‘This century is of Latin America and Asia’

Amit Sengupta Delhi

With this new year, from 2008 to 2009, Cuba will begin celebrating 50 years of the Cuban revolution which happened in 1959 and marked a landmark of idealism across several generations of people, especially the young. Cuban Ambassador to India Miguel Angel Ramirez Ramos speaks to Hardnews about the legacy of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Maradona's relationship with Cuba and the continuing US trade 'blockade'

In this epoch of neo-liberal globalisation, with unilateral American militarism, what is the message from Cuba to the world?

The first message is resistance. We will try to struggle for social justice and equality, not only in Cuba but also in the rest of the world. This is a message of optimism that things will change for the better and we will continue the struggle.

Do you think it's going to be difficult for the developing countries in the current scenario with Soviet Russia having disintegrated and the US calling the shots in an unipolar world? Will it be difficult for Latin American countries like Venezuela and Bolivia and others?

Latin America is going through one of the most interesting periods in the history of the region in many decades. There is immense hope for a better future in that region. Most of the countries are striving to obtain a higher degree of social justice using different means relevant in the contemporary era. What they are doing need not be copied by other countries but we feel optimistic because neo-liberal globalisation is being defeated in Latin America. This may spread across the region. These countries are not depending only on America as in the past, but unitedly depending on themselves. They have just created the south bank to unite their strength and not depending on the IMF, World Bank or the US. They have created Telesur (Telesouth), a television channel for south countries against north countries. There are a lot of changes happening in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua. Even nationalist governments like Argentina and Brazil are standing up.  Despite the level of US aggression and its unipolar policies, I see hope for change in the present world.

Fidel Castro is a legend. He is not well. His writings are now being widely read. But there is his absence -from governance, politics, daily life, public realm. How is it impacting Cuba?

He is not absent. His ideas are always there. He is consulted in all major decisions the government takes. He is intellectually active, and his writings are a proof of that. In Cuba we have a very democratic system. Therefore, his not being in daily life is not having that kind of impact, because we have a system that works. His ideas and those of the group who led the revolution are clear and firm; they are the guiding points, so whether he is there or not, that will not make a major difference in the sense of what we should do. So the philosophy, ideology, ideas, willingness to make a better country will remain even when he is not there.

A better country in what sense: a socialist country which believes in equality and justice for everybody where private property is not celebrated and the poor are given their fundamental rights?