Articles and Reflections
Yesterday I received a visit from the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, who made a trip abroad related to the defense of his country’s important oil interests. During his stop in Cuba, he took the opportunity to make contact with me and greet me personally, as he had promised, on August 13 of this year, when I had the privilege of reaching 88 years of age. That day he presented me with some fruits, among them, some small pearl like ones, which I had never even seen before and taste excellent. He also presented me with a sports uniform, a gift from the Venezuelan athletes…
The Nazi genocide of Jews outraged all the earth’s peoples. Why does this government believe that the world will be insensitive to the macabre genocide which today is being perpetuated against the Palestinian people? Perhaps it is expected that the complicity of the U.S. empire in this shameful massacre will be ignored?
I have asked the editors of Granma to relieve me of the honor of publishing what I write on the front page of the official organ of our Party, since I am thinking of expressing personal points of view on issues which, for obvious reasons of health and time, I have not been able to present in the collective leadership bodies of the Party or state, such as Party Congresses or pertinent meetings of the National Assembly of People’s Power.
TELEPHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN COMMANDER IN CHIEF FIDEL CASTRO RUZ AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA HUGO CHÁVEZ FRÍAS. 14/04/2002
The fraternal feelings of profound brotherhood between the Cuban people and Nelson Mandela’s homeland were born out of an event that has never been mentioned and about which we have never said a word during all these long years; Mandela, because he was an apostle of peace and did not want to hurt anyone; Cuba, because we have never done anything for the sake of glory and prestige.
Three days ago, a high-ranking leader from the Vietnamese Communist Party visited us. Before leaving, he conveyed to me his wish that I write some recollections of my visit to the territory of Vietnam liberated in its heroic fight against the yankee troops in the south of his country.
It is absolutely obvious that the United States will always try to put pressure on Cuba, as they do on the UN or any other public or private institution of the world. That is one of the features that characterizes the governments of that country; it would be impossible to expect otherwise from them. No wonder we have resisted for 54 years –and we’ll continue to resist for any additional amount of time, if need be- relentlessly defending our country and confronting the criminal economic blockade imposed by the powerful empire.
This introduction would be far too lengthy if it were not to explain the gravity of such an incredible and absurd event as the one created on the Korean Peninsula, in a geographical area inhabited by almost five thousand of the seven billion people living today on the planet. We are dealing with one of the most serious risks of nuclear war since the Cuban Crisis in October of 1962, fifty years ago.
The best friend the Cuban people have had throughout their history died on the afternoon of March 5. A call via satellite communicated the bitter news. The significance of the phrase used was unmistakable.
I respect all religions even though I do not profess them. Human beings, from the most ignorant to the wisest, are looking for an explanation for their own existence. Science is continuously trying to explain the laws that govern the universe. At this moment you can see it is expanding, a process that began approximately 13.7 billion years ago.
The things that the yogi can do with the human body escape our imagination. They are right there, before our eyes, in the images that reach us immediately from a long distance through the TV program Pasaje a lo Desconocido (Passage to the Unknown).
The conditions have been created for the country to start the mass production of moringa oleifera and mulberry, which are inexhaustible sources of meat; milk and eggs; silk fibres that can be spun using traditional methods and also allow for the creation of jobs that can be performed in the shade and are appropriately remunerated, regardless of age or sex.