By Fidel Castro Ruz
HER book exposes a series of atrocious crimes recently committed by the United States against the Latin American peoples. It is a basic text for understanding the real meaning of the Yankee imperialism. It is the most objective and detailed denunciation that I have read to date, unsurpassed in its style and eloquence. She gives an impressive list of outstanding figures, both military and civilian, vilely assassinated inside and outside their respective countries, including such prestigious personalities as the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, the Chilean Generals Schneider and Prats, presidents of other nations, as well as the conspiracy in Chile which concluded with the death of Salvador Allende and the establishment of a fascist government. There were U.S. Presidents directly involved, like Nixon, Reagan and Bush Sr. Stella is known in our country for that work.
But it was the paper given by the Argentine author to the International Conference "Revolution and Intervention in Latin America," which took place recently in Caracas, which called my attention to her again. She sent a copy of the paper to us in Cuba.
She refers to a silent invasion on all fronts: the weapon of disinformation, the neocolonization of Latin America, the "backyard" as the "strategic reserve" of the empire, operative counterinsurgency, the "soft" blows, the informatics intoxication, left-wing groups acting together with extreme-right pro-coup sectors; the powerful enemy deliberately assaulting the soul of the peoples, their culture and identity; advanced colonialists and belated colonialisms. The author reminds us of the brutal invasion of Panama on December 20, 1989, preceded by a disinformation campaign which, in this case, managed to penetrate progressive and leftist sectors. She recalls incredible and crude media manipulation of the reasons advanced by the United States to invade the small nation of little more than two million inhabitants – a country divided into two by a colonial enclave maintained there by the hegemonic power since the beginning of the past century – and the still incomprehensible paralysis of Latin America. Up until today, she told us, it is unknown that thousands of people died there. "Panama was the Guernica of Latin America."
She goes on to add that the United Nations had a "paper presence in all these conflicts."
Al-Qaeda, spawned by the empire itself, is a typical example of an enemy that the hegemonic power places where it needs to in order to then justify its actions, in the same way that, throughout history, it has manufactured enemies and attacks aimed at advancing its plans for domination. The pretext of the National Security of the United States to justify its crimes preceded the attacks that destroyed the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.
In that kind of a way she continues wielding irrefutable arguments and evidence. Her paper is a synthesis of no more than 20 pages. She expresses sincere admiration for the revolutionary processes in Cuba and Venezuela and their courageous struggles in the vicinity of the neocolonial metropolis.
The meaning of that struggle can be understood merely by recalling some of the phrases uttered by George W. Bush, a president with only 58 more days left to complete his current term as leader of the empire.
In the midst of the crisis lashing the world, he stated at the APEC Summit in Lima:
"Over the decades, the free market system has proved the most efficient way...
"The third great force for economic growth in this region is the limitless potential of free peoples [...] any government that is honest with its people […] will have a partner in the United States of America.
"…our partners can be confident that the compassionate agenda of the United States of America will continue."
"We shall continue to inspire the world."
"God bless you."
Only an incurable cynic could make such statements. And while he was proclaiming that in Lima, news was coming in from the United States on the gravity of the crisis and the growing number of the unemployed. The companies in that country’s automobile industry are urgently demanding a share of the $700 billion allocated to tackle the most severe crisis in dozens of years. They have stated that the bankruptcy of just one of the big corporations in that sector would mean laying off two-and-a-half million workers. These are skyrocketing sums of money and of people affected in the country aspiring to continue inspiring the market.
Today’s elections in Venezuela are complex due to the situation created by heavy rainfall, the number of polling booths, the elevated number of registered voters in each of these, the utilization of media resources and the huge sums of money being used by the oligarchy and the imperialists to confuse voters. But the Bolivarian government is acting with dignity; it is concerned about the damage caused by excessive rain and it is fighting with the firmness and decisiveness that is inspired by just causes.
Whatever the result of these regional and local elections, it will not be easy to extinguish the flames of the Revolution.
We believe far more in Calloni’s truths than in Bush’s cynical lies.
Fidel Castro Ruz
November 23, 2008
11:36 a.m.
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