Che was a man of ideas.

         It would have caused him profound pain to hear the speeches that, expressing traditional leftist positions, were delivered at the Latin American Summit held in Santiago de Chile.

         The Right also assumed traditional stances and made intelligent concessions to the supposed Left.

         Che would have been proud of the statements made by several revolutionary and courageous leaders, regardless of the little or great deal of political experience any of them may have.

         Experience is the mother of science and of ideas.

         It was from the battles waged by a handful of Cuban combatants in an area of the Sierra Maestra, against forces that were vastly superior in number and weapons, that Che drew the ideas he later synthesized in his book Guerrilla Warfare.

         Chávez leveled devastating criticisms at Europe, the same Europe that pretended to offer lessons on good governance at this Latin American Summit.

         The voices of Sandino and of the millennium-old cultures of this hemisphere could be heard in the words of Daniel and Evo.

         The speech delivered by the President of El Salvador at this Summit is disgusting.

         Capitalism is a system governed by blind, destructive and tyrannical laws that have been imposed on the human species.

         Dedicating the next Summit to the young people of Latin America was an unpalatable mixture of hypocrisy and lies, aimed at inculcating the minds of peoples with conditioned reflexes.

Fidel Castro Ruz

November 10, 2007

6:02 p.m.