Maravi

Cuba has democracy, says Ortega

Cuba has democracy, says Ortega
Written by Larry Moonze in Havana, Cuba
Thursday, April 23, 2009 8:47:54 PM

CUBA has democracy, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has said. President Ortega, who on Tuesday held a four-hour meeting with Fidel Castro over the recent Summit of the Americas hosted by Trinidad and Tobago, said Cuba had a model of democracy free of partisan flags.

President Ortega, accompanied by his wife Rosario Murillo and others, discussed with Castro “the development of, events and results of” last weekend’s summit which was the first hemispheric summit that US President Barack Obama attended.

But featuring on Cuban national television and radio Mesa Redonda (Round Table) programme on Wednesday evening, President Ortega said just as Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has observed elections did not mean democracy.

“You have a debate in Latin America which wants to discredit Cuban democracy,” he said. “Cuba has democracy. The kind of democracy that has been imposed on us creates division among our people the moment parties are formed. Latin America has witnessed many partisan political wars. Cuba has a model of democracy free of partisan flags.”

On US relations, President Ortega said inspite ushering in a new president and administration the United States of America had not changed.

Referring to the handshake with US president Barack Obama in Trinidad and Tobago, President Ortega said a handshake was but a gesture of courtesy.

“It does not put an end to war or differences,” he said. “Inspite of having a new president and administration the US had not changed. Obama is trapped in what is the model of an empire, trapped in the past. Evidence of this are the [American] troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. This phenomenon of continuity of policy across administration keeps repeating itself. The Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs attack against Cuba) invasion was planned by a Republican administration but executed by a Democrat administration. Notice the continuity.”

He said even the recently implemented concessions were no more than those approved by the Jimmy Carter administration.

“These concessions are now being sold to us as change,” President Ortega said. “If there was real change in the empire the US President would not be tying conditions to the lifting of the blockade against Cuba. Lifting the embargo does not vindicate the US. They must indemnify Cuba for the losses it has suffered in nearly 50 years of the blockade. In the case of Nicaragua I do not see cooperation with the US but instead soft repayments on the historic debt of the US to Nicaragua. The US’ first step must be to find ways to cohabit in the region and not see us as pests.”

President Ortega said the US must undergo profound changes in its core structures.

“It must stop being an empire and be disposed to share and work with all the peoples of the world,” President Ortega said. “As an empire, like any historic one, they want to set the rules in every situation and encounter. But who does checks and balances on them [the US]?”

He said Latin America on the other hand was not trapped in the past.

President Ortega said the founding of the Bolivarian Alternative for the America (ALBA) was a product of change.

He said the ALBA was the most viable initiative in the region and perhaps in the whole world today. President Ortega said the cooperation among ALBA member states was unconditional.

ALBA comprises of Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica Republic and Honduras.

President Ortega said he was against the idea of incorporating the US in any Latin America regional association.

“We cannot have external parties in the space of our regional association,” he said. “The AU (African Union) is composed strictly of African states. That is their space. None of the former colonial masters is a member.”

And President Ortega lamented that the 5th Summit of the Americas was censored.

He said even the very head of the Organisation of American States was censored.

President Ortega said President Obama did not bring anything to the summit except perhaps a handshake. “This was a meeting where the Latin American agenda was presented,” he said. “Obama clearly said that he had not read the consensus document that had been prepared by the Bush administration.”

Meanwhile, President Ortega said 2009 was historic because Cuba marked 50 years of the revolution whereas the Iranian revolution celebrated its 30th anniversary and the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela clocked a decade.

He said next the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua would also commemorate its 30th anniversary.

“Without the Cuban revolution, the Sandinista revolution would not have been possible,” said President Ortega. “We continue working on the ALBA initiatives in Nicaragua, in particular the literacy programme employing the “Yo Si Puedo” initiative, which has reduced illiteracy levels to 35 per cent. We have not yet been able to reach the 4 per cent floor due to war but we hope in the very new future to be free from illiteracy.”

Labels: CUBA, DANIEL ORTEGA, DEMOCRACY, FIDEL CASTRO

posted by MrK @ 7:49 PM