Writings of Fidel Castro

Writings of Fidel Castro
(Coordinator Comment)

In his address to the Rio Summit Fidel Castro showed that he fully understood the revolutionary significance of the ecology movement: "The forests are disappearing. The deserts are expanding. Every year thousands of millions of tons of fertile soil end up in the sea. Numerous species are becoming extinct. Population pressures and poverty trigger frenzied efforts to survive even when it is at the expense of the environment. It is not possible to blame the Third World countries for this ... Unequal terms of trade, protectionism, and the foreign debt assault the ecology and promote the destruction of the environment. If we want to save mankind from this self-destruction, we have to better distribute the wealth and technologies available in the world."

For Fidel and the Cuban people, the ecological movement has become both theory and practice. In a speech to the Cuban Committees for the Defense of the Revolution in 2002, "society's needs can be met, said the Cuban President, without destroying nature and basic human values. Cuba has proved this, he added. The island does not allow its environment to be destroyed for commercial or consumption purposes ... The answer is to train professionals to meet the challenge, said Fidel Castro, as well as raise mass consciousness."

Recent information on the Internet confirms that Cuba is taking ecology seriously in practice.

While it is true that there are some similar programs of environmental preservation within Northern capitalist countries, this concern for the environment does not hold up for them when it comes to the actions of their multinational corporations in Third-World countries, where the land and resources are pillaged without restraint (in the same fashion as the rights of workers are trampled on). In addition, as Fidel has stated, Third-World countries are forced to destroy their own environments under the pressure of "unequal terms of trade, protectionism, and the foreign debt" which are imposed by the North.

Despite the American embargo and the economic hardships shared with other Third-World nations, Cuba continues to play a leading role in promoting sustainable development which is a key component of the culture of peace.