>From: "Jose G. Perez" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >I've said it before and I'll say it again: the imperialist news media >lies. They lie for good reasons, they lie for bad reasons, sometimes >it seems they lie just to keep in practice, having no apparent reason >to do so. > >Such is perhaps to be the case of Andrew Cawthorne, the hack that >Reuters has in Havana, who yesterday sent out a dispatch about Fidel's >birthday (which is tomorrow, Sunday). > >"In line with the veil he likes to keep over his personal life, Cuba's >'Maximum Leader' again was expected to avoid the spotlight on Sunday's >anniversary of his Aug. 13, 1926, birth in the small hamlet of Biran >in an eastern province," Cawthorne writes. > >Cawthorne doesn't tell us who is doing all this "expecting." The truth >probably is something like his editors asked him for what we old-time >hacks call a "thumb sucker" --a "news analysis" to the readers-- and >Cawthorne produced one probably in an hour or so without even si much >as consulting a single source on the phone. > >Now it is true that Fidel avoids politicizing or publicizing his >personal life. But he has a previously scheduled, long announced, and >quite anticipated public appearance on Sunday, for it marks the >graduation of a couple of thousand MORE Cuban doctors, a thousand or >so each for the two the imperialists managed to buy for themselves in >Zimbabwe. > >When the Czech regime and the European Mafia tried, at the behest of >the U.S., to crucify Cuba in Geneva over supposed human rights >violations, many African countries stuck with Cuba, despite their >tremendous vulnerability to imperialist pressure, precisely because of >the job being done by selfless Cuban doctors all over the continent. > >And as Fidel pointed out in his speech on April 22, the day Eli�n was >rescued, and days after the clash in Geneva, Cuba may be financially >poor but rich in spirit, in morale, in revolutionary internationalism, >and all the imperialist countries together couldn't field the number >of volunteers Cuba does to go work in the most remote corners of the >third world to bring health care to the wretched of the earth. > >That is what gives the graduation of another contingent of Cuban >doctors such tremendous political significance. They are the >front-line troops in the worldwide battle for socialist ideas Cuba is >waging against the imperialists. Cuba's doctors abroad are under >strict orders not to meddle in other countries affairs, not to >propagandize, not to put out pamphlets, not to sell revolutionary >newspapers at the factory gates. Their watchword comes from Jos� >Mart�: The best way to say something is to do it. > >This internationalist offensive of Cuban medicine against illness and >disease and the social system that breeds them will, I have no doubt, >be the central theme of tomorrow's event. Each new doctor is a damning >accusation against countries, federations and alliances with ten times >Cuba's population and 100 times Cuba's resources that don't do one-one >thousandths as much as Cuba is doing, and yet have the unmitigated >gall, the chutzpah to get up at the United Nations and accuse Cuba of >ignoring human rights while the children of Africa, Asia and Latin >America die by the millions. > >I don't know if Cawthorne is just "tyring to block the sun with one >finger" (as we say in Spanish) or if he really pays so little >attention to the society that surrounds him that he was totally >unaware of the event. > >Either way, there's a lesson to be learned about the probity, and just >basic journalistic competence, >of the Andrew Cawthornes of this world. > >Jos� > >ANALYSIS-Rejuvenated by Elian, Cuba's Castro to turn 74 > >By Andrew Cawthorne > > >HAVANA, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro, an icon of >communism and one of the world's most recognisable figures, turns 74 >over the weekend, his four-decade rule reinvigorated by the recent >custody fight over Elian Gonzalez. > >In line with the veil he likes to keep over his personal life, Cuba's >"Maximum Leader'' again was expected to avoid the spotlight on >Sunday's anniversary of his Aug. 13, 1926, birth in the small hamlet >of Biran in an eastern province. > >Supporters and members of Castro's ruling Communist Party, however, >were sure to mark the date with low-key celebrations, congratulatory >messages and tributes in state-run media. A group of doctors jumped >the gun earlier in the week, wishing Castro happy birthday during an >emotional meeting with him on their return from a medical aid mission >to Africa. > ><snip> > > > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------<e|- >Remember four years of good friends, bad clothes, explosive >chemistry experiments. >http://click.egroups.com/1/8013/0/_/30563/_/966135348/ >--------------------------------------------------------------------|e>- > >Cuba SI - Imperialism NO! >Information and discussion about Cuba. >Socialism or death! Patria o muerte! Venceremos! >http://www.egroups.com/group/cubasi > >Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Change Delivery Options: http://www.egroups.com/mygroups > > > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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