Pontius Pilate Washed His Hands

Pressure against the U.S. blockade of Cuba was so great that on the day Raúl categorically declared that our country would not join the OAS, the secretary of the discredited institution began to prepare the terrain for Cuba’s participation in an eventual future Summit of the Americas.

His recipe is to abolish the resolution which decided the expulsion of the Island for ideological reasons. Such an argument is truly laughable when important countries such as China and Vietnam, which the world today cannot do without, are being lead by Communist parties that were created on the same ideological foundations.

Historical events prove the hegemonic policies of the United States in our region and the disgusting role of the OAS as the hideous instrument of the powerful country.

Insulza’s formula consists of wiping the criminal agreement off the map. Raúl declared in Cumaná that Cuba would never rejoin the OAS. Using Marti’s scathing phrase, he expressed that first “the Southern sea would join the Northern sea, and a serpent would be born from the agle’s egg”.

At that same occasion, in response to an alleged gesture by Obama which offered a conversation with Cuba about democracy and human rights, he replied that the government of Cuba was willing to discuss any subject on the basis of the most absolute respect for the equality and
sovereignty of both countries. Our country knows full well the meaning and dignity of those words.

Among Obama’s public demands is the liberation of those imprisoned for their treacherous services to the United States which, during almost half a century, has been assaulting and blockading our Homeland.

Raúl stated that Cuba was willing to show clemency if the United States would receive them and if it would free the five Cuban anti-terrorist heroes.

However, both the government of the United States and the maggot’s nest inside and outside of Cuba have reacted with all kinds of arrogance.

AP and other cable news agencies have suggested divisions in the heart of our revolutionary leadership.

According to AP, “a prominent human rights activist” said that “most of the two hundred Cuban prisoners prefer serving long sentences on the Island rather than being exchanged for five Communist agents being held in prisons in the United States, as President Raúl Castro has
suggested.

“It is practically unanimous among the prisoners that they not be exchanged for soldiers who were arrested red-handed spying in the United States”, the agency stated, citing the head of the ill-named “Cuban Commission for Human Rights and Conciliation”. One would now have to
see who they would classify with this concept. Pope John Paul II made no difference between political and ordinary prisoners when he visited Cuba, and he sought clemency for a number of them. Actually, the majority of those classified as ordinary prisoners in the United States
are, generally speaking, the poorest and most discriminated against people.

“Nevertheless Obama –AP later goes on to say– could suffer serious political consequences if he were to agree to the exchange of five Communist agents who were condemned for spying in 2001. The leader of the group was implicated in the deaths of four Cuban exiles when their
planes were shot down by Cuban fighter planes in 2001.” Isn’t that cable an indirect threat to the president of the United States?

The alleged mercenary leader was a sectarian coming from the youth section of the former Communist Party that later joined the new party created by the Revolution. When we found ourselves in the necessity to disagree with the USSR for its incorrect decision to negotiate an
agreement for the October [Missile] Crisis with the United States without first consulting our country, the individual became an enemy of the Revolution. He served the superpower during the entire Bush term in office. Now he is enjoying the privilege of being instrumental in
threatening Obama.

AP says not one word about the life sentences passed on the Five Heroes in cooked trials, the lies concocted with the complicity of the authorities, the cruel treatment they have received and many more details related to the case. Those are the slanderous rumors being printed in much of the news media throughout the world.

Whenever the state of health of any of the mercenaries warrants it, the government of Cuba has never failed to show clemency, without the United States having to demand it.

On the other hand, the government of Cuba never used torture, something that is acknowledged by the world. The president of Cuba cannot order the assassination of an adversary. Has the new U.S. president condemned that horrible practice? If he does so, believe me that I shall not
hesitate to acknowledge the impression of sincerity he gave all of us at the beginning.

Tomorrow we shall be meeting again with Daniel. In less time than he had to wait in the LACSA plane under the intense tropical heat in Port of Spain, the Cuban plane will return him to his beloved homeland.

Fidel Castro Ruz
April 23, 2009
2:54 p.m.

Zimbabwe's President Says Cuba's Cooperation Is Very Important

HAVANA, Cuba, April 24 (acn) Zimbabwean President Robert G. Mugabe, recently stressed the importance of Cuba in the training of human resources for his country in fields like education and health, among others.

In a meeting Thursday with the Cuban ambassador to Zimbabwe, Cosme Torres Espinosa, Mugabe said he appreciated the presence of a medical brigade of 134 health experts from the island, who are currently working in a cooperation project under the Comprehensive Health Program of his country.

The statesman recalled his last visit to Cuba in 2007 and expressed his admiration for Cuban programs such as the Latin American Medical School and Operation "Miracle", which has restored the vision to thousands of peoples around the world.

The Zimbabwean leader conveyed his greetings to Comrade Fidel Castro and thanked President Raul Castro for his message on the occasion of the 29th anniversary of the independence of Zimbabwe.

At President Mugabe's request, the Cuban ambassador briefed him on the present state of the Cuban economy, the progress achieved after the island was hit by three devastating hurricanes last year and the state of Cuba's relations with Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States.

(Resalta Presidente Robert G. Mugabe validez de la colaboración civil en
Zimbabwe)

Cuban Products Exhibited at Bolivian Trade Fair

HAVANA, Cuba, April 24 (acn) Products and services from Cuban enterprises are present at the 26th Cochabamba International Fair (FEICOBOL), Bolivia, which opened its doors on Thursday and will run until May 3rd.

The exhibition includes offers of perfumery, products for pest control and veterinary use from Havana's LABIOFAM Institute, orthopaedic devices of the Frank País Hospital, and the scientific and technical services of Ganma, Prensa Latina news agency reports.

Some 800 companies from numerous countries are represented at this trade fair, which allows entities to have access to competitive markets and find a more active place in the global economy, stated the event's general manager, Eunice Achá.

Besides the Bolivian companies, several entities from other Latin American nations, among them Cuba, Argentina, Colombia and Peru, represented by some one hundred exhibitors.

There's also great enthusiasm for the products promoted by companies from China, the United States, Germany, South Korea and Japan, among other countries.

FEICOBOL is one of the main fairs of the Andean nation, and the best known of those promoted in the Department of Cochabamba.

(Productos cubanos presentes en feria comercial boliviana)