The felonies committed against Cuba will not make any impression on it
TOMORROW, Wednesday, April 16* sees the voting in Geneva on the familiar theme of human rights in Cuba. The U.S. government is putting incredible pressure on the Latin American and African nations and others in the Third World. As always, the NATO countries, with their proverbial and cynical hypocrisy, are supporting the anti-Cuban resolution presented by the empire’s despicable lackeys, in this case the governments of Peru, Uruguay and Costa Rica, utilizing as a pretext the legitimate measures taken against mercenaries acting at the service of the empire that pays them — as has been clearly proven — who have committed acts of treason against their country. They have even circulated reports around the world to the effect that the hijackers of the ferry that took 36 people hostage on April 2 and who received the death penalty, were political dissidents. This has been published by much of the mass media, which has failed to note that all the individuals who hijacked Cuban aircraft in mid-flight and the Havana Bay ferry, with women and children aboard who were used as hostages and held at knife- and gunpoint, have lengthy criminal records and were being encouraged, protected and awarded by the U.S. government in an attempt to create a wave of aircraft and maritime hijackings with the sinister aim of creating provocations and potential conflict, including aggression and war against Cuba.
The Revolution has been forced to adopt harsh measures against its will but which have become necessary, within the strict framework of the law and without vengeance, which has no place in the souls of people who have decided to fight until the last to defend their ideas of justice, brotherhood, solidarity and humanism, clearly displayed during the past 44 years of struggle.
Condemning us in Geneva on the basis of gross pressure is what the masters of the world have been doing during the past 15 consecutive years since the disintegration of the Socialist bloc, many of whose European members shifted their arms and equipment into the ranks of capitalism and the world’s reactionaries.
The United States is deploying all its might in the form of blackmail of all types. It has been disclosed, for example, that U.S. and British diplomats have threatened to use their influence in the Security Council to obtain the withdrawal from Sierra Leone of the UN Peace Mission, whose presence in that country totals 14,900 soldiers. The United States is also threatening to withhold a $25-million-USD grant envisaged for an important mining project there. Other African states are also suffering brutal threats to pressure them into participating in this maneuver.
On a different note, Armenia is also under great pressure. We should recall that the United States is that nation’s principle economic donor, with aid ascending to nearly $100 million USD.
Meanwhile, this afternoon the Argentine president, Eduardo Duhalde, publicly defined the position his country will take tomorrow in Geneva. He stated:
"The government has decided, with respect to the Human Rights Commission, that Argentina will not condemn Cuba, a small, blockaded country; we believe it is a very inopportune moment, bearing in mind this unilateral war in violation of human rights… The United Nations was created to guarantee peace in the world and we should all contribute to it recovering its original function and ensuring that there are no more unilateral decisions that produce war, that produce pain, that produce injustice… I know that I am expressing the feeling of the majority of Argentines…"
Cuban diplomats in different capitals of the world, in Geneva, and in Havana are working intensely throughout today to confront this shameless U.S. economic and political blackmail. With solid arguments they are defending with dignity and respect the ideas of the Revolution, sovereignty and the independence of the Cuban people. There is a battle of ideas taking place between revolutionary diplomacy and the imperial diplomacy of a government that is attempting to impose a fascist dictatorship on the rest of the world.
For its part, the European Union, traditionally incapable of maintaining a position independent of U.S. pressure on the subject of Cuba, has as usual, servilely put its name to the crude U.S. maneuver to once again impose an immoral condemnation of Cuba. Former colonial metropolises like the United Kingdom and Spain have gained great merit for themselves as the "political sergeants" of the U.S. government. The United Kingdom has taken on supporting U.S. blackmail of certain African nations, while Spain is doing so in Latin America.
Despite the immense machinery of intimidation and blackmail unleashed by the United States and its allies at a time when its hegemonic domination of the world has been strengthened, it can be seen that the vote against Cuba will be decided by a relatively narrow margin.
That empire has generated an atmosphere of naked persecution and terror in Geneva against diplomats of the commission’s member countries, who have had to disconnect their telephones and virtually go into hiding to escape the pressure. Many of them fear being seen talking to our delegation due to the harassment unleashed by U.S. diplomatic personnel.
The political battle however, will continue during the night and early hours of the morning up until the last minute. In any case, and as is to be expected, if the United States manages to once again impose this unjust condemnation on our people, that will not prevent Cuba continuing to fight for its sovereignty, full independence and in defense of the political, economic and social system we elected more than 40 years ago.
Cuba will continue without respite this battle that it is waging not only for its own people, but for all the Third World peoples, for the human rights of all the dispossessed of the planet, in order to avoid the Human Rights Commission becoming a tool of the empire’s plan to impose its dominion over the rest of the world.
The felonies being committed against Cuba make no impression on it. It has been capable of resisting bloody aggression, a blockade and economic warfare, calumnies and infamy without anything and anybody being able to bring it to its knees. Its ethics, authority, and prestige before the masses within and outside of the country are steadily growing.
Perhaps the fascist camarilla believes that its hegemony supported by accomplices and lackeys prepared to betray the honor and interest of their own peoples and humanity will be eternal.
History will not be long in demonstrating the opposite.
City of Havana, April 15, 2003.
*See note below
Vote on anti-Cuban resolution put back
GENEVA.— The UN Human Rights Commission (HRC) decoded this Wednesday to delay the vote on an anti-Cuba resolution for 24 hours, until Thursday morning, after amendments to the text were presented.
At the last minute on Tuesday night, Costa Rica presented an amendment that is far more critical of Havana than the initial resolution.
The Costa Rican amendment explicitly criticizes the recent measures taken against counterrevolutionary elements on the island.
During the preliminary debate, Cuba also presented two amendments condemning the blockade to which it is subjected by the United States.
However, HRC regulations state than any amendment of this type must be distributed in all the operating languages and that the 53 member countries must have 24 hours to examine it, as various delegations, including Paraguay and Peru have affirmed.