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BRITISH PEER IN HAVANA
I am amazed at this country’s
capacity
to face up to the U.S.
BY SUNDRED SUZARTE MEDINA —Granma International
staff writer—
WELL-KNOWN British historian Asa Briggs made a brief
stopover in Havana during his vacation on a cruise
ship and was received in the Cuban capital by
officials from the Cuban Institute for Friendship
with the Peoples (ICAP), as well as Rayda Suárez
Portal, heritage director at the City Historian’s
Office, at the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales.
During a brief press conference in the city’s
historic quarter, the British intellectual said that
he felt very satisfied with his trip to the island
and recalled his previous visit in 1983, although
“it’s not actually necessary to be in Cuba to show
your interest; I have always been interested.
“I
think that I am visiting Cuba at a very interesting
moment in its history; the last time I was here the
world situation was totally different. At that time,
I had the opportunity to visit various places, not
just Havana. I always wanted to come back and I was
somewhat delayed in being able to do so. I believe
that this now is the most important point of this
whole trip,” he commented.
Briggs added that from that time to date the world
has changed a great deal and many interesting things
have happened in which the island has played a
decisive role. “I have supported Cuba for many
years. The world is changing a lot and now, it’s not
like it was before. We are in a period of great
uncertainty,” he added.
The
86-year-old researcher stated that the fact that the
fall of the Soviet Union resulted in a mutation of
international relations; and conceded great
importance to the fact that Cuba has stayed firm and
sustained its ideals in spite of everything. “I
think that it was very good that you were able to
achieve that. And I believe it was a challenge for
Cuba, it was a very difficult moment for this
country. I understand perfectly what happened to the
island because of the relationship it had with the
Soviet Union in terms of sales, in terms of
exchange. I know that it was a very difficult time
for Cuba and one of the things that most amazes me
about this country is its capacity to face up to the
United States,” he stated.
The
British historian was very clear in specifying that
he “would never say that the socialist bloc had
collapsed because, for example, China has not
collapsed. It was the soviet system in Russia and
everything that surrounded the Soviet Union. This
collapse left many problems behind it. When a regime
collapses completely, it is much more serious when
there is a change of government.”
Asa
Briggs has written several books on the media,
including A Social History of the Media: from
Gutenberg to the Internet in 2002, with Peter
Burke, in which they tackle this phenomenon, from
the printing press to the Internet and
globalization.
With
respect to the role played by the media in society,
he stated that it is immense and acknowledged that
there are “good and bad” organs of the press. For
that reason, he always likes to stick with his own
perceptions and not have too much trust in
alternatives.
“I
know that when I go back to England, the British
media are going to accost me; they’re going to want
me to tell them of my experiences. At this moment in
time, the eyes of the world are on Cuba,” he noted.
During the improvised press conference just a few
meters from the former site of the university in Old
Havana, he recalled his participation in World War
II when he deciphered the coded messages of the
Germans.
Although he believes that that war was a necessary
fight against fascism, he emphasized that the use of
force to resolve world conflicts is not the most
adequate.
He
highlighted the fact that over the last six months
during the convalescence of President Fidel Castro,
the country has continued as normal. “I never
believed that everything in Cuba depended on Fidel,”
he said.
He
wished the Cuban people the very best of luck and
expressed his confidence in the island, saying that
he was sure that it would overcome any problem it
was presented with.
During his one-day stay, the historian and his wife
Susan Briggs toured historic areas of Old Havana and
expressed their interest in the restoration work
underway there in an area that abounds in colonial
architecture. The visitor was dean of Worcester
College in Oxford and head of the Open University,
and won the prestigious Wolfson History Prize in
2000. He has also been a life peer in his country
since 1976, and has been acknowledged with the
establishment of the Briggs History Prize via a
foundation that bears his name.
(Note: all quotes retranslated from the Spanish)
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