[Marxism] The Trojan Horse (Fidel on the OAS debate on Cuba)

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following is Fidel's excellent comment on the debate at the OAS meeting in 
Honduras, which repudiated the exclusion of Cuba from the OAS in 1962 for being 
anti-capitalist (Marxist-Leninist) but accepted some US "compromise" language 
which could be used to impose a "human rights" vetting process on Cuba should 
they decide to rejoin.

Part of the excellence of the piece is Fidel's selection of fine quotations 
from participants in the meeting such as Rafael Correa of Ecuador.
Fred Feldman



Reflections by Comrade Fidel
THE TROJAN HORSE

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador, in a visit to Honduras on the eve of the 
OAS meeting stated: âI think that the OAS has lost its reason to exist; 
perhaps it never had a reason to exist.â The news carried by ANSA adds that 
Correa âpredicted âthe deathâ of that organization because of the many 
errors it had committedâ.

He stated âthat because of geographic conditions the countries on the 
American continent cannot âall be lumped togetherâ, and for that reason 
several months ago Ecuador proposed the creation of the Organization of Latin 
American States. 

ââIt is not possible that the regionâs problems are discussed in 
Washington; let us make something that is our own, without countries alien to 
our culture, to our values, obviously including counties that were inexplicably 
separated from the inter-American system, and I refer to the specific case of 
Cubaâit was a real embarrassment and shows the double standards existing in 
international relationsââ. Upon his arrival in Honduras, both President 
Zelaya and Correa declared that âthe OAS ought to be reformed and 
reincorporate Cuba or it would have to disappearâ.

Another dispatch from the DPA Agency states:

âReintegrating Cuba into the Organization of American Status (OAS) has moved 
from being a subject per se of the General Assembly of the body in the Honduran 
city of San Pedro Sula to become, yet again, the excuse for a struggle of 
interests that go far beyond the limits of the Caribbean island and could 
question (again) the state of hemispheric relations

âThe president of Venezuela, Hugo ChÃvez, put it perfectly clear when he 
described the hemispheric meeting starting this Tuesday in Honduras in quasi 
military terms. 

âIt will be, he said, an âinteresting battleâ where if it is shown that 
the OAS âcontinues to be a ministry of the coloniesâ which isnât changing 
to âsubordinate itself to the will of the governments making it upâ, it 
will be necessary to consider âexitingâ from the body and creating another 
alternative.â

ââLatin America is making Cuba the litmus test for the sincerity of the 
Obama administrationâs true rapprochementâ in the region, Julia Sweig, the 
Cuba expert of the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington, declared to 
âThe Washington Postâ on the eve of the encounter in Honduras.â

By resisting the aggressions of the most powerful empire ever to exist, our 
people struggled for the other sister nations of this continent. The OAS was an 
accomplice to all the crimes committed against Cuba. 

At one time or another, every one of the Latin American countries was victim of 
interventions and politic and economic aggressions. There is not one that could 
deny it. It is naÃve to think that the good intentio ns of a president of the 
United States could justify the existence of that institution that opened the 
doors to the Trojan horse that supported the Summits of the Americas, 
neoliberalism, drug- trafficking, military bases and economic crises. 
Ignorance, underdevelopment, economic dependency, poverty, the forced return of 
those who emigrate in search of jobs, the brain drain, and even the 
sophisticated weapons of organized crime were the consequences of the 
interventions and pillage coming from the North. Cuba, a tiny country, has 
demonstrated that it is possible to resist the blockade and move forward in 
many areas, even to cooperate with other countries. 

The speech given today by President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras at the OAS 
General Assembly contains principles that may go down in history. He said 
admirable things about his own country. I shall limit myself to what he said 
about Cuba. 

ââAt the Assembly of the Organization of American States starting today in 
San Pedro Sula, Honduras, we must initiate the process of making wise repairs 
to old errors committed. 

âWe, Latin Americans here present, a short while ago, a few weeks or months 
ago, had a great summit meeting of the Rio Group in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. 
There we entered into a commitment. That commitment, taken down in writing and 
by the unanimity of all of Latin America, is that in this San Pedro Sula 
assembly, by majority of votes or by consensus, that old and time-worn error 
committed in 1962 to expe l the people of Cuba from this organization should be 
redressed.

âMy fellow dignitaries, we should not leave this assembly without abolishing 
the decree of that eighth meeting which sanctioned an entire people for having 
proclaimed its socialist ideas and principles, the very same principles that 
today are being practiced everywhere in the world, including in the United 
States and in Europe (Applause). Today, the principles of seeking different 
development alternatives are evident in the change that has occurred in the 
United States with the election of President Barack Obamaâ

âWe cannot leave this assembly without redressing that error and that infamy 
because based on this OAS resolution which is now more than four decades old, 
this sister nation of Cuba has been kept under an unfair and useless blockade, 
precisely because it hasnât served any purpose, but it has indeed shown that 
over there, a few miles away from our country, on a small island, there are a 
people ready to resist and sacrifice for their independence and sovereignty. 

ââto not do so would make us accomplices of a resolution in 1962 to expel a 
state of the Organization of American States simply because it espouses other 
ideas, other thoughts, and because it proclaims the principles of a different 
democracy. And we are not going to be accomplices to that.

ââWe cannot leave this assembly without abolishing what was done in that 
era. 

âJosà Cecilio del20Valle, an exceptional Honduran and one of our national 
heroes, who was called âWise Man Valleâ in our country, said on April 17, 
1826, in his famous article âSovereignty and Non-interventionâ âwe had 
just declared our independence from Spain: âThe nations of the world are 
independent and sovereign. Whatever their territorial size or the number of 
inhabitants, a nation must treat others in the same way it wishes to be treated 
by them. A nation does not have the right to intervene in the internal affairs 
of another nation.ââ

With these words spoken by Cecilio del Valle and mentioning Mahatma Gandhi, 
Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, MorazÃn, MartÃ, Sandino 
and BolÃvar, he concluded his address. 

Minutes later, at the press conference following the opening of the assembly, 
he answered questions and reiterated principles. He then gave the floor to 
Daniel Ortega who was the author of one of the most profound and articulated 
presentations at the OAS assembly. By invitation of Zelaya, the following also 
spoke: President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay and Rigoberta MenchÃ, both 
expressing themselves in the same vein as Zelaya and Daniel. 

The assembly has been in session for hours. At the moment I am finishing this 
Reflection, practically night-time, there is still no news of the decision. We 
know that Zelayaâs speech had an influence. ChÃvez chats with Maduro and 
urges him to be firm on the fact that no resolut ion can be passed that places 
conditions on the repeal of the unfair sanction against Cuba. Never had so much 
rebellion been seen. It is certainly a tough battle. Many countries depend on 
the index finger of the hand of the U.S. government, the one pointing to the 
Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank or any other 
outfit to punish rebellion. Having waged this battle is in itself a heroic deed 
of those who are the most rebellious. The date of June 2, 2009 will be 
remembered by future generations. 

Cuba is no enemy to peace, nor is it reluctant to exchanges or cooperation 
between countries with different political systems, but it has been and will be 
uncompromising in its defense of its principles. 


Fidel Castro Ruz
June 2, 2009
6:56 p.m.
end




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