"Today, Cubans around the world celebrate May 20th, Cuban Independence Day. On behalf of the people of the United States, I send greetings to the Cuban community. My hope is for the Cuban people to soon enjoy the same freedoms and rights that we do. Dictatorships have no place in the Americas. May God bless the Cuban people, who are struggling for freedom. Thank you".

Of course, it had to be yesterday that the subversive, perfidious radio station, to which they have offensively given the name of José Martí, went on air with four new frequencies and, under the tolerant eye of U.S. authorities, a notorious Miami terrorist flew off the 12 mile limit along the sea corridor between Boca de Jaruco and Matanzas, testing TV broadcasts to Cuba in shameless violation of the existing international regulations on such matters. Of course, an individual such as he and others who are in the service of the U.S. government will never do time in the outrageous cages where citizens from dozens of countries are locked up, with no regard for law or custom, in the Cuban territory of Guantánamo, forcibly occupied by the United States.

In addition to the above, and as a special surprise from the Bush administration, closely guarded as a great war secret, the TV signal went on air from six to eight in the evening over channels and systems used by Cuba in several provinces for educational, news or recreational programming.

In fact, those broadcasts were no technical feat to be proud of as very few people heard their noises.

The U.S. government should not forget that Cuban radio could be heard on medium wave in many U.S. states.

Is this by any chance another blatant and rude provocation against Cuba?

On the other hand, an AFP wire datelined Washington yesterday said that "George W. Bush’s government had not yet completed its ongoing review of its Cuba policy to respond to the recent repression of dissidence, Republican congresspersons Lincoln and Mario Diaz Balart and Ileana Ros Lehtinen announced Tuesday."

As we all remember, they were the same who along with the U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic, intimate friends of the brilliant Mr. Bush and of "Baby" Jeb of the same last name and the governor of Florida, recently said that after Iraq, Cuba would be next.

Our fellow Cubans can appreciate just how extraordinarily honest and merciful was the U.S. government’s message to the Cuban people, how incredibly patriotic are those they call "dissidents" who, up to their necks in the empire’s dollars, struggle for Cuba’s freedom and independence.

The big bad wolves disguised as grannies are not fooling anybody nor will they be able to. If Mr. Bush does not know, yet, what measures to take, the Cuban people have absolutely no doubts about their duty. Such sugary and cynical maneuvers will not persuade anybody that Cuba is not in danger.

Nor have those who gobble up Little Red Riding Hoods abandoned the idea of keeping the Damocles sword of economic measures and others of a similar punitive nature against the Revolution hanging over our heads. All measures announced or foreseen as possible options to tighten the blockade and strangle our economy have been analyzed. None of them will have the success they expect.

We simply do not believe them when now, trying to make amends for their stupid threats, they allege that all options other than an invasion are being considered. They said the same thing after the mercenary invasion by the Bay of Pigs and before the 1962 October Crisis, while as of March 1962 they already had drawn up and approved more than 15 pretexts (to invade) that seemed the output of a veritable Olympiad of cynicism, vileness and infamy.

Nor do we believe them when they say they are worried about possible massive exodus, something they in fact are trying to provoke.

Their economic blockade, their efforts to create additional difficulties of that nature, their murderous Cuban Adjustment Act and their shameful threats to do the same thing in Cuba as they did in Iraq only serve to increase the number of potential emigrants in Cuba. The aim of such provocations, as we know only too well from both private and public statements by major ringleaders of the Miami terrorist Mob and the extreme right, is to cause incidents that could be used as pretexts for an attack against our people.

Of the select group of 11 who were invited to celebrate the ill-fated and shameful date of May 20 at the White House, three are well-known terrorists:

1. Eusebio de Jesús Peñalver Mazorra. U.S. authorities in California arrested him on December 12, 1995 —in Clinton’s days—when he was involved in preparations for an armed raid against Cuba and a cachet of weapons in his possession was seized. He is linked to terrorist Luis Posada Carriles who is in jail in Panama for his plan to explode 48 kilograms of dynamite in a students meeting which the President of the Cuban Council of State was scheduled to attend.
2. Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez. In 1999, he was involved in a plan to assassinate President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez. He traveled to Venezuela during the 7^th Ibero-American Summit on Margarita Island to try and carry out actions against the Cuban delegation. On the same occasion, close to Puerto Rico, the U.S. Coastguard seized a boat headed for Margarita Island carrying two .50 caliber rifles with telescopic sights, which were to be used to assassinate the head of the delegation, Comrade Fidel. Leaders of the Cuban-American National Foundation were the owners of both the rifles and the boat. Despite this being a proven fact, those involved were acquitted thanks to the leverage of and pressure from the Miami terrorist Mob.
3. Ángel Francisco D’fana Serrano. A counterrevolutionary, who served a prison sentence in Cuba for his direct participation in terrorist actions.

Although these men spoke very confidentially with Mr. Bush, you can be sure that, given the composition of the group, he did not tell them anything about his intimate plans and his commitment to get rid of the Cuban head of state, which he made with the leaders of the Cuban-American Mob that so diligently and through fraud raised him to the presidency of the United States.

However, they should be in no hurry to believe that the dangers lying in wait and their sinister plans could keep the Cuban people and their leaders sleepless. Cuba’s fundamental concern does not stem from problems associated with its own security. At the Bay of Pigs, during the 1962 October Crisis, when the European socialist camp and the USSR itself were falling to pieces and in the last 20 months since the atrocious attack on the American people in New York —which was turned into a source of hysteria, a pretext to threaten 60 or more nations with pre-emptive attacks and to strike remote and dark corners of the world with weapons of mass destruction, as sworn before a God who, according to the creator of this fundamentalist fantasy is not neutral— the world has been witness to the dignity and bravery of the Cuban people; a truly heroic people that, when many cowardly, mediocre and ignorant politicians were incapable of seeing that the terrifying reality of a Nazi-fascist tyranny was haunting the world, did not hesitate to denounce it. Those governments or individuals that keep a disgraceful silence in the face of such events fail to have the slightest moral authority to criticize a country like Cuba, which defends its most sacred rights. History will bury them along with their cowardice, their complicity and their lies!

The pictures of millions of men and women demanding their independence, freedom, respect for their religious and ethical values and the return of their resources conquered by force in a country invaded without any legal or moral justification, should be reasons enough to make sane political leaders come to their senses. Such problems will never be solved with bombing and missiles, tanks and guns, nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

Mr. Bush, the man behind the bombings of cities that when shown on television moved and shocked the world, leaving traces indelibly etched on the lives of millions of children, mothers and elders who suffered those attacks worthy of Dante’s inferno, promises that Cubans will soon be free and says that "dictatorships have no place in the Americas." This, fortunately, is absolutely true.

The American people will grow tired of his ridiculous ideas and his bigotry, which can lead, among other things, to economic and ecological catastrophes. Latin America and the Caribbean will never tolerate his plundering FTAA, which he wants to use to snatch their sovereignty and their resources away from them, and much less will they resign themselves to his Nazi-fascist world tyranny.

Mr. Bush: we extend our deepest gratitude to you for your amazing kindness and your infinite generosity to Cubans on this May 20, 2003. You will see the deep emotion and affection we shall display to welcome you to the land of Martí and Maceo, of Camilo and Che!