|
Books on Cuba
The Autobiography of a
Slave /
Bridges to Cuba/Puentes a Cuba
/
Santeria from
Africa to the New World: The Dead Sell Memories
Fidel Castro and
the Quest for a Revolutionary Culture in Cuba
/
Reyita: The Life of a Black Cuban Woman in the
Twentieth
Century
Singular Like a Bird: The Art of Nancy Morejon
/
Caliban
and Other Essays /
The
Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball
Santeria
Aesthetics in Contemporary Latin America Art /
Culture and
Customs of Cuba /
Man-making Words; Selected Poems
of Nicholas Guillen
Afro-Cuban Voices: On Race and Identity on
Contemporary Cuba /
Afro-Cuba: An Anthology of Cuban Writing
on Race, Politics, and Culture
Nicolas Guillen:
Popular Poet of the Caribbean /
Selected Poetry by Nancy Morejon
/
Cuba: After the
Revolution
* *
* * *
The Third Hurricane
Reflections by
Fidel Castro
It could lose
strength but it is already raining in most of the
country. It’s raining on farming areas absolutely
drenched by the recent rainfalls. The water reservoirs
filled up to almost full capacity due to hurricanes
Gustav and Ike will be releasing water on cultivated
fields and valleys. This already happened at the end of
August and early September. This hurricane has been
given the misleading name of Paloma.
After countless
hours of labor, many crops almost ready for harvesting
as well as fuel, seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and the
work of the equipment used to urgently grow food will
again be lost.
In many places
where the families awaited for and received materials to
repair their homes, and where they excitedly applauded
the workers who were reestablishing electricity so vital
to many services, will again partly live through the
same experience.
Once again
destruction will revisit highways, roads and other works
in various provinces of the country.
The latest report
from the Meteorology Institute’s National Forecast
Center has confirmed the inexorable development of the
event. Nevertheless, we should not be discouraged by
adversity. Paloma is not covering such an extensive area
as Gustav.
Our people should
learn from every such event about the consequences of
climate change and the ecologic unbalance, which are
some of the many problems humanity is facing.
The initial
estimates of the economic damages caused by the two
previous hurricanes were short of reality. The losses
amounted to 8 billions instead of the 5 billions
originally announced. This time there will be additional
damages.
The cadres who are
decidedly and restlessly coming to grips with the
problems shall insist on demanding from their
compatriots that they respond to these adverse
circumstances with hard work in both production and
services.
And, if the chief
of the empire and leading promoter of the genocidal
blockade on our country were to offer again his pious
assistance, he would again receive a dignified response:
it would certainly be rejected. Our people demand that
the blockade is lifted, especially now that humanity has
unanimously called for it amidst a financial crisis
which is pounding on every developed and developing
nation on the Earth.
There are still
some who dream of submitting Cuba using the criminal
blockade as an instrument of the U.S. foreign policy
against our homeland. If that country made the same
mistake again it could spend another century
implementing that useless policy against Cuba; that is,
if the empire could last that long.
Fidel Castro Ruz
November 7, 2008
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* * *
update 8 November 2008 |
