THANK YOU FÜHRER


We really have reasons to be happy. Yesterday, May 20, 2003 as they
commemorated the 101st anniversary of that sad and shameful day on
which, after the destruction of José Martí's party and the disarming of
the Liberation Army, they awarded us the caricature of a republic with
the Platt Amendment and the U.S. right to intervention, we received a
very sweet, moving message from Mr. Bush which literally read:

"Today, Cubans around the world celebrate May 20th, Cuban Independence
Day. On behalf of the people of the United States, I send greetings to
the Cuban community. My hope is for the Cuban people to soon enjoy the
same freedoms and rights that we do. Dictatorships have no place in the
Americas. May God bless the Cuban people, who are struggling for
freedom. Thank you".

Of course, it had to be yesterday that the subversive, perfidious radio
station, to which they have offensively given the name of Jos-é Martí,
went on air with four new frequencies and, under the tolerant eye of
U.S. authorities, a notorious Miami terrorist flew off the 12 mile
limit along the sea corridor between Boca de Jaruco and Matanzas,
testing TV broadcasts to Cuba in shameless violation of the existing
international regulations on such matters. Of course, an individual
such as he and others who are in the service of the U.S. government
will never do time in the outrageous cages where citizens from dozens
of countries are locked up, with no regard for law or custom, in the
Cuban territory of Guantánamo, forcibly occupied by the United States.

In addition to the above, and as a special surprise from the Bush
administration, closely guarded as a great war secret, the TV signal
went on air from six to eight in the evening over channels and systems
used by Cuba in several provinces for educational, news or recreational
programming.

In fact, those broadcasts were no technical feat to be proud of as very
few people heard their noises.

The U.S. government should not forget that Cuban radio could be heard
on medium wave in many U.S. states.

Is this by any chance another blatant and rude provocation against
Cuba?

On the other hand, an AFP wire datelined Washington yesterday said that
"George W. Bush's government had not yet completed its ongoing review
of its Cuba policy to respond to the recent repression of dissidence,
Republican congresspersons Lincoln and Mario D-iaz Balart and Ileana
Ros Lehtinen announced Tuesday."

As we all remember, they were the same who along with the U.S.
ambassador to the Dominican Republic, intimate friends of the brilliant
Mr. Bush and of "Baby" Jeb of the same last name and the governor of
Florida, recently said that after Iraq, Cuba would be next.

Our fellow Cubans can appreciate just how extraordinarily honest and
merciful was the U.S. government's message to the Cuban people, how
incredibly patriotic are those they call "dissidents" who, up to their
necks in the empire's dollars, struggle for Cuba's freedom and
independence.

The big bad wolves disguised as grannies are not fooling anybody nor
will they be able to. If Mr. Bush does not know, yet, what measures to
take, the Cuban people have absolutely no doubts about their duty. Such
sugary and cynical maneuvers will not persuade anybody that Cuba is not
in danger.

Nor have those who gobble up Little Red Riding Hoods abandoned the idea
of keeping the Damocles sword of economic measures and others of a
similar punitive nature against the Revolution hanging over our heads.
All measures announced or foreseen as possible options to tighten the
blockade and strangle our economy have been analyzed. None of them will
have the success they expect.

We simply do not believe them when now, trying to make amends for their
stupid threats, they allege that all options other than an invasion are
being considered. They said the same thing after the mercenary invasion
by the Bay of Pigs and before the 1962 October Crisis, while as of
March 1962 they already had drawn up and approved more than 15 pretexts
(to invade) that seemed the output of a veritable Olympiad of cynicism,
vileness and infamy.

Nor do we believe them when they say they are worried about possible
massive exodus, something they in fact are trying to provoke.

Their economic blockade, their efforts to create additional
difficulties of that nature, their murderous Cuban Adjustment Act and
their shameful threats to do the same thing in Cuba as they did in Iraq
only serve to increase the number of potential emigrants in Cuba. The
aim of such provocations, as we know only too well from both private
and public statements by major ringleaders of the Miami terrorist Mob
and the extreme right, is to cause incidents that could be used as
pretexts for an attack against our people.

Of the select group of 11 who were invited to celebrate the ill-fated
and shameful date of May 20 at the White House, three are well-known
terrorists:

1. Eusebio de Jesús Peñalver Mazorra. U.S. authorities in California
arrested him on December 12, 1995 -in Clinton's days-when he was
involved in preparations for an armed raid against Cuba and a cachet of
weapons in his possession was seized. He is linked to terrorist Luis
Posada Carriles who is in jail in Panama for his plan to explode 48
kilograms of dynamite in a students meeting which the President of the
Cuban Council of State was scheduled to attend.

2. Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez. In 1999, he was involved in a plan to
assassinate President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez. He traveled to
Venezuela during the 7th Ibero-American Summit on Margarita Island to
try and carry out actions against the Cuban delegation. On the same
occasion, close to Puerto Rico, the U.S. Coastguard seized a boat
headed for Margarita Island carrying two .50 caliber rifles with
telescopic sights, which were to be used to assassinate the head of the
delegation, Comrade Fidel. Leaders of the Cuban-American National
Foundation were the owners of both the rifles and the boat. *Despite
this being a proven fact, those involved were acquitted thanks to the
leverage of and pressure from the Miami terrorist Mob.

3. Ángel Francisco D'fana Serrano. A counterrevolutionary, who served a
prison sentence in Cuba for his direct participation in terrorist
actions.

Although these men spoke very confidentially with Mr. Bush, you can be
sure that, given the composition of the group, he did not tell them
anything about his intimate plans and his commitment to get rid of the
Cuban head of state, which he made with the leaders of the Cuban-
American Mob that so diligently and through fraud raised him to the
presidency of the United States.

However, they should be in no hurry to believe that the dangers lying
in wait and their sinister plans could keep the Cuban people and their
leaders sleepless. Cuba's fundamental concern does not stem from
problems associated with its own security. At the Bay of Pigs, during
the 1962 October Crisis, when the European socialist camp and the USSR
itself were falling to pieces and in the last 20 months since the
atrocious attack on the American people in New York -which was turned
into a source of hysteria, a pretext to threaten 60 or more nations
with pre-emptive attacks and to strike remote and dark corners of the
world with weapons of mass destruction, as sworn before a God who,
according to the creator of this fundamentalist fantasy is not neutral-
the world has been witness to the dignity and bravery of the Cuban
people; a truly heroic people that, when many cowardly, mediocre and
ignorant politicians were incapable of seeing that the terrifying
reality of a Nazi-fascist tyranny was haunting the world, did not
hesitate to denounce it. Those governments or individuals that keep a
disgraceful silence in the face of such events fail to have the
slightest moral authority to criticize a country like Cuba, which
defends its most sacred rights. History will bury them along with their
cowardice, their complicity and their lies!

The pictures of millions of men and women demanding their independence,
freedom, respect for their religious and ethical values and the return
of their resources conquered by force in a country invaded without any
legal or moral justification, should be reasons enough to make sane
political leaders come to their senses. Such problems will never be
solved with bombing and missiles, tanks and guns, nuclear, biological
or chemical weapons.

Mr. Bush, the man behind the bombings of cities that when shown on
television moved and shocked the world, leaving traces indelibly etched
on the lives of millions of children, mothers and elders who suffered
those attacks worthy of Dante's inferno, promises that Cubans will soon
be free and says that "dictatorships have no place in the Americas."
This, fortunately, is absolutely true.

The American people will grow tired of his ridiculous ideas and his
bigotry, which can lead, among other things, to economic and ecological
catastrophes. Latin America and the Caribbean will never tolerate his
plundering FTAA, which he wants to use to snatch their sovereignty and
their resources away from them, and much less will they resign
themselves to his Nazi-fascist world tyranny.

Mr. Bush: we extend our deepest gratitude to you for your amazing
kindness and your infinite generosity to Cubans on this May 20, 2003.
You will see the deep emotion and affection we shall display to welcome
you to the land of Martí and Maceo, of Camilo and Che!

Editorial published in the newspaper Granma on May 21, 2003