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Re: [Marxism] Fidel: Obama misinterpreted my brother's remarks


Far better to read what Fidel actually said that AP's take on it. The complete
text is here:http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2009/0422reflexionfidel.htm
The relevant section follows; I particularly like the quote from Daniel Ortega:
Jake, one of the journalists, said thanks to the
President and added that in Port of Spain the President
had listened
to many Latin American leaders who want the US to lift
the embargo
against Cuba. The journalist reminded the President he
had said that
was an important influence that should not be
eliminated. But he
added that in 2004 the President did support the
lifting of the
embargo. He reminded the President he had said that the
embargo had
not managed to raise the standards of living, that it
had squeezed
the innocent, and that it was high time for the US to
recognize that
that particular policy had failed. The journalist
wondered what made
the President change his opinion with regards to the
embargo.



The President responded that the year 2004 seemed to
be thousands of years ago, and wondered what he himself
was doing in
2004.


The journalist answered that back then he was running
for the Senate. The President added that the fact that
Raul Castro
had said his government was ready to talk with the US
government not
only about the lifting of the embargo but also about
other issues,
namely, human rights and political prisoners, was a
signal of
progress. He said there were some things the Cuban
government could
do. He added that Cuba could release the political
prisoners, reduce
the surcharge imposed on remittances, which will
correspond with the
policies that they have applied, whereby Cuban-American
families are
allowed to send remittances. He said that it so
happened that Cuba
applies a very high surcharge. He said that Cuba is
exacting
significant profits. He added that this would be an
example of
cooperation where both governments would be working to
help the
Cuban family and improve the living standards in Cuba.


There is no doubt that the President misinterpreted
Raul’s statements.


When the President of Cuba said he was ready to
discuss any topic with the US President, he meant he
was not afraid
of addressing any issue. That shows his courage and
confidence on
the principles of the Revolution. No one should feel
astonished that
Raul spoke about pardoning those who were convicted on
March, 2003,
and about sending them all to the United States, should
that country
be willing to release the Five Cuban Anti-Terrorism
Heroes. The
convicts, as was already the case with the Bay of Pig’s
mercenaries,
are at the service of a foreign power that threatens
and blockades
our homeland.


Besides, the assertion that Cuba imposes a very high
surcharge and obtains significant profits is an attempt
by the
President’s advisors to cause trouble and division
among Cubans.
Every country charges a certain amount for all hard
currency
transfers. If those are made in dollars, all the more
reason we have
to do it, because that is the currency of the country
that blockades
us. Not all Cubans have relatives abroad that could
send them
remittances. Redistributing a relatively small part of
them to
benefit those more in need of food, medicines and other
goods is
absolutely fair. Our homeland does not have the
privilege of
converting the money minted by the State into hard
currency
-something the Chinese very often call “junk money”- as
I have
explained on several occasions, which has been one of
the causes of
the present economic crisis. With what money the US is
bailing out
its banks and multinationals, while plunging future
generations of
Americans into indebtedness? Would Obama be ready to
discuss those
issues?


Daniel Ortega stated it very clearly when he
remembered the first conversation he had with Carter,
which today I
will once more repeat:


“I had the opportunity to meet with President Carter,
and when he told me that now, after the Somozas’
tyranny had been
ousted, and the Nicaraguan people had defeated the
Somozas’ tyranny,
it was high time ‘for Nicaragua to change’, I said:
‘No, Nicaragua
does not need to change; you are the ones that need to
change.
Nicaragua has never invaded the United States.
Nicaragua has never
mined the US ports. Nicaragua has never launched a
single stone
against the American nation. Nicaragua has not imposed
any
government on the United States. You are the ones that
need to
change, not the Nicaraguans.’ ”


At the press conference, as well as in the final
meetings of the Summit, Obama looked conceited. Such
attitude by the
US President was consistent with the abject positions
adopted by
some Latin American leaders. Some days ago I said that
whatever was
said and done at the Summit will be known anyway.


When the US President said, in answering to Jake,
that thousands of years had elapsed since 2004 until
the present, he
was superficial. Should we wait for so many years
before his
blockade is lifted? He did not invent it, but he
embraced it just as
much as the previous ten US presidents did. Should he
continue down
that same path, we could predict he would face a sure
fiasco, just
as all his predecessor did. That is not the dream
entertained by
Martin Luther King, whose role in the struggle for
human rights will
ever more illuminate the American people’s path.
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