Lies in the service of the empire

REUTERS headed the list of international news agencies yesterday which presented Pedro Miret and Osmany Cienfuegos as historical figures dismissed by Raúl Castro. It was followed, in order, by EFE, which affirmed textually: "they were dismissed as vice presidents of the Council of Ministers on March 2."

The pretext for this intrigue, widely reported throughout the world, was the publication in the Gaceta Oficial (Official Gazette), on March 24, of the decree on the restructuring of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba, approved on the 2nd of this month.

Pedro Miret is a magnificent compañero, with great historic merits, a man whom we all respect and for whom I feel a great affection. He has been unable to hold any office for a number of years now, for health reasons. The slow settling-in of his illness led to the progressive cessation of his political activity. It is not fair to present him as "dismissed," without any consideration whatsoever.

Osmany Cienfuegos, the brother of Camilo, undertook important tasks, not only as vice president of the Council of Ministers, but also as a member of the Party and fulfilling my instructions when I was Commander in Chief. He always was and is a revolutionary. From long before I became ill, his functions were progressively ending. He was no longer acting as vice president of the Council of Ministers. Compañero Raúl Castro, president of the Council of State, has absolutely no responsibility in this. In both cases, it concerned purely legal steps.

Reuters and EFE are two of the Western agencies closest to the imperialist policy of the United States. Occasionally, the latter behaves worse, although it is much less important than the former.

Making use of a habitual technique, EFE quotes Joaquín Roy, director of the European Union Center in Miami, to publish the following in another cable on March 24: "Spain has been rediscovered as a key country in certain regions of the world of interest to the United States, such as Latin America and, in particular, in two countries: Cuba and Venezuela."

The EFE immediately adds: "The expert stated that the greatest interest of the United States, more than pressuring for its [Cuba’s] opening up, changes, etc., is the island’s stability.

"For years now, he explained, studies by U.S. security agencies have not pointed to Cuba as a military threat, but have remained attentive to the development of changes in order to avoid potential internal frictions that might destabilize the region.

"It is of no interest to the United States if the result of the opening is civil war in Cuba.

"According to Roy, the European Union and Spain have no problem working jointly with the United States, but ‘cautiously,’ in order not to give the impression or be accused in Cuba of following Washington’s lead."

As clear as day: the ideas of the old Spanish empire on crutches, trying to help the corrupt, tottering and genocidal yanqui empire.

The U.S. superpower and the Spanish minipower have learned nothing from the heroic resistance of Cuba throughout more than half a century.

Fidel Castro Ruz