I was reading abundant materials and books to make good my promise of
continuing writing on the Reflection of April 14 about the Battle of
Girón when I had a look at the recent news that came yesterday, which
were also as abundant as they are everyday. You could pile up
mountains of news on any given week ranging from the earthquake in
Japan to the electoral victory of Ollanta Humala over Keiko, the
daughter of Alberto Fujimori, ex President of Perú.
Perú is a major exporter of silver, copper, zinc, tin and other
minerals. It has huge reserves of uranium that powerful
transnationals are hoping to exploit. Enriched uranium can be used to
produce the most terrible weapons ever known by humankind as well as
the fuel of electronuclear power stations which, despite every warning
by the ecologists, was being manufactured at an increasing pace in the
United States, Europe and Japan.
Of course, it would not be fair to blame Perú of all this. Peruvians
did not invent colonialism, capitalism or imperialism. Neither can we
blame the people of the United States, who are also victims of the
system that has begotten the craziest politicians ever known in the
planet.
On April 8 last, the masters of the world published their traditional
annual report about "human rights violations", which led to a thorough
analysis on the website 'Rebelión' by the Cuban Manuel E. Yepe, based
on a response given by the Council of State of China. The document
lists up several facts that show the disastrous situations of such
rights in the United States.
"…the United States is the country that attacks human rights the most
both inside its own territory and in the entire world. Is one of the
nations that offers less guarantees to the life, property and personal
security of its inhabitants.
"Every year one out of every five people is a victim of a crime in the
United States. No other nation on Earth has a rate that is higher.
According to official figures, persons above the age of 12 have
suffered from 4.3 million violent actions.
"Crime has surged in an alarming way in the four most important cities
of the country (Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York).
Notorious increases as compared to the previous year have also been
reported in other big cities (Saint Louis and Detroit).
"The Supreme Court has ruled that the possession of firearms for self-
defense purposes is a constitutional right that can not be ignored by
state governments. Ninety million persons -out of the 300 million
inhabitants in the country- have 200 million firearms.
"A total of 12 000 homicides caused by firearms were recorded in the
country, while 47 per cent of robberies were equally perpetrated with
the use of firearms.
"Under the "terrorist activities" section of the Patriot Act, torture
and extreme violence to obtain confessions from suspicious persons are
common practices. Unjust sentences are evidenced in the 266 persons
-17 of them are already on death row- who have been acquitted thanks
to the DNA tests.
"Washington advocates for freedom in the Internet to turn the network
of networks into an important diplomatic tool of pressure and
hegemony, but imposes strict restrictions in cyberspace within its own
territory and tries to put up a legal siege to deal with the
challenges posed by Wikileaks and its leaks.
"With a high unemployment rate, the number of US citizens living in
poverty sets new records. One out of every eight citizens resorted to
the coupons program last year.
"The number of families welcomed in homeless shelters increased by 7
per cent. Those families had to stay longer in those shelters.
Violent crimes against these homeless families are increasing nonstop.
"Racial discrimination is permeating every aspect of the social life.
Minority groups are discriminated against at their work places; they
receive a humiliating treatment and are not taken into account for
promotions, benefits or any labor selection process. One third of
blacks suffered discrimination at their work place although only 16
per cent dared to submit a complaint.
"Unemployment rate among whites is 16.2 per cent, among Hispanics and
Asians is 22 per cent and among blacks is 33 per cent. Afro-Americans
and Latin account for 41 per cent of the inmate population. The rate
of Afro-Americans serving life sentences is 11 times higher that that
of whites.
"Ninety per cent of women have suffered some type of sexual
discrimination at their work place. Twenty million women are victims
of rape. Almost 60 000 female inmates have suffered some kind of
sexual assault or violence.
One fifth of female university students are sexually assaulted and 60
per cent of rapes at the university campus occur at the ladies dorms.
"Nine out of every 10 homosexual, bisexual or transsexual students are
harassed at schools.
"The report devotes one chapter to remind us of the human rights
violations that the US government is responsible for outside its
borders. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, led by the United States,
have produced sky-rocketing figures of victims among the civil
population in these countries.
"The US anti-terrorist actions have included serious scandals of
abuses against prisoners, indefinite detentions without any indictment
or trial in detention centers like that in Guantánamo and elsewhere
in the world, which were created to interrogate the so called "high
value detainees", where the worst tortures are applied.
"The Chinese document also reminds us that the United States has
violated the Cuban people's right to exist and develop in disregard of
the world's opinion, expressed by the United Nations General Assembly
during 19 consecutive years regarding the "necessity to put an end to
the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba".
"The United States has failed to ratify several international human
rights conventions such as the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the
Child.
"The data contained in the report by the Chinese government show that
the nefarious performance of the United States in this field
disqualifies it as "judge of human rights in the world". Its 'human
rights diplomacy' is sheer double standards hypocrisy to the service
of its strategic imperialist interests. The Chinese government
advises the government of the United States to take concrete measures
to improve its own human rights situation examine and rectify its
activities in that field and stop its hegemonic actions whereby it
uses human rights to interfere in the internal affairs of other
countries."
In our view, the important thing about this analysis is that such
denunciation is contained in a document issued by the Chinese
government, a country of 1 341 million inhabitants, whose monetary
reserves amount to two trillion dollars. Without China's commercial
cooperation the empire would sink. I though it was important for our
people to know the accurate data contained in the document issued by
the Chinese Council of State.
Had Cuba said, it would not be so important. We have been denouncing
those hypocrites for more than 50 years.
Martí had said in 1895, 116 years ago: "…the road that is to be
closed, and is being closed with our blood, annexing our American
nations to be brutal and turbulent North that despises us…"
"I have lived inside the monster and I know its entrails."
Fidel Castro Ruz
April 23, 2011
7:32 p.m.
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