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Fidel heads
mass event for May Day
One of the
most grotesque cases
of human rights violations
exists in Guantánamo
• More than
one million Cubans come together in
defense of the
Revolution
PHOTOS
AHMED VELAZQUEZ
PRESIDENT
Fidel Castro analyzed various aspects of the
international and national situation and recent
events at the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in
Geneva at the end of the central May Day event here,
which brought together more than one million people
in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución.
Cuba’s
presentation in Geneva of a resolution on the
prisoners held by the United States in Guantánamo,
the leader affirmed, will go down in the history of
revolutionary diplomacy, because there the
hypocrisy, constant lies and cynicism were exposed
and the current masters of the world were dealt a
crushing blow.
The
president reviewed the results of the U.S. anti-Cuba
resolution in the HRC and how Washington and the
European Union committed the error of overlooking
the fact that one of the most grotesque cases of
human rights violations exists on the Guantánamo
Naval Base, where the United States has created that
horrific prison camp where it is holding hundreds of
people, with no identity, no trial, no guarantee of
physical integrity, no procedural or penal law and
no time limit.
He
highlighted how, in spite of incredible pressure,
some on the basis of solid principles and others in
an act of singular courage, 20 countries opposed the
anti-Cuban resolution, and 10 abstained out of sense
of dignity and self-respect.
The Cuban
president affirmed that the Revolution’s clean sheet
in relation to human rights is not shared by any
other society, including the European ones, which,
as always, voted en bloc in Geneva, like a
Washington-allied mafia.
After
covering national issues such as the various plans
underway in relation to public health, democracy and
the struggle for the return of the five Cuban heroes
incarcerated in U.S. jails for combating terrorism,
Fidel moved on to various international themes.
These included the economic order, the monetary
system and its disastrous repercussions; unequal
terms of trade; the events of March in Spain – the
exceptional and almost exclusive work of the Spanish
people and in particular its youth – Venezuela; and
the war on Iraq, whose only solution is the
withdrawal of the U.S. troops.
“Once again
they are threatening us with measures against the
economy and to destabilize the country,” Fidel
warned, “but we would not hesitate to suggest that
the Bush administration should be more serene, more
sensible, more prudent and more intelligent.”
“To those
who persist in their efforts to destroy the
Revolution, I simply say on behalf of this huge
crowd, as I said at Girón and at other decisive
moments:
‘Long live
socialism, Patria o Muerte, Venceremos,’” he
concluded.
Likewise
heading the tribunal were General of the Army Raúl
Castro; ministers; government, state and Party
leaders; the families of the five Cuban patriots in
U.S. jails; and more than 1,000 delegates from 55
countries.
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