In the Heart of Latin American Unity
- Enrique Ubieta Gómez -
Chávez and Fidel joined
forces, allowing hundreds of thousands of
Latin Americans to gain access to health and
education, to recover their vision and
dignity.
Our America is living intense days, but there is
no reason, or time, to be discouraged. The
continent's peoples have opened the great avenues
of their emancipation, and imperialism cannot
close them. Bolívar, Martí, Sandino, pointed the
way to unity. "How long will we remain in
lethargy?" Fidel asked in 1959, during his visit
to Caracas. "How long will we be defenceless
pieces of a continent, which its liberator
conceived as something more dignified, greater?
How long will Latin Americans live in this
miserly, ridiculous atmosphere? How long will we
remain divided?"
Early in his formative years, in the 1940s, Fidel
was involved in struggles for justice, the
region's most pressing: the Independence of Puerto
Rico and an end to the Trujillo dictatorship in
the Dominican Republic, among others, and would
witness, alongside the Colombian people, the
events that today history remembers as the
Bogotazo.
His visit to Venezuela, just a few months after
the revolutionary triumph, would be portentous.
There he would say, with regard to the necessary
unity of our peoples: "And who should be the
proponents of this idea? Venezuelans, because
Venezuelans launched it on the American continent,
because Bolívar is Venezuela's son and Bolívar is
the father of the idea, of the union of America's
peoples."
But Fidel was not referring only to the internal
unity of peoples, indispensable for the triumph of
justice, but to the unity of nations on the
continent, although he knew that there would be
"seven-month" governments without faith in their
land, ready to hand over the collective wealth and
popular needs, in hopes of attaining dishonest
personal rewards.
That is why, on many occasions, he sought to
demonstrate the advantages of unity, based on
respect for the diversity of socio-economic models
and identities. "What is the fate, moreover, of
the balkanized countries of our America? What
place will they occupy in the 21st century? What
place will be left for them, what will their role
be if they don't join together, if they don't
integrate?" he insisted in 1990. In the final
years of this decade of surrender and
discouragement, Fidel would re-launch Cuban
medical internationalism (which was born in
Algeria, in 1963), for the peoples of Central
America and Haiti -- with no ideologically allied
governments. In the wake of two devastating
hurricanes, hundreds of health workers travelled
to the most remote areas to provide assistance to
destitute populations.
The Cuban people came face to face with their
brothers and sisters on the continent, without
intermediaries. Fidel always met with brigades
before their departure, conversing with members as
a father.
On November 25, 1998, he stated: "I want to
emphasize this right now: our doctors will not
become involved, in the least, in matters of
internal politics. They will be absolutely
respectful of the laws, traditions and customs of
the countries where they work.
"Their mission is not to disseminate ideology
[...] They are in Central America as doctors, as
self-sacrificing bearers of human health, to work
in the most difficult places and conditions, to
save lives, preserve and restore health, uphold
and honor the noble medical profession, nothing
else."
That very year, a disciple of Bolivar would reach
the Presidency of Venezuela. Two dreamers, two
madmen, Fidel and Chávez, would meet, in an effort
to promote unity. And ALBA was born, the most
advanced project that has emerged on our
continent, an agreement based on the people, on
our infinite capacity for solidarity. Hundreds of
thousands of Latin Americans gained access to
health and education, recovered their vision and
dignity.
Our America, a concept of Martí's that also
includes the Caribbean, became greater, as we
looked inward and came together to complement each
other, in common projects. Imperialism is today
attempting to dismantle these conquests, which it
fears so much.
On the eve of the third anniversary of Comandante
en jefe Fidel Castro's physical departure, it is
worth remembering him as the man who dedicated his
life to the defence of unity among our peoples and
the nations of Latin America.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 29 - November 30, 2019
Article Link:
In the Heart of Latin American Unity - Enrique Ubieta Gómez
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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