SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit Press Release: 04/06/05
Kane in Cuba invites Castro to G8 Counter Summit
Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane yesterday raised a rallying call for all those in the world opposed to the terrorism of the US state to descend on Scotland for the G8 summit at Gleneagles, specifically inviting Fidel Castro to join G8 Alternatives Counter Summit in Edinburgh on Sunday 3rd July.
Rosie was speaking at the International Meeting against Terrorism , for Truth and Justice, at the International Conference Centre in the Cuban capital Havana Rosie is the only UK participant in a gathering of more than 300 Cuban and international delegates.
Rosie spoke with Cuban President Fidel Castro in the chair immediately after the former President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega had addressed the conference.
The three day event includes contributions from intellectuals, artists, union leaders, social activists, parliamentarians and politicians from various regions of the world. The gathering in Cuba has been organised to highlight the United States ongoing involvement in terrorist atrocities across the world from the death squads of Argentina and Chile in the 1970's to current plans to assassinate President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
Speaking by phone from Cuba on Saturday evening Rosie said; "I invited Fidel Castro to attend our G8 Alternative summit in Edinburgh and the demonstration at Gleneagles because it will be the first time in decades that he will have the opportunity to be within 5 miles of a US President.
"I believe President Castro has an important message for the people of Scotland and the wider world, a message of peace and co-operation between the peoples of the planet.
"President Bush and the other leaders of the G8 have plunged the world into a nightmare in which vast amounts of money are used to create death and destruction.
"Although a tiny country, Cuba is playing a vital role in Latin America training doctors and medical staff and they have offered to instigate a literacy programme for the Dominican Republic.
"In my remaining time in Cuba I will be visiting hospitals and schools and speaking to Cubans about how their country has successfully defied the might of the United States since that historic day in 1959 when the revolution triumphed."
Sunday Mail June 5, 2005, Sunday
KANE IN CUBA: I'VE ASKED FIDEL TO BE MY GUEST; WORLD WILL HEAR TRUTH ABOUT US 'WAR ON TERROR'
Rosie Kane
HERE I am, all the way from Govanhill, Glasgow, to Havana, Cuba, on my own. I've crossed a timeline for the first time and met a man who is truly awe -inspiring, Fidel Castro. For 50 years, the US have wanted him dead. But when I joined 600 other delegates to see him address a conference against terrorism, there were no burly security guards.
Wherever George W Bush goes, there are five-mile exclusion zones and sea-to -air missiles at the ready. But, in Havana, I didn't even have my handbag searched when I went to listen to Fidel He opened his heart to tell the American people that they should be his biggest allies but they were being kept in the dark about the truth.
Despite being 78, Fidel was razor sharp, talking with raw emotion. I have always believed him to be a hero and when I saw what he and his government have achieved under such adversity, he's even more so. He has been accused by America of being a dictator. But what I saw was exactly the opposite.
Cuba is a country that doesn't know the meaning of the word poverty and I had to explain to them our Make Poverty History campaign. You seein Cuba, everyone is born equal. They can vote and stand for election at 16. And they have elections every two and a half years. Hardly a dictatorship, really. And the make-do-and-mend spirit they have due to the US sanctions imposed on them has made Cuba a first- class example of recycling.
There's hardly a new car in sight. Instead, roads are filled with 1950s vehicles we would stop and stare at in admiration if we saw them in Argyle Street today. And the lack of advertising means young people are not obsessed with McDonald's or designer trainers, all the daft things of our Western world.
Cuba is training 70 US students to be doctors - free of charge. And while I was there, Fidel Castro offered to instigate a literacy programme for the Dominican Republic. He's an impetuous man who examines problems, then gets down to it. That's why I've invited him to Scotland to address the G8 Alternative. I'm hoping he will accept my invitation, not least because it will be the first time in decades that he will be within five miles of a US president.
I believe he will have important things to tell us and it will be an unique opportunity to see just who is the real dictator, who is brutally honest - and who is just brutal. I know who my money is on. When I get home, I'll be letting everyone know Cuba is asking for Bush to keep his word about not sheltering terrorists. If Bush is true to his word, he should be doing all he can to ensure Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, who openly admit their part in the 1976 plane bombing that killed 73 Cubans, are brought to justice.
If he does not, he must stand down from his so-called war on terror. He can't pick his terrorists. The US government last month rejected Venezuela's request for the provisional arrest of Carriles, a first step that could lead to his extradition, on grounds of insufficient information And, with US help, Bosch escaped imprisonment in Venezuela, entered the US, where he was granted asylum and pardoned by President George Bush on July 18, 1990.
I watched astonished as these men admitted on TV they were responsible for the deaths of so many Cubans - yet they remain free. Are their crimes any less than those of September 11 or different from Bin Laden boasting about the destruction of the Twin Towers? If Fidel accepts my invitation, the world will hear the truth of what has been done to his people
