I would not like to abuse of the
readers patience or the exceptional opportunity Lula offered
me to exchange ideas when we met. That is why I said that this
will be the fourth and last reflection on his visit.
When I talked to him about Venezuela, he told me: We intend to
cooperate with President Chávez. We both have an agreement. Every year I will travel
twice to Caracas and he will travel twice to Brazil so that no differences could
set in between us; and in case there happens to be any, we could settle it right
away. Venezuela doesn’t need any money, he said, because it has many resources,
but it needs time and infrastructure”.
I told him I was very happy to know what his stand was regarding that country,
because we were very thankful to that sister nation for theagreements signed
that ensured to us a steady supply of fuel.
I cannot forget that, after the coup on April 2002, the slogan
upheld by those who ousted the government was: “not a single drop of oil to Cuba any more”.
We became an additional reason for the imperialism to try to blow up the Venezuelan
economy, although that was what they really intended to do since Chávez
was sworn in as President over the moribund Constitution of the
Fourth Republic, which he legally and democratically transformed
into the Fifth Republic later on.
When the price of oil abruptly increased and it became real difficult
to buy it, Chávez maintained and even increased our oil
supplies. After the signing of the ALBA agreements in Havana
on December 14, 2004, these agreements still provide honorable
and beneficial conditions for both countries. Almost 40,000 selfless
Cuban specialists, most of them doctors, are working in Venezuela.
Their knowledge, and particularly their internationalist example,
is contributing to training the Venezuelans who will replace
them.
I explained to him that Cuba had friendly relations with all Latin American and
Caribbean countries, whether right-wing or left-wing. We have been following
that policy for long and we will never change it; we are ready to support any
action in favor of promoting peace among peoples. This is a thorny and difficult
issue, but we will continue to persevere in it.
Lula expressed again his respect and deep love for Cuba and its leaders.
He immediately added that he felt proud for what was going on in Latin America
and once again reaffirmed that it was here in Havana that we decided to create
the Sao Paulo Forum and unite all the Latin American left-wing, which is taking
power in almost every country.
This time I reminded him of what Martí taught us about
all glories in this world, when he said that all of them fit
into a kernel of corn.
Lula added: “I tell everybody that in the conversations I had with you,
you never gave any advice that would go against what was legal. You always advised
me not to make too many enemies at the same time. And that is what’s
making things move forward.”
Almost immediately he added that Brazil, a big country with resources, had to
help Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
“I have just visited Central America. Never had a Brazilian President
been to a country from that region to discuss cooperation projects.”
Then I asked him: “Do you remember, Lula, what I told you
at that informal and familiar dinner you offered to our delegation
the day after your inauguration, on January 2003? None of the
children of the poor people who voted for you will ever be an
executive of the big state enterprises of Brazil; university
studies are here very expensive!”
In this regard, Lula explains the following: “We are building
214 technical and professional schools; we are also building
13 new federal universities and 48 campuses.”
I then asked him: “Those will be free of charge, won’t
they?”
He was quick to respond: “We have created a program and
we have already included 460,000 youths from the periphery, poor
people who used to attend public schools, so that they could
study at the university. The right-wing accused me of trying
to lower the level of education; two years after, 14 courses
went under scrutiny: the best students were those from the periphery.
We are creating another program that includes 18 students as
an average, with which the number of university students will
be increased to 250,000.”
He said to me that Brazil’s
commercial relations with Latin America were bigger compared
to those it had with the United States. I continued to explain
to him that we will certainly establish close relations between
our two countries, not only as friends, but also as partners
in important areas, that I needed to know the thinking of the
Brazilian leaders, since we were going to be partners in strategic
areas, and as a rule we always lived up to our economic commitments.
We talked about other important issues, the issues on which we
agreed and those on which we don’t, as tactfully as possible.
I talked to him about several other regions, the Caribbean among them and about
the forms of cooperation that we had developed with them.
Lula told me that Brazil should be more proactive towards cooperating with the
poorest peoples. He has acquired new responsibilities; Brazil is the richest
country in the whole region.
I talked to him, of course, about the climate change, and the little attention
paid by a great number of leaders of the industrialized world to this issue.
When I spoke with him on January 15 in the afternoon, I could not make reference
to the article that would be published only three days later, written by Stephen
Leahy from Toronto. This article announces a new book by Lester Brown called
Mobilizing to Save Civilization.
“The crisis is extremely serious and urgent and requires from all nations
an effort to mobilize just as was done during World War II (1939-1945)”
–wrote Lester Brown, president of the Earth
Policy Institute, a Washington D.C. based research
organization.
“Climate change is happening much faster than scientists expected, and
the planet will inevitably suffer a temperature increase of at least two degrees”,
Brown said to IPS, “which would definitely place us in
the danger zone.”
“None of the presidential candidates in the US elections” –to
be held on the first Tuesday of November-- “has referred
to the urgent problem of climate change.
“The greenhouse gas emissions, which are in part responsible for global
warming, should be reduced by 80 per cent by the year 2020.”
This is a far more ambitious goal as the one suggested by the Inter-governmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which in 2007 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
together with former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, who recommended a 25 to 40
per cent reduction of the emission levels of 1990, according to the cable news.
Brown considers that the data used by the IPCC are outdated, since they were
published two years ago. More recent studies indicate that climate change is
speeding up, he said.
While he is confident that the IPCC will modify that recommendation
in its next report, he pointed out that it would not be released
before five or six years. “Too
late, we have to act now”, Brown reaffirmed.
Brown’ Plan B 3.0 recommends some measures to reach an 80 per cent reduction
in the emissions, which are strongly based on the efficient use of energy, the
use of renewable sources of energy, and the expansion of the planet trees “shield”.
“Eolic energy can cover 40 per cent of the world’s demand with
the nstallation of 1.5 million new 2 megawatt wind turbines. Although thefigure
may seem too high, the world manufactures 65 million motorcars every year.
A more efficient lighting system could reduce the world’s
electricityconsumption by 12 per cent.
“In the United States, business and residential buildings account for
40 per cent of carbon emissions. The next step should be to resort to non-polluting
electricity generation for heating, cooling, and lighting private
homes.
The use of bio-fuels from grains such as corn and soy, are pushing for an increase
in the prices of these foodstuffs that may lead to a food scarcity that could
be disastrous for the poor peoples of the world.
“The annual addition of 70 million persons to the world’s population
is concentrated in countries whose water reserves are depleting,
wells are going dry, forest areas are reducing, soils are degrading, and grazing
lanas are turning into deserts.
“Year after year, the number of ‘failing states’ increases,
which constitutes an ‘early warning of the fall of a civilization’,
Brown stated.
“The increase in the price of oil should add to the list of problems.
Rich countries will have all they need, while poor countries should reduce consumption.
“Population growth and poverty demand special attention from the Developer
world.
“Time is our most scarce resource”, the famous scientist concluded.
There can be no clearer way
to describe the danger that ligers upon humankind.
But that was not the only news published after my meeting with Lula.
Hardly two days ago, an editorial published by The New York Times,
anathematizing and pulling to pieces the speech delivered by
Bush before Congress, expressed this idea on a single line: “Horrifying dangers awaits the civilized world”.
China, whose territorial area is 87 times our island’s, with 117 times
more population than Cuba, has just been hit by an unusual cold wave which affected
Shanghai, the most developed area, as well as the southern and central regions
of that huge country. Authorities report about the emergency broadcast by western
international news agencies –AFP, AP, EFE, DPA, and ANSA, among others: “Heavy
snows have forced the shutting down of thermo-power stations and the reduction
by a half of coal reserves, the main source of energy of the country, which has
created a serious energy crisis”.
“…in the most affected area –a 7 percent total energy loss-
power stations have stopped operating, according to the Energy
Commission.
“Ninety stations, which produce an additional 10 per cent thermo-power,
could be shut down in the next days if conditions do not improve…
“Coal reserves have been reduced by more
than a half, authorities reported.
“The main problem is transportation. More than have of the existing trains
are devoted to the transportation of coal. The paralysis of the
railway network has caused many problems, said Wang Zheming, an expert of the
State Security Commission.
“Wang remembered that these days coal transportation is facing the competition
of passenger’s transportation, since as a result of New Year’s
celebrations there is a railway transportation exodus of almost
180 million people in hardly a month.
“For China it is difficult to resort to another source of energy. The
ideal source would be natural gas, but reserves are not enough yet, the expert
said.”
We should also take into account that in recent months, the Yang-Tze river basin
as well as other central and southern areas suffered the worst drought in half
a century, which affected hydro-power generation.
“Heavy snows will continue to fall in the next three days,” according
to the Chinese Association of Meteorology.
“The whole country has mobilized to cope with the emergency. In the city
of Nanjing, 250,000 people were assigned to remove snow from
the streets.”
These news refer to “460,000 soldiers from the People’s
Liberation Army, deployed in the Chinese provinces, to help millions
of people unsheltered who were affected by the lowest temperatures
ever recorded in recent times, and to one million law enforcement
agents to help re-establish traffic and services.
“The Ministry of Health sent 15,000 doctors to assist the victims.
“In the city of Canton Prime Minister Wen Jiabao addressed a crowd of
travelers whose trains were paralyzed.
“An estimated 80 million people have been affected. Damages caused toagriculture
and food production are being assessed.”
BBC World reports as follows: “The Chinese government reported
that a severe drought led to the most severe drop ever recorded
in 142 years of the water level in one part of the Yang-Tze River,
the biggest in the country.
“In the port city of Hankou, in the center of the country, water levels
decreased by 13.98 m in early January, something which had not
been seen since 1866, according to local media.”
The cold wave was approaching Vietnam carrying unusually low temperatures.
Such news will give you an idea of the consequences of climate change, which
scientists worry so much about. The two examples I have referred to are revolutionary
countries, perfectly well organized, with great human and economic strength,
where all resources are immediately put to the service of the people. Here we
are not talking about hungry crowds abandoned to their own fate.
On the other hand, a news published by Reuters on January 29
states that “France
is planning to modify its bio-fuels consumption policy, due to certain doubts
that exist regarding the impact of the so called “green fuels” on
the environment’, as reported on Tuesday by the State Secretary
for the Environment.
“France has become one of the biggest bio-fuels manufacturers in Europe,
after adopting an ambiguous policy that anticipates in two years
the European Union goal of mixing bio-fuels with standard fuels.
“In order to achieve its fuels mixing goals…France established
a system of quotas that enjoy reduced tariffs, so that they could be competitive
as compared to standard fuels.
“That policy encouraged many companies to invest in this sector and build
ethanol and bio-diesel manufacturing plants all over the country”.
All that I have just explained, whose main concepts were already foreseen, is
a sum total of recent events. Most certainly, under such circumstances, these
events will require Brazil, a country that fortunately has not been affected
by these huge climate calamities, to take significant steps in its commercial
and investment policy. As from now, its international impact is growing bigger.
Obviously, there are a number of factors that makes the situation of the planet
all the more complex. We could list several of them:
1. Growth in the consumption of oil, a non-renewable and polluting product, due
to the squandering of consumption societies.
2. Scarcity of food due to several causes, among them, the exponential population
and animal growth which turn into increasingly demanded proteins.
3. Overexploitation of the seas and the pollution of marine species due to chemical
wastes dumping by industries which are incompatible with life.
4. The macabre idea of turning foodstuffs into fuels for leisure and luxury.
5. Inability of the dominant economic system to make a rational
and efficient use of science and technology to combat pests and
diseases which attack humans, animals and the crops that feed
them. Biotechnology transforms genes, and transnationals manufacture
and use their products; they maximize their profits by resorting
to publicity, with no guarantees for those who consume such products
and depriving those who need them the most from having access
to them. Among those products, there are the very new nano-technological
molecules –the term is relatively
new-- which are disorderly making their way using the same mechanisms.
6. The need to have rational family and society growth plans, away from hegemonic
desires or power lust.
7. The almost total absence of education in topics which are decisive for life,
even in nations with the highest educational levels.
8. The real dangers posed by mass destruction weapons in the hands of irresponsible
people, which were described by The New York Times, one of the most influential
newspapers in the United States, as horrifying dangers.
Is there any remedy for these dangers? Yes: knowing them and confronting them.
How? These would be purely theoretical answers. Let readers to find those by
themselves, specially the youngest boys and girls, as it is usually said now,
in order not to appear as discriminating against women. Do not hope to become
first a Head of State.
Did or didn’t have I several topics to talk about with
Lula? It was impossible to talk to him about everything. This
way it is easier to discuss the news that arrived after his visit.
I reminded him that I was trying to recover from two accidents: the one in Villa
Clara and the illness that came about after my last trip to Argentina.
Almost at the end of his visit he told me: “You are invited to go to Brazil
this year”. Thanks, I answered, at least in my thoughts
I will be there.
Finally he told me: I will tell your comrades and friends in Brazil that you
are very well.
We walked together to the exit. The meeting was really worthwhile.
Fidel Castro Ruz
January 31, 2008
6:32 p.m. |
