REFLECTIONS BY COMRADE FIDEL
THE
UNITED STATES' HEMISPHERIC RESPONSE: A FOURTH INTERVENTION FLEET
It had come into being in 1943 as a means of combating Nazi submarines
and protecting navigation routes during the Second World War. It was
decommissioned in 1950, when it became superfluous. The South Command was
designed to meet the United
States' hegemonic needs in our region at the
time. After 48 years, however, it has recently been resurrected, and its
interventionist aims need not be proved: U.S. military chiefs themselves
divulge these in their declarations in a natural, spontaneous, at times
discrete fashion. Overwhelmed by problems with food prices, energy, unequal
trade, the economic recession which affects the most important market their
products have; inflation, climate change and the investments required to
satisfy their consumer dreams, they mismanage the time and energy of leaders
and subordinates alike.
Truth
is the decision to reassemble the Fourth Fleet was announced the first week of
April, almost a month after the Ecuadorian territory was attacked with U.S. bombs and technology and when, owing to U.S. pressures
citizens of different countries were killed or wounded. This was vigorously
condemned by Latin American leaders at the Rio Group meeting held in the Dominican Republic's
capital.
But
worst still is that this is taking place at a time when the dismemberment of Bolivia encouraged by the United States
meets with nearly unanimous condemnation. U.S.
military chiefs themselves have explained they will be responsible for over 30
countries and for covering 15.6 million square miles of neighboring waters in
both Central and South America, the Caribbean Sea and its 12 islands, Mexico and the European territories this side of
the Atlantic.
The United States
has 10 Nimitz aircraft carriers whose
parameters, more or less similar, are the following: maximum load capacity of
between 101 and 104 thousand tons; 999-feet-long and 230.4-feet-wide deck; 2
nuclear reactors; maximum speed of 35 miles/hour; capacity for 90 war planes.
The last to be commissioned bears the name of George H.W. Bush, the current president's father. It has already
been baptized with a bottle of champagne by the progenitor himself and should
be ready to join the other vessels in coming months.
No
other country in the world can boast of a vessel like these, equipped with
sophisticated nuclear weapons, able to get within a few miles of any of our
countries. The next aircraft carrier to be commissioned, the USS Gerald Ford, will be a new type of
vessel which employs stealth technologies that cannot be detected by radars and
electromagnetic weapons. The main manufacturer of the two types of vessels is
Northrop Grumman, whose current president is also a member of the board of directors
of the U.S.
oil company Chevron-Texaco. The last Nimitz
cost six million dollars. This did not include the cost of the planes,
projectiles or operations, which can reach figures in the billions. It sounds
like a science fiction story. With that money, the lives of millions of
children could have been saved.
What
is the declared objective of the 4th Fleet? "To combat
terrorism and illegal activities such as drug trafficking", not to mention
sending a message to Venezuela
and the rest of the region. It has been announced that it will begin operations
next July 1st.
Head
of the South Command U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavrides has stated that the United States
needs to work harder in “the market of ideas, to win over the hearts and minds”
of the people in the region.
The United States has already deployed the Second,
Third, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh fleets in the Western Atlantic, Eastern
Pacific, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Eastern Atlantic and Western Pacific
Oceans. The Fourth Fleet
was needed to patrol all the seas worldwide. The United States has a total of nine Nimitz aircraft carriers, active or
nearly ready for combat, such as the George
H.W. Bush. It has sufficient reserves to triple or quadruple the power of
any of its fleets in a given theater of operations.
The
aircraft carriers and nuclear bombs our countries are threatened with serve to
spread terror and death, but not to combat terrorism and illegal activities.
They
should also serve to fill the empire's lackeys with shame and strengthen
solidarity among the peoples.
Fidel Castro Ruz
May 4, 2008
8:46 p.m.