Raúl Castro speaks on ‘Why the enemy can’t defeat us’
Published Aug 26, 2006 8:58 AM
Granma’s Lázaro Barredo Medina had a conversation with
General of the Cuban Army Raúl Castro Ruz on Aug. 18 in his
office at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces
(MINFAR). He has taken on the duties of his beloved brother,
President Fidel Castro, who is recovering from stomach surgery.
Go to www.granma.cu to read the entire interview.
Raúl Castro,
holding
paper,
during
interview.
Photo: Granma
|
Granma: Comrade Raúl, our people joyfully received the message and
photographs of the Comandante en Jefe published in the press and the subsequent
television report of the encounter with President Chávez. It would be
greatly appreciated by millions of people who have attentively followed
information on the state of health of compañero Fidel, to hear your
personal assessment, as someone always so united to
him.
Raúl Castro Ruz: On behalf of all the
people, I will begin by congratulating and thanking the doctors and the other
compañeros and compañeras who have attended to him in an excellent
manner, with an unsurpassable professionalism and, above all, with much love and
dedication. This has been a very important factor in Fidel’s progressive
recovery.
Moreover, I think that his exceptional physical and mental
nature has also been essential to his satisfactory and gradual
recovery.
We, Cubans, even when we don’t see you for a while on
television or in the written press, know that you are there, at your combat post
as always. But I think that these words of yours will also disarm the
speculation and lies present in some of the foreign media.
If you are
referring to those in other countries who entertain themselves by speculating
about if I am going to appear on television or in the papers or not; well, I
appeared with Fidel on Sunday (August 13) and when I received President
Chávez, although really those comments don’t bother me in the
slightest.
What does interest me greatly is what our people are thinking,
although, fortunately, we live in this geographically small island, where
everything that we are doing is known. I can confirm that when I talk with the
population or other local leaders in my tours of the country.
As a point
of fact, I am not used to making frequent appearances in public, except at times
when it is required. Many tasks related to defense should not be made public and
have to be handled with maximum care, and that has been one of my fundamental
responsibilities as FAR minister.
No essential orientation has been
overlooked.
On behalf of the Comandante en Jefe and the Party
leadership, I will take the opportunity of thanking everyone for the innumerable
displays of support for the Revolution and for the content of his Proclamation,
as well as the demonstrations of affection that have been expressed by figures
from the cultural sector; professionals and workers in all sectors; campe sinos,
soldiers, housewives, students, pioneers; among them numerous believers, public
figures and religious institutions from the overwhelming majority of
denominations; finally, the people of Cuba. It has been a conclusive
demonstration of their unbreakable unity and their revolutionary consciousness,
essential pillars of the fortitude of our country.
The breadth of
support coming from all over the world has also been impressive.
Yes,
really heartening. That is why I should also like to express thanks for the
numerous messages of solidarity and respect from all over the world, from people
of the most diverse social categories, from simple workers to intellectual and
political figures, as well as a significant and representative number of
religious institutions and figures. All of them have done so without any
conditions whatsoever. Messages from the few who did not act in that way were
not accepted or acknowledged.
Also, they have been joined to date [Aug.
17] by some 12,000 signatories supporting the call made 10 days ago by prominent
cultural personalities from more than 100 countries, among them various Nobel
Prize winners, condemning the interfering and aggressive statements of the
government of the United States, and which also exposes the openly
interventionist nature of the Bush Plan, as we are calling that monster that
would seem to be dusted off from the times when--as at the end of the 19th
century and the beginning of the 20th--they frustrated the independence of Cuba
and imposed their administrators on us.
Now they have also designed one
for the supposed “transition.” One by McCarry, who recently stated
that the United States does not accept the continuity of the Cuban Revolution,
although he didn’t say how they are thinking of averting
that.
One gets the impression that the enemies of the Revolution have
been left speechless by the conclusive reaction of the Cuban population, immune
to their giant and disgraceful campaign of offenses and lies. They are talking
with surprise at the calm reigning in Cuba, as if it was something unusual and
not exactly normal, and which all of us here knew would happen in a situation
such as this.
As you were saying, absolute tranquility is reigning in
the country. And something even more important, the serene, disciplined and
decisive attitude that can be felt in every workplace, in every city, in every
neighborhood. The same one that our people always assume in moments of
difficulty. If we were to be guided solely by the internal situation, I am not
exaggerating in affirming that it would not have been necessary to mobilize even
one pioneer from among those who guard the ballot boxes in the elections.
But we have never ignored a threat from the enemy. It would be
irresponsible to do so when faced with a government like that of the United
States, which is declaring with the greatest audacity that it does not accept
what is established in the Cuban Constitution. From over there, as if they were
the rulers of the planet, they are saying that there must be a transition to a
social regime of their liking and that they “would take note of those who
oppose that.” Although it seems incredible, this boorish and at the same
time stupid attitude was assumed by President Bush a few days ago.
They’ll have to waste a lot of paper and ink.
A lot.
For that reason I would advise them to do the opposite. To “take
note,” as they say, of the annexationists on the payroll of the U.S.
Interest Section here in Havana, those who are going to receive the crumbs of
the announced $80 million earmarked for subversion, because the bulk of it will
be distributed in Miami, as is usually the case.
On the contrary, the list
is going to be interminable. They would have to list the names of millions and
millions of Cuban men and women, the same ones who are ready to receive their
designated administrator with rifles in hand.
At this juncture, they
should be very clear that it is not possible to achieve anything in Cuba with
impositions and threats. On the contrary, we have always been disposed to
normalize relations on an equal plane. What we do not accept is the arrogant and
interventionist policy frequently assumed by the current administration of that
country.
Recently rereading Party Congress documents, I found ideas that
seemed to have been written today. For example, this excerpt from the Central
Report presented by Fidel to the Third Congress in February
1986:
“As we have demonstrated many times, Cuba is not remiss to
discussing its prolonged differences with the United States and to go out in
search of peace and better relations between our people.”
And he
continued:
“But that would have to be on the basis of the most
unrestricted respect for our condition as a country that does not tolerate
shadows on its independence, for whose dignity and sovereignty entire
generations of Cubans have fought and sacrificed themselves. This would be
possible only when the United States decides to negotiate with seriousness and
is willing to treat us with a spirit of equality, reciprocity and the fullest
mutual respect.”
Nevertheless they are continuing with the same
aggressive and arrogant policy as always.
That is the reality. More
than 20 years have passed since Fidel pronounced the words that I have just
cited; they have that 485-page interventionist plan that I already mentioned,
approved in 2004, in which they detail how they propose to dismantle the
achievements of the Revolution in health, education, social security, agrarian
reform and urban reform; in other words, to kick the people off their land, out
of their homes so as to hand them back to their former owners, etc., etc.,
etc.
To cap it all, just a few days ago, on July 10, President Bush
officially approved a document complementing the former one, and which they had
posted with a very low profile on the Internet in June. They have openly stated
that it includes a secret appendix that is not being published “for
reasons of national security” and “to ensure its effective
implementation;” those are literally the terms that they used, and which
constitute a flagrant violation of international law.
For a while now we
have been adopting measures to confront those plans. These were reinforced
particularly when the current U.S. government initiated the unbridled
warmongering policy that it has maintained to date, including the announced
intention to attack without previous warning any of those places that they call
the “sixty or more dark corners of the world.”
A notable
escalation of aggression.
Effectively, and in 2003 the plans became
more explicit. On Dec. 5 of that year, Mr. Roger Noriega, then assistant
secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, declared—I don’t
know if it was intentional or a slip—that “the transition in
Cuba—in other words—the death of Fidel—could happen at any
moment and we have to be prepared to be agile and decisive.” That
“the United States wants to be sure that the regime’s cronies have
no hope of holding onto power” and, so as to leave no doubt, he added that
they were working “to ensure that there is no succession to the Castro
regime.” Subsequently he and other senior U.S. officials have returned to
the theme insistently.
What other form exists for obtaining these goals
that is not military aggression? Thus, the country adopted the pertinent
measures for counteracting that real danger.
Faced with similar
situations, Martí taught us what to do: “Plan against plan. Without
a plan of resistance, a plan of attack cannot be defeated,” he wrote in
the newspaper Patria on June 11, 1892.
The United States government is
not revealing the contents of that appendix because it is illegal. Its
publication must be demanded, above all now that they have spoken about its
existence in order to threaten Cuba.
On the contrary, our defense plans
are transparent and legal, simply because they do not threaten anybody; their
sole objective is to guarantee the sovereignty and independence of the homeland;
they do not violate any national or international law whatsoever.
Some
of the empire’s war hawks thought that the moment had come to destroy the
Revolution this past July 31.
We could not rule out the risk of
somebody going crazy, or even crazier, within the U.S. government.
Consequently, at 3 a.m. on Aug. 1, in fulfillment of the plans approved
and signed on Jan. 13, 2005 by compañero Fidel, and after having made the
established consultations, I decided to substantially raise our combative
capacity and readiness via the implementation of the projected measures,
including the mobilization of several tens of thousands of reservists and
militia members, and the proposal to our principal units of regular troops,
including the Special Troops, of missions demanded by the political/ military
situation that has been created.
All of the mobilized personnel has
completed or is currently completing an important cycle of combat training and
cohesion, part of that under campaign conditions.
These troops will
rotate, in approximately equal numbers, as the proposed objectives are attained.
All of the reservists and militia members who are to participate in these
activities will be informed, with the necessary anticipation, of the date of
incorporation into their units and the time that they will remain in these to
fulfill their guard duty to the homeland.
It is not my intention to
exaggerate the danger. I never have done so. Up until now, the attacks during
these days have not gone further than rhetorical ones, except for the
substantial increase in subversive anti-Cuba broadcasts over radio and
television.
They have announced the use of a new
airplane.
Previously, they were using, at varying intervals, a
military airplane known as Comando Solo. From this past Aug. 5, they began using
another type of aircraft that has effected daily transmissions. On Aug. 11, it
did so in conjunction with the aforementioned Comando Solo.
In fact, on
the 5th and 6th, our radars detected that transmissions were being made from
international waters, in outright violation of the agreements of the
International Telecommunications Union, to which the United States is a
signatory, which once again we are condemning via the corresponding channels and
agencies, given that moreover these transmissions are affecting broadcasting in
our country.
All things considered, they are spending millions in U.S.
taxpayers’ money to achieve the same result as ever: a TV that is not
seen.
I add to these reflections on the country’s defense an idea
expressed by Fidel in 1975, in his Central Report to the First Party Congress,
which I have quoted so much that I know it by heart:
“As long as
imperialism exists, the Party, the State and the people will give their utmost
attention to the services of defense. The revolutionary guard will never be
neglected. History shows with too much eloquence that those who forget this
principle do not survive the error.”
That has been our guide
throughout many years, and continues to be today for more than enough reasons.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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