The empire and Fidel's everlasting lesson

Given the current dramatic circumstances, marked by the brutal attack against Venezuela and the threats to the sovereignty of our nations in the Americas, we must more than ever walk hand in hand with Fidel and reflect on his teachings and constant warnings about the aggressive nature and bestiality of the imperialist power.

From the very beginning of the revolutionary struggle that led to the victory of January 1959—when he was still a guerrilla leader standing up to the army of the Batista tyranny—Fidel made it clear that his prime goal would be to confront relentlessly the imperialist doctrine, based on oppression and crime.

This is revealed in a memorable letter sent to Celia Sánchez from the Sierra Maestra Mountains on June 5, 1958, when he wrote: “Seeing the rockets they fired at Mario’s house (a peasant living in the region where the rebel troops were operating), I swore to myself that the Americans will pay dearly for what they are doing. When this war ends, a much longer and greater war will begin for me: the war I will wage against them. I realize that this will be my true destiny.”

However, it is in the exhaustive “one hundred-hour-long” dialogue with Ignacio Ramonet that the Commander-in-Chief uses singularly ingenious metaphors to lay bare the murderous nature of imperialism and the only possible stance to avoid falling victim to its power and subjugation.

“Beasts must be confronted,” he told Ramonet. “First, the empire needs to know there will be a fight and that the price will be high. (...) Lion tamers sometimes turn their backs on the lion, use the whip, the noisy lash, and occasionally wave, receive the applause, and move away again, because otherwise, the lion reacts, driven by its instinct to hunt.

“Even a lapdog, one of the gentlest, will start barking at you, and if you run away, it will chase after you and might even bite your calf. But if you turn around, the dog will back away.

“It’s happened to me at sea with barracudas and sharks; when you confront them, their instinct for self-preservation kicks in and makes them retreat,” Fidel emphasizes.

“There’s nothing worse than turning your back on the enemy, because they develop that instinct for pursuit. It’s the instinct of wild beasts, and an empire is much more than a wild beast. Even the psychology of those who run an empire and wield its weapons is that of wild beasts,” he asserts.

Based on these examples, he warns his interviewer: “During the October Crisis in 1962, Cuba faced with honor, without any concessions, the risk of being attacked with nuclear weapons. It defeated the ‘dirty war’ waged throughout the country, at a cost in lives greater than in the war of liberation.

“Cuba steadfastly endured thousands of acts of sabotage and terrorist attacks organized by the United States government and thwarted hundreds of assassination plots against the leaders of the Revolution”, he stressed.

The teachings of this successful champion in the battle against imperialism, summarized in the simplicity of these testimonies, become particularly important in the face of the blatant aggression of the United States government that we now confront.

When the imperialist beast threatens, we must be vigilant and ready to act. Fidel made that perfectly clear.