I basically drew these data from statements made by William Brownfield, US ambassador to Colombia, from that country’s press and television, from the international press, and other sources. It’s impressive the show of technology and economic resources at play.
While in Colombia the senior military officers went to great pains to explain that Ingrid Betancourt’s rescue had been an entirely Colombian operation, the US authorities were saying that “it was the result of years of intense military cooperation of the Colombian and United States’ armies.”
“’The truth is that we have been able to get along as we seldom have in the United States, except with our oldest allies, mostly in NATO,’ said Brownfield, referring to his country’s relationships with the Colombian security forces, which have received over 4 billion USD in military assistance since the year 2000.”
“…on various occasions it became necessary for the US Administration to make decisions at the top levels concerning this operation.
“The US spy satellites helped in locating the hostages during a month period starting on May 31st until the rescue action on Wednesday.”
“The Colombians installed video surveillance equipment, supplied by the United States. Operated by remote control, these can take close-ups and pan along the rivers which are the only transportation routes through thick forests, said the Colombian and US authorities.”
“US surveillance aircraft intercepted the rebels’ radio and satellite phone talks and used imaging equipment that can break through the forest foliage.”
“’The defector will receive a considerable sum of the close to one- hundred-million-dollars reward offered by the government’, stated the Commander General of the Colombian Army.”
On Wednesday, July 1st, the London BBC reported that Cesar Mauricio Velasquez, press secretary at Casa de Nariño (Colombian Government House) had informed that delegates from France and Switzerland had met with Alfonso Cano, chief of the FARC.
According to the BBC, that would be the first contact with international delegates accepted by the new chief after the death of Manuel Marulanda. The false information of the meeting of two European envoys with Cano had been released in Bogota.
The deceased leader of the FARC had been born on May 12, 1932, according to his father’s testimony. Marulanda, a poor peasant with a liberal thinking and a Gaitan follower, had started his armed resistance 60 years back. He was a guerrilla before us; he had reacted to the carnage of peasants carried out by the oligarchy.
The Communist Party he later joined, the same as every other in Latin America, was under the influence of the Communist Party of the USSR and not of Cuba. They were in solidarity with our Revolution but they were not subordinated to it.
It was the drug-traffickers and not the FARC that unleashed terror in that sister nation as part of their feuds over the United States market. They caused powerful bomb blasts and even blew up trucks loaded with plastic explosives destroying facilities and injuring or killing countless people.
The Colombian Communist Party never contemplated the idea of conquering power through the armed struggle. The guerrilla was a resistance front and not the basic instrument to conquer revolutionary power, as it had been the case in Cuba. In 1993, at the 8th FARC Conference, they decided to break ranks with the Communist Party. Its leader, Manuel Marulanda, took over the leadership of that Party’s guerrillas which had always excelled in their narrow sectarianism when admitting combatants as well as in their strong and compartmented commanding methods.
Marulanda, a man with a remarkable natural talent and a leader’s gift, did not have the opportunity to study when he was young. It is said that he had only completed the 5th grade of grammar school. He conceived a long and extended struggle; I disagreed with this point of view. But, I never had the chance to talk with him.
The FARC became considerable strong with over 10 thousand combatants. Many had been born during the war and had known nothing else. Other leftist organizations rivaled the FARC in the struggle. By then the Colombian territory had become the largest source of cocaine production in the world. Then, extreme violence, kidnappings, taxes and demands from the drug producers became widespread.
The paramilitary forces, armed by the oligarchy, drew basically from the great amount of men enlisted in the country’s armed forces who were discharged from duty every year without a secure job. These created in Colombia a very complex situation with only one way out: real peace, albeit remote and difficult as many other goals Humanity have set itself. This is the option that, for three decades, Cuba has advocated for that nation.
While our journalists meeting in their 8th Congress debated on the new technologies of information, the principles and ethic of social communicators, I meditated on the abovementioned developments.
I have expressed, very clearly, our position in favor of peace in Colombia; but, we are neither in favor of foreign military intervention nor of the policy of force that the United States intends to impose at all costs on that long-suffering and industrious people.
I have honestly and strongly criticized the objectively cruel methods of kidnapping and retaining prisoners under the conditions of the jungle. But I am not suggesting that anyone laid down their arms, when everyone who did so in the last 50 years did not survive to see peace. If I dared suggest anything to the FARC guerrillas that would simply be that they declare, by any means possible to the International Red Cross, their willingness to release the hostages and prisoners they are still holding, without any precondition. I do not intend to be heard; it is simply my duty to say what I think. Anything else would only serve to reward disloyalty and treason.
I will never support the pax romana that the empire tries to impose on Latin America.
Fidel Castro Ruz
July 5, 2008
8:12 p.m.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
The McCain Tour and the Manifest Destiny of the U. S. Fourth Fleet
While I was preparing a reflection about McCain's relationship with the anti-Cuban terrorist mafia in Miami and other related subjects of historical interest, fresh news was flowing about this character that is being projected by the empire’s hawks as Bush’s replacement: his visit to Colombia and Mexico which will begin tomorrow. It is not possible to avoid them since they confirm the opinions we have held.
“McCain will be in Colombia for two days, starting tomorrow on Tuesday, and then he will travel to Mexico”, the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa informs us.
“The United States Fourth Fleet returns to patrol Latin American waters”, Clarín, the Argentine newspaper with largest circulation, publishes; “This time under the command of Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan. Kernan who, up till now has been Commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, has a background that is rather worrying”, the newspaper comments. “The naval officer belongs to the Navy SEALs, an elite commando team made up of men chosen for the toughest of special operations, trained to act in the most adverse and challenging conditions. They were in action in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The choice of Kernan to command the Fourth Fleet, according even to the Pentagon's own admission, is absolutely unusual..." "Furthermore, with this decision, the Southern Command reaches the same level of importance as the Central Command operating in the Persian Gulf with the U.S. Fifth Fleet”.
“What reason could the United States have to send such a powerful naval force to a region in peace, without nuclear power, without any real military conflicts or threats?·, the newspaper wonders. “They are never going to admit that it is because of natural resources, but it is no coincidence that this decision comes just when a structural change in world economy is beginning, in which reserves of fresh water, food and energy resources take on a position of important strategic value”, replies Professor Khatchik Der Ghougassian of the Argentine University of San Andrés, an expert on security issues.
The professor adds that “They do not hide the enormous importance of the oceans of the southern Western Hemisphere and they admit that this will increase their capacity for action since the U.S. Fourth Fleet will be supervising ships and aircraft, including both civilian and commercial navigating south of the United States.”
“James Stavridis, the current Commander of the Southern Command”, Clarín continues, “added drug trafficking, the fight against terror and the possibility of responding to the massive migration of refugees from countries such as Haiti or Cuba. James Stevenson, Commander of the United States Naval Forces Southern Command, specified that his vessels could even reach the extensive system of rivers in South America, navigating more in fresh waters than in the traditional salt waters. In other words, they shall have a vast control of the Latin American interior.
“United States Naval Forces Southern Command carries out social work such as the distribution of food or medical supplies that would allow them to convince the U.S. Congress that such penetration is justified”, the Argentine newspaper adds.
El Universal of Mexico, under the headline “John McCain will go from the Basilica to Iztapalapa”, writes:
“John McCain will travel to Mexico not just to makes politics. Or perhaps not just party politics. The Republican candidate will visit the Basilica of Guadalupe. He will also tour one of the tough neighborhoods in Mexico City.”
“The visit McCain will make to Colombia and Mexico has had his team of collaborators working overtime, even on weekends”, the newspaper comments. “On Saturday night an event that had been planned as a farewell reception for the closing ceremony of the conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (known as NALEO in English), turned into a discussion roundtable about the scope of his trip to Latin America…he would be getting up early to do an interview with a Televisa news program. Then he would head to the northern part of the city where a half-hour visit to the Basilica of Guadalupe is scheduled…he would attend a luncheon with members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico. Later he would be meeting with Mexican and American businessmen…he would end the day with a visit to the Iztapalapa neighbourhood where he would be briefed about strategies to fight organized crime and support community harmony.”
Amid a torrent of comments relating to the Republican candidate, 52,521 people with more than a million dollars live in South Florida, according to the latest detailed report by an important research firm. Almost all the capital came from Latin America.
McCain, not known to be a piously religious man, thinks that by offering a prayer at the Basilica of Guadalupe he will fool Catholics, Protestants, whites, blacks, Indians and mestizos in the countries where, by contrast, extreme poverty grows on a daily basis.
Today the front page of Granma reads: “U.S. airline fined for violating blockade against Cuba”, while a Mexican press agency refers to some 57 thousand Cubans arriving in that country between 2005 and 2007. It is well known that 20 thousand Cubans of all ages, except those fulfilling some indispensable social duty, are legally authorized each year to emigrate to that country; they travel safely, both the children and the adults have received education and are in good health. With the aim of family reunification, Cuba supports this sacrifice.
Those who have been enticed by the cynical Cuban Adjustment Act do so directly or through third countries, either secretly or under some legal cover; not only are they acting with a despicable lack of ethics but they are depriving our peoples’ economy of their specialists and qualified workers. It is an outrageous brain drain and it takes away our productive members; our homeland, in its heroic struggle, must fight this with determination.
I shall publish the reflection I prepared earlier some other day. It is worthwhile to know the real story.
Fidel Castro Ruz
June 30, 2008.
5:16 p.m.
“McCain will be in Colombia for two days, starting tomorrow on Tuesday, and then he will travel to Mexico”, the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa informs us.
“The United States Fourth Fleet returns to patrol Latin American waters”, Clarín, the Argentine newspaper with largest circulation, publishes; “This time under the command of Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan. Kernan who, up till now has been Commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, has a background that is rather worrying”, the newspaper comments. “The naval officer belongs to the Navy SEALs, an elite commando team made up of men chosen for the toughest of special operations, trained to act in the most adverse and challenging conditions. They were in action in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The choice of Kernan to command the Fourth Fleet, according even to the Pentagon's own admission, is absolutely unusual..." "Furthermore, with this decision, the Southern Command reaches the same level of importance as the Central Command operating in the Persian Gulf with the U.S. Fifth Fleet”.
“What reason could the United States have to send such a powerful naval force to a region in peace, without nuclear power, without any real military conflicts or threats?·, the newspaper wonders. “They are never going to admit that it is because of natural resources, but it is no coincidence that this decision comes just when a structural change in world economy is beginning, in which reserves of fresh water, food and energy resources take on a position of important strategic value”, replies Professor Khatchik Der Ghougassian of the Argentine University of San Andrés, an expert on security issues.
The professor adds that “They do not hide the enormous importance of the oceans of the southern Western Hemisphere and they admit that this will increase their capacity for action since the U.S. Fourth Fleet will be supervising ships and aircraft, including both civilian and commercial navigating south of the United States.”
“James Stavridis, the current Commander of the Southern Command”, Clarín continues, “added drug trafficking, the fight against terror and the possibility of responding to the massive migration of refugees from countries such as Haiti or Cuba. James Stevenson, Commander of the United States Naval Forces Southern Command, specified that his vessels could even reach the extensive system of rivers in South America, navigating more in fresh waters than in the traditional salt waters. In other words, they shall have a vast control of the Latin American interior.
“United States Naval Forces Southern Command carries out social work such as the distribution of food or medical supplies that would allow them to convince the U.S. Congress that such penetration is justified”, the Argentine newspaper adds.
El Universal of Mexico, under the headline “John McCain will go from the Basilica to Iztapalapa”, writes:
“John McCain will travel to Mexico not just to makes politics. Or perhaps not just party politics. The Republican candidate will visit the Basilica of Guadalupe. He will also tour one of the tough neighborhoods in Mexico City.”
“The visit McCain will make to Colombia and Mexico has had his team of collaborators working overtime, even on weekends”, the newspaper comments. “On Saturday night an event that had been planned as a farewell reception for the closing ceremony of the conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (known as NALEO in English), turned into a discussion roundtable about the scope of his trip to Latin America…he would be getting up early to do an interview with a Televisa news program. Then he would head to the northern part of the city where a half-hour visit to the Basilica of Guadalupe is scheduled…he would attend a luncheon with members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico. Later he would be meeting with Mexican and American businessmen…he would end the day with a visit to the Iztapalapa neighbourhood where he would be briefed about strategies to fight organized crime and support community harmony.”
Amid a torrent of comments relating to the Republican candidate, 52,521 people with more than a million dollars live in South Florida, according to the latest detailed report by an important research firm. Almost all the capital came from Latin America.
McCain, not known to be a piously religious man, thinks that by offering a prayer at the Basilica of Guadalupe he will fool Catholics, Protestants, whites, blacks, Indians and mestizos in the countries where, by contrast, extreme poverty grows on a daily basis.
Today the front page of Granma reads: “U.S. airline fined for violating blockade against Cuba”, while a Mexican press agency refers to some 57 thousand Cubans arriving in that country between 2005 and 2007. It is well known that 20 thousand Cubans of all ages, except those fulfilling some indispensable social duty, are legally authorized each year to emigrate to that country; they travel safely, both the children and the adults have received education and are in good health. With the aim of family reunification, Cuba supports this sacrifice.
Those who have been enticed by the cynical Cuban Adjustment Act do so directly or through third countries, either secretly or under some legal cover; not only are they acting with a despicable lack of ethics but they are depriving our peoples’ economy of their specialists and qualified workers. It is an outrageous brain drain and it takes away our productive members; our homeland, in its heroic struggle, must fight this with determination.
I shall publish the reflection I prepared earlier some other day. It is worthwhile to know the real story.
Fidel Castro Ruz
June 30, 2008.
5:16 p.m.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Example of Good Communist Behaviour
EXAMPLE OF GOOD COMMUNIST BEHAVIOR
I am referring to a Chilean woman, Elena Pedraza, a highly educated specialist in rehabilitation. More than 40 years ago she paid her first visit to Cuba. Allende, a medical doctor, was not yet the president of Chile. The Cuban Revolution was almost 8 years old and it was already training teachers, doctors, physical therapists and health specialists, full speed ahead.
I am writing this reflection partly as a summary of six pages printed in small letters that have landed in my hands. It is a bit longer than usual, but done with the thought that later the full version of the speech given by the Chilean specialist on the morning of March 15, 2002 at the Second International Congress of the Cuban Society for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation taking place in the capital of Cuba will be published by the press somewhere or in some magazine.
Let us listen to her explain in her own words:
"I arrived in 1966 and Cuba was beginning an historic phase. Its beginnings were punctuated with great difficulties and shortages; they had to solve urgent problems, among which those dealing with health were considered to be a top priority…Personnel trained in this specialty were needed and so their education had to be addressed and time was of the essence; but it had to be done, despite all the limitations existing in the country."
"Nevertheless, society was acquiring more and more awareness about the marginal world in which the disabled live. In Cuba, for example, there was only a small number of empirical therapists, some of whom had been trained in the United States during summer courses, and others had left the country.
"The Health Minister at that time, Dr. Machado Ventura, told me upon meeting me: ‘we must train physical therapists for the entire country, and we have to do it soon’. I answered in the affirmative and when I asked him what such a mission would entail; he answered: ‘we need books’ and without hesitating he emphasized: 'We need books'. I never forgot that suggestion, for me it became a commitment that I have always tried to honor.
"My training in kinesiology began in 1930…"
"My work experiences during 30 years in my country, Chile, were difficult…"
"I completed my working years in Chile, but I had no hesitations about returning to take up this commitment in Cuba, in 1966.
"My first contacts took place in the Frank País Hospital. This center was very well equipped for treating both child and adult patients in the specialty of traumatology and orthopedics. It was explained to me that previously this center had offered very selective care and a very tiny portion of the neediest population was able to have access to these services."
"As I was learning about the medium in which I was to be working, I could see the need for a very great undertaking that would also take a long time. At that time I was already able to see the state’s concern in taking on the population’s right to health throughout the entire country and in rehabilitation.
"We had to begin. I visited much of the country, getting to know some of its parts: I was in Santiago de Cuba, a very beautiful colonial city. There I made my first attempt to give an elementary training course, in a small center for the treatment of patients suffering from various neurophysical disorders. It was headed by Dr. González Corona…"
"This doctor fabricated his own equipment to treat his patients. He was telling me how he himself had built the devices from scrap aluminum sheeting so that children suffering from polio could walk; he also made parallel bars and built a rustic swimming pool for water exercises."
"In 1966, I officially begin to teach another more scheduled course on Kinesiology for physiotherapy students at the Frank País Hospital…"
"With that opportunity I understood how relevant it was to bring the most important books in order to teach correctly. There were no study materials; we had to do it all with whatever means we had. But the students’ interest to learn was so intense, as was mine to teach, having no references and outside of my specialty, but rather involving experiences acquired in my country and a sense of responsibility that I think I have had all my life in my work in hospital clinics.
"This was the beginning that became my model for future courses that were to be given and with the experience accumulated we adjusted each year’s programs with great dedication. At the end of these, which ended up being three years, experience allowed us to go on to prepare comprehensive teaching material; in other words, the fundamental bases of a program of this type for regular courses.
"In my time at this hospital I was able to accumulate a lot of experience that would be very valuable to me during the years I was developing my work in Cuba.
"The path towards the development of what today is rehabilitation in Cuba was born in these episodes that I am telling you about, what this specialty was and how it grew year after year, throughout the entire island, until what we can appreciate today at this Congress."
"…I made informational visits to hospitals and polyclinics located in peripheral areas, in all areas of the country, even in the most isolated of places. In some of them I discovered the existence of small modest physiotherapy departments which were being organized. Others which had already been installed were offering services to the people but to a large extent lacking trained staff able to provide care in this specialty."
"…It was interesting to see everyone’s efforts to solve, step by step, this journey that we were all involved in. This experience was very important for me; I could see how from the Ministries of Health and Education, suitable departments were being created to offer more thorough training to future students; for example, raising the levels of instruction for enrolment in kinesiology courses, and also integrating courses in programs related to the specialty."
"In 1979 I gave my first lectures as a professor of kinesiology in teaching programs for residents in the specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation…I taught them to always be in control of evaluation, to avoid being imprecise and making unfavorable comments in order to correctly carry out their plan of action. I was able to recognize that this must always be an ethical standard, and thus would prevent the patient from feeling diminished at the beginning of a treatment.
"My years spent at Julio Díaz were very enriching and they allowed me to get to know all the situations experienced by people with disabilities; the center had hospital facilities, out-patient care and looked after a large population. As I am writing my memoirs, I return to that distant time. I must say that I was able to come to know a generous people who had a lot of solidarity. The hospital continued being better equipped with new equipment that would offer more complete patient care; every year new specialties were being treated, and the building as well continued to grow until it reached the size it is today, that of a small fortress."
"…I came to realize that a therapist does not forget the theoretical basis and the practices s/he was taught, nor can s/he forget to keep on studying and at the same time updating.
"I came to regard this center with the affection one has for one’s home. I cannot help but remember so many things that I experienced, with so many colleagues, therapists, doctors, auxiliary staff, everyone always respecting me with great warmth…"
"I must also recall spending time in other hospitals where I taught, organized conferences and training sessions, such as in the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital, and others. In the 1970’s, with the goal of contributing to the development of medicine in Cuba, we Chileans who were living in exile (even though I never felt like an exile in Cuba) decided to pitch in to acquire 23 volumes of books dealing with the specialty of kinesiology therapy. This happened as a response to the scant possibility of receiving foreign texts, which were so necessary to improve teaching and the training of professionals."
"This Congress affords us a very complete view of what rehabilitation is doing throughout the country. This reflects the concern of the government and of the medical corps, and also the professional development desires of staff making up the rehabilitation teams who work in this specialty."
"The motto of this Congress ‘Disability, Rehabilitation, Humanity,’ commits us to evaluate much more all that we are offering to people with disabilities. We make an effort to offer rehabilitation, but when this motto extends to the word ‘Humanity’, I realize that it is not just one simple word more, rather it is a very deep plea: humanity and dignity for human beings."
"In this international Congress, the great volume of work being done by Cuban doctors and the other members of rehabilitation teams is recognized; their experiences are demonstrated in all areas of the medical specialties and this reveals the constant dedication and sense of responsibility in the national and foreign papers presented at the Congress."
"I should like to send an affectionate and friendly greeting to the young people who were my students, who are now professionals overflowing with experience and prestige; with them I took part in such gratifying tasks as voluntary work, which in Cuba has always been a complement to the work of each citizen."
"Havana, March, 2002."
When the fascist coup took place in Chile, funded by the government of the United States, and thousands of citizens were imprisoned, tortured, disappeared or murdered, within or outside the borders of their country, Elena Pedraza moved to Cuba, and from here she went to different countries, gathering world support for women. She continued to develop her research in our country as well as her training program. Later, she returned to her native land, and from there continues to collaborate with Cuba.
A few days ago I was able to leaf through an excellent book whose author, Dr. Debra Rose, is a citizen of the United States where rehabilitation is a very costly and elitist service, inaccessible to the poor. Cuba is forbidden access to this knowledge. Elena, who never tires of sending information that could raise the scientific levels of our specialists, sent that book, among other materials, which contains more than a hundred different simple and accessible exercises.
Nowadays rehabilitation acquires special and new meaning as it relates to life. Everyone increases their mental and physical potential up to the age of 35; some maintain that it is 30. From that age on, they can continue enjoying good health and physical performance for 20 to 30 years more, conserving that from the above mentioned age until advanced years at the end of which, life is extinguished. Human beings are always happy to do things for themselves until the end.
The service is of benefit to all the inhabitants of the country, where today they are born with a life expectancy rate of 77 years, which continues to increase. Not only adults who are younger than 35 or 40, victims of all kinds of accidents, but also more and more children require the noble care provided by rehabilitators.
Approximately 10,000 rehabilitators are working in more than 600 centers located in polyclinics and hospitals or offering their services abroad, while a 1,000 more are being trained with increasing thoroughness and rigor.
Elena Pedraza is 97 years old and continues to offer her professional services as a consultant. She is a fine example of an intellectual worker, of womanhood and a communist. She was a member of the same party as Ricardo Fonseca, Luis Corvalán, Volodia Teitelboim and Gladys Marín, who recently passed away, and many others who dedicated their lives or died for their beliefs.
In the name of the people who, by challenging the empire, started out on the road of the Socialist Revolution more than half a century ago, I pay tribute to their work and to their example.
Fidel Castro Ruz
January 7, 2008.
5:12 p.m.
I am referring to a Chilean woman, Elena Pedraza, a highly educated specialist in rehabilitation. More than 40 years ago she paid her first visit to Cuba. Allende, a medical doctor, was not yet the president of Chile. The Cuban Revolution was almost 8 years old and it was already training teachers, doctors, physical therapists and health specialists, full speed ahead.
I am writing this reflection partly as a summary of six pages printed in small letters that have landed in my hands. It is a bit longer than usual, but done with the thought that later the full version of the speech given by the Chilean specialist on the morning of March 15, 2002 at the Second International Congress of the Cuban Society for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation taking place in the capital of Cuba will be published by the press somewhere or in some magazine.
Let us listen to her explain in her own words:
"I arrived in 1966 and Cuba was beginning an historic phase. Its beginnings were punctuated with great difficulties and shortages; they had to solve urgent problems, among which those dealing with health were considered to be a top priority…Personnel trained in this specialty were needed and so their education had to be addressed and time was of the essence; but it had to be done, despite all the limitations existing in the country."
"Nevertheless, society was acquiring more and more awareness about the marginal world in which the disabled live. In Cuba, for example, there was only a small number of empirical therapists, some of whom had been trained in the United States during summer courses, and others had left the country.
"The Health Minister at that time, Dr. Machado Ventura, told me upon meeting me: ‘we must train physical therapists for the entire country, and we have to do it soon’. I answered in the affirmative and when I asked him what such a mission would entail; he answered: ‘we need books’ and without hesitating he emphasized: 'We need books'. I never forgot that suggestion, for me it became a commitment that I have always tried to honor.
"My training in kinesiology began in 1930…"
"My work experiences during 30 years in my country, Chile, were difficult…"
"I completed my working years in Chile, but I had no hesitations about returning to take up this commitment in Cuba, in 1966.
"My first contacts took place in the Frank País Hospital. This center was very well equipped for treating both child and adult patients in the specialty of traumatology and orthopedics. It was explained to me that previously this center had offered very selective care and a very tiny portion of the neediest population was able to have access to these services."
"As I was learning about the medium in which I was to be working, I could see the need for a very great undertaking that would also take a long time. At that time I was already able to see the state’s concern in taking on the population’s right to health throughout the entire country and in rehabilitation.
"We had to begin. I visited much of the country, getting to know some of its parts: I was in Santiago de Cuba, a very beautiful colonial city. There I made my first attempt to give an elementary training course, in a small center for the treatment of patients suffering from various neurophysical disorders. It was headed by Dr. González Corona…"
"This doctor fabricated his own equipment to treat his patients. He was telling me how he himself had built the devices from scrap aluminum sheeting so that children suffering from polio could walk; he also made parallel bars and built a rustic swimming pool for water exercises."
"In 1966, I officially begin to teach another more scheduled course on Kinesiology for physiotherapy students at the Frank País Hospital…"
"With that opportunity I understood how relevant it was to bring the most important books in order to teach correctly. There were no study materials; we had to do it all with whatever means we had. But the students’ interest to learn was so intense, as was mine to teach, having no references and outside of my specialty, but rather involving experiences acquired in my country and a sense of responsibility that I think I have had all my life in my work in hospital clinics.
"This was the beginning that became my model for future courses that were to be given and with the experience accumulated we adjusted each year’s programs with great dedication. At the end of these, which ended up being three years, experience allowed us to go on to prepare comprehensive teaching material; in other words, the fundamental bases of a program of this type for regular courses.
"In my time at this hospital I was able to accumulate a lot of experience that would be very valuable to me during the years I was developing my work in Cuba.
"The path towards the development of what today is rehabilitation in Cuba was born in these episodes that I am telling you about, what this specialty was and how it grew year after year, throughout the entire island, until what we can appreciate today at this Congress."
"…I made informational visits to hospitals and polyclinics located in peripheral areas, in all areas of the country, even in the most isolated of places. In some of them I discovered the existence of small modest physiotherapy departments which were being organized. Others which had already been installed were offering services to the people but to a large extent lacking trained staff able to provide care in this specialty."
"…It was interesting to see everyone’s efforts to solve, step by step, this journey that we were all involved in. This experience was very important for me; I could see how from the Ministries of Health and Education, suitable departments were being created to offer more thorough training to future students; for example, raising the levels of instruction for enrolment in kinesiology courses, and also integrating courses in programs related to the specialty."
"In 1979 I gave my first lectures as a professor of kinesiology in teaching programs for residents in the specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation…I taught them to always be in control of evaluation, to avoid being imprecise and making unfavorable comments in order to correctly carry out their plan of action. I was able to recognize that this must always be an ethical standard, and thus would prevent the patient from feeling diminished at the beginning of a treatment.
"My years spent at Julio Díaz were very enriching and they allowed me to get to know all the situations experienced by people with disabilities; the center had hospital facilities, out-patient care and looked after a large population. As I am writing my memoirs, I return to that distant time. I must say that I was able to come to know a generous people who had a lot of solidarity. The hospital continued being better equipped with new equipment that would offer more complete patient care; every year new specialties were being treated, and the building as well continued to grow until it reached the size it is today, that of a small fortress."
"…I came to realize that a therapist does not forget the theoretical basis and the practices s/he was taught, nor can s/he forget to keep on studying and at the same time updating.
"I came to regard this center with the affection one has for one’s home. I cannot help but remember so many things that I experienced, with so many colleagues, therapists, doctors, auxiliary staff, everyone always respecting me with great warmth…"
"I must also recall spending time in other hospitals where I taught, organized conferences and training sessions, such as in the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital, and others. In the 1970’s, with the goal of contributing to the development of medicine in Cuba, we Chileans who were living in exile (even though I never felt like an exile in Cuba) decided to pitch in to acquire 23 volumes of books dealing with the specialty of kinesiology therapy. This happened as a response to the scant possibility of receiving foreign texts, which were so necessary to improve teaching and the training of professionals."
"This Congress affords us a very complete view of what rehabilitation is doing throughout the country. This reflects the concern of the government and of the medical corps, and also the professional development desires of staff making up the rehabilitation teams who work in this specialty."
"The motto of this Congress ‘Disability, Rehabilitation, Humanity,’ commits us to evaluate much more all that we are offering to people with disabilities. We make an effort to offer rehabilitation, but when this motto extends to the word ‘Humanity’, I realize that it is not just one simple word more, rather it is a very deep plea: humanity and dignity for human beings."
"In this international Congress, the great volume of work being done by Cuban doctors and the other members of rehabilitation teams is recognized; their experiences are demonstrated in all areas of the medical specialties and this reveals the constant dedication and sense of responsibility in the national and foreign papers presented at the Congress."
"I should like to send an affectionate and friendly greeting to the young people who were my students, who are now professionals overflowing with experience and prestige; with them I took part in such gratifying tasks as voluntary work, which in Cuba has always been a complement to the work of each citizen."
"Havana, March, 2002."
When the fascist coup took place in Chile, funded by the government of the United States, and thousands of citizens were imprisoned, tortured, disappeared or murdered, within or outside the borders of their country, Elena Pedraza moved to Cuba, and from here she went to different countries, gathering world support for women. She continued to develop her research in our country as well as her training program. Later, she returned to her native land, and from there continues to collaborate with Cuba.
A few days ago I was able to leaf through an excellent book whose author, Dr. Debra Rose, is a citizen of the United States where rehabilitation is a very costly and elitist service, inaccessible to the poor. Cuba is forbidden access to this knowledge. Elena, who never tires of sending information that could raise the scientific levels of our specialists, sent that book, among other materials, which contains more than a hundred different simple and accessible exercises.
Nowadays rehabilitation acquires special and new meaning as it relates to life. Everyone increases their mental and physical potential up to the age of 35; some maintain that it is 30. From that age on, they can continue enjoying good health and physical performance for 20 to 30 years more, conserving that from the above mentioned age until advanced years at the end of which, life is extinguished. Human beings are always happy to do things for themselves until the end.
The service is of benefit to all the inhabitants of the country, where today they are born with a life expectancy rate of 77 years, which continues to increase. Not only adults who are younger than 35 or 40, victims of all kinds of accidents, but also more and more children require the noble care provided by rehabilitators.
Approximately 10,000 rehabilitators are working in more than 600 centers located in polyclinics and hospitals or offering their services abroad, while a 1,000 more are being trained with increasing thoroughness and rigor.
Elena Pedraza is 97 years old and continues to offer her professional services as a consultant. She is a fine example of an intellectual worker, of womanhood and a communist. She was a member of the same party as Ricardo Fonseca, Luis Corvalán, Volodia Teitelboim and Gladys Marín, who recently passed away, and many others who dedicated their lives or died for their beliefs.
In the name of the people who, by challenging the empire, started out on the road of the Socialist Revolution more than half a century ago, I pay tribute to their work and to their example.
Fidel Castro Ruz
January 7, 2008.
5:12 p.m.
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