Speeches
I have not come to discuss politics or the blockade, droughts, hurricanes or calamities of any kind, because I take them for granted (Laughter). I have come to share a few jokes with you, partly at the expense of the words by our very dear and really highly appreciated Minister of Foreign Trade, without blaming him at all for the torture that we have to go through here every year.
I promised to say a few words following Comrade Miret’s intervention to explain my absence from this forum.Actually, a great number of activities accumulated in the last few days. There were visiting heads of government that we should receive and converse with as well as other personalities, not all of them reported by the press.
The existence of a single superpower and a stifling world economic order make it difficult, perhaps even impossible, for a revolution like ours to survive were it to emerge today and not when it had a mainstay in a then bipolar world. That is how our country had the necessary time to develop an invincible capacity for resistance and deploy worldwide the strong influence of its example and heroism waging a great battle of ideas from every rostrum.
You have honored me by asking but I will not make a speech. I will limit myself to presenting a paper. (APPLAUSE) I will do it in the style of a cablegram and it will mostly be a dialogue with myself.
Month of July. Latin American and Caribbean Economists Meeting. Subject: Serious world economic crisis in sight. Need to convene an international conference. Focal point: Economic crisis and neoliberal globalization.
After a spectacular political victory and supported by a gulf of people, a new young President had been inaugurated only 24 hours before. During the visit I paid to that country on the occasion, together with many other guests, the authorities and students of the aforementioned university insisted that I deliver what people call a Master Lecture.
How do I see the WTO at this time? Actually, and I say this frankly, I see it as a fearsome instrument for the recolonization and exploitation of the world. How can anyone justify a policy conducive to the removal of the modest preferences barely enjoyed by 70 Lome countries? Because, as a country from the Third World family I am concerned not only about our problems, those of the Caribbean and Latin America, but also about the problems of Africa and other parts of the world. We are part of that globalized world and our destiny cannot be separated from that of all those countries.
Sports have given our country great prestige and the country must compensate those athletes, whether or not they are involved in the best paid sports. All those athletes, who so many times gave proof of their loyalty and selflessness to their homeland, will occupy the rightful place that befits them in our society and will be affectionately remembered by their people even when they have passed away.
During four days those of you who took part in the Congress have worked hard. Happily, your efforts coincided with the ministers’ and culture leaders’ two-days meeting --on the 10th and 11th-- preceding the Ibero-American Summit conference to be held in the month of November. We have tried to be informed of what you have discussed and what the debates have been like.
According to the description in point four above, would it mean that not only due to the clandestine proliferation of weapons of mass destruction but also to their massive production NATO could launch thousands of bombs over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israelites and Palestinian cities alike? Would it mean that it could destroy the electric systems, industries, roads and all the essential means of life of those peoples while directly killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians and putting at risk the lives of the rest of the people? Would that be a civilised solution to such problems? Could…
Latin America and the Caribbean make up a group of countries with enormous natural and human resources, and we want to unite and develop ourselves.
I have often been on many rostrums but on very few occasions, perhaps never before, have I been faced with such a difficult task. I even promised myself not to speak more than two hours (LAUGHTER) and, honestly, I will try to. (LAUGHTER AND EXCLAMATIONS)
You see, you have reminded me of so many things, you have made me remember so many moments and episodes from these past years, that if I were to let myself get carried away by memories I would end up speaking for who knows how many hours. However, I think it would be best for me to concentrate on just a few topics. I also plan to accept the…
The United States wants to swallow up all of Latin America and the Caribbean through the so-called FTAA --the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. As I already said, Cuba has been left out despite strong opposition from the Caribbeans and some resistance, more or less strong, from some Latin American countries. In my view, this was a significant meeting, given the fact that those Europeans who want to be independent met with those of us in Latin America and the Caribbean who also want to be independent.