Louis Farrakhan: The United States should lift the blockade
by Nidia Diaz
The leader of the Nation of Islam, an African-American religious/socio-political organization, visits the island • In order for there to be no repeat of New Orleans, delegation came to learn from Cuba’s experience in natural disaster prevention
The demand for the U.S. government to “lift the blockade and provide justice for the Five” Cuban anti-terrorist fighters held in U.S. prisons was made public by African-American religious leader Louis Farrakhan during a press conference in Havana, right before ending his visit to Cuba.
The top leader of the Nation of Islam, a religious/socio-political organization, explained to Cuban and foreign reporters at the International Press Center on March 27 that after the devastating Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, they wanted to visit the island due to its experiences accumulated over the last 47 years in successfully confronting the devastating consequences of those natural phenomena.
He recalled the sadness that he felt in learning that the Bush government had rejected the selfless aid offered by the Cuban government at the time, consisting of sending 1,100 doctors to New Orleans to help the victims in situ.
“We do not want bear witness again to what we saw in New Orleans. People did not know what to do, where to turn and the government failed them.” That is why they were in Cuba, he said, to learn from the Cuban experience and to return and meet with mayors and the community and make an assessment, draw up a prevention plan and prepare people so that the same thing does not happen again when devastating hurricanes strike.
According to Farrakhan and the delegation accompanying him, it was an encouraging lesson to see how in Cuba, the situation of each citizen is known, house by house, block by block, and how everybody knows where to go when the time comes. All of that, he added, has enabled Cuba to prevent the loss of human lives and decrease preventable material losses.
He added that he was impressed that the Cuban people, who in spite of living with many deprivations because of the policy of blockade imposed by the U.S. government, have a “level of humanity that makes it immensely rich.”
By visiting Cuba, he said, he was able to learn about the Revolution’s original ideas, which are much more humanistic that those of all the religions he knows about. “All religions can learn from the experience of Cuba,” where the government guarantees health and education free of charge to all of its citizens, while in his country, any medical student finishes his studies with a debt of no less than 100,000 or $150,000.
In that sense, he noted that the Cuban Revolution offered 500 scholarships to young people from the United States to study medicine free of charge, the only requirement being that when they finish, they go back to their communities to help their people.
Farrakhan said that in his country, with all of its enormous power, there are 30 million functional illiterates, 40 million people who do not have medical insurance and millions who live below the poverty line.
He reaffirmed his commitment to telling the truth about Cuba to the U.S. people, about how the Cuban people prepare for natural contingencies; about the miracle of Operation Miracle; about the training of young people who were on the streets and are now social workers. The U.S. people, he said, would be better if they were more informed.
“If we are not too proud and arrogant in the United States,” there is a lot to be learned from Cuba.
In response to a foreign reporter’s question, he noted that the U.S. government loves to get involved in the internal affairs of other countries. “We are always concerned about creating problems for governments who do not like our policies, who do not like the interests of transnational corporations, of the bankers.”
Thus, he said, “it is not hard for me to realize that our government in very busy in the case of Cuba to create problems for the Cuban Revolution,” by paying its agents on the island.
Further on, he condemned Washington’s policy of “sucking the blood of the peoples without sharing its riches and its advances with the poor and weak of the Earth.”
In that sense, he noted that he who lives by the sword will die by the sword, and thus the entire world is rising up against the U.S. government.
The Nation of Islam delegation, which visited Cuban at the invitation of the National Assembly of People’s Power, met with high-ranking government officials and toured place of economic, social and cultural interest.
The leader of the Nation of Islam, an African-American religious/socio-political organization, visits the island • In order for there to be no repeat of New Orleans, delegation came to learn from Cuba’s experience in natural disaster prevention
The demand for the U.S. government to “lift the blockade and provide justice for the Five” Cuban anti-terrorist fighters held in U.S. prisons was made public by African-American religious leader Louis Farrakhan during a press conference in Havana, right before ending his visit to Cuba.
The top leader of the Nation of Islam, a religious/socio-political organization, explained to Cuban and foreign reporters at the International Press Center on March 27 that after the devastating Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, they wanted to visit the island due to its experiences accumulated over the last 47 years in successfully confronting the devastating consequences of those natural phenomena.
He recalled the sadness that he felt in learning that the Bush government had rejected the selfless aid offered by the Cuban government at the time, consisting of sending 1,100 doctors to New Orleans to help the victims in situ.
“We do not want bear witness again to what we saw in New Orleans. People did not know what to do, where to turn and the government failed them.” That is why they were in Cuba, he said, to learn from the Cuban experience and to return and meet with mayors and the community and make an assessment, draw up a prevention plan and prepare people so that the same thing does not happen again when devastating hurricanes strike.
According to Farrakhan and the delegation accompanying him, it was an encouraging lesson to see how in Cuba, the situation of each citizen is known, house by house, block by block, and how everybody knows where to go when the time comes. All of that, he added, has enabled Cuba to prevent the loss of human lives and decrease preventable material losses.
He added that he was impressed that the Cuban people, who in spite of living with many deprivations because of the policy of blockade imposed by the U.S. government, have a “level of humanity that makes it immensely rich.”
By visiting Cuba, he said, he was able to learn about the Revolution’s original ideas, which are much more humanistic that those of all the religions he knows about. “All religions can learn from the experience of Cuba,” where the government guarantees health and education free of charge to all of its citizens, while in his country, any medical student finishes his studies with a debt of no less than 100,000 or $150,000.
In that sense, he noted that the Cuban Revolution offered 500 scholarships to young people from the United States to study medicine free of charge, the only requirement being that when they finish, they go back to their communities to help their people.
Farrakhan said that in his country, with all of its enormous power, there are 30 million functional illiterates, 40 million people who do not have medical insurance and millions who live below the poverty line.
He reaffirmed his commitment to telling the truth about Cuba to the U.S. people, about how the Cuban people prepare for natural contingencies; about the miracle of Operation Miracle; about the training of young people who were on the streets and are now social workers. The U.S. people, he said, would be better if they were more informed.
“If we are not too proud and arrogant in the United States,” there is a lot to be learned from Cuba.
In response to a foreign reporter’s question, he noted that the U.S. government loves to get involved in the internal affairs of other countries. “We are always concerned about creating problems for governments who do not like our policies, who do not like the interests of transnational corporations, of the bankers.”
Thus, he said, “it is not hard for me to realize that our government in very busy in the case of Cuba to create problems for the Cuban Revolution,” by paying its agents on the island.
Further on, he condemned Washington’s policy of “sucking the blood of the peoples without sharing its riches and its advances with the poor and weak of the Earth.”
In that sense, he noted that he who lives by the sword will die by the sword, and thus the entire world is rising up against the U.S. government.
The Nation of Islam delegation, which visited Cuban at the invitation of the National Assembly of People’s Power, met with high-ranking government officials and toured place of economic, social and cultural interest.
posted by Alice at
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
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