Last week the imperialists again unleashed their lies, wishfully proclaiming I was either dead or incapacitated.\u00a0 In fact, I was neither.\u00a0 I was recovering remarkably well from surgery to stop intestinal bleeding.\u00a0 The Cuban people didn\u2019t need to know whether I had cancer or diverticulosis or some other ailment.\u00a0 They only yearned for reassurance their Commander in Chief since 1959 would be back.\u00a0 Nothing has changed and nothing will.\u00a0 My brother Raul is temporarily in charge and no one is worried.\u00a0 Raul is the second most important man in Cuba and has long controlled the armed forces.\u00a0 He also understands politics and indoctrination camps and coercive education about the revolution.<\/p>\n
Viva la Revoluci\u00f3n.\u00a0 That\u2019s the ultimate point.\u00a0 The revolution must live forever.\u00a0 I now concede that I cannot, but the revolution can.\u00a0 And since I am the embodiment of the revolution, I too shall in essence endure for all time.\u00a0 That has always been my destiny.\u00a0 I am so much larger than any individual.\u00a0 No one in Cuba or anywhere else compares.\u00a0 Only I could have survived hundreds of assassination attempts and an invasion by the United States and, almost as unnerving, the demise of our great benefactor, the Soviet Union.\u00a0 Who but I could have rigorously maintained the socialist character of the state while compensating for the loss of Russian rubles by developing tourism and permitting some private businesses, which I just may not allow to survive much longer?\u00a0 Who but I could have developed Cuba into a paradise with twice as many doctors per capita as any other country in the world?\u00a0 Our infant mortality rate is very low and life expectancy quite high, as high as in the United States where the enslaved bourgeoisie pay six thousand dollars a year for health care and the poor rot from neglect. \u00a0In Cuba, health care is free.\u00a0 Who but Fidel could have created a land where every citizen can read and write?\u00a0 Who but I could have freed millions of Africans from apartheid?\u00a0 Who else could have lasted so long in power?\u00a0 You know I am the only one.<\/p>\n
Naturally, my Cuban-enemies-exiled-in-Miami celebrated my presumed demise in the most crass and public manner, waving signs and marching in streets lined by capitalist stores of exploitation.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need many stores, and the stores we have don\u2019t need many products.\u00a0 We know how to survive on less.\u00a0 We are not a greedy people.\u00a0 That is why the capitalists hate me.\u00a0 They know that under Fidel Cuba can never again be transformed into a tropical whorehouse or a region of grotesque organized crime as in the former communist states of Eastern Europe.\u00a0 The capitalists keep praying I\u2019ll disappear.\u00a0 They got excited when I fainted in the heat during a speech in 2001.\u00a0 They laughed and embraced when during another long speech, in 2004, I fell and shattered my knee in eight places and broke my arm.\u00a0 But those enemies must have shuddered when they learned I underwent reconstructive surgery without anesthesia.<\/p>\n
This time I allowed the doctors to put me under.\u00a0 I knew Raul and several others would collectively handle what I routinely do by myself.\u00a0 They\u2019ll be all right as long as there\u2019s no crisis.\u00a0 Only I can handle crises.\u00a0 Even though I turn eighty this month, I\u2019ve still got to live a long time so others can learn to take my place.\u00a0 It is very hard for Cubans to contemplate life without me.\u00a0 Those who have stayed on the island and supported the revolution, ignoring the lure of Yankee dollars, are the finest people in the world, and so many times I have rewarded them with arm-pumping sermons several hours long.\u00a0 Now my voice is weakening and not as many are paying attention.\u00a0 At least they weren\u2019t.\u00a0 But they are again.\u00a0 Everyone is thinking and talking about Fidel.\u00a0 Imagine how thrilled they\u2019ll be when I resume command.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week the imperialists again unleashed their lies, wishfully proclaiming I was either dead or incapacitated.\u00a0 In fact, I was neither.\u00a0 I was recovering remarkably well from surgery to stop intestinal bleeding.\u00a0 The Cuban people didn\u2019t need to know whether I had cancer or diverticulosis or some other ailment.\u00a0 They only yearned for reassurance their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,155],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n