FIDEL: A Nuclear Strike (re: Gustav damage in Cuba)

[magbana]

"I had said in two previous reflections: “We’re lucky to
have a Revolution! No one will be abandoned to their fate.”


Source: Cubadebate

Reflections by comrade Fidel

ENGLISH:
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2008/ing/f020908i.html

SPANISH ORIGINAL:
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2008/esp/f020908e.html

A NUCLEAR STRIKE

It is not an overstatement. This is the general expression of many
compatriots. It is the impression of the Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major
General of the Alvaro Lopez Miera, an experienced career soldier, when he
saw in the Isla de la Juventud the twisted steel towers, the shattered
houses and the devastation everywhere.

“It has been a hard blow; I could not even imagine it,” said in a hoarse
voice, hurt by the effort but steady and resolute, Ana Isa Delgado, the
Party Secretary and President of the Defense Council in that important
municipality. “I had never seen anything like it in the fifty years I’ve
lived here!” said an astonished resident. A young soldier getting off an
amphibious car shouted: “We shall prove our will to give up our lives for
the people!”

In Herradura, Army Corps General Leopoldo Cintra Frias, looking around him
at a devastated area, shared his admiration and amazement for the people’s
courage when he expressed: “This is like a nuclear explosion.” He was rather
close to witnessing one of these in Southeast Angola, if the South African
racists had decided to use on the Cuban-Angolan forces one of seven such
bombs they had received from the United States government. However, this was
a calculated risk; therefore, the most convenient tactics had been adopted.

Polo was in the area accompanied by Olga Lidia Tapia, Party Secretary and
President of the Defense Council in the province, who never doubted for a
second the results of the efforts and determination of her compatriots.

I dare say in full honesty that the pictures and film showed on national
television on Sunday reminded me of the desolation I saw when I visited
Hiroshima, the city that was the victim of the first nuclear strike in
August 1945.

There is reason to assert that a hurricane can display a great energy,
perhaps equaling thousands of nuclear weapons like those used against the
cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It would be worthwhile for a Cuban
physicist or mathematician to make the relevant calculations and then a
comprehensible presentation.

Now the battle consists in feeding the victims of the hurricane. The
difficulty is not in reestablishing energy as soon as possible. The problem
in the Isla de la Juventud is that out of 16 bakeries, all of them equipped
with electric ovens and power generators, only two could be immediately
operational; the buildings had been severely damaged. They needed to receive
bread or crackers. At the moment, they require an enormous amount of roofing
and other material to repair the houses. And the Isla de la Juventud is
separated from the main island by the sea. It’s not enough to fill up trucks
with food and material to send them there.

Our military has sent there specialized personnel in the area of airfields
and land and air transportation. Now, thanks to the sets of power
generators, the planes can land at the island’s airport day and night. It is
their mission to help the people while avoiding any wastage of resources,
and they will act with the same spirit in the places swept away in Pinar del
Rio. Every institution has received their missions; they are all important.
But the goods do not come out of the blue and sharing implies making
sacrifices. Let’s not forget this in a few days.

These adverse events should serve to make us work more efficiently every day
and to make a more rational and fair use of every piece of material. We must
fight our own shallowness and selfishness. One hundred million dollars mean
only nine dollars per capita and we need much more. We need 30 times, 40
times that figure only to alleviate our most basic needs. Such effort shall
come from our people’s work. Nobody will do it for us.

Obviously, our capacity to disseminate news has multiplied and our educated
people have higher schooling levels.

Kcho, the painter, went by plane to the Isla de la Juventud, his birthplace,
and from there he sent us a letter about the high moral of his compatriots.
I’m quoting several paragraphs:

“Dear Fidel:

“Since my arrival in the island, when I could see with my own eyes and feel
with my entire body what’s going on here, I felt it was important to get in
touch with Richard to let you know of the appalling situation the special
municipality was going through.

“I can’t find the words to relate to you what I saw yesterday in the Isla de
la Juventud. In my 38 years of life I had never seen anything like it and
the people I talked to in my territory had never seen anything worse; it’s
incredible how their moral is so high…many have lost their homes and most
have seen their belongings, beds, mattresses, TV sets, refrigerators, etc.
ruined. Most of the population is in this situation. It has been estimated
that of the 25 thousand houses in the island --and this isn’t yet the final
figure-- some 20 thousand have been affected one way or another, and that
half of these 20 thousand lack any roofing or have been totally destroyed.”

“…the brigade of 52 linemen from Camaguey, which had worked until 3:00 a.m.,
again resumed their work at 6:30 a.m. and in very high spirit; they are
expecting another group of some 60 men who will be coming from Holguin…

“…there are still many problems waiting to be solved, such as houses that
were shattered by hurricane Michelle in 2001.

“There are serious problems with foodstuff…At the moment the island is like
a prison, precisely because it’s an island, even though the flights have
been resumed…Money is of no consequence here since there is nothing you can
buy with it anywhere.

“At the moment, human solidarity is the most important thing. The people’s
moral is high but that will not last forever; it will be necessary to solve
some things in the next few days. As the energy services are reestablished,
it would be necessary to set up information centers where the people can
gather to know what’s going on in the country and the municipality, or even
to listen to music or spend some time together.

“At present, the territory is ‘a theater of military operations during a
truce’, where people are still happy because they could save their lives and
not thinking much about having lost their belongings; they are trying to
save what’s left and adjusting to that new situation but with the passing of
days their moral could decline and they could feel depressed.

“…the conditions of the hospital are subhuman and only the will and
convictions of revolutionary men and women make it work.

“The people from this island are revolutionary and combative and everybody
is working intensively (patients, relatives and medical personnel). The 32
patients requiring hemodialysis –each accompanied by a relative and nurses--
arrived in the capital yesterday at approximately 4:00 p.m.. They had spent
48 hours without treatment but they were still doing well.

“The people here keep their moral high and are happy with the work being
done by the corresponding institutions and with the fact that not a human
life was lost, neither in Pinar del Rio nor in the Isla de la Juventud or
Matanzas.

“I think that much working time and resources will be required for the
island to be what it was before, just as if it were a province, because now
everything is devastated.”

Kcho forwarded with his letter eloquent photos of the devastation. On the
envelop he drew the silhouette of the Isla de la Juventud and a Cuban flag
fluttering in the wind.

The excellent painters who used to accompany our battles of ideas could now
portray the episode and encourage our people in their epic struggle.

Orfilio Pelaez described for us in Granma a hurricane that hit in 1846 with
a minimum record pressure of 916 hPa registered by equipment. That happened
162 years ago, when there was no radio, television, movies, Internet and
other media which sometimes clash creating chaos in our minds.

The population of Cuba at that time was at least 12 times smaller. Based on
slave and endured labor, the country was for a good part of that century a
major exporter of sugar and coffee. People did not retire then, life
expectancy was much lower, and the diseases of older age were almost
unknown, the same as massive education whose development demands so many
minds and so much work. The natural resources were abundant. The hurricanes,
although damaging, did not cause a national catastrophe, and the climate
changes, rather distant, were not even discussed.

On the Granma of today, Tuesday, the same journalist has related the
exploits of our people in their efforts to recuperate and to advance in the
last few years. As for Rubiera, the scientist, during his tour of Pinar del
Rio he observed with great attention to detail, among the ruins of the
Meteorology Institute in Paso Real de San Diego, the equipment that measured
the speed of the winds registering 212.5 miles when it was torn down by
strong gusts of wind. It has been announced that he will be taking part in
the Roundtable today. He has a theory to explain what happened. On the other
hand, Juan Varela has reported on the damages to the largest agricultural
farm in Guira de Melena, Provincia Habana. This farm was expected to produce
this year about 140,000 tons of root vegetables, green vegetables and
grains. In my view, and at the international prices, the losses in terms of
work hours, food products, farming and irrigation gear, fuels and other
spending can be rated in the millions in that enterprise only.

However, the most impressing event, on account of the human drama portrayed,
was reported by journalist Alfonso Nacianceno and photographer Juvenal
Balan: the odyssey of the five crew members of the Langostero 100 from
Batabano in Provincia Habana. These workers had been timely ordered back to
port as every other fisherman’s boat, but as fate would have it they were
delayed. On Saturday, as the hurricane was quickly advancing, communication
with them was lost. I had said in two previous reflections: “We’re lucky to
have a Revolution! No one will be abandoned to their fate.”

On Saturday, almost at midnight, I learned of the lack of communication with
the fishing boat. Raul had given me news of the situation. He trusted the
experience of the fishermen to deal with storms and hurricanes. He told me
that at dawn he would be sending the necessary means to find them. The
search started as soon as the weather improved; 36 boats, three helicopters
and two planes were involved for almost two days. The fishermen’s boat was
nowhere to be found; however, the castaways were found. They tell an
incredible story; those who are familiar with the sea know what it means to
spend endless hours grabbing an oar and then a buoy.

The revolutionary miracle happened and the fishermen were rescued.

But we cannot entertain illusions; this hurricane has left behind one
hundred thousand houses affected to a higher or lesser degree and the almost
complete loss of things necessary after the tragedy, as Kcho has explained
in his letter.

How many safe, hurricane-proof houses Cuba needs? No less that 1.5 million
houses for 3.5 million people. Let’s make the estimate of the international
cost of such investments according to the available world data.

A family in Europe must pay at least 100 thousand dollars, plus interests,
for which they contribute 700 dollars monthly of their income for l5 years.
Ten billion dollars is the approximate cost of 100 thousand houses for an
average family in the developed countries, which are the ones who determine
the prices of industrial and food products in the world. To this we must add
the cost of the affected social facilities that must be rebuilt, the
economic facilities and those required for development.

The resources, I repeat, will only come from our labors. While the new
generations carry out this task, the men and women living in this country
are called upon to display the solidarity, the courage and the fighting
spirit shown by the comrades from Pinar del Rio and the Isla de la Juventud.

At this moment, in the second half of the year, the empire is taking a
difficult test which involves its capacity to face up to the challenges
brought about by its lifestyle at the expense of the rest of the peoples.
Now they need to change the skipper.

Bush and Cheney have almost been marginalized from the Republican’s campaign
for they are considered warmongers and undesirable. What is at stake,
though, is not a change of system but rather how to preserve it at a lower
cost.

The developed imperialism will end up killing all those who try to enter its
territory to become endured laborers and to share in its consumption. It’s
already doing it. It’s huge the chauvinism and egotism generated by that
system.

We are aware of that and we shall continue to develop solidarity, our
mainstay resource both inside and outside our homeland.

Fidel Castro Ruz
September 2, 2008
6:17 p.m.