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May 20, 2011 - No. 85 Windsor Meeting on Cuba's Economic Reforms Strengthening the Economic Base for
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He explained that in the
state sector there is an excess
of labour power and that an important part of the changes are aimed at
expanding the economic base, through licensing of small businesses,
developing foreign investment and foreign cooperation and expanding the
tourism sector. The shifting of employment
from the state sector, to other sectors will permit more productive
capacity in the country he pointed out. In international relations he
highlighted the growth of the Bolivarian Alliance for Peoples of Our
Americas and
the soon to be launched commonwealth of the Americas. When asked about
how to ensure foreign investment
serves the country and not a small group, Soberón affirmed that
the
concentration of private property is not permitted, and outlined how
these changes are to ensure that foreign investment brings in: 1)
technology, 2) capital 3) access to markets. Foreign investment must be
a benefit to the Cuban economy to be permitted.
He cited the example of the food processing sector in response to
another question about food sovereignty, and explained that Cuba has
increased its food production due to the use of urban and suburban
agriculture and there is still more potential. However, he pointed out,
without processing capacity, the full yield
of the production can be wasted. This is an area in which foreign
investment and technology is being explored. This example showed the
audience how foreign investement is being viewed from a strategic and
long-term view from the standpoint of how to expand the self-reliant
nature of the economy so that it can
provide for the people.
On May 3, a new international
campaign was launched for
the immediate release of five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unjustly
imprisoned in the United Status since 1998. Rosa Soto Garcia |
According to Rosa Soto García, sister of the deceased, Juan Wilfredo Soto García suffered from a number of disorders, including gout, high blood pressure, migraines and heart dilation, for which he had been receiving treatment for many years. She also acknowledged that her brother led a very disorganized life and did not follow doctors' orders.
"That business about him being beaten is one big lie. He didn't have a mark on his body, it's all a counterrevolutionary propaganda invention. We are very distressed about this campaign that has been set up, it's causing a lot of pain within the family," she said, while expressing her gratitude for the medical attention her brother received.
"And, look, if we're angry, the day of the funeral, my brother's son, just 14 years of age, was so sickened by the attitude of the 'dissidents' that he asked them to leave the cemetery," Rosa affirmed.
Madelín Soto, Soto's niece, whom he treated like his own daughter, also expressed her surprise at the orchestrated maneuver. "I went to see him in the hospital and didn't see any signs of violence on him. Moreover, if they had so much as scratched him, he would definitely have told me, because he totally trusted me."
 Yasmil Pérez Rodríguez |
Law student Yasmil Pérez Rodríguez, Madelín's husband, who took the deceased citizen to the hospital, confirmed that on Friday, May 6, Soto's daughter appeared at his home in a desperate state, asking him to go to the doctor's with her father. "When I got there, he was sweating, couldn't feel his feet, and we even had to take him down from the fourth floor in a wheelchair. Once in the Arnaldo Milián admissions department, they did various analyses, he was given all kinds of medication, but his body did not respond favorably. Given his worsening condition, he was taken to intensive care, where he remained as a patient until his death."
Yasmil added that he was with his wife's uncle from 9:00am on Friday, May 6 until the following day, and had plenty of opportunity to talk with him, take him to the bathroom and undress him, and that he never saw the least mark of violence on his body. "If it were true what those people are saying, he would definitely have told her (Madelín) because there were no secrets between the two of them."
On the day of the incidents related to the alleged beating, as was his habit, Soto was in Vidal Park from very early in the morning, according to a number of witnesses, among them a group of self-employed workers who sell flowers there, and other people working in the area. They detailed the events of May 5 involving the deceased man.
Jorge Alvarez Cabrera, a flower seller, said that around 9:00am he heard someone shouting counterrevolutionary slogans and saw that the person was Soto García, whom he knew from his frequent presence in the park.
"I saw two police agents, one of them a woman, lead him to the patrol car, without using the least bit of force, and he even got into the car himself." He recalls that a short while later, the subject was back in the park, and even asked him for "a light," but he told him that he didn't smoke.
Amado Gómez Rodríguez, another flower seller, stated that that day Soto looked perfectly normal, with his customary strength, without any sign of the supposed "beating" to which the enemies of the Revolution refer.
A while later he was seen entering a lunch counter in the basement of the Santa Clara Libre Hotel, where he had a snack, according to the workers there.
Juan Wilfredo Soto's serious health problems did not begin that day, but long before, according to Dr. Nestor Vega Alonso, internal medicine specialist, who has frequently treated the patient since 2008.
Dr. Vega Alonso recalled that that year, Soto was admitted to Medical Room C suffering from generalized edema and high blood pressure. On further examination, the medical staff detected a dilated heart, which is very serious, as well as gout and diabetes mellitus, all of which indicated a potentially life-threatening prognosis.
The doctor noted that Soto often came to his out-patient clinic with symptoms of ventricular dysfunction and high blood pressure, as well as a very high triglyceride count, one of the most frequent causes of pancreatitis, the illness which subsequently led to his death.
 Dr. Ricardo Rodríguez Jorge |
According to Ricardo Rodríguez Jorge, a forensic doctor of more than 14 years' experience, who performed the autopsy, the cause of death was acute pancreatitis, with hemorrhaging on the pancreatic tail and body. As a result of the former pathologies all the parameters were altered by decompensation.
The specialist stated that the autopsy revealed no signs of external or internal violence on the upper or lower body. The cranium and neck were normal and the thorax presented lungs typical of a smoker, with a heart of increased volume.
In relation to the counterrevolutionary version that the alleged beating could have triggered pancreatitis, Dr. Rodríguez confirmed that this is impossible, emphasizing that in order to reach the pancreas, a trauma would have to be visible. As acknowledged by the medical personnel and Soto's family, he did not show any signs of contusion whatsoever.
In the face of this irrefutable evidence, one has to ask how it is possible to continue lying. Is not the experience of more than 50 years of a Revolution without a single case of torture, disappearance or murder sufficient?
Cuba despises lies.
Fabricating Pretexts
Disinformation Campaigns Directed Against Cuba
The Cuban Revolution has been the object of hundreds of disinformation campaigns, usually orchestrated by the U.S. government with the complicity of European allies in conjunction with the powerful forces and interests which control the corporate media. However, they have not been able to divert Cubans from their ideals of independence and socialism, nor confuse the peoples of the planet who, despite everything, are led by wisdom and instinct to the truth. They are campaigns without political or ethical constraints which come up against the moral force of Cuba and merely tarnish their authors.
The most recent, which came from their prizewinning informants, was deflated in 72 hours. Lying politicians, the media which slandered out of political interest and journalists who reported an incident which never took place without even attempting to confirm it, must not be given impunity. At the very least, they should admit their error and apologize to the family whose grief they failed to respect.
Curiously, all of them remain silent in the face of the millions of civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan which they define as "collateral damage," as well as in the face of extrajudicial executions with drone aircraft in sovereign countries.
They have maintained a prudent silence in relation to the use of torture, have covered up the existence of secret U.S. prisons in Europe, have prevented investigations into the crimes committed in Abu Ghraib and the Guantánamo Naval Base -- this latter usurped from Cuba -- and the CIA secret flights transporting persons kidnapped in other states.
They remain unmoved at the brutal way in which European governments are inflicting the consequences of the economic crisis on the poorest members of society and immigrants. They look the other way when the unemployed or students in those wealthy societies are repressed with exceptional violence.
However, they are constantly hunting out pretexts for denigrating Cuba, and when these are lacking, they fabricate them.
They shamelessly converted a case of acute pancreatitis into political murder; a justified detention by police of less than three hours for public order offenses without any use of force into a fatal beating; a person with a criminal record sentenced to two years' imprisonment for a common crime into a political dissident and the victim of a lengthy prison term.
The Cuban people share the protests of the family whose pain has been offended and the indignation of doctors virtually accused of complicity in a homicide. The world has more than sufficient examples of the humanistic vocation of our doctors, who have been unstinting in their efforts and, risking their own lives, have provided and are providing health services in many parts of the world.
American legislator David Rivera, famous for electoral corruption and his extremist campaigns to eliminate the right of émigré Cubans to travel to their country of origin, and who just a few weeks ago, accused former President Carter of being a Cuban agent, affirmed under oath in the U.S. Congress that the dead man was beaten to death in Villa Clara's central Vidal Park last Sunday.
He didn't even take the trouble to verify what even the most ill-intentioned acknowledge, that the deceased was in the park before and after his brief detention on Thursday, May 5, not on Sunday, when he was already in hospital. It is not surprising that Rivera should lie, but that he should do so with such stupidity.
Salafranca, a Euro deputy from Spain's Partido Popular (PP), known for his anti-Cuban and pro-yankee attitudes, and who has said that reports on the CIA secret flights do not contribute any additional information and refrains from any condemnation of them, affirmed in the European Parliament that the individual "died after his detention and from a beating by the Cuban police."
El País, from the Spain of the Prisa Group and People's Party (PP) conspiracies, published a cable titled "Cuba dissident dies after police beating." The ABC, historically in the service of the worst causes, stated "Cuban opposition member dies after a beating from Castro's police." They are not interested in confirming the veracity of the alleged incidents and have not even bothered to disguise the conspiracy with different titles.
Even President Barack Obama himself, in response to a question from the highly tendentious Univisión network in Miami, referred to the events in Vidal Park which never took place, while stating that the details were not as yet clear.
It is strange that Obama, always so busy, retained in his memory the case of a person arrested in a Cuban park to which he was able to return shortly afterwards. However, he has not said anything and possibly does not even recall the anguished face or the account of young Iraqi Samar Hassan, published in the New York Times on May 7, concerning the terrible experience of the murder of her parents by a U.S. patrol when they were returning from the hospital after her little brother had received treatment for injuries.
But, in the case of Cuba, the worst offense is not the constant fabrication and reproduction of lies. What is unpardonable is the censuring of the great truths and the history of a heroic and blockaded people, who have been capable of achieving what for the great majority of humanity is still a dream.
In the past, there have been attempts to isolate Cuba or provoke internal disorders in order to create a pretext for U.S. intervention. What is the object of these campaigns? Just to denigrate, or something worse? Could it be that those pulling the strings and their paid internal agents would be delighted to invoke the "protection of civilians" in order to bomb Havana?
Our people will not allow themselves to be confused by internal counterrevolutionaries who are seeking a media pretext in order to promote a conflict with the United States, and they know how to respond with serenity and firmness to the actions of these mercenaries.
The arguments of the Cuban Revolution are not fabricated like the lies of our enemies, they are constructed with the dignity and integrity of our people, who have learnt that the truth is the cleanest weapon of humanity.
Latin America and Carribean
Preparatory Meeting for OAS Counter Organisation, CELAC, Held in Venezuela
 Delegates from CELAC´s member states meet at Hotel Gran Meliá Caracas, April 26, 2011. (YVKE Mundial) |
On April 26 at the Melia Caracas Hotel, 29 representatives from Latin American and Caribbean states attended a meeting to organise the preliminary agenda and structure of CELAC -- the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, an organisation that hopes to counter the influence of the U.S in the region.
The meeting was convened in order to establish the foundations for the first summit of the recently formed organisation -- due to be held on July 5 in Caracas. In a meeting that lasted several hours, the 29 delegates out of CELAC's 33 member states deliberated on the principal issues that will constitute the main points of discussion at the July conference. The delegates also paid specific attention to CELAC's constitution.
The meeting ended with the signing of a structural document that defines the CELA. This document will be considered over the next 30 days by the delegates and member heads of state for approval before the July summit.
"This political event is the most important, and has more potential, than any others that have taken place in our America in a hundred years or more," said Chavez at the beginning of the meeting.
Some of the key issues to be addressed in the July summit are the approval of a human rights charter and a fund to finance poverty eradication. Other topics on the agenda include; food security, health, education, technology and sports strategies. Chile and Venezuela, who are jointly presiding over the forum, will be in charge of drafting up any further documents in the interim.
The official inauguration of CELAC in July will coincide with the bicentenary of Venezuela's independence and denotes a significant milestone in regional integration and autonomous organisation -- independent of representatives from the USA and Canada.
The Architects of an Alternative
CELAC was first initiated in February 2010 at a Latin American and Caribbean Unity Summit in Cancún, Mexico, just eight months after the coup which ousted democratically elected Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.
Citing a need for a forum which 'consolidates and projects the Latin American and Caribbean identity,' the organisation is founded upon the following principles -- which the organisation describes as the "common values" of Latin American and Caribbean culture.
* Respect for International Law and the Charter of the
United Nations
* The sovereign equality of states
* The non-use, nor the threat of use, of force
* Democracy
* Respect for Human Rights
* Respect for the environment, taking into consideration the
environmental, economic, and social pillars of sustainable development
* International cooperation for sustainable development
* The unity and integration of Latin American and Caribbean countries
* An ongoing dialogue that promotes peace and regional security
Similar to projects such as the ALBA (The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America), CELAC is another organisation aimed at promoting regional cooperation and at offsetting Western dominance in the region, particularly that of the USA.
However, unlike the ALBA -- an economic bloc based on mutually beneficial trade agreements and which rejects the economic paradigm of neo-liberalism -- CELAC is a representative body that will include all Latin American and Caribbean nations and aims to become "the region's most representative interlocutor vis-à-vis main international actors, other groups of countries and regional organizations."
CELAC is specifically designed to represent and increase Latin America and the Caribbean's presence and influence on the international stage -- or to enhance the "Latin American and Caribbean agenda on global forums." Theoretically, membership of CELAC should not depend on whether the right or left win at the ballot box as is the case with ALBA. However, although not of a strictly leftist agenda, CELAC clearly has progressive tendencies.
Different to the OAS?
Whilst the U.S. government has denied that CELAC is of any detriment to the regional influence of the OAS (Organisation of American States, which includes all of the CELAC countries as well as the U.S. and Canada), some observers have remarked that the organisation could eventually end up replacing the OAS; or, if not replacing it entirely, then certainly act as a counter-balancing agency. A brief comparison reveals important differences between the two organisations.
In contrast to the OAS, whose "four main pillars" are; democracy, human rights, security, and development, CELAC stresses its commitment to "sovereignty," "multilateralism," "the right of any state to establish its own political system" and specifies its dedication to "sustainable" development.
Furthermore, whereas the OAS does not make reference to economic factors, interestingly CELAC's declaration hints at certain economic concepts that have come to be related to the development of the democratic left in recent years.
Although economic models are not mentioned explicitly, CELAC highlights that the organisation will strive for "social welfare," "equality and the widest social justice" "independent development," whilst taking into account "the importance of ensuring favourable treatment for the small vulnerable economies and land-locked and island developing states" -- clearly rejecting the neo-liberal consensus.
Finally, the inclusion of a democracy clause seeks to prevent any further coups, such as the recent coups in Honduras and Haiti and the attempted coups in Ecuador and Venezuela.
Changing Relations; Bolivar Unites America's 'Back Yard'
Perhaps one of the most striking aspects in the development of CELAC is not the rhetoric employed by some of the more radical currents in the region, but that used by centre or centre-right administrations. Although certainly not an admission of any socialist tendencies, quotes such as the following suggest at least a tentative commitment to regional unity.
"We are here constructing the basic regulatory architecture for the functioning of this new institution We are constructing the dream of integration that the Liberator [Simon Bolivar] sought for all of Latin American and the Caribbean," said Fernando Schmidt, Chile's centre-right Vice-Chancellor.
Whether this is purely pragmatism; representing the right's attempts to respond to changing power relationships in the region, the creation of CELAC may suggest that a real unison of Latin American and Caribbean nations is not only becoming a reality, but also that serious changes in the political dynamics of the region and hemisphere are taking place.
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca