Maravi

Lula is an outstanding statesman – Fidel

Lula is an outstanding statesman – Fidel
By Larry Moonze in Havana, Cuba
Wed 03 Mar. 2010, 18:40 CAT

FIDEL Castro has said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is an outstanding, prestigious and selfless statesman whose voice is respectfully heard in every international meeting.

Meanwhile, the former Cuban president said earthquake-devastated Haiti is a symbol of the poverty suffered by billions of people worldwide, including a significant portion in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Fidel also said Chile recovering from an 8.8 magnitude earthquake could count on Cuba but added that considering the type of cooperation required following material loss amounting to some US $30 billion, there was not much that Cuba could do.

Reflecting on last week's meeting with President Lula, Fidel said he was aware of Lula's fervent wishes to help the noble and long-suffering people.

“I want to place on record the significance and symbolism I attach to Lula's recent (last week on Wednesday) visit and my meeting with him both personally and as a revolutionary,” Fidel said.

“He had said that as he was nearing the end of his term as President, he wanted to visit his friend Fidel; he honoured me with that description. I think I know him well. We often had fraternal conversations both in Cuba and abroad.

I once had the honour of visiting him in his house located in a modest neighbourhood in Sao Paulo where he lived with his family. It was very moving for me to meet with him, his wife and children. I will never forget the fraternal and healthy family atmosphere in that home and the sincere affection showed by the neighbours who approached Lula when he was already a prestigious worker and political leader.

No one knew then whether or not he would become the President of Brazil since major interests and forces opposed him but I enjoyed talking with him. On the other hand, Lula did not care much about that position. He took pleasure in fighting and he did so with irreproachable modesty.

This, he showed extensively when, after being defeated twice by his adversaries, he only accepted to run for the Workers Party on a third occasion due to the strong pressure of his most sincere friends… I shall keep an unforgettable memory of my last meeting with the President of Brazil and I do not hesitate to declare it.”

Fidel said he did not always agree with President Lula's policies. He said he opposed by principle the production of biofuels using crops that could serve as food since “ I am aware that hunger already is and can increasingly become a major tragedy for humanity”.

But Fidel said biofuels were not a creation of Brazil and its leader Lula.
“It is an essential part of the world economy imposed by imperialism and its rich allies that subsidises their farm productions to protect their domestic markets and compete in the world market with the food exports of the third world nations which are forced to import the industrial items produced with the raw materials and energy resources of these same countries that inherited poverty from centuries of colonialism,” he said. “I perfectly understand that given the unfair competition and subsidies of Europe and the United States, Brazil had no choice but to produce ethanol.”

Fidel said President Lula informed him of high-level education programmes that Brazil intended to carry forward and that he also expressed great appreciation for the role of China in the world.
He said President Lula said Brazil’s trade with China amounted to US $40 billion.

Fidel said President Lula was proud to have been honoured with the choice of Brazil to host the 2016 Olympic Games and the 2014 World Football Cup.

“All of this has been the result of the projects submitted by Brazil which left those of their competitors behind,” he said. “One thing is clear. The metal industry worker Lula has become an outstanding and prestigious statesman whose voice is respectfully heard in every international meeting. A great proof of his selflessness was his refusal to go for re-election and his confidence that the Workers Party will continue in government in Brazil.”

Fidel said over the years , Brazil and Cuba lived their own history due to US impositions.
“Our homeland endured exceptional pressures during the incredible stages since 1959 confronting the aggressions of the mightiest power known to history,” he said. “Hence the enormous significance we attach to the recent meeting in Cancun Mexico and to its decision to establish a Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. No other institutional event of the past century in our hemisphere is so transcendental.”

Fidel said that agreement had been reached at a time when the most serious economic crisis of the globalised world developed concurring with the greatest danger of an ecological catastrophy for the human species and the earthquake that destroyed Port-au-Prince in Haiti.

He said the earthquake in Haiti was the most painful human disaster in the history of the hemisphere as it hit the poorest country of the continent and the first one to eradicate slavery.

Fidel said only six weeks after the death of over 200,000 people in Haiti, there was another dramatic news of the damages caused by another earthquake but this time in Chile causing the death of close to 1,000 people and huge material damages.

“It was particularly moving to watch the suffering of millions of Chileans materially and emotionally affected by such a harsh blow of nature,” he said.

Fidel said fortunately, Chile had more experience in coping with earthquakes and was a country with more resources and a higher economic development.

He said if it were not for the sounder buildings and infrastructure, a countless number of people, perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands of Chileans would have perished.

“There are reports of two million victims and the potential loss of between 15 and 30 billion dollars,” Fidel said. “Faced with this tragedy, Chile counts on the solidarity and the sympathy of the peoples, ours included, although given the type of cooperation required , there is not much that Cuba can do.

Nevertheless, the Cuban government was one of the first to communicate to Chile our feelings of solidarity at a time when the communication system was not yet operational.”

He insisted that the country, which today put to the test the world capacity to tackle climate change and ensure the survival of the humanity was Haiti.

“The recent earthquake in Chile, with the amazing intensity of 8.8 on the Richter scale, although fortunately at greater depth than the one which devastated Port-au-Prince, leads me to emphasise the importance and the duty to encourage the steps toward unity taken in Cancun even though I do not entertain illusions knowing how difficult and complex our struggle of ideas will be vis-a-vis the efforts of the empire and its allies inside and outside our countries to thwart our people’s efforts toward unity and independence,” said Fidel.

Labels: FIDEL CASTRO, LULA DA SILVA

posted by MrK @ 7:53 PM