Fw: [107disc] Fidel Castro: Remarks at Latin American Medical School

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(In my opinion,  this speech highlight the way the Cuban leadership  not
only used the Carter visit -- which was an opening they would have been
foolish to reject -- to continue the fight for normal diplomatic and
economic relations that they have been waging since 1959 but to make the
revolutionary significance and message of Cuba more widely known in the
United States and elsewhere.  If this isn't revolutionary diplomacy, there
has never been any.
Fred Feldman)
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Subject: [107disc] Fidel Castro: Remarks at Latin American Medical School
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     Remarks by Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba,
         during former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's visit to
           the Latin American Medical School, May 13, 2002


Distinguished former president of the United States,
James Carter, Mrs. Carter and other members of his delegation:

Greetings, also, to the other guests, and to the dear students of this
medical school:

I was not sure if I should speak or not. Among other things, I did
not want to endanger all of you here (Laughter) with a speech that
might go on a bit longer than it should. But there was a complete hush,
and so I felt obliged (Laughter), really I did, to come up to this
podium for a few minutes.

I saw a program that read, "Finally, the keynote speech is
introduced." That is what they usually say in these public
ceremonies, the open forums and so on. But I would say that in any
case, if I were to say something, it would be the closing remarks,
since the keynote speech was given by President Carter. Just to
explain this thing about former president and president, it is a
matter of courtesy. In the United States, in friendly and informal
settings, anyone who has been a President, even if he no longer is,
continues to be called President, and that is the friendly manner in
which we are speaking to him today.

I was thinking to myself, what is it really that we are doing here?
Is this a medical school, or is it something else? One thinks in terms
of numbers, percentages and so on. I was also calculating, for example,
how many doctors we had at the time of the triumph of the Revolution,
and it turns out that the number of students at this school today is
greater than the number of doctors in Cuba at that time. And two or
three years later only half of those doctors stayed inn our country.
Only 40% of our professors of medicine stayed too.

The results that I could present here today -and I do not say show
because we do not show anything off, we present things- have been
achieved with a tremendous effort, a 43 years effort.

With the doctors who stayed in our country, we were able to create
what we have today, and what we have today is 22 doctors for every
doctor they left us, a little over 22. And the number of students
enrolled in medical studies in our universities today is two and a half
times the number of doctors who stayed in our country.

Yes, we faced a situation that posed a tremendous challenge. We
either remained without doctors, or we would make the effort required
to have all the doctors we needed.

Among our greatest hopes, when we thought about the future, when we
dreamed of the future, was the hope that our country would have a good
medical system.

I will never forget that when I was a grammar school student in
grade five or six, and I went home to the farming estate where I lived,
I would sometimes find that a third of the children had died. Nobody
heard anything about it; it was not published in the newspapers. And
what did they die of?  Acidosis. And to this you would have to add, of
course, all those who regularly died of tetanus, or any of the many
other diseases that regularly afflicted the people in the countryside
here.

We also dreamed of schools, because we observed the world around
us, and realized that almost all of the young people and adults were
illiterate. I remember that some of the few who could read and write
made a living by writing letters for others who wanted to write to a
girlfriend or a girl they wanted to court. But they did not dictate
these letters, they had to ask from the letter writers to produce the
content of the letter as well. They would ask them to say in the letter
what they thought they would have to say to win over the girl - because
in those days, it was the boys who courted the girls (Laughter and
applause), there was not as much equality as today (Laughter).

Those were two pillars we fought for, but they were not the two
fundamental pillars. The fundamental pillar was something else:
justice, equality of opportunities, true brotherhood among human
beings. And what is a society without justice? What is a society of
illiterates? What is a society where a small few have everything, and
the rest have nothing? What freedom can be born of inequality and
ignorance? What democracy? What human rights?

There are very profound things that our people hold dear. We are
firmly convinced that there are many words and many concepts that must
be redefined, if we truly want to advance towards a worthy future. The
past cannot be the future, and to conceive of a future society
genuinely requires rethinking many concepts that are prehistoric.

We all know, or many of us know, that the word democracy first
originated in Greece. When we were young we were told, "There was a
model of democracy, the citizens ran the government gathered in a
public square," which must have been quiet small. In those days,
Athens, for example, had about 20,000 free citizens -there must have
been a bit fewer, because if they met in a square, and there were not
even microphones back then, they all had to fit in what was actually a
small park. Without these microphones, I could not be heard at the back
of this group of people gathered here. And in addition to the 15,000 or
20,000 free citizens there were 50,000 or 60,000 people who had no
rights whatsoever and around 80,000 human beings who were slaves.

When we look around the world today and we see that there are
billions of human beings who live in conditions of inconceivable
poverty, billions and billions of human beings who live in that Third
World, we might ask ourselves what kind of world we are living in. When
we see that there are countries where 90% of the people are illiterate
and have no schools, and that their numbers grow larger every day; when
we hear reports of the number of children who could be saved yet who
die before the age of one, and we compare the countries where these
deaths account for 5, 6, 7 or 8 children out of every 1000 born alive,
while that figure is over 150 in other countries, we ask ourselves what
kind of world we are living in.

We often ask ourselves, in what century, in what millennium shall
we be able to say that all human beings born into this world are truly
born into it with an equality of opportunities in life?

We have made tremendous efforts to ensure that at least on this
island, there can be an equality of opportunities for all human beings,
and we still have not completely achieved this goal. You can imagine
how difficult it is, and how much more difficult still when you are
starting out from a situation of poverty, which is how our own country
had to start out, and how over 140 countries are starting out today, to
a greater or lesser extent. And if there is any satisfaction, as a
reward for the efforts of so many compatriots who struggled, and many
who fell in the battle or devoted all of their lives' energies to an
ideal of justice, to a noble dream, it is the fact that our country is
moving ever closer to a society where all human beings have an equality
of opportunities, but not just in theory, because only in theory can we
speak about equality in the world today.

Only in theory, when you know, for example, that a country like
Mozambique has a per capita gross domestic product of 80 dollars a
year, while others have an annual GDP of 45,000 dollars. And I am not
referring only to the difference between nations, but rather to the
differences between individuals within the same nation, and our Latin
American countries are Olympic champions in this regard.

We Latin Americans come from the region with the widest gap between the
rich and the poor. We know that in many of them, the richest 10% of the
population possesses 50% of the wealth and goods produced in these
nations, while the poorest 10% have access to only 4% or 5%, or
sometimes even less, of the gross domestic product.

When you walk through the streets you see them full of children
cleaning windshields, shining shoes or working for a pittance in order
to help support their families. You see children who do not go to
school, because there are no schools, or children who do not even make
it past fifth grade, because if I remember correctly, only 52% reach
fifth grade, much less sixth grade or ninth grade. And we could ask
ourselves why, and what degree of justice there is, what the future
holds for some and what it holds for others.

And that is why, while many recognize the tremendous advances that
our country has made in health care, education and sports, as if these
were the only objectives, or the final objectives of our struggles or
our lives, we would have to add: We are striving for something much
more noble, we are striving for justice for all.

How can there be justice when people do not know how to read and
write? How can there be freedom without justice or equality? How can
there be a democracy like the democracy in Athens we mentioned earlier?
How can we speak of human rights, and what kind of world are we living
in, when the very country that in this era and in the face of
unimaginable difficulties is moving closer, and at an ever faster rate,
to this level, this dream of justice, true freedom, true democracy and
true human rights, is condemned in Geneva as a violator of those
rights?

I should not address such a thorny subject at a gathering like this,
where I was not planning on speaking, but now that I have been obliged
to speak... When someone speaks, it should be to say something. I will
add that today this is perhaps the most united country in the world,
and the one with the deepest political conscience. Today this is
perhaps the country that is most excited and full of hope for the
future.

You all know that just a few days ago a million residents of Havana
gathered together in Revolution Square. Yes, just a few days after that
condemnation, they gathered infuriated by that colossal offense. And
the most incredible thing of all is that those who condemned us can
show no other image but that of hell, because those countries -and I am
referring specifically to the countries of Latin America- are the
complete antithesis of the rights we were talking about. Therefore,
there is no reason to be upset. There will be a judge whose verdict
cannot be appealed, and that judge will be history. (Applause)

That is why I was saying that as I looked at all of you here, I
asked myself, Is this only a medical school? And what good would it do
if you all went back to your countries to become part of institutions
where, sadly, financial concerns, commercialism and selfishness
prevail? What good would it do if no one was willing to go work in the
mountains, the plains, the remote corners of the countryside or
marginal neighborhoods of the cities to practice the noble profession
of medicine? More than a medical school, our most fervent hope is that
this will be a school of solidarity, brotherhood and justice.

I am firmly convinced that it will be so, that it is not in vain
that all of the ethnic groups and all of the most humble sectors of
your countries are represented in the students of this school and the
others, a total of 66 ethnic groups, as we have been told.

What a beautiful sight!  Students from all of Latin America and the
United States gathered here together, studying side by side. What great
pleasure and satisfaction it gave us to listen to the young girl who
spoke here, and the other young girl who sang. Just think of the hopes
for friendship and brotherhood that could be realized if we all join
together under the ideals of justice and equality expressed here by
President Carter. The examples he cited were impressive, as when he
said that one pill, just one pill, or maybe two, could contribute to
eradicating terrible diseases. A noble effort, aimed at alleviating
some of the tragedies afflicting human beings in this world, could
succeed through the use of the simplest procedures. And the question
that came to my mind was, How much did all of this cost? And it is
obvious that the resources invested are minimal. I was thinking of the
billions of people on the planet with these same problems, or in danger
of being afflicted by them. He did not mention malaria, for example,
the tens of millions of people who contract malaria and the millions of
people who die of malaria, or typhoid. It was not possible since he was
referring specifically to efforts made in the field of medicine,
although he mentioned other areas in which the Carter Foundation is
working.

Dread was not mentioned; the evening was too lovely to speak of the
dread and the dread is called AIDS. When we hear Africa mentioned, it
is impossible not to think of the 26 or 28 million people infected with
the AIDS virus, the 13 or 14 million children orphaned, the millions of
children born HIV positives, which their mothers passed on to them. It
is one of the worst tragedies in the history of humankind, and it
threatens to exterminate entire nations, and even entire regions.

To any of these figures we would have to add the millions of
illiterates, their growing number in the world; the millions of
unemployed; the 60% or 70% of Latin Americans who work in the informal
sector, with no security, no social protection whatsoever and no
rights, because they have wiped out not only the workers movement and
trade unions, but also the most basic rights of workers. How many
calamities could be added up!

President Carter told us about the noble efforts of his wife in the
study, research and coping with the problems of mental retardation, and
that is a major issue. We know, because we are collecting precise data
on all of the people who suffer from some sort of disability due to
mental retardation. In the capital alone there are over 13,000 cases
and each and every one must be studied. We are studying them, as well
as training geneticists and equipping laboratories at an accelerated
pace, especially since we have learned -- and we are not only studying
cases of mental retardation, but cases of disabilities due to any other
cause -- that there are a total of 48,000 people in the capital with some
kind of disability.

Based on the information that over 80 different diseases are genetic in
origin, we are undertaking a genetic study of all of the cases of
mental retardation and of a number of other genetic disorders that
children are not born with, but which can afflict them later, resulting
from hypothyroidism or polio, another  disease that has fortunately
been eradicated for some time now, in this and other countries. But
there are many cases of disability resulting from either genetic or
environmental or accidental causes.

When you begin to look into these things and learn the figures
involved, you get a better idea of the many tragedies suffered by human
society, and often these people suffer alone, because many are not even
aware that this is happening. This is yet another source of
satisfaction from this visit today, when we see the efforts they are
making to prevent these disorders, in the first place, and to do as
much as possible to help those who suffer from them.

I do not want to say too much more on this matter, however, because
it is something we could talk about until dawn.

What I still need to address are the reasons for which we have
welcomed, with respect, warm hospitality and great pleasure, former
president Jimmy Carter, his wife, and the delegation accompanying him.

It is not a large delegation. The largest delegation visiting the
country with him is the delegation of reporters and journalists,
something entirely logical, of course.

Yesterday at the airport we spoke of his efforts to improve
relations between the United States and Cuba, in the midst of seemingly
insurmountable difficulties. Due to those difficulties, which I will
not enumerate here, it was not possible to advance any further at that
time. But we felt that acknowledging this fact was a matter of basic
historical justice, in addition to acknowledging his courage in
visiting our country.

He was courageous to try to improve relations; let no one think
that this was an easy thing to do. He has been brave to visit Cuba
despite the fact that there would always be those who opposed such a
visit, and that he was exposing  himself to criticism and slander.

We did not choose a program for his visit, he did it himself. He
was primarily interested in the field of education; this was
practically his number one interest. He was especially interested in
this Latin American School of Medical Sciences, which is perfectly in
keeping with what he told us about the efforts they are making in so
many countries to promote health, to the extent that their resources
allow. They must have acquired a great deal of experience on these
matters.

I must say here, and not out of any pretense to personal flattery,
that one thing that is clearly obvious is former president Carter's
remarkable intelligence. This is joined, to an even greater degree, by
his personal and family ethics. This was truly one of the first things
we perceived back during his first speeches as a candidate for
president. These are two factors that have been closely linked to his
entire history and his personality. And this explains his interest in
visiting this school, and also the school for social workers, and other
institutions devoted to special education, as well as gathering
information on the efforts that our country has been making in the
field of health, education, culture and medical research.

 While he described the things he has done, I was thinking he has
done with very few resources, because he is an austere man.  At the
airport, I was expecting him to arrive on one of those big Boeings, and
suddenly I saw a little twin-engine plane approach the runway, turn,
land and draw up to us. That was why I said to him, and I think it was
picked up by the microphones, I did not know there were so many
microphones there, "I thought you were going to arrive in one of those
big new Boeings." He came on a modest plane with a small number of
people.

As he explained all those programs that I was so glad to hear about
and which you have been able to hear about as well as our people, I was
thinking to myself that if it is possible to do so much good in the
world with just a few dollars, or even a few cents, just think of how
much more could be done with the hundreds of billions, or with the
trillions of dollars spent around the world to produce weapons, or to
produce and consume narcotics, or to produce luxury goods, perhaps one
of the most terrible legacies they have passed down to humankind, and I
hope they will not last forever, these so-called consumer societies.

A world like he dreams of when fighting diseases, a world like we
dream of, a world like all of you dream of, is possible! Yes, it is
entirely possible, when people have the knowledge, the education and
the conscience needed to live and act with a true spirit of
brotherhood, with a true spirit of justice. And I would not consider it
to have been in vain, nor would I suffer from the enormous
embarrassment I feel at this moment for having talked for a bit longer
than I had promised myself, imposing on the patience of our visitors,
if these words I have spoken with all my heart, with the greatest
sincerity, and even, we could say, with passion, are remembered by you
from time to time.

Thank you very much.

(Standing ovation.)

Official Translation - New York, 19 May 2002


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