QUE LINDA ES CUBA!

vol. 1, no. 18

We have a new friend. A wonderful and strong one! His name? Gerardo Hernandez. It sounds “Spanish”, of course; he is Cuban, like our friend Antonio Guerrero. Who is Gerardo? Who are they, both?

Former director of Cuban Affairs in the U.S. State Department (1977-1979); chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana (1979-1982), Wayne S. Smith, called - in The Nation (July 13, 2010)- , upon the U.S. Administration to “Free the Cuban Five!”: “They were members of the Cuban Intelligence Service who were sent to the United States not to spy on the US government or any of its entities but to penetrate certain Cuban exile organizations and gather information on terrorist activities they were carrying out against Cuba –information the Cubans would then provide to the FBI so that it could move to halt those activities. In June 1998 three FBI representatives were invited to Cuba to meet with Cuban counterparts. They returned with some sixty-four folders of pertinent information. The Cubans then waited for the United States to take action against the terrorists. But they waited in vain. Rather, the FBI, apparently able to determine from the evidence the identities of the sources, arrested the Cuban Five a few months later. In 2001 they went to trial in Miami, where anti-Castro sentiment was so strong there was no chance even of empanelling an impartial jury. Defense lawyers asked for a change of venue, arguing that without it, there could not be a fair trial. Incredibly, their request was denied.”

In this case, Gerardo Hernandez “was accused of conspiracy to commit murder [while) there was not a shred of evidence that [he] was in any way involved”.
(Photo General Consulate of Cuba in Montréal: May Day Demonstration in Habana, May 2010; also supporting the Cuban Five).



On June 7, 2010; The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Defence Secretary, during a face-to-face meeting with Lieutenant General James R. Clapper, - from U.S. Air Force-, asked the would-be director of national intelligence:
“Did you find any evidence indicating that Gerardo Hernandez was trying to obtain secret information?
Answer: No, not that I remember.”

Building a new Cuba

The story is not a “spy story”. The whole thing boils down to the protection of a nation all-out to build a new society. For the period 2011-2015, the Cuban Federation of Workers (CTC) declares: “Our state cannot nor should it continue to maintain businesses, production organisations and services with over inflated staff budgets, resulting in losses that weigh down the economy. They turn out to be counterproductive, generate bad habits and deform the conduct of workers. It is necessary to increase production and quality of services, reduce inflated social spending and eliminate bulky improper gratuities, excessive subsidies and study as a source of employment early retirement.”

“A matter of singular importance is salary. It is necessary to revitalise the principle of socialist distribution: to pay each according to the quantity and quality of work carried out. The system of remuneration for results, applied in workplaces with staff arranged more efficiently, will continue to be the way to lift productivity and, as a result of that, the income of the workers.”

One can read this declaration in the Communist Party of Canada’s newspaper, People’s Voice, October 1-15, 2010. This paper in the October 16-31 issue published a lengthy commentary by Elisseos Vagenas, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece, and responsible for the International Section of the CC-KKE, that appeared first in Rizospastis:
“They (bourgeois media, Ed.) concealed that Cuba has faced for decades imperialist encirclement, a regime of economic ‘suffocation’, imposed arbitrarily by the US. Its losses since 1959 are estimated at $ 7, 513 billion, a huge amount for a country like Cuba given its size and its productive capabilities.”

“Communists throughout the world hope that the CP of Cuba will manage to maintain its revolutionary readiness and the deep bonds it has with the working class so as to isolate the forces that will seek the overthrow of socialism. Such forces emerge objectively due to the pressure of the economic blockade and the well-paid support of the imperialist aggressiveness. [...] It is no coincidence that the Communist Party of Cuba and the revolutionary power believe that a series of measures have a temporary character and that they will be abolished when the conditions allow it (e.g. double currency).”

While expressing its “solidarity with the struggle of the people and the Communist Party of Cuba, the KKE reiterates: “our worry, our vigilance, our critical remarks, by the study of the socialism we knew and the defense of the conclusions we drew in our 18th Congress that have to do with our perception on socialism.”

About those who wish ‘Goodnight Fidel’, while their real intention was to say ‘goodnight’ to the Cuban Revolution, KKE says: “the peoples have inexhaustible powers and the Cuban people have proved that!”

This people may reckon on La Vie Réelle in English, too...
(Photo Argenpress: Fidel Castro).

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

La Vie Réelle in English: http://wwwlavienglish.blogspot.com

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