By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
Anti-Chavism has become the ideology of the ultra-right in the region because Chavismo, from its inception, changed regional geopolitics, changed the political world of Latin America and the Caribbean and impacted many other regions of the world. Chavismo is the new Bolivarianism of the 21st century.
The revolutionary forces that emerged from the leadership of Comandante Chavez succeeded in articulating the progressive, advanced and revolutionary forces of the entire continent to become a worldwide reference for the possible changes and changes that Latin America and all of humanity needed .
Such are some of the concepts raised by Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, in his replies to an interview conducted in Caracas by the celebrated Venezuelan journalist and political scientist José Vicente Rangel.
The Latin American right, so widely-publicized and subordinated to US imperialism, long ago adopted as its central banner the defeat of the Bolivarian revolution.
Anti-Chávez, anti-Bolivarian and anti-Venezuelan campaigns became the axis of the speech of this right-wing, which, by the way, has arrived at government with a rather meager vote. In Argentina, it barely achieved a thirty-one percent vote to choose the president of that nation; Or, as in the case of Brazil, avoided electoral confrontation and opted, instead, for a covert coup in which the OAS and the corporate media served, in silence, as an accomplice.
That right has reached political power in some key Latin American countries, fueled by anti-Bolivarian, anti-Chavez doctrine … and much fear, almost terror, by the force of ideas and the example emanating from the Bolivarian revolution.
“I hope that the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), with its great power, will give me special support for the fight against corruption, which is a pending bill that we have.
“We will need it, not only from the punitive point of view, also in the educational, cultural and moral aspects. We will continue to insist on building a society with values of respect, honesty and transparent practice in the management of public affairs.
“It is a great battle, we can not guarantee that we will win it in months or years, it is a battle that will take us a long time, but Venezuela has in me a President committed to the end in the fight against corruption and those who are corrupt.
Maduro showed that Venezuelans today have been lucky enough to live the total bankruptcy of the model of oil dependence protected by the socialist Chavez social model.
He recalled that many experts predicted that the oil model would begin to decline in 2030, 2040 or 2050. But, thanks to the “miracle” of the revolution, it happened that it had taken place suddenly and the country went from one day to the next to receive, from 120 dollars a barrel to 20 dollars, “and here nobody lacked school, work, income or food with the problems that had to be faced. We do not stop building housing, we do not stop building public works
Fundamentally, we made guts heart and I believe that we made a social miracle of salvation of the country. That must be recognized, we made a social miracle of salvation of the country. In the midst of bankruptcy. “Maduro stressed that after having overcome the three demons (the bankruptcy of the oil dependency system, the international financial and commercial war and induced inflation) we will have a people protected by a social system that will support economic recovery.
“We must be clear that we have a correct strategy and policy. The strategic engines of our Bolivarian Economic Agenda (the industrial engine, agri-food, petrochemical, tourism, socialist communal economy, heavy industry, etc.) are the correct strategy for economic independence and development of the potentialities to get rid of oil, which is the most important thing we are doing.
“The Constituent Assembly arrived and peace was made. And I have a great faith in the full exercise of our national sovereignty, without accepting blackmail or pressure from anyone in the world, and less from North American imperialism. The Constituent Assembly will put order in justice, in institutionality, in the state and in the economy,” said Maduro. He predicted that Venezuela will end the year 2017 with a good level of general recovery of society, the country, politics and peace, said the President reflecting the optimism with which Venezuelans are proud, proud of their history and confident that they will still need to wage many battles for independence, because that is the cost of the privilege of having a country with so many resources that excite imperialist greed.
August 23, 2017.
A complete and excellent translation of Jose Vicente Rangel’s interview with Maduro:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Venezuelas-Maduro-Speaks-on-Chavez-Trump-and-Opposition-20170824-0009.html
Various Authors
August 7, 2017 10:02:14 CDT
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
Hello photographers.
Together with the holiday spirit and summer, we want you to have fun while participating in our call for the month of August.
We propose that you use your imagination to change the perspective of the images you take and thus achieve a fantastic visual effect, so that the result is a fun trap. Surely you have already seen this kind of images: people holding the moon, being crushed by the tower of Piza, inside the jaws of a dinosaur, standing on a giant sand castle, etc.
To achieve this funny deception, you should only work with the position of the objects, animals or people that appear in the photo, sometimes overlapping them, others placing them in the exact position but playing with the distances.
Manipulate the perspective from which you can build these natural montages and enjoy while you do it.
This gallery is offered to you as a guide to the challenge.
Solidarity with Yanay, discriminated against because of the color of her skin
Posted on July 7, 2017 • 11:32 by Ariadna Pérez Valdés
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Since the publication, last Monday, of the article “Discriminated against on the basis of skin color”, we began receiving multiple messages from our readers through social networks, the website, section Buzón abierto [Open Mailbox], and phone calls. For the most part, these showed outrage at what happened, and supported Yanay, the Artemisa student, in her complaint.
It is worth noting that, in a few hours the item was positioned among the most read in our web edition and has remained so during the week.
The initial statements focused on astonishment and outrage at the fact that in 21st century socialist Cuba there was evidence of a scourge that many believed was eradicated: racism.
“This guy offends so many good Cubans who fought and gave their lives to sweep away these manifestations,” says Eddis Armin Pérez Calzadilla.
“We cannot allow such a serious offense: we are all equal here,” says Ana Griselda Rodríguez, neighbor of Santiago de las Vegas in the capital.
“It is an affront not only to the girl, but also to our society,” said Internet user Marco Velázquez Cristo, “because such conduct harms the dignity of the people and the values we defend. This is unacceptable.”
Then the comments got hotter, because they claimed that the action was a crime punishable under our laws, and urged Yanay to make a formal complaint. Most opinions demanded a punishment for the driver of the vehicle, on the understanding that such attitudes should not go unpunished.
“I hope the courts act strongly against the driver. For the young woman, a hug. We are not black or white, we are Cubans,” wrote Ibrahim Almaguer Legrá, via email.
Rivera warns that these racist behaviors have gone too far, not only among the boteros [self/employed car owners offering public transport service], but even in the paladares [private restaurants] with their employees. “The problem goes far beyond,” he said.
Another forum writer, Enrique Martinez, said, “Wow, now do not tell me that there is no evidence or that it is her word against his. The important thing here is to reject such an attitude. People can and must punish him. If Cubans contributed to doing away with apartheid thousands of miles away, how can a racist person be allowed to display his arrogance here. At least let’s make him swallow his racism.”
Among the many opinions, only that of a reader who calls himself Esteban does not see anything alarming in the story. “He did not ask her out for being black, but because he was ending the tour and she got offended when he called her by the color of her skin.”
We must add that a few minutes ago we received a call from the “Jose Antonio Aponte Committee” of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) taking an interest in the facts and congratulating our team for the publication.
The senders want to know what happened to the driver and what will the authorities do. They and we “expect a STRONG response.”
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive to the daily POR ESTO! Of Mérida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
For US imperialism and the continental right, July 30th in Venezuela should be a conclusive political lesson. It should also be a lesson for the organizers of the media campaigns against popular processes. Their reliability has been demonstrated by the mass exercise of their rights by a mature and determined population who rejects them.
The election on that day of the members of the Constituent National Assembly (ANC), according to the Constitution and the laws of the country, involved an enthusiastic participation of more than 8,090,230 Venezuelans –41.53% of the electoral roll– who said yes to Constituent Assembly and the Bolivarian revolution.
The President of the United States threatened the Venezuelans with an increase in economic sanctions. The election would certainly take place, no doubt assuming that the people, intimidated, would repudiate the democratic act and refrain from participating in it.
But, on the contrary, Trump’s threats and terrorist actions against the voters stimulated their attendance because patriotic motivation was added.
The Bolivarian government called on democratic and peace-loving people to be alert to this new interventionist escalation of US imperialism. They called for a categorical rejection of the violent, fascist, racist and criminal actions of the Venezuelan opposition who are so afraid of this democratic, legal, sovereign, peaceful and civilized act .
For his part, the angry American president, who has been forced to move all his chips at the same time to coincide with other serious clashes unleashed separately against Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This has led Washington to impose sanctions on Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, according to a statement from the US Treasury Department.
The statement specifies that all assets of President Maduro which are or may be under US jurisdiction will be frozen. In addition, US citizens will be prohibited from any agreement with Maduro. He, in turn, has reiterated that, as President of Venezuela, he does not have to answer to anyone but Venezuela’s women and men.
The Venezuelan president has described the day [of the election] as the “biggest” of the Bolivarian Revolution and has based its success on the option that made the peace proposal his banner of struggle in such complex circumstances.
Maduro stressed that, until the last moment, he kept the doors open for the Venezuelan opposition, which did not cease to call for violence and destabilizing actions on election day. He revealed that a delegation of his government had been meeting for several weeks with opposition leaders. Among these he mentioned the President of the Parliament, Julio Borges, to try to add them to the constituent assembly initiative. “Two weeks ago I proposed to the opposition that they register for the Constituent Assembly. But they did not accept,” said the leader.
“In the last six weeks, there have been direct talks between the delegations of the Democratic Unity Roundtable and a delegation presided over by Jorge Rodríguez, Delcy Rodríguez and Elías Jaua,” head of state Nicolas Maduro announced Saturday.
To reach an agreement to publish a statement approved by all parties of the MUD,” said the First Minister. He added that the leadership of the right “wanted to be registered before the National Electoral Council (CNE) for the elections of governors and governors. I called on them to get into the Constituent Assembly and they were afraid.” The meetings held were kept hidden at the request of the opposition sector.
President Maduro spoke at Bolívar Plaza in the city of Caracas, after the National Electoral Council (CNE) issued the first bulletin with results. The Venezuelan president stated that the Constituent National Assembly had been born amid great popular legitimacy. “Not only does the Constituente have power, but it has the strength of legitimacy, the moral force of a people who heroically, warlike, came out to vote, to say: we want peace and tranquility,” said Maduro.
“The newly-elected Constituent Assembly had the support of a people who were not intimidated by the destabilizing climate that the Venezuelan opposition intended to create. It is the largest vote that the Revolution has had in all electoral history. The one who has eyes that sees and the one who has ears that hear,” said the president.
July 31, 2017.
By Manuel E. Yepe
Exclusive to the daily POR ESTO! Of Mérida, Mexico.
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
For US imperialism and the continental right, July 30th in Venezuela should be a conclusive political lesson. It should also be a lesson for the organizers of the media campaigns against popular processes, whose reliability has been demonstrated by the mass exercise of their rights by a mature and determined population who rejects them.
The election on that day of the members of the Constituent National Assembly (ANC), according to the Constitution and the laws of the country, involved an enthusiastic participation of more than 8,090,230 Venezuelans –41.53% of the electoral roll– who said yes to Constituent Assembly and the Bolivarian revolution.
The President of the United States threatened the Venezuelans with an increase in economic sanctions. The event would certainly take place, no doubt assuming that the people, intimidated, would repudiate the democratic act and refrain from participating in it.
But, on the contrary, Trump’s threats and terrorist actions against the voters stimulated their attendance because patriotic motivation was added.
The Bolivarian government called on democratic and peace–loving people to be alert to this new interventionist escalation of US imperialism. They called for a categorical rejection of the violent, fascist, racist and criminal actions of the Venezuelan opposition who are so afraid of this democratic, legal, sovereign, peaceful and civilized act .
For his part, the angry American president, who has been forced to move all his chips at the same time to coincide with other serious clashes unleashed separately against Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This has led Washington to impose sanctions on Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, according to a statement from the US Treasury Department.
The statement specifies that all assets of President Maduro which are or may be under US jurisdiction will be frozen. In addition, US citizens will be prohibited from any agreement with Maduro. He, in turn, has reiterated that, as President of Venezuela, he does not have to render accounts to anyone but Venezuela’s women and men.
The Venezuelan president has described the day as the “biggest” of the Bolivarian Revolution and has based his success on the option that made the peace proposal ;his banner of struggle in such complex circumstances.
Maduro stressed that, until the last moment, he kept the doors open for the Venezuelan opposition, which did not cease to call for violence and destabilizing actions on election day. He revealed that a delegation of his government had been meeting for several weeks with opposition leaders. Among these he mentioned the President of the Parliament, Julio Borges, to try to add them to the constituent initiative. “Two weeks ago I proposed to the opposition that they register for the Constituent Assembly. But they did not accept,” said the leader.
“In the last six weeks there have been direct talks between the delegations of the Democratic Unity Roundtable and a delegation presided over by Jorge Rodríguez, Delcy Rodríguez and Elías Jaua,” head of state Nicolas Maduro announced Saturday. To reach an agreement to publish a statement approved by all parties of the MUD,” said the First Minister. He added that the leadership of the right “wanted to be registered before the National Electoral Council (CNE) for the elections of governors and governors. I called on them to get into the Constituent Assembly and they were afraid.” The meetings held were kept hidden at the request of the opposition sector.
President Maduro spoke at Bolívar Plaza in the city of Caracas, after the National Electoral Council (CNE) issued the first bulletin with results. The Venezuelan president stated that the Constituent National Assembly had been born amid great popular legitimacy. “Not only does the Constituente have power, but it has the strength of legitimacy, the moral force of a people who heroically, warlike, came out to vote, to say: we want peace and tranquility,” said Maduro.
“The newly-elected Constituent Assembly had the support of a people who were not intimidated by the destabilizing climate that the Venezuelan opposition intended to create. It is the largest vote that the Revolution has had in all electoral history. The one who has eyes that sees and the one who has ears that hear,” said the president.
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusivo para el diario POR ESTO! de Mérida, éxico.
Para el imperialismo estadounidense y la derecha continental, loocurrido el 30 de julio en Venezuela debía ser una concluyente lecciónpolítica y debía serlo también para los organizadores de lasabrumadoras campañas mediáticas contra los procesos populares, cuyafalibilidad ha sido demostrada por el ejercicio masivo de sus derechospor una población madura y decidida que las rechaza.
La elección ese día de los integrantes de la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente (ANC), conforme a la Constitución y las leyes del país,involucró una participación entusiasta de más de 8,89 230 venezolanos y venezolanas –41.53% del padrón electoral– que dijo sí ala constituyente y a la revolución bolivariana.
El Presidente de Estados Unidos, había amenazado a los venezolanos conun incremento de las sanciones económicas contra el país suramericanosi llegara a realizarse el evento, sin duda partiendo de la suposiciónde que el pueblo, amedrentado, repudiaría el acto democráticoabsteniéndose de participar en él.
Pero resultó todo lo contrario, la amenaza de Trump y las acciones terroristas contra los votantes estimularon la asistencia de éstos, porque le agregaron motivaciones patrióticas.
El gobierno bolivariano llamó a los pueblos democráticos y amantes de la paz a estar alertas frente a esta nueva escalada injerencista delimperialismo norteamericano y a rechazar categóricamente las acciones violentas, fascistas, racistas y criminales de la oposición venezolanaque tanto temen al acto democrático, legal, soberano, pacífico y civilizado.
Por su parte, el colérico presidente estadounidense, quien se ha visto obligado a mover todas sus fichas al mismo tiempo por coincidir entiempo con otros serios enfrentamientos desatados separadamente contra Rusia y con la República Democrática Popular de Corea, ha hecho que Washington se haya limitado a imponer sanciones al presidente deVenezuela, Nicolás Maduro, según comunicado del Departamento del Tesoro estadounidense.
El comunicado especifica que se bloquearán todos los activos del mandatario que estén o puedan estar bajo la jurisdicción de EE.UU. Además, se prohibirá a los ciudadanos estadounidenses contra cualquier acuerdo con Maduro quien a su vez ha reiterado que, como Presidente de Venezuela no tiene que rendir cuentas más que a los venezolanos y las venezolanas.
El primer mandatario venezolano ha calificado la jornada como la victoria “mas grande” de la Revolución Bolivariana y ha basado su éxito en la selección que hizo de la propuesta de paz como su banderade lucha en tan complejas circunstancias.
Maduro destacó que hasta el último momento mantuvo las puertas abiertapara la oposición venezolana, que no cesó de llamar a la violencia y alas acciones desestabilizadoras durante la jornada electoral. Revelóque una delegación de su gobierno estuvo reunida por varias semanascon dirigentes opositores, entre los que mencionó al presidente delParlamento, Julio Borges, para intentar sumarlos a la iniciativaconstituyente. “Hace dos semanas propuse a la oposición que seinscribieran en la Constituyente. Pero no aceptaron”, indicó elmandatario.
“En las últimas seis semanas se han dado conversaciones directas entredelegaciones de la Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD) y unadelegación presidida por Jorge Rodríguez, Delcy Rodríguez y ElíasJaua”, anunció este sábado el jefe de Estado, Nicolás Maduro.“Estuvimos a punto de llegar a un acuerdo para publicar un comunicado aprobado por todos los partidos de la MUD”, aseguró el Primer Mandatario y añadió que la cúpula de la derecha “lo que quería era inscribirse ante el Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE) para las elecciones de gobernadores y gobernadoras. Los llamé a que se metieranen la Constituyente y tuvieron miedo”. Las reuniones llevadas a cabose mantuvieron ocultas por solicitud del sector opositor.
Durante su discurso en la Plaza Bolívar de la ciudad de Caracas, luegode que el Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE) emitió el primer boletín deresultados, el mandatario venezolano afirmó que la Asamblea NacionalConstituyente nació en medio de una gran legitimidad popular. “No sólotiene la fuerza constituyente nacional, sino que tiene la fuerza de lalegitimidad, la fuerza moral de un pueblo que de manera heroica, encondiciones de guerra, salió a votar, a decir: queremos paz,tranquilidad”, aseguró Maduro.
“La Constituyente recién electa contó con el apoyo de un pueblo queno se sintió intimidado ante el clima desestabilizador que pretendíaimplantar la oposición venezolana. Es la votación más grande que hayasacado la Revolución en toda la historia electoral. El que tenga ojos que vea y el que tenga oídos que oiga”, aseveró el presidente.
Julio 31 de 20
during the closing ceremony of the Sixth Session of the Seventh Legislature of the National People’s Power Assembly at Havana’s Conference Center. December 18th, 2010, “Year 52 of the Revolution.”
December 18th, 2010
After the publication of the Draft Guidelines for the Economic and Social Policy on November 9th last, the train of the Sixth Party Congress has taken on steam. The true congress will be the open and honest discussions –as is being the case- of said Guidelines by Party members and the entire people. This genuine democratic exercise will allow us to further enrich that document and, without excluding divergent opinions, we intend to achieve a national consensus about the need and urgency of introducing strategic changes in the way the economy operates, so that Socialism in Cuba could be sustainable and irreversible.
We should not be afraid of opposing criteria. This instruction, which is not new, should not be construed as one applicable only to the discussions of the Guidelines. The differences of opinion, preferably expressed in the proper place, time and way, that is, at the right place, at the right moment and in the correct form, shall always be more desirable than the false unanimity based on pretence and opportunism. Moreover, this is a right nobody should be deprived of.
The more ideas we are capable of inspiring in the analysis of any given problem, the closer we shall come to its appropriate solution.
AT THE CLOSING SESSION OF THE 9TH CONGRESS OF THE YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE, HAVANA, APRIL 4, 2010, YEAR 52 OF THE REVOLUTION
APRIL 4, 2010
Today more than ever we need cadres that can carry on an effective ideological work that cannot be a dialogue of the deaf or a mechanical repetition of slogans. We need leaders who bring sound arguments to the discussion, who do not think they own the absolute truth; leaders who are good listeners even if they don’t like what some people say; leaders who are capable of examining other peoples’ views with an open mind, which does not exclude the need to refute with sound arguments and energy those views considered unacceptable.
Such leaders should foster open discussions and not consider discrepancy a problem but rather the source of the best solutions. In general, absolute unanimity is fictitious, therefore, harmful. When contradictions are not antagonistic, as in our case, they can become the driving force of development. We should deliberately suppress anything that feeds pretending and opportunism. We should learn to work collegially, to encourage unity and to strengthen collective leadership; these features should characterize the future leaders of the Revolution.
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/rauldiscursos/2010/ing/r030410i.html
By Manuel E. Yepe
Exclusive to the daily BY THIS! Of Merida, Mexico.
Http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
Marcel Hatch, an American resident in Cuba, tells us that he owns a tourism agency that brings visitors to the island. Marcel and his agency and have a long history of more than 20 years of solidarity with Cuba. His agency helps US citizens travel to Cuba and overcome obstacles which have been raised by President Donald Trump and Republican Senator Marco Rubio (a fierce anti-Cuban who has never been to the island). These roadblocks rest on the fact that, in the imagination of ordinary American, a reference to “military” is fundamentally chilling.
This is because, inevitably, a nexus of similarity is established with the terrifying role played in the world by the Pentagon as an instrument of the superpower to secure and expand its global hegemony. As a terrifying offensive organization of covert operations operating in hundreds of territories to suppress by any means the opposition to American expansionism. It’s also an administrative body that sucks up most of the taxes paid by American workers. The US military, in turn, has a budget greater than the sum of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the majority of the nations of the planet.
For the average American, the armed forces mean billions of dollars in devastating weapons with state-of-the-art technology and highly qualified personnel at the disposal of the nation’s President. He, in turn, has several generals and a military industry which decides which nations will survive, which will perish or be subject to invasions, blockades, and intimidation, and as a result, which will be condemned to suffer famine, impoverishment and epidemics.
It must be remembered that on January 17, 1961, in his farewell address, then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower advised Americans to take care of the power acquired by what he called the “military-industrial complex.” He noted that the United States had gone “from lacking an army and a defense industry to having an Armed Forces with more than three and a half million people employed to protect its security at a cost greater than all business profits of Their big corporations together. “
His warning had a profound impact coming from a military president who had experienced -even in the exercise of the nation’s first office- the ability to exert pressure that the Pentagon and the war industry had acquired “with strong influence in each city hall, state legislature and federal office of the nation.”
“The Cold War imposed the need to dispose of those resources,”Eisenhower said, “but we can not overlook the serious implications of granting so much power to the military.”
Thus, with such a background, for many Americans, the very idea of supporting the military is disgusting and frightening. Meanwhile, in stark contrast, it is evident that the Cuban army is seen by its people as its main defensive tool for protecting citizens from external threats, and to ensure that national sovereignty resides in the island’s people.
The recent directives emanating from President Trump have not completely reversed the modest advances made by former President Obama’s policies a few days before his term comes to an end, but one that forbids US citizens and companies from participating In direct financial transactions with entities or subsidiaries that “disproportionately benefit” the Cuban military.
It is a fact that, when the Cuban military is not involved in defense tasks, responsibly and conscious of its role in society, it is involved in civilian objectives and in protecting the infrastructure and development of the country. In the past, in response to calls for help from people struggling for independence, Cuban civilians and military have come to their solidarity support.
“It is natural, therefore, that in times of relative peace, the uniformed people – as Camilo Cienfuegos, one of their initial leaders called it – put their organizational and administrative resources at the disposal of the national economy. This is, in my opinion, the case with their active participation in tourism and many other social and productive activities,” Hatch emphasizes.
Cuban society highly values the concepts of unity and equality. It is understandable that, with a capitalist perspective as exaggerated as that of the American establishment, it is embarrassing to explain the civic-military harmony that strengthens the Cuban nation in all areas, and that is why Cubans feel so proud of their military.
July 21, 2017
Por Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusivo para el diario POR ESTO! de Mérida, México.
Me comenta Marcel Hatch, un norteamericano residente en Cuba propietario de una agencia de turismo que lleva visitantes a la isla y tiene un largo historial de más de 20 años de solidaridad con este país, que las trabas para dificultar los viajes de ciudadanos estadounidenses a la isla que han planteado el Presidente Donald Trump y el senador republicano Marco Rubio (feroz anticubano que nunca ha estado en Cuba), descansan en el hecho de que en el imaginario del estadounidense común la referencia a “militares” es fundamentadamente escalofriante.
Ello ocurre porque inevitablemente se establece un nexo de similitud con el papel aterrador que juega en el mundo el Pentágono estadounidense como instrumento de la superpotencia para asegurar y ampliar su hegemonía global; como terrorífica organización ofensiva de operaciones encubiertas que opera en cientos de territorios para suprimir por cualquiera medio la oposición al expansionismo norteamericano, y como cuerpo administrativo que succiona la mayor parte de los impuestos que abonan los trabajadores estadounidenses que a su vez dispone de un presupuesto superior a la suma mayor que la sumatoria del Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) de la mayoría de las naciones del planeta.
Para el común de los estadounidense, las fuerzas armadas significan miles de millones de dólares en armas devastadoras con novísima tecnología y personal altamente calificado a la disposición del Presidente de la nación, quien cuenta con varios generales y una industria militar que deciden cuáles naciones sobrevivirán, cuales perecerán o quedarán sujetas a invasiones, bloqueos e intimidaciones, y como resultado de ello, cuales serán condenadas a sufrir hambrunas, empobrecimiento y epidemias.
Hay que recordar que el 17 de enero de 1961, en su discurso de despedida, el entonces presidente Dwight D. Eisenhower aconsejó a los estadounidenses cuidarse del poder adquirido por lo que bautizó como “complejo militar-industrial”. Señaló que Estados Unidos había pasado, “de carecer de un ejército y una industria de la defensa, a disponer de unas Fuerzas Armadas con más de tres millones y medio de personas empleadas para proteger su seguridad a un costo mayor que todos los beneficios empresariales de sus grandes corporaciones juntas”. Su advertencia tuvo profundo impacto por provenir de un militar devenido Presidente que había experimentado -incluso en el ejercicio de la primera magistratura de la nación- la capacidad de ejercer presión que el Pentágono y la industria de la guerra habían adquirido “con fuerte influencia en cada ayuntamiento, legislatura estadual y oficina federal de la nación”.
La Guerra Fría impuso la necesidad de disponerle esos recursos-justificó Eisenhower- pero no podemos pasar por alto las graves implicaciones derivadas de la concesión de tanto poder a los militares.
Así, con tales antecedentes, para muchos estadounidenses la sola idea de apoyar a los militares es algo repugnante y aterrador. Pero, en marcado contraste, es evidente que el ejército cubano es visto por su pueblo como su principal herramienta defensiva para la protección de la ciudadanía de las amenazas del exterior, y para asegurar que la soberanía nacional resida en el pueblo de la isla.
Las recientes directivas emanadas de las orientaciones del Presidente Trump no han hecho retroceder totalmente los discretos avances aportados por las políticas del ex presidente Obama pocos días antes de concluir su mandato, pero entre ellas destaca una que prohíbe a los ciudadanos y empresas de Estados Unidos participar en transacciones financieras directas con entidades o subsidiarias que “beneficien desproporcionadamente” a los militares cubanos.
Es un hecho cierto que, cuando los militares cubanos no están involucrados en tareas de la defensa, responsablemente y por conciencia de su papel en la sociedad, se involucran en objetivos civiles y en la protección de la infraestructura y el desarrollo de su país. En el pasado, atendiendo a reclamos de ayuda de pueblos en lucha por su independencia, civiles y militares cubanos han acudido en su apoyo solidario.89d
“Es natural, por tanto, que en épocas de paz relativa, el pueblo uniformado -como lo llamara Camilo Cienfuegos, uno de sus jefes iniciales- ponga sus recursos organizacionales y administrativos a disposición de la economía nacional. Tal es, a mi juico, el caso de su activa participación en el turismo y en muchas otras actividades sociales y productivas”, enfatiza Hatch.
La sociedad cubana valora altamente los conceptos de unidad e igualdad. Es comprensible que con una óptica capitalista tan exagerada como la del “establishment” estadounidense, resulte embarazoso comprender la armonía cívico-militar que fortalece a la nación cubana en todos los ámbitos, y que los cubanos se sientan tan orgullosos de sus militares.
Julio 21 de 2017.
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