Reflections by Comrade Fidel
TO SLEEP WITH OPEN EYES
I took a good look at Obama in the famous “Summit
Meeting”. Sometimes he was overcome by tiredness, he unwillingly shut his eyes
but, at times, he slept with open eyes.
The Cartagena Summit was not a meeting of a trade
union of misinformed presidents, but a meeting among official representatives
of 33 countries of this hemisphere. The
overwhelming majority of them are asking for solutions to the most pressing
economic and social problems that affect the region with the most unequal
distribution of wealth in the world.
I do not wish to get ahead of the opinions of
millions of persons, capable of making and in-depth and objective analysis of
the problems affecting Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of a
globalized world, where a few has it all and the rest has nothing. The system imposed by imperialism in this
hemisphere, whatever its name, is worn out and unsustainable.
In the near future, humanity will have to cope, among
others, with the problems associated to climate change, security and the
production of food for the ever-growing world population.
Excessive rainfall is affecting both
Peoples expect political leaders to provide clear
answers to these problems.
Colombians, whose country hosted the disreputable
Summit, are a hardworking and self-sacrificing people who need, as much as all
others, the cooperation of their Latin American brothers and sisters who are,
in this case, the Venezuelans, Brazilians, Ecuadorians, Peruvians and others
capable of doing what the Yankees, with their sophisticated weapons, their
expansionism and their insatiable craving for material goods will never
do. The visionary formula stated by José
Martí is now more necessary than ever in history: “The trees must form ranks to
keep the giant with seven-league boots from passing! It is the time of
mobilization, of marching together, and we must go forward in close ranks, like
silver in the veins of the
Far off from the brilliant and lucid ideas of Bolivar
and Marti are the mulled over, sweetened and relentlessly reiterated words of
the illustrious Nobel laureate, expressed during a ridiculous tour around the
Colombian countryside, which I heard yesterday in the afternoon. They only served to remind us of the
Alliance for Progress’ speeches delivered
51 years ago, when the monstrous crimes that lashed this hemisphere had not
been committed as yet, where our country struggled not only for its right to
independence but also for its right to exist as a nation.
Obama spoke about the distribution of land. He did
not specify how much land would be distributed, when and how.
The Yankee transnationals will never give up their
control over the land, the water, the mines and the natural resources of our
countries. Their soldiers should vacate
the military bases; their troops should be withdrawn from each and every one of
our territories. They should renounce to
the unequal exchange and plundering of our nations.
Perhaps the Community of Latin American and
I think that the images about the
I leave aside the scandal caused by the misconduct
attributed to the members of the Secret Service responsible for guaranteeing
Obama’s personal security. I am under
the impression that the staff entrusted with that task is characterized by its
professionalism. This is what I saw
during my visit to the United Nations, while they were protecting the Heads of
States. They have, no doubt, protected
him from those who would not have hesitated to perpetrate an action against him
out of racial prejudice.
May Obama be able to sleep with eyes shut, if only
for a few hours, without having anyone saddling him with the job of delivering
a speech about the immortality of the crab at an unreal
Fidel Castro Ruz