By Antonio Rondón
One of the achievements of the Triumph of the Revolution was the dignity of the Cuban people and the end of their humiliation; hence the spirit of resistance that Fidel Castro instilled, declared Salim Lamrani.
The French writer and professor noted that the Italian Gianni Minà, in an interview with Fidel, asked him what quality in a human being he most appreciated, and Fidel replied that it was loyalty to principles.
When asked what he most detested, Fidel responded that it was betrayal of principles, recalled the specialist on the dispute between Cuba and the United States, in statements to Prensa Latina.
So, the resistance of the Cuban people today is rooted in their adherence to the principles of national sovereignty, social justice, socialism, internationalism, and the fundamental dignity of the human being, he commented.
Cubans are willing to engage in dialogue, but not to have the conditions for good relations dictated to them, added the doctor and researcher from the Sorbonne University.
That is why the United States is mistaken in its political projection, from an operational point of view, because the Cubans have already demonstrated that they will not yield on matters of principle and will remain faithful to them, the specialist argued.
We must value this resistance of the Cuban people. Nobody expected that when the oil blockade was introduced last December—it was imposed at the end of January, but no tanker had arrived since December—Cuba would withstand it for more than two months, he commented.
But Cuba has now been resisting this medieval measure, this energy embargo that has a dramatic impact on all aspects of society, for almost nine months, Lamrani concluded.
“This is because Cuba knows what surrender would mean, because surrendering would mean returning to the era of humiliation,” he stated.
“It would be returning to the era when the President of the United States sends a special envoy to Cuba, without notifying the President of the Republic, to publicly humiliate you,” the researcher emphasized.
It is often said that after life, the most important thing is dignity, “although sometimes dignity is more important than life itself, because to live without it is to live on one’s knees, something that makes no sense, and Cuba has demonstrated this,” the specialist asserted.
This has also been one of the achievements of the Cuban Revolution. That is why Fidel Castro obtained unanimous support. He managed to express the people’s deep yearning for dignity, he concluded.
The first achievement of the 1959 Revolution is the achievement of dignity, to definitively put an end to the era of humiliation. That is why the Cuban people also resist, because defending dignity is part of the Cuban people’s identity, Lamrani affirmed.
Few countries in the world have had to fight for independence under such adverse conditions, and it was a 30-year struggle for that independence, the longest war in the Latin American region, the expert pointed out.
Afterward, there was a U.S. intervention, which led to 60 years of a pseudo-republic, and despite that, despite the geographical disadvantage and despite the fact that the United States dominated the Cuban economy and controlled the political situation, Cuba managed to achieve its independence, he noted.
This indicates that the core of resistance within the Cuban people is very strong, and that is why they have not managed to create a division within revolutionary unity, a constant objective of the U.S. government to end the Revolution, he explained.
They have not achieved that objective, and the legacy of what Fidel taught—not to give in, even in the most adverse circumstances—remains, he emphasized.
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]
