4-17-08, 9:58 am

I have decided to write this reflection after listening to a public comment disseminated by one of the media of the Revolution, which I will not specifically mention.

We must be very careful about the assertions we make, in order not to play into our enemy’s ideology.

We can not blame the 'special period' in Cuba for the system that imperialism has imposed on the world. The 'special period' did not invent climate change, or a civilization that depends on the consumption of hydrocarbons, where every individual member of a family goes about in nearly empty automobiles, or the nefarious idea of turning foodstuffs into fuel.

Cuba did not invent world wars for the division of the planet, military bases, nuclear and radioactive weapons, satellites that spy on everything and hit targets with lethal beams, guided missiles, or submarines that fire missiles from a distance of 1,000 meters under the sea. That is science and technology to the service of death and destruction.

It did not invent political geography or determine how much land each nation should own, which resulted from other historical factors.

Everything that is said or asserted should be carefully meditated on to avoid making shameful concessions. The nature and psyche of human beings should be analyzed; their time for action is very brief, is just a fraction of a second in the history of the human species. To understand this is a great remedy against all vanities.

The special period was the inevitable consequence of the demise of the USSR, which lost the ideological battle and led us into a period of historical resistance we have not ridden ourselves of completely as yet.

How difficult it is to be brief in the battle of ideas!

Fidel Castro Ruz April 15, 2008