From Granma

PRESIDENTS Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro have signed two documents that constitute the highest expression of the unity of the will of both governments to increase the range of cooperation and bilateral relations in general: a joint declaration and a agreement for the application of the Bolivarian Aleternative for the Americas (ALBA).

The ALBA is the antithesis of the annexationist Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) that the United States is attempting to impose. In a historic event at the Karl Marx Theater, the two presidents recalled the events of 10 years ago when the then lieutenant colonel of a parachute battalion traveled to the island and was received by the Cuban leader with the honors due to a head of state.

Before decorating Chávez with the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Order, by agreement of the Council of State, Fidel quoted de Céspedes, known as the father of the nation who, in reference to the great country of Bolívar remarked: “Venezuela, which opened the way of independence to Spanish America and traveled it gloriously until Ayacucho, is our illustrious teacher of freedom¼”

Thanking Fidel and the Cuban people for the decoration and the many “pleasant surprises” that the Cuban leader had arranged for him, Hugo Chávez affirmed that he hoped to always be worthy of those honors. He also paid tribute to the Cuban patriots who have been or are in Venezuela, and whose labors of solidarity will remain forever in the Venezuelan people’s hearts.

Chávez also referred to the Cuban president’s speech, emphasizing that if anyone really wants to know who Fidel is should review the last 50 years of Latin American and Caribbean history, where they will find the always alive and always worthy history of Fidel Castro.

He added that when he visited Cuba 10 years ago, he was full of hopes, illusions, and with a great commitment ahead of him.

He also spoke of his years as a soldier and an officer, and explained how he gained awareness of the Bolivarian and revolutionary struggle, an awareness enriched by the words of Fidel, and Che’s incentive and example, the death in combat of Salvador Allende in Chile, and the national processes in Panama and Peru, led by Generals Omar Torrijos and Velasco Alvarado.

“We are in full battle, and this will be long, hard, and difficult,” added Chávez, who confirmed that only the fortitude of the Venezuelan people had made it possible to undertake the Bolivarian Revolution.

The Venezuelan president described the Cuban people as one of most honorable of the continent and the world, capable of overcoming half a century of blockade and aggression. He finally stated that the project of Bolívar and Martí has returned to triumph and build the future of our peoples. A world has risen up that is not prepared to accept imperial hegemony, he emphasized.

Dreams Come True

The event, attended by Venezuelan students, patients receiving medical care in Cuba, youth and pioneers from different centers in the capital, combatants and representatives from other sectors, began with the words of Pedro Infante Aparicio, a student from that Bolivarian country. On behalf of another 1,400 youths, he thanked Cuba for the possibility offered them of studying here, and for the “doctors of dignity” who are training at the Latin American School of Medicine.

Brígida Isturis, a Venezuelan who became literate thanks to Mission Robinson and now aspires to reach sixth grade, assured with emotion: “If the Revolution is taking me out of ignorance, then I am a revolutionary.”

Another dream come true as part of Cuban-Venezuelan solidarity is how Luis Ramón González described a congenital cataract operation performed in Cuba that restored his sight. Accompanied by his son Samuel, who has gone through a similar procedure, González stated that “today, everything is lovely, beautiful” and told President Chávez: “Don’t stop, go on forwards.”

The Cuban doctor, Lisette Alfonso, who has completed internationalist missions in Guatemala and Venezuela, affirmed that knowing that she is part of that large contingent of health workers who have contributed to bring back a smile to a child’s face or restore their sight to people who have never seen has left an indelible impression on her.

Both leaders presided over official talks between their delegations at the Palace of the Revolution.

President Chávez, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, also placed a wreath at the monument to the Cuban national hero José Martí, in whose Memorial in the Plaza de la Revolución he opened the 10 Years of Victories photographic exhibition, which includes unpublished images of the Bolivarian president in the months prior to and during his first visit to Cuba, and meetings with Fidel.

And there, in front of the replica of the sword of the liberator Simón Bolívar, presented to the Cuban president by Chávez in October 2000, he commented: “That sword is still a war. Two hundred years later we will not lose, Patria o Muerte.”

To close the historic event, a large youthful audience in which Cuban and Venezuelan student faces predominated gathered on the stairway of the University of Havana to celebrate the presence of President Chávez on the island with the 10 Years of Victory concert.



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