"The Israeli government affirms that
submitting the subject of the ‘wall of separation’
to the International Court at The Hague is not a
legal question, but a political one. They are right,
the wall is a political issue. They are wrong, ‘the
wall’ is also a legal issue.
"The wall is the most brutal form of
creating actions in the land: "it separates
Palestinian farmers from their lands; it separates
Palestinian towns; it keeps Palestinian children
from getting to school...
"It is destroying the possibility of
establishing a viable Palestinian state within the
1967 borders. The wall will feed into the lack of
hope. Despondency feeds into terrorism. The
occupation feeds into terrorism.
"It is a legal issue. Israel is one
of the signers of the Fourth Geneva Convention that
agrees the protection to civilians in times of war."
IRONIES
Dr. Rodrigo Simán of El Salvador
sent a letter that could be interpreted as an insult
to reality. According to him, he attended the
Medical Congress in Cuba, and his letter is devoted
to recounting his experiences, between sarcasm and
supposed praise. Not only does he question health
indices in Cuba based on a case he claimed to have
seen of a child who looked about seven and was
actually 15 with "severe and chronic malnutrition."
But his "extreme sharpness and omnipresence" leads
him to present a description that not only insults
the medical ethics of Cuban doctors, but also
reality.
How can one write memoirs of things
one did not experience, which came from certain
references from who knows where?
It seems incredible to me that
someone who is dedicated to medicine in a country
like El Salvador should criticize medical attention
in Cuba, when the commitment of Cuban doctors is so
extremely well known. Why doesn’t he devote his time
to writing memoirs of El Salvador? I would imagine
he must have many. For example, about those
indicated by the Pan-American Health Organization in
a 1999 report, in which international agencies point
to Cuba as an example to follow.
The report states: "The indigenous
population represents 10% of the total population.
The living and health conditions of this group are
below the national average, with 38.3% living in
extreme poverty, in contrast with the national
average of 18.9 percent.
"Infant mortality for this ethnic
group is 42.4 per 1,000 live births, 7.4 points
higher than the national average of 35.0 per live
births. Coverage by Social Security services only
reaches 3.2% (17.0% nationally); prenatal care
reaches 26.0% (76.0% nationally). Coverage of total
vaccination for infants up to one year is 27% (the
ideal is over 90%)..."
MESSAGE RECEIVED
From the Fabio Di Celmo Cuba
Solidarity Committee in Italy, we learn that on
March 7, they are to hold a race for peace; on March
10, a rally against terrorism outside the Parliament
to demand justice in the case of Fabio di Celmo and
the five Cuban heroes imprisoned in the United
States; and on March 20, a national demonstration
for peace.
We have received a message from
Herberto Ponce, in which he condemns war through
photos of victims among the Iraqi population and
warns that the same could happen if Cuba is attacked.
Sebastián Gómez, a teacher in
Argentina, sends us a poem dedicated to Fidel.
From Canada, Alma Lucia Correa sends
an embrace to the Cubans "for their bravery, their
determination, their political conviction, for the
struggle that they wage every day against the
atrocious embargo."
