I was watching Obama carefully during the famous "summit meeting". Occasionally he was overcome by fatigue and unwittingly shut his eyes but at other times, he was asleep with his eyes wide open.
The Cartagena Summit was not a trade union gathering of misinformed presidents, but a meeting among official representatives of 33 countries in this hemisphere. The overwhelming majority of which are asking for solutions to the most pressing economic and social problems that affect the region with the most unequal distribution of wealth in the world.
I do not wish to preempt the opinions of millions of people, capable of making in-depth, objective analyses of the problems affecting Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of our globalized world, where a few have it all and the rest nothing. The system imposed by imperialism in this hemisphere, whatever it is called, is spent and unsustainable.
In the near future, humanity will have to cope with the problems associated with climate change, security and the production of food for the ever-growing world population, among others.
Excessive rainfall is affecting both Colombia and Venezuela. A recent analysis revealed that during March of this year, high temperatures in the U.S. were 4.8 degrees Celsius higher than the all-time average. The consequences of these changes, which are well known in the capitals of the main European countries, lead to catastrophic problems for humanity.
Peoples expect political leaders to provide clear answers to these problems.
Colombians, who hosted the discredited Summit, are a hardworking and self-sacrificing people who need, as much as all others, the cooperation of their Latin American brothers and sisters who are, in this case, Venezuelans, Brazilians, Ecuadorians, Peruvians and others capable of doing what the yankees, with their sophisticated weapons, their expansionism and insatiable craving for material goods will never do. Now, more than at any time in history, José Martí’s visionary prescription applies: "The trees must line up to prevent the giant with seven-league boots from passing! It is time to mobilize, to march together; we must move forward in close ranks, like the silver in the veins of the Andes."
Far from the brilliant and lucid ideas of Bolivar and Marti are the tired, sugarcoated and endlessly repeated words of the illustrious Nobel laureate, expressed during a ridiculous tour through the Colombian countryside, which I heard yesterday afternoon. His comments only served to remind us of the Alliance for Progress speeches delivered 51 years ago, when the heinous crimes perpetuated in this hemisphere had not yet been committed, when our country struggled not only for its right to independence but for its right to exist as a nation, as well.
Obama spoke about land distribution. He did not specify how much land would be distributed, when or how.
The yankee transnationals will never give up their control over the land, water, mines and natural resources of our countries. Their soldiers should vacate the military bases; their troops should be withdrawn from each and every one of our territories. They should renounce unequal trade relations and their plundering of our nations.
Perhaps the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States will become what an hemispheric political organization should be, without the presence of the United States and Canada. Their decadent and unsustainable empire has already earned the right to rest in peace.
I think the images of the Summit should be well preserved as an example of a disaster.
I will leave aside the scandal caused by misconduct attributed to Secret Service personnel, responsible for guaranteeing Obama’s personal security. I am under the impression that the staff entrusted with this task is characterized by its professionalism. This is what I saw during my visit to the United Nations, while they were protecting the Heads of States. They have, no doubt, protected him from those who would not have hesitated to harm him as a result of racial prejudice.
May Obama have a chance to sleep with his eyes closed, if only for a few hours, without having anyone saddling him with the task of delivering a speech about the immortality of crabs [lit.] at a surreal Summit.
Fidel Castro Ruz
April 16, 2012
7:40 p.m.
