Maravi

Fidel maintains confidence in Cuban socialist model

Fidel maintains confidence in Cuban socialist model
By Larry Moonze in Havana, Cuba
Sat 11 Sep. 2010, 11:50 CAT

CUBAN revolution leader Fidel Castro has maintained his confidence in the Cuban socialist model.

Launching the second volume of his memoirs at the University of Havana on Friday, Castro said contrary to the interpretation of US journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, the capitalist system could not work for socialist country like Cuba.
Castro, the leader of the Cuban Communist Party, confirmed that in his long interview with Goldberg he was asked if he believed that the Cuban model was still worth exporting.

“It is evident that this question implicitly carried the theory that Cuba was exporting the Revolution,” Castro said.

“I responded “the Cuban model does not work anymore even for us.” I expressed this without bitterness or worry. I now enjoy myself seeing how he interpreted it to the letter and consulted with Julia Sweig, analyst of the CFR Council of Foreign Relations who accompanied him and elaborated the theory he explained. But in reality my answer meant the exact opposite of what the two American journalists interpreted about the Cuban model.

"My idea as everybody knows, is that the capitalist system does not work not even for the United States or the world, which it drives to crisis after crisis, which are ever more grave, global and repeated, of which it cannot escape. How could such a system work for a socialist country like Cuba?”

Castro noted that Goldberg’s short story detailed that he Castro had made a mistake in a crucial moment during the Missile Crisis by asking then Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev to launch nuclear rockets against the United States first.

“It is true that he touched the issue and asked me the question,” Castro narrated. Textually as he puts it in the first part of his report his words were: “I asked him: at some point it seemed logical that you recommend to the Russians bombing the US. Did what you recommended still seem logical this time? Fidel responded: After having seen what I have seen, it was absolutely not worth it.”

Castro explained that “I had explained clearly if the US were to invade Cuba, a country with Russian nuclear weapons, in these circumstances one should not let themselves suffer the first strike such as was aimed at the USSR when in 1941 the German army and all the forces of Europe attacked the USSR. It can be observed that from this brief reference to the subject, in the second part of the delivery of this news to the public the reader could not realise that if the US invaded Cuba, a country with Russian nuclear weapons”, in this case I was recommending avoiding the enemy’s first strike, nor did they realize the irony of my answer…of having known what I now know…In obvious reference to the betrayal committed by a Russian Prime Minister who, saturated by ethylic substance, handed over to the US the most important secrets of that country.”

Meanwhile, Castro said many of his Arab friends upon hearing that he had been interviewed by Goldberg got worried.

“From all this it can be deduced that great confusion exists in the world,” he said.

“I hope for that reason that what I say about my thoughts becomes useful. The ideas explained by me are contained in the 333 Reflections. Of them, the last 26 exclusively refer to environmental problems and the imminent danger of a nuclear war outbreak. I have always condemned the holocaust and have clearly expressed that in a few of them. I have never been an enemy of the Hebrew peoples of whom I admire the capacity to withstand dispersion and persecution for over two thousand years. Many of the most brilliant talents, Karl Marx and Albert Einstein, were Jews because it is a nation in which the most intelligent survived by virtue of the law of nature. In our country and in the world, they were persecuted and slandered. But this is just a fragment of the ideas that I defend.”

And Castro continued warning the US against attacking Iran militarily.

He said even if the war against Iran was of a conventional nature (non nuclear) it would be better for the US to switch off the lights and bid farewell.

“How could they withstand a war against 1.5 billion Muslims?” Castro asked.

“Defending peace for a true revolutionary does not mean giving up the principles of justice, without which human life and society would lack meaning. I still think Goldberg is a great journalist capable of explaining his points of view that force debate with amenity and mastery. He does not invent phrases. He transfers and interprets them.

"I will not mention the content of the many other aspects of our conversation. I will respect the confidentiality of the issues we covered while I await his extensive article with interest. I consider that all the peoples have the right to peace and the enjoyment of the goods and natural resources of the planet. What is happening in many countries of Africa is a shame.”

About the second volume of his memoirs which he calls The Strategic Counteroffensive, Castro describes in detail how the barely 300 rebels were able to sustain and defeat the fierce offensive of the 10,000-strong army of Fulgencio Batista.

The second book of the Strategic Victory launched in early August is an epic tale of the actions of the rebel army in the home stretch of the liberation struggle against the dictatorship.

It refers to the invasion by the guerrilla columns commanded by Camilo Cienfuegos and Ernesto Che Guevara and groups that were expanding into other provinces in addition to the actions taken by the three fronts around the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba. - Post Online

Labels: AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, FIDEL CASTRO, SOCIALISM

posted by MrK @ 6:25 PM