DURING the day and night of yesterday, the fascist Venezuelan Globovision TV network, owned by persons involved in last April’s coup, repeated every 30 minutes on average, grossly provocative and lying anti-Cuban slogans. Included in the three objectives for calling for a demonstration today in Caracas was the cynical affirmation that one of its motives is “to prevent giving away our most important heritage to Cuba.” In this crude manner our country is being implicated in Venezuela’s internal affairs.

This new and perfidious assertion is intended to confuse the sister people of Venezuela, as was the case last April with the failed coup d’état which commenced with the kidnapping of Hugo Chávez, the constitutional president, when a similar argument - that of dispatching oil to our country when Cuba was not paying for it - was employed.

Below is the genuine version of events:

On October 30, 2000 the presidents of Cuba and Venezuela signed a cooperation agreement between our two nations, part of which included a contract to buy a total of 53,000 barrels per day of oil and its derivatives for a five-year period, the terms and conditions of which were signed on November 22 of that year. Those terms and conditions signed with Cuba are similar or less advantageous than those agreed with other countries in Central America and the Caribbean, likewise beneficiaries of the Caracas Agreement.

The deliveries commenced in December 2000 and were maintained without interruption until April 11, 2002, the date of the frustrated fascist coup. During that period Cuba received 25,589 million barrels.

To the same date, in line with the contract, Cuba paid $439.7 million USD in cash, and at market prices. According to the signed formula, deferred payments were due to start at the end of 2003.

The suspension of supplies in April last year was exclusively the responsibility of the coup sectors, part of which included a group of PDVSA managers. On April 5, 2002 four tankers were waiting to transport fuel to Cuba. Three of them were ready on April 9, but only one was able to leave on the morning of April 11. Two loaded tankers, already the property of our Cuba-Petróleo (CUPET) company according to the contract, were sold to third parties on the unilateral decision of the PDVSA authorities; the fourth was never loaded. These events occurred two days prior to the April fascist coup d’état.

As a result of this situation, Cuba was left with no alternative but to immediately seek to purchase the oil and derivatives needed by the country via intermediaries and at prices aggravated by the urgency and high freight costs on account of distance, given that some cargoes could only be bought in Europe and Africa. In fact some consignments could not be transported, due to a lack of tankers because of the known restrictions imposed by the U.S. blockade on vessels docking at Cuban ports.

To indicate the gravity of that interruption to our supplies of Venezuelan crude, it was necessary to paralyze the Santiago de Cuba refinery, the second most important in the country, from April through to September, which provoked additional imports of derivatives at a higher cost and the need to have recourse to the national reserves held for exceptional situations. The extra costs in hard currency for this reason alone were in the order of $85 million USD, without taking into account the effect on the economy and the population.

In July last year a renegotiated agreement was reached with PDVSA aimed at renewing supplies in August, which in fact became September, and which included the unjust payment of $13 million USD that the company imposed on Cuba for arrears, accepted by our country on the basis of fully understanding the difficulties of the Bolivarian government of Venezuela, despite the fact that the responsibility for those arrears had nothing whatsoever to do with the Cuban side.

During the period September to November 2002, a further 4,444,000 barrels were received, and the due payment of $96 million USD, the exact figure that Cuba was committed to in that period, and which occurred without any delay whatsoever.

On December 2 last year, in the midst of fresh coup attempts, consignments contemplated in the Caracas agreement were once again interrupted, with consequences similar to those of the April-August period. In other words, the Santiago de Cuba refinery has been paralyzed and the country been forced to turn to intermediaries, and pay inflated prices, at a time when reduced PDVSA production has resulted in an increase in oil prices on the world market and a physical absence of hydrocarbon products in the Caribbean area. PDVSA’s failure to meet its obligations has occasioned Cuba economic damage in excess of $200 million USD, in a year complicated by adverse circumstances derived from the world economic crisis, the U.S. blockade, and the extremely costly effects of three hurricanes, which alone provoked losses in excess of $2.5 billion USD to our nation.

Since the paralyzation and sabotage in the Venezuelan oil industry dating back to December 2, two oil consignments conservatively estimated at less than 5% of Venezuelan post-sabotage exports were dispatched to Cuba in the first 10 days of January 2003. Our country was among the last rather than the first to receive them. For more than one month not a single barrel of Venezuelan oil of the 1.5 million barrels we should have received in line with the agreement reached Cuba.

Nevertheless, the evil-intentioned individuals who are propagating the infamy of the oil “Chávez is giving away to Cuba,” are overlooking the hundred of millions of dollars paid by Cuba to PDVSA, fully meeting its commitments month by month, cent by cent, not without some effort and sacrifice. They are likewise omitting the effects on our economy by ignoring the clause that obliges either side to notify its interest in ending it in writing, no less than 30 days in advance of the termination of the contract, by their Olympian omission that there is no “present” whatsoever, and the signed Cooperation Agreement is not one-sided but of two-way benefit.

In contrast, what has Cuba’s attitude been? Has the island perchance occasioned some damage to Venezuela? Just four examples of Cuban cooperation with that sister nation will suffice among others that could be put forward.

A total of 748 Cuban doctors, nurses and health technicians have freely given their services in dangerous places and the remotest areas of Venezuelan territory where no such services existed, thus saving many lives and restoring the health of thousands of Venezuelans. Thanks to those doctors’ selfless efforts, the infant mortality rate in the locations in which they are working has fallen from 19.6 per 1,000 live births to 3.9 per 1,000 live births, an indicator that is higher than any developed country in the world.

Alongside thousands of other young Latin Americans, 380 Venezuelans are studying at the Latin American School of Medical Science (in Cuba), likewise free of charge. In their overwhelming majority from modest backgrounds, in the next few years they will be returning to their homeland as professionals who, through their training, dedication and moral and ethical values, are called upon to radically change the health indicators where they will be working. For almost all of them it would have been virtually impossible to meet the costs of a university career and it could have been very difficult, if not impossible, for the government of Venezuela to have earmarked no less than $70 million USD to train them in the United States, Europe or any other country with health indicators similar to those of Cuba.

A total of 3,042 Venezuelan patients, in their majority suffering from serious disorders and injuries, have been freely treated in Cuban health institutions. That treatment, including a large number of highly complex operations, examinations etc. would have cost the Venezuelan government tens of millions of dollars. Adding on the free services offered by Cuba, its value would rise to more than $100 million USD in barely two years, at a conservative estimate.

For us, the recovery of the vast majority of them, the lives saved, the children, youth and adults who have been able to walk again, and the affection and gratitude those patients have shown on leaving our country is sufficient reward. But, to be honest, it would be interesting to know how many of those currently defaming Cuba could economically initiate and sustain a similar program for their compatriots, even with their own professionals and in their own health institutions.

As part of the Bolivarian government’s effort to promote the development of physical education and sports in its population, 600 Cuba trainers and other sports technicians have been working in many cities and areas of Venezuela. For this cooperation - which is not free of charge - Cuba has received an income far below the average amount charged in professional fees by specialists from other nations or from its own nation, if it had such private-sector professionals.

In spite of everything, however great the lies circulated, however large the campaign unleashed, the truth cannot be concealed from Venezuelans and the world, aware of the solidarity and generosity of Cuba and its people. Fascism, that unscrupulous and repugnant phenomenon, cannot understand such things.