[Marxism] Fidel united with Raul vs. joining OAS, supports him on freeing Cuban 5

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think this is a very important statement. Of course the reaffirmation of
the nearly 50-year old conclusion that the Cubans reached about the OAS:
that this is fundamentally an attempt to keep the Latin and Caribbean
countries from meeting without imperialist tutelage, the "niggers" who must
be kept from meeting behind the woodpile, out of sight of the white man.

On the attempt of the decaying Cuba lobby to block release of the 5 Cuban
fighters who were jailed for attempting to block terrorism against their
country: Let me note that the Cuban state has the unconditional right to
free prisoners at any moment and for any reason. They have no "right" to
remain in jail after the government decides to release them, whatever its
reasons for doing so. 

So an agreement, formal or informal, to release the 5 and for this to
coincide with the release of US front men in Cuban prisons, does not have to
depend in any way on the opinions the different groups of prisoners (the
Cuban heros in the US and the Cuban scum in Cuba's state prisons) about each
other. So the pose-striking by the counterrevolutionary exile Cuban Lobby
counts for exactly nothing. They cannot keep the 5 in jail if Obama decides
they should be released, and they cannot keep the reactionary prisoners in
jail in Cuba if the Cuban government decides otherwise.

Fidel's comments about the "threats" of the Cuba lobby to Obama should be
taken seriously  and not primarily in electoral terms where the lobby's
weight is at a low and still-declining point. Fidel has never accepted the
official version of the Kennedy assassination, and has always suspected that
Kennedy fell victim to his decisions not to go directly to war against Cuba
at the Bay of Pigs and in the October 1962 missile crisis. 

In my opinion, it is ill-advised to exclude the possibility that he is right
about this, and that Obama is being threatened with more than bad PR.

In any case, a decision to free the 5 is within his reach. It is a decision
of policy, tactics, strategy and conscience which he must make one way or
the other.
Fred Feldman

Reflections by Comrade Fidel
Pontius Pilate Washed His Hands

http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2009/ing/c230409i.html
Pressure against the U.S. blockade of Cuba was so great that on the day 
Raúl categorically declared that our country would not join the OAS, the 
secretary of the discredited institution began to prepare the terrain 
for Cuba?s participation in an eventual future Summit of the Americas. 
His recipe is to abolish the resolution which decided the expulsion of 
the Island for ideological reasons. Such an argument is truly laughable 
when important countries such as China and Vietnam, which the world 
today cannot do without, are being lead by Communist parties that were 
created on the same ideological foundations. 

Historical events prove the hegemonic policies of the United States in 
our region and the disgusting role of the OAS as the hideous instrument 
of the powerful country.

Insulza?s formula consists of wiping the criminal agreement off the 
map. Raúl declared in Cumaná that Cuba would never rejoin the OAS. 
Using Marti?s scathing phrase, he expressed that first ?the Southern sea 
would join the Northern sea, and a serpent would be born from the 
eagle?s egg?.

At that same occasion, in response to an alleged gesture by Obama which 
offered a conversation with Cuba about democracy and human rights, he 
replied that the government of Cuba was willing to discuss any subject 
on the basis of the most absolute respect for the equality and 
sovereignty of both countries. Our country knows full well the meaning 
and dignity of those words. 

Among Obama?s public demands is the liberation of those imprisoned for 
their treacherous services to the United States which, during almost 
half a century, has been assaulting and blockading our Homeland. 

Raúl stated that Cuba was willing to show clemency if the United States 
would receive them and if it would free the five Cuban anti-terrorist 
heroes. 

However, both the government of the United States and the maggot?s nest 
inside and outside of Cuba have reacted with all kinds of arrogance.

AP and other cable news agencies have suggested divisions in the heart 
of our revolutionary leadership.

According to AP, ?a prominent human rights activist? said that ?most of 
the two hundred Cuban prisoners prefer serving long sentences on the 
Island rather than being exchanged for five Communist agents being held 
in prisons in the United States, as President Raúl Castro has 
suggested. 

?It is practically unanimous among the prisoners that they not be 
exchanged for soldiers who were arrested red-handed spying in the United 
States?, the agency stated, citing the head of the ill-named ?Cuban 
Commission for Human Rights and Conciliation?. One would now have to 
see who they would classify with this concept. Pope John Paul II made 
no difference between political and ordinary prisoners when he visited 
Cuba, and he sought clemency for a number of them. Actually, the 
majority of those classified as ordinary prisoners in the United States 
are, generally speaking, the poorest and most discriminated against 
people.

?Nevertheless Obama ?AP later goes on to say? could suffer serious 
political consequences if he were to agree to the exchange of five 
Communist agents who were condemned for spying in 2001. The leader of 
the group was implicated in the deaths of four Cuban exiles when their 
planes were shot down by Cuban fighter planes in 2001.? Isn?t that 
cable an indirect threat to the president of the United States?

The alleged mercenary leader was a sectarian coming from the youth 
section of the former Communist Party that later joined the new party 
created by the Revolution. When we found ourselves in the necessity to 
disagree with the USSR for its incorrect decision to negotiate an 
agreement for the October [Missile] Crisis with the United States 
without first consulting our country, the individual became an enemy of 
the Revolution. He served the superpower during the entire Bush term in 
office. Now he is enjoying the privilege of being instrumental in 
threatening Obama.

AP says not one word about the life sentences passed on the Five Heroes 
in cooked trials, the lies concocted with the complicity of the 
authorities, the cruel treatment they have received and many more 
details related to the case. Those are the slanderous rumors being 
printed in much of the news media throughout the world. 

Whenever the state of health of any of the mercenaries warrants it, the 
government of Cuba has never failed to show clemency, without the United 
States having to demand it.

On the other hand, the government of Cuba never used torture, something 
that is acknowledged by the world. The president of Cuba cannot order 
the assassination of an adversary. Has the new U.S. president condemned 
that horrible practice? If he does so, believe me that I shall not 
hesitate to acknowledge the impression of sincerity he gave all of us at 
the beginning.

Tomorrow we shall be meeting again with Daniel. In less time than he had 
to wait in the LACSA plane under the intense tropical heat in Port of 
Spain, the Cuban plane will return him to his beloved homeland. 

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 23, 2009
2:54 p.m.



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