RICARDO Alarcón de Quesada, president of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power since 1993, laughs when he recalls the afternoon when they announced to the world Fidel Castro’s illness and hospitalization. "Now he’s quite well; that’s the truth," he says.

"That afternoon I talked with Fidel, and we had a good laugh over what was going to happen after the announcement. We were right about what happened afterward: it was in all the headlines, and produced all kinds of speculation. On the one hand, that is also an acknowledgment of Fidel’s person; not even his enemies can ignore him. But there was also a lot of distortion and quite a bit of foolishness. According to the media, it was as if the country was at the brink of a social and political disaster. And it was the calmest place on Earth."

Alarcón arrived last Monday in Oviedo (Spain) to participate in the 2nd International Seminar "Humanity Against Imperialism: Ideas for the 21st Century," which is taking place at the Teatro Filarmónica.

This is your first visit to Oviedo. What brings you here?

"This type of meeting is important. In the first place, because of the human contact, which can’t be replaced by Internet or cell phones. But in the second place, the discussion of ideas is very important, debate to try to define common paths. It’s a mistake to think that what can be achieved on the theoretical level has no practical effectiveness. The world is changing, and to a good extent, that change is provided by theory. And there are many examples of that."

Like the Cuban regime, which has survived many changes, right?

"It’s true, the Cuban Revolution is from the Cold War period. It went through peaceful coexistence, and made it to the failure of so-called real socialism. We have been in a unipolar world for more than 15 years, and we are witnessing the collapse of that world as well. When I was a student, it seemed like history had longer periods; there were wars of 100 years, and now times are shorter, and we are going to see many more changes."

But Cuba is still in the middle of the international sight?

The media depends, to a great extent, on news agencies, and in that aspect there has been a lot of manipulation regarding Cuba. There are many clouds, deliberately placed, between the individual and reality. Noam Chomsky has a very good quote for this, which defines society in the United States. "It is a historic series of buildings of lies, placed one on top of the other." Imagine the poor human being below that skyscraper of lies. And the journalists, too, are underneath it. How can you wrestle with the real world if it is so difficult to get to? People can sense it somehow, and it takes away credibility from the media. But now there are real alternatives.

Which?

"Twenty years ago, it was necessary to wait for a ship to come from Asia with a letter from Indonesia. Now, getting more information about a story in the newspapers is just a matter of minutes. We call Jakarta and that’s it. That’s what happened on March 11 – people mobilized by cell phone."

Can it be made politically profitable?

"Maybe, but more than the political use of technology, I’m interested in the possibility of communicating with you in real time."

The other face of currency is lack of commitment.

"In some places, people are stranded, obsessed with consumerism and individual material gain. But in Latin America, society is very lively; suffice it to think about Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Brazil... there, you can see turmoil. You can’t talk about the planet as a whole, or see the world from the standpoint of Europe. In reality, Europe should be prepared for a second discovery of America, to meet it again."

Is Hugo Chávez the head of that Latin America?

"Today, Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution are a key part of that process, but I don’t think that he would agree with calling himself "the head." We should not forget the first indigenous government, that of Evo Morales. He was in Oviedo two years ago, they told me, and few then imagined that he would be the president of his country."

Is there a way to fit together all national interests on a world scale?

"George Bush thought that he could fit them together. Just look at how the world has changed in the 10 years since they forced Nixon to resign for lying; they judged Bill Clinton politically for lying with respect to Monica Lewinsky; and with George Bush, we know that he deliberately lied when he said that there were weapons of mass destruction, and nothing is happening."

What worries him is Islamic terrorism.

"I don’t like to give surnames to terrorism. Should we call anti-Cuban terrorists Christian terrorists because they’re Catholic? It would be insulting to Christians. Terrorism is an aberration that must be eliminated, but with an informed attitude, not with hypocrisy."

What is your position on the nuclearization of Korea?

"We’re concerned about the situation. To proliferate – luckily, we speak the same language – means that something is extended. The only way to put an end to this is generalized nuclear disarmament."

politics