Fidel Castro’s “Brother Obama” With an Introduction by Ray Light

The Year 2015 was witness to the growing normalization
of relations between the Cuban government and its
longtime tormentor, U.S. Imperialism. The lead frontpage
article in the November/December 2015 issue of
Ray O’Light Newsletter (#93) addressed the challenges
facing the Cuban people and leadership and the world’s
working people in this process. Entitled, “The Thaw
in Cuba-U.S. Relations: A Proletarian Revolutionary
Perspective,” we examined four topics: “What brought
about this change in U.S. Policy toward Cuba?” “For
its part, why is the Cuban government participating
in this rapprochement with U.S. Imperialism?” “Will
this rapprochement with U.S. Imperialism prove to be
a good or a bad development for the Cuban people, for
Cuban society and for the longstanding anti-imperialist
and democratic Cuban government?” And “Finally, will
this change in the relationship between the Cuban
government and the U.S. Imperialist government
represent an advance for the international proletariat
and the oppressed peoples?”
Among the points we made were the following: “As the
Obama government has reached out to Raul Castro and
Cuba with an olive branch, it has accelerated its military
provocations against Venezuela on its border with
Colombia. In fact, on December 18, 2014, the day after
his statement on improving relations with Cuba, Obama
signed a law that imposed sanctions on Venezuela for
‘violating the democratic rights of the forces opposing
the government of Nicolas Maduro.’ This ‘law’ helped
set the stage for more U.S. warfare against the Maduro
government. Thus, no time was lost by the U.S. Empire in
attempting to split Cuba and Venezuela whose alliance
has been at the heart of the Latin American resistance
to U.S. Domination.”
“Certainly, Obama and U.S. imperialism hope they can
conquer Cuba economically when they could never
defeat Cuba on the military battlefield or the battlefield
of ideas. They hope to compel the Revolutionary Cuba
that never deserted its friends in the face of the open
threats of U.S. monopoly capitalism and imperialism,
including the threat of nuclear annihilation in 1962
during the U.S.-Soviet missile crisis, to become an
accomodationist Cuba that doesn’t get involved
when others are attacked. This would represent the
ultimate triumph of imperialism, headed by U.S.
imperialism, and the ultimate destruction of all the
great achievements of the Cuban Revolution—
from
universal literacy and healthcare domestically to selfsacrificing
internationalist solidarity with oppressed
peoples from Central America to Southern Africa and
around the world."
Utilizing the “new” relationship, 2016 has already been
witness to a trip to Cuba by U.S. Imperialist Chieftain
Barack Obama in which Obama perpetrated his lies and
attempted to bully the Cuban leadership, brandishing
the weapon of economic power. It is in this setting that
the outstanding revolutionary Cuban leader, Fidel
Castro, issued his “Brother Obama” article which
concluded with the following:
“There is an important issue:
“Obama made a speech in which he uses the most
sweetened words to express: ‘It is time, now, to forget
the past, leave the past behind, let us look to the future
together, a future of hope. And it won’t be easy, there will
be challenges and we must give it time; but my stay here
gives me more hope in what we can do together as friends,
as neighbors, together.’
“I suppose all of us were at risk for a heart attack
upon hearing these words from the President of the
United States. After a ruthless blockade that has lasted
almost 60 years, and what about those who have died
in the mercenary attacks on Cuban ships and ports, an
airliner full of passengers blown up in midair, mercenary
invasions, multiple acts of violence and coercion?
“Nobody should be under the illusion that the people
of this dignified and selfless country will renounce the
glory, the rights, or the spiritual wealth they have gained
with the development of education, science and culture.
“I also warn that we are capable of producing the
food and material riches we need with the efforts and
intelligence of our people. We do not need the empire to
give us anything. Our efforts will be legal and peaceful,
as this is our commitment to peace and fraternity among
all human beings who live on this planet.”*
As we concluded our article last November on the Thaw
in Cuba-U.S. Relations:
“In defense of democratic, anti-imperialist,
internationalist Cuba, let us rally around the Cuban
Revolutionary Slogan:
¡Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!
Fatherland or Death, We Shall Win!
Let us commit to helping to build a new Communist
International in the tradition of the Third International:
Workers of the World and
Oppressed Peoples Unite!”
An Excerpt from
Fidel Castro’s “Brother Obama”
With an Introduction by Ray Light:
*First appeared in Spanish in Granma, 3-27-16