Michael Perelman wrote:
Yes, and Cuba offered to help. Condie says that all help will be accepted, but
I
think not.
On Sun, Sep 04, 2005 at 03:13:53PM -0700, Jim Devine wrote:
Doesn't Cuba have a lot of doctors who would be willing and able to
help with the medical aftermath of Katrina?
--
Jim Devine
"Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let
people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
This full transcript (full is the operative word, when Castro speaks) is
available on Cuba News at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/41784. I don't know of
another person alive during my 81 years whom I would compare with Castro
for sense of purpose, single-minded perseverance in the face of
seemingly insurmountable obstacles, clarity and eloquence in conveying
revolutionary goals and practice, and the capacity to inform and inspire
about that which in terms of human fulfillment counts most. He is truly
a figure for all history. This is long but well worth reading, as it
shows Fidel's thought processes in the face of the enemy's misfortune,
which he reads as the misfortune of the poorest people who bear the
brunt. He has explored and spells out all the nitty gritty details of
how Cuba, the closest nation to the tragedy and most experienced in
hurricane emergencies, could send needed help to those people, and
Cuba's was the first offer of aid, totally ignored by our government and
media.
Ralph
Message: 7
Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2005 20:37:27 -0700
From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: Fidel Castro: "Neither propaganda nor conditions"
Neither propaganda nor conditions, but solidarity aid to the people of
the United States by Fidel Castro
This is a complete transcript of the remarks made by Fidel Castro on
Cuba's TV news magazine, the Mesa Redonda (Round Table) on September 2,
2005. Fidel explained in detail the offer which Cuba made to send 1000
doctors to New Orleans immediately after Hurricane Kristina hit the
city. There has been no response from the United States government to
the Cuban offer as of this writing.
A CubaNews translation by subscriber Joe Bryzak to whom boundless
gratitude is due for this work!
http://www.walterlippmann.com/fc-09-02-2005.html
Spanish original may be read here:
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2005/esp/f020905e.html
Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Council of
Ministers of State, repeated an offer of medical aid to the people of
the United States on the television program Round Table, on September 2,
2005, "Year of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas."
(Stenographic version of the Council of State)
It was necessary to improvise this conference, as happens at times, when
events are precipitous, and now I am going to explain why.
Yesterday a press conference was held at the Department of State, a
regularly scheduled one, with the participation of the spokesperson for
that department, Sean McCormack.
I must refer to the text of the spokesperson's declarations.
"Press room of the Department of State, Washington, DC, 12:46 p.m.,
Thursday, September 1, 2005."
(At that hour we were tied up in the assembly of the National Assembly
attending to important matters; but among them the tragedy in the United
States.)
Mister McCormack said: "Good afternoon. I wanted to begin with a brief
account of a subject that I know is of interest for everyone present
here concerning the aid efforts after the passage of Hurricane Katrina,
as well as offers of aid from abroad.
"Permit me to begin by saying we have received numerous and generous
offers of aid from foreign governments and organizations, and Secretary
Rice, after consulting with the White House, has made it plain that we
will accept all the offers of foreign aid. Anything that might be useful
in alleviating the difficult situation, the tragic situation of the
people in the area affected by Hurricane Katrina, will be accepted."
Further on he continues:
"I can relate a list. To this point this is a growing list that is
actually added to every hour.
"We have received general offers of aid, as well as other more specific
ones from several countries and organizations, which includes Russia,
Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, the OAS
[Organization of American States], Jamaica, NATO, Australia, the United
Kingdom, Holland, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Columbia, the Dominican
Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel and the United
Arab Emirates.
"I will try to keep you informed as to what is added to the list. As I
said, it literally is growing hour by hour."
It was only later, almost at night, after the Assembly session had
ended, that we began to see the cables, and we could not even read them
all. We received information from some of the dispatches this morning,
from which I just read.
This places me in the position of having to clarify the position of
Cuba, because really many people, friends, inside and outside of the
United States, knowing that it is customary for our country to offer
cooperation in situations like this, independently of conflicts,
political or ideological differences or of any type, they began to call
us, surprised that we had not offered any support to the United States
because of the tragedy occasioned by Katrina.
The calls kept coming in, and therefore it was absolutely necessary to
make this declaration, the content of which is self-explanatory.
Among other things, it can be appreciated that we are not talking about
a simple question of public relations, nor much less, but of an
important fact, including from a practical point of view.
I am going to read a brief chronology of the offer of aid on the part of
the Cuban government to the government of the United States respecting
the hurricane.
"25 August 2005
"Hurricane Katrina pounds Florida, causing losses of human life and
heavy material damage."
Days later. "29 August 2005.
"After reaching category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, Hurricane
Katrina pounds the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The
first news over the magnitude of the tragedy begin to circulate.
"On August 30 2005 the last gusts were blowing over these states,
Louisiana and others of the South, with which we have commercial
relations, at the least for important purchases of foodstuffs. We have
even received visits from officials from that state and others
associated with those purchases on the part of Cuba from the United
States, which have been going on already for several years."
A lot of things have happened. I have spoken with several thousand
farmers, because several hundred came to the first [agricultural] fair;
I met one group after the other, and in these four years I have talked
with thousands of U.S. farmers and visitors, state officials, governors,
senators, representatives.
Visiting here just a few months ago was the governor of the state of
Louisiana, a very genial person. She came, as governors do, interested
on affairs and problems of their states, and these, the [states] most
affected by the hurricane, are poor states; agriculture plays an
important role in them, as well as the ports, from where they export
their products.
"At 11:32 in the morning of August 30, 2005, I call our Minister of
Foreign Relations, compañero Felipe, to ask him to immediately transmit,
through the Office of Interest Sections of the United States in Havana
and through our Office of Interests in Washington, a message in which
condolences are expressed to the government of the United States
concerning the hurricane, offering them aid in the area of attention to
health, because we knew, by the news that was arriving, that there a
catastrophe was in the making."
If in any event it was important to offer what we could offer,
fundamentally because of the experience that we have in the battle
against hurricanes and experience in the means of protection for the
population, evacuation, support, etcetera, it is in the field of medical
care. Right at the catastrophe of September 11, Cuba was the first
country to offer support, because we heard the news that the planes were
flying and could not land in the airports. What we did immediately was
to offer our airports, and afterward we also offered what we could
offer: medical aid, considering the magnitude of the enormous number of
possible victims.
We are closer to New York than [is] California. Aid from Cuba can arrive
first from Cuba to New York than from California, it's three hours from
Cuba to New York. I believe it is double that time from California to
that city.
Anyway, we offered medical aid. It was nothing ridiculous; at times to
save a life you need a rare blood type for a transfusion. One, two,
three, ten lives, that is not the problem; if you save one, there is the
obligation of saving it.
"At 12:45, following instructions, the interim director of the North
American Department of MINREX [the Ministry of Foreign Affairs],
Josefina Vidal, meeds with the second in command of SINA, Edward
Alexander Lee, to give him the indicated message verbally, as well as
hand him a written copy."
We did not lose one minute, that is the truth. Here is compañera
Josefina:
"Following the received instructions, Compañera Josefina Vidal expressed
to Mister Lee textually: 'We want a time out.'--alluding to the present
state of relations between Cuba and the government of the United
States--'given the gravity of the situation provoked by Hurricane
Katrina.' " It affected us as well, don't forget that when [the
hurricane] was coming to Florida we were in the Round Table, and it had
downed poles, it had cut the electricity.
It was a thing almost serpentlike. The tail of the hurricane, when it
crossed Florida from east to the southwest of the peninsula, it affected
us as well. Many flights were suspended, others had to be diverted,
flights carrying patients to be operated on in Cuba: some went to
Camaguey, others to Holguin, our planes that were to take off from
Venezuela could not take off.
The following day, nobody knew where the hurricane was going to go.
It even neared Cuba, created problems in Pinar del Rio, great rains;
later it spun toward the north, leaving strong rain, flooding in some
places, threatening flooding from the sea; breaches of the sea in Pinar
del Rio, you have to see the photos. On the following day we too were
really being affected by the hurricane, and we simply were hearing news
that it was turning toward the north and that it was gathering force
from category 4 to
5, exactly equal to the other one that passed through here a few weeks
back.
Josefina, after her first words, read the indicated message, whose text
is the following:
"On instructions from the leadership of the Cuban government, I express
to you our condolences for the loss of human life and the material
damages caused by the Hurricane Katrina, and I inform you of our
disposition to send doctors and health personnel wherever needed in the
affected zones, as well as three field hospitals with necessary personnel.
Following her instructions, Josefina concluded, expressing to Mister Lee
that: "We do not propose making publicity out of this. We await your
response." For that reason we did not make this public, really we did
not publicize anything. It's that we did not want it to appear to be a
question of publicity.
