[Marxism] INTERVIEW: Cuban Ambassador to Zimbabwe

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

("Zimbabwe and Cuba share unique experiences, as they are both under
siege from some Western nations opposed to their policies. Can you
tell our readers how Cuba has managed to cope with the 50-year US
blockade, and the lessons Zimbabwe can draw from your experiences?"

("First of all, we do not want to give any lessons to anybody, we
believe our experiences are unique and everybody has their own
experiences.

("Of course, in the case of Cuba you know that since the triumph of the
Cuban revolution, we implemented a socialist system in Cuba. It's a
system that is supported by the majority of the Cuban people, but on
the other hand, we know that for our people it's a matter of
sovereignty to support our system.")
==================================================================

http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200704140038.html


Western Terror Acts in Cuba Mirror Those in Zim

The Herald (Harare)
INTERVIEW
April 14, 2007
Posted to the web April 14, 2007
Harare

THE illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States and the EU have 
caused so much suffering, which is why they have received widespread 
condemnation, with the latest denunciation coming at the Extra-ordinary Summit 
of Sadc Heads of State and Government in Tanzania. Despite this consensus, the 
West has not responded to the calls, the same way it has ignored the consensus 
in the UN General Assembly against the illegal blockade on Cuba. The Herald 
caught up with Cuban Ambassador MR COSME TORRES ESPINOSA to talk about these 
and other issues.

Ambassador Espinosa, you have been in Zimbabwe for almost two years now, how 
has been your stay, and the state of Zim-Cuba relations?

As I said before, our embassy staff have been busy over the past two years, 
especially me because I am the ambassador, but we are very glad, I am very 
happy because the state of relations between Cuba and Zimbabwe is 
strengthening. We now have excellent relations, of course it's not something 
unusual, first of all because we are comrades, secondly because we share the 
same position for our people but also because we share common positions in 
international issues.

The relations between Cuba and Zimbabwe date back to the days of Zimbabwe's 
struggle for independence, and from the very beginning Cuba supported Zimbabwe 
in the struggle and even after the struggle for liberation Cuba offered to come 
to the assistance of Zimbabwe. As you know more than 3 000 Zimbabweans 
graduated from a programme that was sponsored by Cuba and every year we have 
offered scholarships to the Government of Zimbabwe.

In all these years we developed co-operation with Zimbabwe in the field of 
health, medical brigades of Cuban doctors have been working here in Zimbabwe 
for many, many years. Right now, for example, we have a group of doctors, 59 
Cuban doctors, that have finished their tour of duty after two years working 
here and next week a new group of 140 Cuban doctors will be arriving.

What is the level of co-operation in the area of trade for instance?

One area that we do not have a high level of co-operation is trade, I think one 
of the reasons, of course, is that Zimbabwe has traditional commercial partners 
and Cuba also has traditional partners, I think this is one issue we can work 
on for the future.

Despite the 50-year embargo, Cuba has still managed to help other countries in 
various sectors, how do you manage to do that given the Western siege?

As you know for our government and our people, the main resource of course is 
our people, for many years since the triumph of the revolution, we prepared 
many professionals with the idea not only that they will work in Cuba but also 
with the idea of helping other countries, 1951 was the year the first group of 
Cuban doctors came to Algeria to help there, and since that time more than 130 
000 Cuban doctors have been working in almost 100 different countries. Right 
now we have more than 20 000 Cuban doctors working in 69 countries, also all 
these years we received many young people from Africa, Latin America, from the 
Caribbean, in Cuba they received degrees and are ready to help their countries.

Zimbabwe and Cuba share unique experiences, as they are both under siege from 
some Western nations opposed to their policies. Can you tell our readers how 
Cuba has managed to cope with the 50-year US blockade, and the lessons Zimbabwe 
can draw from your experiences?

First of all, we do not want to give any lessons to anybody, we believe our 
experiences are unique and everybody has their own experiences.

Of course, in the case of Cuba you know that since the triumph of the Cuban 
revolution, we implemented a socialist system in Cuba. It's a system that is 
supported by the majority of the Cuban people, but on the other hand, we know 
that for our people it's a matter of sovereignty to support our system.

Tied to the sanctions is the question of economic hardships, primarily 
inflation, what is the situation like in Cuba?

I do not know the exact figure of our inflation in Cuba but let me tell you 
that in the 1990s after the fall of the former Soviet Union, the socialist 
countries in Europe, we faced a very harsh economic situation in Cuba, we even 
call that time, a special period, in fact it was a second blockade of Cuba 
because we lost our commercial partners, our friends and so on, so all those 
years the economy of Cuba regressed by 34 percent, but we managed to continue 
developing our economy mainly because at that moment we managed to develop some 
sectors such as tourism. For example last year our tourism sector received 2,2 
million tourists, we also managed to develop our biotechnology sector and 
pharmaceutical sector, right now they are exporting to 150 countries. Also all 
these years government was committed to continue developing social programmes, 
and mainly to keep the cultural levels, the educational levels of the whole 
population.

As in Zimbabwe, one of Commandant Castro's enduring legacies is the investment 
made in the social services, that is health and education, how has your country 
managed to maintain the high standards in the face of American subversion?

It's not an easy task, for example because of the blockade this year, the 
damage to our economy cost the Cuban people US$86 billion, as I said before the 
commitment of our government was to develop free educational systems, health 
care systems, not only for Cuba but also for helping other countries. On the 
other hand, from the very beginning of the revolution, we realised it was very 
important for the Cuban people to have a high cultural level, that is why in 
1961 we eradicated illiteracy in Cuba, that's why after that we committed ninth 
class finish for everybody in Cuba, that's why we have more than one university 
in every province in Cuba. So I think that the real important aspect is the 
social one that needs to use every cent that we get from our economy for the 
development of the Cuban people.

And the question of brain drain, are you not losing a lot of your trained 
professionals to other countries, if not how do you manage to retain them?

One of the first tasks of the US government after the triumph of the Cuban 
revolution was to drain our professionals, in 1959 we had 6 000 doctors for a 
population at that time of around seven million people. Three thousand of them 
left for the United States so we decided that we need to prepare our own 
professionals, and in the face of the American blockade now we have 70 000 
Cuban doctors. However, as I said one of the important issues was to develop 
professionals in Cuba so we have in Latin America, one of the highest levels of 
professionals in every discipline, along with professionals skills they also 
get ideological understanding.

Cubans are also bombarded by negative images in the Western media, but these 
appear to have failed to sway Cubans given the support the government enjoys. 
How have you managed to cope with Western propaganda?

Well, propaganda works very well in cases where people have low levels of 
culture, and have dreams of something that is not reachable for them in their 
country. In Cuba the majority of people know that they can realise their dreams 
inside Cuba. To the majority of the Cuban people, it's also very clear that 
this propaganda is for the benefit of Western countries, our people are very 
well informed.

Only the US, Israel and the Marshall Islands endorse the US embargo in the 
General Assembly, but we have seen the UN fail to act on that consensus. You 
recently announced that you would move a motion in the General Assembly for the 
lifting of the sanctions. Why do you maintain faith in the UN, when it has 
apparently failed to act in the past?

First of all let me tell you, you are using the term embargo but it's not 
embargo, it's a blockade, a total blockade economically and politically, and in 
some cases even using other measures like terrorists for example. For 15 years 
we have pressed for the lifting of the blockade, of course the blockade is 
still in place, and even the Bush administration is trying to tighten it with 
the so-called Plan Bush that is only a plan for the annexation of Cuba. In fact 
this policy is trying to defeat the Cuban revolution by starvation, by 
suffering. The blockade has measures that try to get other countries to work 
for the benefit of the United States

What is your relationship with the EU bloc that votes against the sanctions in 
the UN but backs the US out of it?

Traditionally, we have normal relations with many European countries, 
unfortunately in the last five, six years they put in place a common position 
of European countries against Cuba, this is a standard position. However, as 
you said, in the UN they are against the blockade but on the other hand they 
are criticising the Cuban system.

In the case of human rights they are accusing us of having human rights 
violations, but of course they are not accusing the US which has caused mass 
human rights violations on the Cuban people with the blockade. We are ready to 
have normal relations with any country even the United States but we are only 
asking for respect for Cuba, we will not accept having any conditions to having 
normal relations.

Only last month the minister of foreign affairs of Spain visited Cuba, we 
restarted relations and co-operation with Spain because there were no 
conditions.

The US sponsors opposition political activities in countries it targets for 
illegal regime change, what is the situation like in Cuba?

The same way, in our case we have the so-called opposition, dissidents and 
there are some groups being fully supported by the government of the United 
States, and when I say fully supported I do not mean only politically, I mean 
also financially. They are receiving funds every year; by the way with this 
Plan Bush the US says it will give, every year, US$20 million towards defeating 
the Cuban revolution.

All these years, many, many millions were wasted in trying to defeat the Cuban 
revolution. So these groups receive training, they are trained by the US, the 
US interferes in the internal affairs of Cuba openly, they train these groups 
even in Cuba within their diplomatic residences and offer them full support in 
trying to organise them against the Cuban government?

What about terrorist activities, for instance the recent spate of opposition 
violence in Zimbabwe, do you that in Cuba?

Yes, because of terrorist actions more than 3 000 Cubans have died over the 
years, terrorist actions are organised by Cuban-American groups based mainly in 
Florida, the United States. Many of them receive support and were trained by 
the CIA that's the case for example of Posada Carrilles he is the mastermind of 
the bombing of one Cuban airline, more than 70 people died because of that 
bombing.

Posada Carrilles entered the United States in 2005, illegally, they apprehended 
him, but now they have given freedom to Carilles.

He is a man that the FBI, even the CIA recognised as a dangerous man, because 
of Carilles actions five young Cubans have been in jail in the United States 
for more than five years, because they were trying to prevent these terrorist 
activities against Cuba.

What happened in Zimbabwe of course is similar to what the groups based in 
Florida have done in Cuba, they put many bombs in some hotels in Cuba. They 
were trying to prevent tourists from coming to Cuba, and also to generate 
political instability in Cuba, so I see the same pattern in Zimbabwe.

Copyright  2007 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica 
Global Media (allAfrica.com).


Walter Lippmann
Havana, Cuba
"Un paraiso bajo el bloqueo"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
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