A reflection by Fidel Castro
Cuban
Radar Read Spanish Version
A
reflection by Fidel Castro
A
service by the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau
Titled
"The Powerlessness of the Powers," Fidel Castro published a
new reflection in Cuban media on Tuesday, July 15. This time he
commented on the failure of the "Summit of the leaders from the
eight most industrial powers of the planet" that took place in
early July in Japan.
According
to Castro, in the Summit’s final declaration "the G-8 industrial
powers proclaimed that a great concession had been made: the United
States, and with it the other members of the group, had committed to
reduce the requested emission of gasses, by 2050, in 42 years! That
is, in a month of Sundays. None of the critical problems that caused
such a strange summit had been solved."
In
his most recent Reflection, the Cuban leader included several
complaints made by international organizations and news media about
world problems, some of them not even mentioned at the Summit.
"Each
day new and even greater, thorny problems crop up in our world and
wear out the ability of Heads of State and Governments for dealing
with them," continued Castro.
"I
am not criticizing, just making an observation. Human beings can not
be expected to have supernatural faculties."
Fidel
concluded his reflection by saying that "Optimism will always
prevail. There is no other way."
Seminar
on the Cuban Revolution
The
"50th
Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution", a seminar sponsored by the
Office of the Martí Program, was held at the Hotel Nacional de
Cuba, July 14-16. Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, member of the
Cuban Communist Party’s Politburo and Speaker of the parliament,
delivered the keynote address during the inaugural session at the
University of Havana’s Auditorium.
"Cuba
has struggled for half a century defending a truly democratic
political system against the pathetic absurdity of a powerful country
that has attempted to impose the political model of ‘representative
democracy’."
Alarcón
reminded all how Cubans have resisted "a criminal economic
blockade and aggressions of all kind, and we have defended ourselves
in the face of an idea of an alleged value of the so called
‘representative democracy’, that as thinkers of old have said, is
neither former nor latter."
Alarcón
reflected that before the appearance of that invention of democracy
whose very own inventors have reduced to a joke, it had been
submitted to demolishing criticism of those who considered it false
since there is only room in it for the very rich and the great masses
of the poor are excluded.
"If
our socialism is democratic, if our democracy is direct and
participative — even if we have not reached perfection –, if it
grants the people a growing role in decision making, it is precisely
because it is reaping the fruits of our revolutionary and
independence fighters’ tradition."
New
bill will be debated by workers
Beginning
September 1, debates on a new Social Security bill will be held in
workplaces around Cuba, according to a resolution voted on by the
Cuban parliament. Discussions will extend until October and
recommendations and critiques heard during the meetings will be taken
into account at the parliament’s final debates and voting.
Meanwhile,
in order to refine debating process, union leaders, who will head
discussions, began their preparations. According to Salvador Valdés
Mesa, member of the Cuban Communist Party’s Politburo and Secretary
General of the Cuban Workers’ Central Union, "The labor movement
is responsible for organizing and holding this popular consultation
of the bill with all the country’s workers, as the National Assembly
of Popular Power (parliament) agreed to, and transform it into
another act of genuine Cuban participative democracy."
Prospecting
and extraction of oil continues to grow
The
exploratory drilling of five new oil wells from land to sea in East
Havana, Cojímar, Alamar, Bacuranao and Tarará has just
begun, according to Cuba Petróleo Corporation (CUPET).
Although they are located at the so called "heavy crude North
belt", CUPET believes that it can find lighter oil with less
sulfur content and a higher market value. The oil reserve in this
area will make the City of Havana the third highest yielding
location, after Matanzas and Havana province. National production
supplies almost half of the present demand for oil in Cuba.
Cuba-U.S.
scientific collaboration
U.S.
and Cuban archeologists restarted a joint research project at the
Chorro de Maíta aboriginal site near Banes, province of
Holguín, one of the largest and best preserved in the
Caribbean. In June, experts from the University of Alabama and the
Chorro de Maíta Museum continued the program in search of
material marks in order to delve, among other details, into the food
customs of that aboriginal population. Research, which began last
year, is headed by Dr. Vernon James Knight, of the University of
Alabama, and Cuban archeologist Roberto Valcárcel Rojas.
