Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

Text of Fidel Castro's online essay

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-23 11:15

Reflections of Comrade Fidel: The Eleventh President of the United States

Last Tuesday, the 20th of January of 2009, Barack Obama assumed the leadership of the empire as the 11th president of the United States since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in January of 1959.

No one can doubt the sincerity of his words when he affirms that he will convert his country into a model of freedom, respect for human rights in the world and the independence of other nations. This, of course, offends hardly anyone except for the misanthropes in the corners of the planet. He already conveniently said that the jail and the tortures at the illegal base at Guantanamo cease immediately, which begins to sow doubts among those who worship terror as an unrenounceable instrument of their country's foreign policy.

The intelligent and noble face of the first black president of the United States since its founding two and one-third centuries ago as an independent republic had transformed itself under the inspiration of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King into a living symbol of the American dream.

However, despite all of the tests passed, Obama has not passed the biggest one of all: What will he do soon, when the immense power that he has taken in his hands is absolutely useless to overcome the unsolvable, antagonistic contradictions of the system?

I have reduced the Reflections as I had planned this year, so as not to interfere or get in the way of the Party or government comrades in the constant decisions they must make, facing difficult objectives caused by the global economic crisis. I am well, but I insist that none of them should feel bound by my occasional Reflections, my state of health or my death.

I read over the speeches and materials I have put together over more than half a century.

I have had the rare privilege to observe events over such a long time. I receive information and meditate calmly about those events. I expect I won't enjoy that privilege in four years, when Obama's first presidential term has ended.

Fidel Castro Ruz

Jan. 22, 2009

6:30 p.m.