|
 The
open stage in the proximity of the United States Interest Section in
Havana will resume its guiding and mobilizing activities at 5 p.m. this
Monday.
Elián's
fate is uncertain.
Practically
all of the many politicians from both parties running for the presidential
nomination have expressed themselves demagogically or in an extravagant
and reckless language against the child's return to Cuba; they have
discussed dilatory and even perfidious formulas.
In
addition to the announced technicalities they intend to resort to as soon
as the Administration makes a decision, the extremist and terrorist South
Florida mob, backed by the U.S. extreme right, is threatening with violent
actions to oppose the child's return to his legitimate family and
homeland. They claim that a human belt of traitorous mercenaries will take
position around the house of the distant relatives where the child is
being held in captivity to prevent action by the federal officials in the
event that the government of that country adopts a decision in favor of
his return to Cuba that would be both humanely just and legally
irrefutable.
As
they are used to fascist methods, to blackmail and go unpunished due to
the weakness and tolerance of the U.S. leaders for whom they were always
instruments and accomplices, anything can be expected of them.
At
the moment, no one can know for sure when and how the child will be
returned. There is confusion and chaos in the United States concerning
this issue.
The
last diplomatic note from the Cuban government was presented to the U.S.
State Department on December 12. It stated the need for a prompt reply
because of the great suffering both the child and his family are enduring
and the consequences this could have on Elián's mental health. Eight days
have passed and we have not yet received a single word of reply.
On
Monday, December 13, at 7:00 in the morning, two U.S. officials --one of
them a representative of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service--
had a private meeting with Elian's father and closest relatives. This was
considered an indispensable requirement, practically the last step towards
a fair, quick and honorable solution of the problem.
At
the family's home, in the city of Cárdenas, the father gave these U.S.
officials 17 documents certified by the relevant authorities, which proved
beyond all doubt the paternity and, therefore, the parental authority of
Juan Miguel González Quintana, whose care for and behavior toward his son
Elián were unquestionably exemplary. These same immigration authorities
had handed over the boy to a distant relative who has lived in the United
States for 15 years --having gone there nine years before the birth of Elián,
whom he had seen perhaps only once in his life-- without any request for
documents to confirm the distant kinship. This time seven days have passed
and the father has not yet received the slightest sign that his rights
will be recognized.
Along
with all this, the touching and impressive Round Table held last Thursday
with the participation of outstanding scientists and specialists in
pedagogy, psychology and child psychiatry chosen from among the most
prestigious and experienced in the country, offered scientifically sound
arguments that showed to the whole country that, in less than 48 hours,
the child had suffered deep successive traumas. Also, that he had been
estranged from his natural environment, his school, his friends, his
teacher, his father and his loved ones most needed for his recovery. Our
scientists and specialists proved how desperately urgent is his return to
Cuba.
The
absolutely shameful and obnoxious images of those who took part in the
child’s abduction in complicity with a gang of perverse, unscrupulous
and vicious people were extremely annoying and revolting. The grotesque
scene where a fierce she-wolf disguised as a woman wrapped around that
innocent boy, almost by force, the striped and spangled banner --so
different from the one he had respectfully saluted a few days before in
his school every morning-- shall go down in history as one of the most
infamous, loathsome and outrageous acts ever seen by our people.
One
hundred books of political teachings could not be more instructive about
the meanness and decadence of the "turbulent and brutal empire that
scorns us". That image should be disseminated throughout the world.
The hypocrisy, the blatant and incredible boasting of ostentatious
presents with which they want to buy out the soul of a six-year-old boy at
any cost, are a reflection of the alienated society and the world that
they want to impose on this Cuban child arbitrarily and by force.
Now,
it is not only necessary to preserve the child's identity and his father's
parental authority, something that no one in the world puts in doubt; it
is also urgent to save his psychic and mental health before the damage
becomes irreversible.
Our
people will not permit the gruesome and monstrous crime being coldly and
shamefully committed against that child before the world's astonished
eyes.
We
are beginning today the second stage of the mass battle we have been
waging since Sunday, December 5. It has been and still is a battle of
ideas, of national and international public opinion, of legal, ethical and
humane principles, between the empire and Cuba, backed by one of the
largest and most combative mobilizations ever to take place in our
history.
The
Revolution has assigned the children of primary and secondary school, the
students of middle and higher education and the young manual and
intellectual workers of the country the mission to be in the frontline of
this great battle waged with the unanimous support of the people.
This
new stage of the struggle may be long. Thus, it is required, now more than
ever, that a rigorous organization and strict discipline prevail together
with intelligent and flexible planning, creativity and the ability to
adapt to constantly changing situations. We need to act calmly, with
equanimity and sang-froid.
We
are confronting a powerful, tenacious and arrogant adversary. The most
serious risk is that the naturally militant spirit, human solidarity and
justified irritation of our people might overflow the principles of
discipline and organization.
Under
these circumstances, only those convened by the organizers should be
involved in the marches, rallies or functions. It is not at all convenient
that 20,000, 100,000, 200,000 people show up where 10,000, 50,000 or
100,000 were expected; in other words, two or three times more than those
called upon in each area or sector. In the Fighting People March, 300,000
were supposed to participate, but in the end more than half a million
people took part, and they flowed in from everywhere. Thus, our activities
could become disorganized and our great strength and energy wasted. We
must not exhaust ourselves but rather save that strength and energy, renew
them constantly and use them in an orderly fashion when necessary and
immediately replace them if need be.
While
thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of us
muster up, as on December 9 and 10 when from Thursday afternoon to Friday
the same time almost three million people were mobilized –and this is
still far from our true potential, since to preserve its forces the City
of Havana mobilized barely 10% percent of its potential on the day of the
major demonstrations in the provincial capitals-- we must preserve
production and services at all costs, with more tenacity and
responsibility than ever.
Our
action must be qualitatively superior: persuasive and convincing for the
international public opinion; surprising, disconcerting, timely and
overwhelming for the small but powerful minority within U.S. society that
opposes Elián's return.
Our
people have a very high political culture; they are united, cohesive and
organized. We all belong to one or several organizations, from the
children’s (pioneers) organization to the veterans of forty years of
revolutionary struggle. We are all trained in combat to a greater or
lesser extent. We all share in the revolutionary strength, the patriotism
and the noble objectives that bind us together as brothers and sisters. We
all have the privilege of a united country. We can and we must act like a
huge invincible army.
That
is why, fellow countrymen and women, on resuming its arduous combat the
Revolution, which has accumulated great experience in more than 40 years
of successful confrontation with the strongest power ever to exist, does
not simply appeal to us for discipline, but it demands it.
We
are asking the Cuban students and youths, who have received the great
honor of a place in the frontline and who have acted so brilliantly from
the very first moments, to be an example of conscientious and
revolutionary discipline in this crucial and heroic struggle that the
Revolution demands from everyone to save Elián. He is a small child, a
schoolboy, a grandson and a son of all of Cuba; to save him is like saving
a symbol of the billions of children that should be educated, fed and
given the opportunity of a healthy and dignified life in this world. The
enemy, intent on committing a stupid, repugnant and loathsome injustice,
will not be able to withstand our morale, our truth and our irrepressible
forces in the struggle for this claim backed by justice and they will have
no alternative but to return Elián as soon as possible.
Fidel
Castro
|
