
is up to you, the young people, to see with your
eyes the collapse of the U.S. empire, because this
is the century that will see its end, the century of
the birth of our new homeland, where we will all be
free with greater happiness,” Chávez concluded, not
without announced that “our heroes have returned to
the Americas.”
FIDEL HARSHLY CRITICIZES THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S
DOUBLE STANDARD
The
event’s closing remarks were given by Cuban
President Fidel Castro who explained, with that
brilliant didactic manner that characterizes him,
what the ALBA means in terms of developing the human
capital of our peoples.
“This agreement that we have signed today is the
most ethical that has ever been signed. It is not
for two or three who want to divide up their riches.
We have the enormous power of just ideas,” Fidel
affirmed.
He
referred to the new type of health professionals who
are being trained, the generosity that characterizes
them; to how it is no longer just Cuba that is
training doctors, but Venezuela as well, and with
unbeatable quality, and that in about 10 years, they
will number tens of thousands.
Again, he reiterated the need for Chávez and now Evo
to be careful, because “the enemy will not desist
until it has taken your lives, because they know
very well how to carry out silent assassination.”
Later, in referring to the continent’s new reality,
he predicted that “there is no way to prevent the
emergence of new leaders.”
He
noted that the empire craved for power from early
on, and noted how in 1929, they invaded Nicaragua
and assassinated revolutionary leader Augusto César
Sandino in order to impose Somoza, just as they did
with Trujillo in the Dominican Republic and with
dozens of other bloody, coup-plotting dictators
throughout the years.
Likewise, he noted, they carried out the massacre of
the indigenous people, beginning with the conquest
and colonization, and it was the nascent empire that
finished them off.
In that
sense, he explained the validity of recalling those
events on this day, April 29, in which the
foundations of the ALBA are extended with Bolivia.
It is an agreement that constitutes a check against
the FTAA, which is nothing more than “a refined
instrument of domination and that represents the
tactics of the U.S. government for subjugating our
peoples,” he said.
He also
referred to the other element that comes with the
FTAA, and that is the military projection of the
U.S. government, with its maneuvers in the Caribbean
region, the establishment of military bases, the
expansion of the imperial intelligence networks, and
other prerogatives.
During
another part of his speech, the Cuban president
reiterated that Cuban doctors will be in Bolivia for
as long as necessary and that Cuba will support the
Bolivian Revolution in everything that it needs.
Finally, Fidel noted the double standard and
two-faced morality with which the Republican
administration of George W. Bush carries out its
supposed anti-terrorism campaign.
With
respect to that, he referred to the latest report by
the U.S. State Department, which impudently accuses
the Hugo Chávez government of being linked to
terrorist Colombian organizations and, in Cuba’s
case, the document defines it as being a sponsor of
that activity, along with Iran and North Korea.
The
revolutionary leader harshly criticized the empire’s
hypocrisy on this issue, given that while attempting
to portray Cuba and Venezuela as terrorist, the U.S.
government negotiated for and obtained from former
Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso a pardon for the
terrorist and criminal Luis Posada Carriles and his
henchmen, only to later allow him to illegally enter
the United States, where it not only hid him but
also never responded to Cuba’s repeated public calls
to say how and where he entered and who participated
in that repugnant operation.
“It is impossible to pretend that Mr. Negroponte and
his publicized intelligence agency with more than 30
offices, and the high-ranking officials of that
government, didn’t know where Posada was, one of the
bloodiest terrorists of this hemisphere, the
torturer and assassin of many Venezuelan
revolutionaries, and one of the main individuals
responsible for the blowing-up of a Cuban airliner
in Barbados in October 1976,” he said.
“Now, they don’t know what they are gong to do with
Posada Carriles and while they look for a way to
protect him, they are launching these ridiculous
accusations against Venezuela and Cuba, while at the
same time carrying out military maneuvers in the
Caribbean to try to fill us with fear, something
they will never achieve, because both of our peoples
are determined to defend their freedom at any
price,” he affirmed.
The Cuban president clearly said he felt proud to be
a friend of North Korea, the country of Kim Il Sung,
and expressed the honor it represented to be friends
with Iran and its heroic people.
Fidel noted that Cuba has been denouncing the
preparations underway by U.S. administration to
carry out aggression against Iran, and emphasized
that in face of such arrogance and lack of common
sense, it is worth asking in whose heads the destiny
of the humanity lies, and the magnitude of danger to
the human species itself.
With the support of those present, Fidel affirmed
that “the yankees with their maneuvers in the
Caribbean are not going to frighten anyone, because
the children of Bolívar are courageous in any
situation. I know about your human quality and your
revolutionary spirit,” he said.
Miguel Bonasso, Argentine parliamentary deputy, and
former Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega,
Sandinista candidate for the upcoming presidential
elections in that Central American nation, were
present during the entire day of continental
revolutionary reaffirmation. |
