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----- Original Message ----- From: Communist Party of Canada To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 4:28 PM Subject: Statements from Fidel, Roque on U.S. Policy against Cuba To all Committees, Clubs and Members Cuba Bureau Dear comrades, Enclosed please find two statements, (1) by Cuban President Fidel Castro, dealing with the most recent high-sea deaths caused by the notorious Cuban Adjustment Act, a U.S. Act which undermines normal emigration from Cuba in favour of risky 'flotilla'-type 'escapes' by sea; and (2) by Felipe Pérez Roque, Cuba's Foreign Minister, to the UN General Assembly prior to the most recent UN vote against the US blockade, which passed virtually unanimously with only 3 votes against. Comradely, Cuba Bureau ************************** KEY ADDRESS BY DR. FIDEL CASTRO RUZ, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, AT A MASS RALLY IN THE «JOSÉ MARTÍ» ANTI-IMPERIALIST SQUARE, ON NOVEMBER 27, 2001 Compatriots: It was through the American TV networks and press agencies that we first learned that 30 Cubans, 13 of them children, had perished in a human traffic operation on a fast boat registered in the United States, coming from that country and funded by people living there. It was not the first time, since similar events have occurred a thousand times before as a sinister consequence of the murderous Cuban Adjustment Act. Whenever something like this happens, the U.S. authorities fail to provide us with information on the names, places of residence, age, sex or any other data on the victims they identify through information offered by survivors or by other means. The Cuban authorities are thus forced to look for a needle in a hay stack, that is, going through lengthy and complicated procedures to find the relevant data to inform families, schools, health and social security centers and other institutions on the situation of people who suddenly vanished without previous notice. It is through close contacts made easier by personal and family visits, to and from the United States authorized by our country, that unscrupulous merchants arrange costly and risky illegal journeys for groups of people from different towns who endanger the lives of many children by irresponsibly taking them along. This time, our own authorities have already identified almost half of the 13 children mentioned in the press dispatches, who were taken from their classrooms and schools where they were studying, completely unaware of the horrible death they would encounter out in the sea where their remains could not even be found. For many years we have been advising the U.S. Administrations that the Cuban Adjustment Act, in force since November 2, 1966, and the incentives to illegal migration are the cause of great hazards and take a high toll in human lives. >From day one of the revolutionary victory our country has never set obstacles to the >legal emigration of Cuban citizens to the United States or to any other country. At >the time of the triumph of the Revolution many people in Cuba, like in the rest of >the Caribbean and Latin America, who endured poverty and underdevelopment, wanted to >migrate to seek for better paid jobs and better living conditions than they could >find in their countries subjected to centuries of exploitation and plundering. Until >1959, an extremely limited number of visas were issued to Cubans. After that, for >obvious reasons, the gates were wide opened and that is how an important number of >Cubans began settling in the United States. The overwhelming majority of those made the necessary arrangements and traveled legally. Despite the increasing conflicts, on several occasions the two countries have signed agreements, which for over four decades have made possible the safe and orderly transportation of hundreds of thousands of Cubans to the United States without any loss of life of either children or adults. Actually, thanks to the Revolution's programs the Cuban emigrants are generally people with a high technical or professional training. In compliance with the latest agreements signed on September 1994 and May 1995, a total of 132,586 Cubans had traveled to the United States until November 9, 2001, with the corresponding visas and through absolutely safe means. The politicization of the migratory issue by the United States, particularly as it relates to Cuba, is at the source of this and many other similar tragedies. It is in their Interests Section that they choose the prospective travelers, demanding health and education certificates and personal life records, as well as other documents, which are often used to select highly trained professionals or people particularly relevant in their communities thus depriving our country of medical doctors, engineers, architects and other university graduates who have been educated here, absolutely free of charge. This way, the United States does not need to invest the tens and hundreds of thousands that it would take to train any of them over there while Cuba has been forced to set a number of restrictions as to the time of departure of people in some technical categories in order to avoid the damage caused to important services. It is a tradition with Cuba to abide by the agreements it signs, but the same cannot be said of our counterpart. It is a known fact that due to pressures and issues associated with domestic politics, the United States repeatedly and systematically fails to meet its obligations --or meets them only half-way-- regarding the measures it should take with those who break the law to emigrate to that country or are intercepted at sea, or they reduce to a minimum the efforts made to accomplish that interception. To make things worse, those who set foot on their coasts are automatically welcomed and not asked to meet any requirements. Individuals with tainted personal records, who would never receive a visa if they applied, then get the right to immediately start working and living in that country. Thus, the spirit and letter of the Migratory Agreements are breached and the assets and safety of Americans are placed in jeopardy. Many of these rough individuals with the worst criminal records, who are admitted into the United States when they travel illegally, later show up as part of drug and human traffic networks. The U.S. authorities possess information on those involved in human traffic. In the last four years we have seized in our country more than 110 of those smugglers who live in the United States. They travel by sea on fast boats to fetch their human cargo, but the U.S. authorities do not accept to receive them to take them to court since it is from there that they come, where they live, where they have their boats, and it is also from there that they make the arrangements and get paid for their operations. Our country makes great efforts to fight this grave international crime; in the United States they do nothing about it. If it were all the way around, if American children were dying almost constantly due to human traffic on boats coming from Cuba, registered in Cuba, with crews made up by people living in Cuba, if this were the case, the American people would react with deep and legitimate indignation. Why, then, can this be done to Cuba? Due to pressures by the Cuban terrorist Mafia in Miami, and the erratic behavior and arbitrary interpretations of U.S. officials and authorities, every year, every month, every week, almost every day during four decades, ever since that ill-fated and insane Cuban Adjustment Act was passed in 1966, that is, 35 years ago, it has never been restricted or abrogated but rather more and more privileges are granted to those who submit to it. The latest of such privileges is travelling to American territory, on any airline, with false documents. They only need to identify themselves as Cubans upon arrival and they are accepted with impunity and granted the benefit of residence in the United States. How can anyone speak of protecting the security of the United States and then accept such violations and practices which break their own laws and foster chaos, anarchy and disorder? How can a battle be waged against organized crime, terrorism, drug and human traffic, and other forms of international crime? Why is it that the Cuban children, whose infant mortality rate in the first year of life has been reduced to less than 7 per one thousand live-births --which is even lower than that of the United States-- must suffer that horrible death due to that Law? Why must the deep sea swallow the Cuban children, none of whom dies due to hurricanes or natural disasters that take the lives of thousands elsewhere for lack protection? If the Cuban children -everyone of them-- receive prenatal care, are born in hospitals, are provided intensive postnatal care and free medical services all throughout their lives, are given vaccines for 13 preventable diseases and adequate nutrition, have access to day-care centers, kindergarten and grammar schools --even special education schools for those who might need it-- junior high schools from which almost one hundred percent graduate, senior-high and technical schools for those who apply and scores of universities and colleges; if the most prestigious international institutions concede that health services, education, physical and sports training accorded to our children rank among the best in the world, and are provided free of charge; if the highest share of the country's net revenues and national budget are allocated to children's programs; if it is for the children, teenagers and youth that over half a million of mostly highly trained workers labor strenuously; if the Cuban children end up among the first in international knowledge competitions; if the Cuban children are not familiar with drug-abuse and do not die in schools victims of firearms and violence; if it is for them that we are involved in an irrepressible movement towards a comprehensive general culture that is called to place our people among the best cultivated worldwide; then, why must they be devoured by sharks off the coasts of Florida? Why is Cuba the only country on Earth whose children and people must expect such fate due to a law that fails to have any ethical justification, explanation or excuse? Whatever the number, be it thirteen, six or only one who dies in the dramatic wreckage of a fast boat during a human traffic operation with thirty or more Cubans on board, it is a discredit to the United States in the eyes of the world. This is not the first or the only group victim of such a tragedy. An incalculable number of people have had a similar fate, but that has not led the U.S. authorities to fight the hateful and repugnant human traffic. We have offered our sincere cooperation in the struggle against drug traffic, human traffic and any other form of international crime. It is simply due to political arrogance that such cooperation has been either refused or limited to a minimum. Cuba was the first country to voice its support for the American people after the atrocious crime of September 11, advancing the idea of building a universal awareness against terrorism and carrying forward an active international policy of struggle to efficiently and adequately end with the scourge of terrorism, which has caused so much damage to our country throughout more than 40 years. Cuba was also the first country that, in response to an appeal by the United Nations' Secretary General to all member states of that world organization, adhered to the twelve international agreements on terrorism. Now, it is Cuba that is dealt a hard blow with the death of a number of children swallowed by the sea in the fatal wreckage of the early hours of November 17, the result of a repugnant human traffic operation with Cuban emigrants. For the dead adults, some of them at fault for having for having been lured to the adventure that took their children's lives, we feel grief and sorrow, and to their relatives we express our sympathy. For the innocent children dragged to such an unfair and unwarranted death, we are truly in mourning. These were creatures snatched from the Homeland that gives them all so much love and care. We are not blaming the present government for a phenomenon that is the result of scores of years of aggression, hostility and crimes against Cuba, perpetrated by successive U.S. administrations throughout many years. However, we have every right to claim that an end be put to a barbarian and uncivilized policy. Events like this affect the credibility and morale of the United States as well as its interests while it is involved in a complex and difficult struggle against terrorism in which, one way or another, the whole international community is involved after the tragic and painful events of September 11. No one would understand why that immoral and unfair law stands which cruelly and unjustifiably takes the lives of so many innocent Cuban children. Millions of people from the Caribbean nations, from Mexico and from the rest of Latin America have every right to ask why they are persecuted and expelled when they travel to the United States illegally while the Cubans receive incentives to do the same thing and are later rewarded. The same question could also be asked by hundreds of millions of Asians, Africans and people from other regions of the world. The extensive economic crisis and poverty will make the migratory pressures on the United States mount and for those determined to emigrate the Cuban Adjustment Act will become a major irrefutable moral argument. There will always be people everywhere willing to risk their lives to emigrate illegally, but there will never be any justification to encourage them to do it. That is a crime against humanity and an expression of hateful contempt for human life. We would not propose an Adjustment Act for the rest of the countries, for it is a murderous law, but we would certainly propose to undertake the development of the Third World in order to prevent that the region's exceeding population overwhelm the wealthy societies at the expense of the lives of those emigrants who will try to get there by every possible means. We would propose justice for the world and some light for the blind politicians who are today the leaders of the most developed and rich nations on Earth. The Cuban Adjustment Act is not only a murderous law but it is also a terrorist law, one that fosters the worst kind of terrorism since it deliberately and remorselessly kills innocent children. Homeland or Death! We shall overcome! ======================================================== Speech given by H.E. Mr. Felipe Pérez Roque, Minister of Foreign Relations of the Republic of Cuba, to introduce the draft resolution on the «Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba», agenda item 34 at the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, New York, 27 November 2001. Mr. Chairman: Some intriguing news traveled around the world in recent days. For the first time in over 40 years, the government of the United States had granted authorization, on this one exceptional occasion, for the sale to Cuba of a determined amount of food, medicines, and raw materials for the production of medicines. This one time, Cuba would be able to pay the U.S. suppliers directly in U.S. dollars. It could not be arranged, however, for Cuban ships to pick up the merchandise from U.S. ports; the tangled web of legal prohibitions entailed by the blockade on Cuba is so complicated that not even the combined good will of both governments could overcome this obstacle. Ships from the United States or third countries will handle the transportation. On November 7, the government of the United States expressed its sorrow and concern for the Cuban people as a result of the extensive damage caused by the passage of Hurricane Michelle through Cuban territory, and declared its willingness to immediately assess the need for assistance, with a view to possible humanitarian assistance. It was an unusual gesture, which Cuba received with the proper appreciation. Throughout 40 years of tense relations between the two countries, nothing like this had ever happened before. Cuba responded by requesting that, on this one exceptional occasion, the government of the United States allow Cuban state companies to promptly purchase certain amounts of food, medicines and raw materials for the production of medicines from the United States, in order to restore the country's reserve stocks as quickly as possible, in preparation for any future natural disasters. Cuba also asked for authorization to pay for these goods in cash, in U.S. dollars or any other hard currency, and to use Cuban ships to transport the goods, as this would be the most practical, rapid and economical option for Cuba. The diplomatic exchanges, unlike many others in the past, were free of tension and marked above all by a tone of respect and a spirit of cooperation. This brings up a natural question: why have so many special negotiations been required for something that constitutes a simple and common transaction in the rest of the world? Why were so many special formalities needed for Cuba to buy pediatric erythromycin, or vitamin A, or hydrocortisone, or rice, or powdered milk from the United States? How could such a meticulous and perfectly airtight system have been created over the years to prevent an entire people from acquiring essential foodstuffs and medicines, technology and spare parts, medical equipment and scientific information? Could anyone ever explain, in the light of ethics, international law and justice, the obsessive maintenance of the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba over the course of more than four decades? Yet now we see, on this one occasion at least, that Cuba has been able to make a purchase from the United States. Does this signify the end of the blockade? No. This General Assembly must never make the mistake of interpreting this one exception as the rule. Does it even signify the beginning of the end of the blockade? I could not say for sure. Common sense is elusive at times for some politicians. Would Cuba be willing to make other purchases under these conditions? It would be desirable, but it is practically impossible. As we have said before, it is inconceivable for a country to buy from the United States in the absence of normal trade relations, if it cannot sell its goods and services there as well. It is only under these special and exceptional circumstances that we have been able to do this, with no reciprocal trade whatsoever, overcoming absurd obstacles and seeking out alternatives to get around the countless laws and regulations that specifically prohibit relations and trade between Cuba and the United States today. The only way there can be normal trade relations between the two countries in the future is through the total lifting of the anachronistic U.S. blockade against Cuba. Now then, does Cuba want the end of the blockade? Yes. The blockade is the main obstacle to Cuba's economic development today, and is responsible for the hardship and suffering of millions of Cubans. Does Cuba want the reestablishment of normal and mutually respectful relations with the United States? Yes. And it is ready for it. It does not harbor futile hatred or hopes of revenge. We are a noble people with highly developed political awareness, and we believe that millions of U.S. citizens and the majority of the Cubans who live in the United States are also victims of the unjustifiable prohibitions of the blockade. In order for the blockade to be lifted, is Cuba willing to make concessions that would impinge on its principles? No, and a thousand times over, no. We know the price of independence; we have fought for it for 130 years. We have tasted the sweetness of freedom, and there is no power in the world that can make us renounce it. The lifting of the blockade and the end of the economic war against Cuba would require the government of the United States to adopt the following decisions: 1. To repeal the Helms-Burton Act, whose numerous aggressive measures against Cuba include heavy sanctions for businesspeople from third countries who do business with Cuba. We know some of these businesspeople; they and their families have been denied visas to travel to the United States, but they have maintained their operations in Cuba with dignity. 2. To repeal the Torricelli Act, whose measures include prohibiting ships that have touched port in Cuba from entering U.S. ports. The act also prohibits subsidiaries of U.S. companies in third countries from selling goods to Cuba; up until 1992, our country made some 700 million dollars in purchases from such subsidiaries annually, primarily in food and medicines. 3. To eliminate the absurd prohibition by which goods imported by the United States from any other country cannot contain any Cuban raw materials whatsoever. Is it really justifiable to demand of a Japanese car manufacturer that in order to export to the United States, it must certify that the steel used contains no Cuban nickel? Is it justifiable to demand of a Canadian candy company that its products contain no Cuban sugar? 4. To stop the relentless persecution currently carried out around the globe by U.S. embassies and government agencies against any potential business with Cuba, and against any attempt by Cuba to enter a new market or receive a credit. 5. To allow Cuba access to the U.S. and international financial system. If Cuba had had access to the 53 billion dollars loaned by international and regional financial institutions to Latin America and the Caribbean between 1997 and 2000, it would have received loans totaling roughly 1.2 billion dollars, under conditions that are incomparably more favorable than those that Cuba can currently obtain. 6. To allow Cuba to use the U.S. dollar for its transactions abroad, not only with U.S. companies, but also with companies in third countries, something that is currently prohibited by the regulations of the blockade. As a consequence of this, Cuba is constantly forced to carry out currency exchange transactions, and thereby loses money as a result of fluctuations in exchange rates. 7. To authorize Cuba to freely make purchases, like any other country, in the U.S. market. This could signify annual purchases of over a billion dollars, if only one-quarter of Cuba's current imports were to come from the United States, at better prices and with a considerable savings in freight and insurance costs and greater ease of transportation. 8. To authorize Cuba to freely export, like any other country, to the U.S. market. This would not only benefit Cuba, through access to a new market, but would also give the people of the United States access to Cuban products, like our famous cigars, or the vaccine against meningococcal meningitis, the only one of its kind in the world. 9. To allow U.S. citizens to freely travel to Cuba as tourists. This would allow Cuba to welcome at least a million and a half visitors, who would in turn have the chance to travel to one of the safest, most hospitable countries in the world. 10. To return the Cuban assets frozen in U.S. banks, a part of which have already been unjustly and arbitrarily stolen. 11. To authorize U.S. companies to invest in Cuba, where they would receive non-discriminatory treatment in relation to other foreign investors, with all of the guarantees established by Cuban legislation. 12. To establish regulations for the protection of Cuban trademarks and patents in the United States, in accordance with international legislation on intellectual property rights. When this happens, there will be no possibility of such dishonest acts as, for example, the theft of the Cuban rum brand name Havana Club by a U.S. company. 13. To eliminate the discriminatory measures that currently prevent Cubans living in the United States from freely traveling to Cuba and helping their relatives on the island economically. Cubans comprise the only immigrant community in the United States subject to these measures today. 14. To negotiate with Cuba a fair and honorable arrangement to provide compensation for the nearly 6000 U.S. companies and citizens whose properties were nationalized in the first years of the Revolution, as part of a sovereignly adopted step essential for the country's economic and social development. It was in fact the blockade that prevented U.S. citizens from receiving the corresponding compensation. Cuba recognizes their rights, and would be willing to reach an agreement that also takes into account the extremely heavy economic and human damages and losses inflicted on our country by the blockade. Mr. Chairman: An end to the policy of aggression against Cuba, relentlessly and rigorously implemented by ten successive U.S. administrations over the course of more than four decades, and the establishment of normal relations between our two countries, would require the government of the United States to adopt the following decisions: 1. The repeal of the Cuban Adjustment Act, which is responsible for the deaths of thousands of illegal emigrants, including children. The latest tragedy took place last week. A migrant trafficking operation ended in the shipwreck of a boat that had set out from Miami and illegally picked up a group of people on the Cuban coast, with a tragic toll of over 30 deaths, including numerous children. At a time like this, when the United States is stepping up the protection of its borders, its refusal to help regulate the migratory traffic between our two countries would be inexplicably contradictory. Cuba has proposed a substantial expansion of the immigration agreement currently in force, and is waiting for a reply. 2. Cooperation with Cuba in the fight against drug trafficking. Today there is very limited cooperation in this area. Cuba has proposed a substantial increase in this cooperation, including the signing of an anti-drug agreement, and is now waiting for a reply from the United States. 3. An end to the illegal television and radio broadcasts aimed at Cuba. How can it be justified someday that the government of the United States devoted almost 400 million dollars to this subversive program, in order to pander to the extremist minority in Miami that profits from this funding, when that money could have been spent, for example, on computers for public schools in that country's poor neighborhoods? 4. An end to the unjust and arbitrary inclusion of Cuba on the list of states that sponsor terrorism, compiled by the Department of State. This is an affront to the Cuban people, who have in fact, as everyone knows, been the victims of countless terrorist acts organized and financed with total impunity from U.S. territory. 5. An end to the attempts to foment subversion within Cuba, which even involve the use of large sums of money from the U.S. federal budget. An end to the slander and pressure campaigns waged against our country in international organizations. An end to the impunity enjoyed by terrorist groups that have undertaken terrorist acts against Cuba from Miami. 6. The renunciation of the continued occupation, against the sovereign will of the Cuban people, of the territory occupied by the Guantánamo Naval Base. Although there are currently respectful and cooperative relations between U.S. and Cuban military personnel there, perhaps foreshadowing the potential for official relations between our two countries someday, and although it seems that the years when young Cubans were murdered from the base are now behind us, Cuba has not renounced the goal of regaining its sovereignty over this territory someday through political and peaceful means. If this were to happen, it would mark the end of a bitter chapter in relations between Cuba and the United States. Mr. Chairman: The blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba must be lifted. The resolutions consistently adopted by this Assembly since 1992 cannot continue to be ignored. The blockade is illegal. It violates the Charter of the United Nations, and infringes on international trade and the freedom of navigation. It imposes sanctions on businesspeople from third countries, which constitutes blatantly extraterritorial conduct. The blockade has neither ethical nor legal justification. It violates the Geneva Conventions. It deprives the Cuban people of access to food and medicine, something prohibited by international law even in times of war. The blockade does not enjoy majority support in the United States. In the Senate and the House of Representatives, there is an obvious consensus in favor of changing this policy. The press, the churches, the business sector and average citizens have increasingly come to question why a country that does not pose a threat to the United States, and does not consider itself an enemy of its people, is treated like an enemy nonetheless. The blockade violates the rights of the people of the United States, in order to serve the petty interests of an unscrupulous minority that has not even hesitated to use violence and terrorism against the Cuban people. The blockade violates the rights of Cubans who live in the United States. It prevents them from maintaining normal relations with their families in Cuba. The blockade has caused economic damages to Cuba of over 70 billion dollars, in addition to even higher sums resulting from the human injuries and economic damages inflicted on our people throughout more than 40 years of armed aggression, sabotage and terrorism, for which our country has justly demanded compensation. The blockade is rejected by the international community. Last year, for the ninth consecutive time, this Assembly called for the lifting of the blockade against Cuba with 167 votes in favor of the corresponding resolution. The blockade is the gravest violation of the human rights of the Cuban people. The blockade is maintained as the result of U.S. internal politics. It is said that the minority that demands the continuation of the blockade has electoral influence, and uses its money and votes to fight any changes. It is said that this is the way politics work in the United States, and the rules simply have to be accepted. And I ask myself: Can such reasons really be used to justify the attempt to force an entire people into surrender through hunger and disease? Mr. Chairman: Those who interpret these words as a lament are mistaken. Those who confuse our lack of hatred with weakness are mistaken. Those who believe that the people of Cuba can be forced into surrender are mistaken. Those who think that we Cubans are willing to give up our independence and our freedom are mistaken. Those who imagine that we Cubans will give up the social justice we have achieved are mistaken. In the name of the Cuban people, in the name of international law, in the name of reason, in the name of justice, I ask the General Assembly of the United Nations to express once again its support for the effective ending of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba. Thank you very much. ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://TOPICA.COM/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
