The Heights of the Ridiculous

REFLECTIONS BY COMRADE FIDEL

Oh, I'm so scared! I just about died when I read the statements made by the U.D.I (Independent Democratic Union).

How fortunate for Chile that it is no longer living under the rule of Augusto Pinochet. Reading Chapter 12 of Max Marambio's book " as armas de Ayer" (Yesterday's Weapons), made me recall those dismal days during which the tyrant ordered the bombing of the president's residence in Tomas Moro.

I swear that if I had the money, I would pay for a mass edition of that book.

Maybe the text is on the Internet. I would be very sorry if it isn't.

How much I enjoy seeing the rage of the most conservative sector within the oligarchy! Some of its leaders who visited Cuba some years ago did not hesitate to meet with me and show me how competent and wise they were. Not even them did I treat with arrogance.

The last day of Allende's life was extremely sad.

When he left his home to go to La Moneda after 7:00 a.m., he didn't wake up his wife, Tencha, who was asleep on the second floor along with their daughters Isabel and Beatriz, known as "Tati". He thought that the Tomas Moro residence would be the safest place for them. He could not even imagine that it would be bombed by the coup perpetrators.

Max Marambio, head of the elite, well-trained revolutionary youths making up the G.A.P. (Presidential Support Group), wrote: "For the first time in the history of the institution and the country, Chilean fighter planes took off to attack the president elected by the people.and the Hawker Hunters did so with the expertise acquired in training missions, without fearing the real risk of retaliation from the target. And then the image of the smoking ruin of La Moneda circled the globe."

".Beatriz, "Tati", who was carrying in her bulging womb the grandchild that Allende would never get to know", wrote.

"'The bombing starts at eleven on the dot! And who knows what will happen there. After the bombing we will attack it with the BUIN and the Infantry School troops'. Then he decided that the tanks will start the attack, and they shot more than fifty rounds against the building's façade."

".Pinochet kept his offer of getting Allende out of the country. However, with his soul stripped bare, he added a sordid comment: 'And then the plane falls, buddy'. Admiral Carvajal, his interlocutor, was enjoying Pinochet's remarks."

I shall be spending the 15th following the news about the Popular Referendum, which should say 'Yes' or 'No' to the right of the Bolivarian leader, Hugo Chavez Frias, to run again for President of our sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

I, for one, have no doubt whatsoever about his victory.

Fidel Castro Ruz

February 14, 2009

5:11 p.m.