[Darwinist]

Came across this. Thought somebody might be interested. Really liked his last comment....

GRANMA
April 20, 2006

Victory Was, Is and Always Will Be Ours!
Orfilio Pelaez and Alberto Nunez

"On such a symbolic day as today, we are extremely pleased to be able
to demonstrate this tangible and irrefutable proof that we have been
loyal to all of those who fell fighting in defense of the homeland,"
said Cuban President Fidel Castro to close his address during
celebrations for the 45th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs victory.

The leader of the Revolution said that, amidst the complex situation
that the world is living in, Cubans have many reasons to be
optimistic. He noted that the country is moving forward on many
fronts and cited the example that Cuba is number one in the world in
terms of energy saving.

He added that annoying blackouts are disappearing and that the island
energy savings are sharply increasing. In addition, in just the last
six or seven weeks, the country has increased its power generating
capacity to the tune of 80,000 kW per week.


THE WORLD IS ON AN UNSUSTAINABLE TRAJECTORY

After noting that oil prices have reached a new record high, Fidel
warned, once again, that if the big industrialized powers do not make
an effort to be more rational, social problems will become worse and
there will be significant worldwide instability.

He cited the example of the United States, a country that consumes
more than 25 percent of the energy generated worldwide with only 5
percent of the total population.

Fidel Castro also spoke about other dangers that threaten the planet,
including epidemics such as the avian flu. In this respect, he
explained that Cuba is working to prepare for any eventuality.

The Cuban president recalled how, after emerging from World War II as
an economic power while many other countries were left devastated,
the United States amassed 80 percent of the world's gold supply. He
added that, despite the fact that they used up all their gold, the
printing of US dollars continued unbridled, and the US flooded the
world with paper money -the dollar- as it launched the arms race, and
took consumerism to unsustainable limits to the detriment of
underdeveloped counties.


QUESTIONS REMAINING TO BE ANSWERED

Where are the nuclear weapons that South Africa said it would use
against our internationalist troops in Angola? Who gave arms to
Israel and how was this achieved? How and why did the idea of bombing
the Serbian state television originate?

Commander in Chief Fidel Castro raised these questions while stating
that the powerful have many questions to answer. He recalled that it
was former Spanish President Jose Maria Aznar who had advised US
President Clinton, during the war in Yugoslavia, to bomb the
television station.

Fidel Castro carried on to say that today, while the military
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan remain unresolved, threats are
already being launched against Iran, together with a campaign to
distort the reality of Iran and its sovereign right to produce
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

In light of these practices, the Cuban president urged the United
States to put an end to its lies, and to respect truth and the
peoples of the world.


THE PEOPLE'S VICTORY

Fidel Castro contrasted the ideals of the Cuban people with those of
the mercenary forces of the Bay of Pigs invasion who were recruited,
armed and financed by a foreign power.

A large number of the mercenaries were the former owners of large
estates, oligarchs who had been members of the Batista dictatorship's
army, said Fidel Castro. He added that there had also been war
criminals and torturers; all backed up by US warships, marines and
aircraft carriers, ready to enter into action after the invading
squad had secured a beachhead.

Commander in Chief Fidel Castro recalled the cowardly air attacks of
April 15 -against the airports in Ciudad Libertad and San Antonio de
los Banos in Havana, and Antonio Maceo in Santiago de Cuba- which
were met with the decisive action of young anti-aircraft artillery
crews who valiantly repelled the enemy planes.

"They were so cynical and shameless that they attempted to pass it
off as an uprising of [Cuba's] Revolutionary Armed Forces, and forced
their representative in the United Nations, a man that had some
prestige, to say a long string of lies, to read a document that they
gave him, that he believed to be true," said Fidel.

President Castro also went into detail regarding the military action
of the Cuban troops, noting that there was not even a minute break in
the fighting, because of the urgency of stopping the mercenaries from
securing a beachhead.

"Our pilots were like Olympic champions, each one, without exception,
carried out their missions, dealing harsh blows to the enemy, sinking
their ships; and I can assure you that never before had a small air
force done so much in so little time."

Fidel Castro compared the feats of the Bay of Pigs to what was later
accomplished by Cuban troops in Angola and elsewhere. "The history of
the Revolution is the Bay of Pigs multiplied," he said.

"[Shortly] after those glorious days [?], the whole country was ready
to die during the October Crisis, and from then on, on more than one
occasion, the people have been ready to give their lives without
hesitation.

"Today, we are not commemorating this 45th anniversary on our knees,
they never brought us to our knees, and there will never be a force
in the world that could bring us to our knees," said Fidel Castro.

During another part of his speech, the Commander in Chief pointed out
that throughout the 45 years that have passed since the US-backed
invasion was squashed, there has not been a single day of peace, nor
will there be. "We do not start wars, but we will never beg for the
peace that has been denied to us for almost half-a-century, because
we are sure that victory was, is, and always will be ours."

President Castro cited the hundreds of terrorist attacks against
Cuba, the high number of Cubans that have been murdered, the many
ships that have been attacked, and the acts of sabotage, hijacking,
and assassination attempts against leaders of the Revolution, all
carried out in the purported defense of the liberty, human rights,
and well-being of Cubans.

"The list of crimes and felonies committed by [US] imperialism
against our people is endless. In all of those actions, individuals
of the shameful calibre of Jorge Mas Canosa, Jose Hernandez, Felix
Rodriguez, Jose Basulto and Luis Posada Carriles have been
implicated. All of whom are linked by their participation in the Bay
of Pigs mercenary invasion, and later, all of whom were involved in
the dirty war in Centro America, the sadly infamous Condor Operation,
the assassination of diplomats, the elimination of Latin American
political leaders, the tortures of revolutionaries and the midair
bombing of a Cuban passenger plane in Barbados," said Fidel Castro.

Fidel wondered if the US government was, in fact, unaware of all of
this and if it knew nothing of the plans of planting bombs in Cuban
hotels in an attempt to sow terror or of the organization of
assassination attempts against himself like the one that had been
prepared in Panama during the Ibero-American Summit.

With the exception of Ford and Carter, all the US presidents during
the time were accomplices in such sinister plans, said Fidel. ¨With
Clinton, I have my doubts, although I always saw him as an
intellectual and I remember his conversation with Garcia Marquez, of
which I spoke about at length, a while ago. But not even him
[Clinton], or anybody, has ever said a word about the matter, while
they show our Five Heroes no mercy and keep them unjustly, crudely
and shamelessly imprisoned."

The Commander in Chief warned the US government to make no mistake,
reminding them that the Cuban people know how to fight. He qualified
the Bush administration as politically and ethically stupid, "I
really have no other way to describe it."

Speaking about recent announcements stating that the US will adopt
new measures against Cuba in May, Fidel said that as this month
approaches, all he feels is shame and pity for such colossal
stupidity.

"Now -said President Castro-, they are becoming bogged down in a
dead-end street in Iran; they don't know what they are going to do,
and the US people are going to insist that they tell the truth and
get out of there. We must not forget that the American people played
a decisive role with their opposition to the war in Vietnam and in
the battle to return the boy Elian [to Cuba]; and they will play
their role in the last chapter of this despicable war that has
brought so much mourning to the Iraqi people."


NEW ARMS FOR THE WAR

The Commander in Chief spoke about documents and reports from the
Defense and State Departments, which show that the US government has
a powerful electromagnetic bomb at their disposal that was used in
Iraq to take out communications, Internet and television
transmissions.

These same sources cite Donald Rumsfeld, the head of the Pentagon,
talking about embarking on a war against the internet, about the
importance of developing a new cyberspace army to fight this
electronic war and about the massive poisoning of the electronic
media by viewpoints that are not to Washington's liking.

"I hope they do not underestimate people's intelligence, we will
denounce them and find a way to defend ourselves against this type of
aggression," warned the Cuban president.

Fidel Castro also spoke about how the US has threatened that they
possess an explosive device called an MOP, which they have describe
as the largest bomb in the world weighing 13.6 tons and measuring 14
by 6 meters.

"I don't know who they are trying to scare with this -said Fidel-,
when they pointed dozen of nuclear weapons towards Cuba nobody
blinked."

________________________________________ ________

[Te(V)plar]

If only we had given the invasion air support.

[Darwinist]

Originally Posted by Te(V)plar

If only we had given the invasion air support.

Never understood why the US choked at the bay of pigs, and why the hell didn´t you beef the cuban expatriates up with marines or something. As long as there were some Cubans mixed in with the landing force it could have been spun the right way.....

And apparently there were some US air raids on Cuba on that day....

[Te(V)plar]

Originally Posted by Darwinist

Never understood why the US choked at the bay of pigs, and why the hell didn´t you beef the cuban expatriates up with marines or something. As long as there were some Cubans mixed in with the landing force it could have been spun the right way.....

And apparently there were some US air raids on Cuba on that day....

A lot of fault seems to be levelled at JFK for his changing of critical elements to the invasion plan. It also doesn't help that supposedly KGB agents warned Fidel of the impending invasion.

[ThRiLl]

This is either a horribly written article or Castro is an imbecile

He can't seem to differentate between Iran and Iraq.

The name of the bomb is MOAB, not MOP.

[jerrylundergard]

Fidel is a douch bag. 25 hour speechs cant change the fact hes been calling all the shots in Cuba and its a fucking shit hole.

[USAMMAFAN]

Originally Posted by jerrylundergard

Fidel is a douch bag. 25 hour speechs cant change the fact hes been calling all the shots in Cuba and its a fucking shit hole.

it wasnt a shit hole before he took over?

actually the average cubans life has improved dramatically since castro took over

Cuba actually ranks within the top 3rd of all countries in human development to ahead of mexico, russia, brazil, saudi arabia and others despite having massive sanctions against it and not having any natuaral resources

[Gregster]

Originally Posted by USAMMAFAN

actually the average cubans life has improved dramatically since castro took over

Of course it has...why else would southern Florida be packed with Cubans and the descendants of Cubans who risked drowning fleeing the to United States on anything that would float: because Cuba is such a swell place to live.

I swear, that old bastard is never going to die. I wish he'd kick and someone reform-minded would take over so that I could get a box of Cohibas.

[No Treason]

Originally Posted by Darwinist

Never understood why the US choked at the bay of pigs, and why the hell didn´t you beef the cuban expatriates up with marines or something. As long as there were some Cubans mixed in with the landing force it could have been spun the right way.....

And apparently there were some US air raids on Cuba on that day....

I heard Kennedy's first priority was keeping this invasion from the press, instead of victory. He changed the landing area personally, because the original landing area wasnt remote enough. It was too risky the press would find out. It is also the same reason he didnt send the 2nd wave of air cover, which was also in the plan. He basically went against the generals, and against a plan they had been working on for at least months, at the last minute. The Bay of Pigs is what created the cuban missile crisis, and eventually got Kennedy killed.

[USAMMAFAN]

Originally Posted by Gregster

Of course it has...why else would southern Florida be packed with Cubans and the descendants of Cubans who risked drowning fleeing the to United States on anything that would float: because Cuba is such a swell place to live.

I swear, that old bastard is never going to die. I wish he'd kick and someone reform-minded would take over so that I could get a box of Cohibas.

I could say the exact same thing about any 3rd country which has large amounts of people trying to emigrate to the US, (cough mexico).

Alot of the people in south florida were intially Batista supporters, they fled because they were hated, Batista was a far worse dictator then Castro, a fact that many on the right here in the US conviently ignore because he was "our boy".

The fact remains the average cubans life got better under Castro then it had under Batista.

People seem to forget that Catro was and is still pretty popular in Cuba, do you think that him and a few of his cronies took over the country by themselves? They had popular support, at least at the point in time they did, and obviously he still must have some degree of support as he is still in power.

I am not defending Castro, as he is a dictator and human rights abuser though, but if you put him into the context of Batista and others that came before him, he hasnt been as bad.

He just nationalized our holding in Cuba, and that made him the anti-christ to the US government.