The Guardian 10 August, 2005
Cuba: Just and profound revolution
The Bolivarian Revolution came just at the right time to contribute to the second and
definitive independence of Latin America, just as Simón Bolívar dreamed, said Cuban
president Fidel Castro. The Cuban leader was presiding over the graduation ceremony for
the 46th class of Venezuela's "Libertador Simón Bolívar" Advanced Army School, whose
members, on a command and general staff course, elected him as their patron.
The official ceremony took place at the Cuban Council of State, located at the Palace of the
Revolution in Havana, where Fidel handed their diplomas to each one of the 74
graduates.
He said that the presence of the officers from that South American nation is proof that "in your
homeland and ours, in that of all Latin Americans, the most necessary, profound and just revolution
is occurring."
He described the decision to hold that graduation for the Venezuelan Army's academic institution
as "spontaneous" and "unexpected," and something that would have been unimaginable some
years ago, and he accepted it in the name of the Cuban people.
He noted that those who do not understand the phenomenon taking place in Bolívar's homeland
and other Latin American countries are resorting to slander and lies.
Fidel warned that the enemies would not have to worry, because "we are not subverting order, as
they are accusing President Chávez and me of doing. It is others who, over the years have worked
to maintain an unsustainable order."
He noted that change becomes inevitable because of the objective conditions imposed on the
peoples, whose consciousness is growing. "We hope that such change happens in the most
peaceful manner possible, because none of us wants war", he emphasised.
The Cuban president predicted that what is happening today in Venezuela will not only have
repercussions in Latin America, but also in the United States itself, that same people that mobilised
against the war in Vietnam and supported the return of the Cuban child Elián González to his
homeland.
By decision of the Cuban Council of State, the Venezuelan graduates, led by Brigadier General
Carlos Antonio Centeno Mena, director of the Army's Academy, were decorated with the
Combative Fraternity medal.
The Cuban president, in turn, received both command staffs used by the generals of that country,
as well as a replica of a Venezuelan Navy submarine.
Granma