Cuba, a place for human rights

I was surprised that such a long time had passed without seeing any of the libels that unfortunately The Jakarta Post seems to be inclined to publish about Cuba.

That is until the book review Castro, the evergreen dictator (the Post, May 9).

First of all, why not recognize that Fidel Castro based his struggle not just on a freedom fighter, but on the Cuban national hero Jose Marti, whose last message before dying was that whatever he had done was "... to avoid when there is still time that the United States may conquer Cuba and with that additional force spread over the rest of Latin America..." I lived in the monster and I know its entrails and my sling is that of David..."

This has always been the destiny of the Cuban patriots: To be David against the northern Goliath, and that was what has been the task of Fidel during more than 45 years

But why call him a dictator? There is not a single word that may explain that he is a dictator. A long stay in power is not synonymous to dictatorship, provided one stays in power through electoral processes that the Post intends to deny. Cubans elect their Parliament by secret ballot every five year and the Parliament elects, also by secret ballot, the Council of Ministers and its president. Therefore, Fidel is elected twice by secret ballot every five years. It is true that our democracy may be different from that of the United States, but we had that kind of democracy until 1959 and we do not want to go back to that kind of trick in which there is only the party of the rich and the party of the super-rich, fooling the will of the general population.

I believe that we have done more than any country for the human rights of the Cuban people, but it is very difficult to get the Post to publish the many articles that I have sent to the newspaper informing them of what we have done in education, health, sports, biotechnology and many other areas. Probably articles like this review are better paid, but we do not sell our truth, we just show it.

There is no personality cult in Cuba and you will not find any statue or any symbol of Fidel's cult in my country. It will be very difficult for the Americans and the press that contribute to the U.S. designs to find a statue to tumble in Cuba as they did in Iraq; they will just find a whole country supporting their leaders and Fidel in particular against any U.S. aggression.

MIGUEL RAMIREZ, Ambassador, Cuban Embassy, Jakarta