ENRIQUE MONTESINOS and ALBERTO NUNEZ

"This country cannot be conquered nor dominated, because as long as one patriot is alive he or she will be fighting. We are militarily and politically invulnerable and we are moving towards economic invulnerability," said Commander in Chief Fidel Castro.

The Cuban president was speaking to the foreign and local press Wednesday evening at the Jose Marti Anti-Imperialist Plaza, which is undergoing expansion.

Responding to a question about how he views Cuba’s relations with the rest of the world, Fidel Castro replied that he sees the US empire surrounded with feelings of despise and repugnance for the many crimes and tortures that it commits in several countries, while he sees Cuba surrounded by an ever increasing friendliness and admiration for its strength and capacity.

President Castro argued that this is a historical merit that can not be hidden. "We sow ideas, conscience. We have means to help the world, our human capital is multiplying, it doesn’t run out because it is not gold, petroleum or nickel."

Fidel asked that journalists be patient when they enquired about the nature of the new expansion to the square located in front of the US Interests Section in Havana. He would only say that faced with new and insolent provocations from the "general staff" of the counterrevolution in Cuba, there was the obligation to give a response.

The world is in real danger because the US has a monopoly on nuclear arms and they have the nerve to get upset when another country like Iran wants to produce nuclear energy, said the Commander in Chief.

He pointed out that the US has no right to prohibit Iran from the peaceful use of nuclear energy and added that they are now speaking of attacking this Middle Eastern country on the pretext that it represents a threat.

Meanwhile, the US has never objected about the nuclear arms that Israel has, Fidel said, recalling as well that South Africa once considered launching a nuclear attack against Cuban troops in Angola.

The world will disappear if it doesn’t have the courage to condemn the militaristic policies of Bush, who used the appalling 9/11 attacks as a pretext and became so defiant as to speak of the possibility of preemptive attacks on some 60 countries comprised in a list that included European countries such as Holland, Fidel Castro noted.

"Not even Hitler said that; Hitler looked for pretexts, but Bush attacks with more audacity and a far greater arsenal; he is a nut and the world is running a real risk. Only the truth will save this species," declared the Commander in Chief.

Fidel Castro recalled that Cuba has already faced the threat of nuclear arms that dates back to 44 years ago when the October Missile Crisis cast a "shadow" over the island: "We didn’t blink; nobody trembled."

"Bush is an out-of-control lunatic, go ahead and be scared, but we are not the least bit afraid of him."

Speaking about the United States’ intentions to release mass murderer Luis Posada Carriles, President Castro said that Posada has maintained contact with US Intelligence services for 40 years, during which time US Intelligence had planned hundreds of assassination attempts against him and other Cuban leaders. He noted that the last one was in Panama (2000) when authorities seized 50 kilograms of explosives from Posada that would have killed hundreds of students. Posada was tried and convicted in Panama, but later Bush came to his aid and got him out of prison; now Bush doesn’t dare say how Posada entered US territory, Fidel said.

"They won’t send him back to Venezuela [from where Posada escaped from jail awaiting trial for the 1976 midair bombing of a passenger plane that killed all 73 aboard] invoking the Convention against Torture, when in Venezuela there are no Death Squads and no death penalty. The US backed a failed coup [in Venezuela in April 2002] and those involved still walk the streets. If we are talking about torture then Bush would be the first one to be sentenced because he has committed tortures throughout the world."

In relation to the US Interests Section in Havana, Fidel Castro called it a smuggling ring, noting that last year the diplomatic mission brought in more than 100 tons of equipment using the diplomatic pouch privileges. Some of these items were distributed amongst the Cuban population and were meant to promote the ill-named Radio and TV Marti [officially financed by the US government] in a crude attempt at sowing dissent.

The Cuban president also reported that the US Interests Section is used to bring in enormous sums of money to promote a counterrevolution and destabilize the country.

When he started his exchange with reporters, the Cuban leader said it would be wise of the US Interests Section not to activate the electronic billboard again.

He explained that the Bush administration is trying to please the Cuban American mob that gave him the presidency, and has not stopped exerting pressure to achieve a toughening of migratory policies that would promote illegal exits from the island.

"It is a very big mistake to encourage illegal exits, they violate their own national laws; a US newspaper recently stated that doing so would amount to madness, and it called for the scrapping of the Cuba Adjustment Act," he said.

"It is in total contradiction with the battle they are waging against the illegal immigration of thousands of Latin Americans who try to flee the poverty of their underdeveloped countries, lured by the US consumer society." The United States –he added—"is currently building a huge wall on the border with Mexico, where some 500 people die every year, much more than all the people who died in all the history of the Berlin Wall. Nobody seems to notice that fact."

Fidel Castro noted that the US is making a big mistake by not being able to perceive the great changes taking place in Cuba; "they thought the island’s days were numbered, and although our people went through a lot of sacrifices, we resisted." The world has changed, and Latin America is doing so too, he stressed. "They still believe that we are in 1995, but 10 years have gone by and the awareness of our people today is more solid."

"They have tried to block the US Agribusiness industry’s exports to Cuba because we have become one of their best buyers. They are trying to create a pretext to thwart this trade, but we are ready to face whatever contingency that may arise," he said.

Cuba has become a moral stronghold. We have resources to help the world, he pointed out.

CUBA WILL PLAY IN THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC

"We will be there at the World Baseball Classic, we will play clean to win or lose battling despite the fact that they have taken away some good players offering them millions of dollars to bribe and seduce them," said President Castro.

Still, the Cuban leader warned that is up to the State Department to issue the visas on time. He said it was foolish for the Bush administration to have tried to keep the Cuban team from participating and praised the protest mounted by baseball executives, fans and others when they saw that Cuba was being denied the possibility of attending the tournament.

We have shown the quality of our athletes at world events, and we have played against major league baseball players, some of them have even come here, he recalled, in reference to a two-game home and away series with the Baltimore Orioles back in 1999.

"The imperialists feel powerless with us, because they realize they cannot destroy the Revolution," he noted.

In another moment of his statements, Fidel assured that the Cuban convertible peso [hard currency] is strong, while the US dollar is at the mercy of the value we want it to have here on the island.

SCHAFICK NEVER SURRENDERED

I believe in humanity, in the value of the talent of the human species, capable of overcoming the hardest of times.

In praising the example of men like Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez who are leading their countries with anti-imperialist fervor, the leader of the Cuban Revolution made reference to another outstanding revolutionary who recently passed away, the Salvadoran Patriot Schafick Handal, an irreproachable man who never gave up or surrendered.

"All these values give us life," concluded the Cuban president.

(Granma) 26-01-2006