Blimey! What clever helpful people read this site. A HUGE thanks to Socialist Appeal supporter Jorge who translated and transcribed Celia’s interview into English.

Thanks also to Dave Riley for explaining how to embed the climate change presentation.

CH I am going to Caracas on an invitation by the Ministry of [Peoples’ Power] for Labour and Social Security to conmemorate the anniversary of the assassination of revolutionary Leon Trotsky.

 

LM Who has organised this, the government or Trotskyist organisations?

 

CH No, this has been organised by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, and several comrades are going to participate, amongst them, fortunately, Leon Trotsky’s grandson, Estaban Volkov; also a very old Cuban Trotskyist, Ydalberto Ferrera, 90 years old, who has had a consistent attitude towards the Cuban revolution and the ideas of Leon Trotsky, and he is going with me, together with Esteban Volkov, Ricardo Napuri and other comrades.

 

LM What has been the impact of the Venezuelan revolution on Cuba?

 

CH It has been the most important thing in the world, I think that the Bolivarian revolution has proven the most important ideas of the permanent revolution, I think we are in the century of the permanent revolution. And I think, in a symbolic way, that the Cuban revolution lives in the streets of Caracas.

 

LM Some comrades say that the democracy that one sees in the Venezuelan revolution is having an impact in the Cuban revolution, would you say that is true?

 

CH This is true, because there are many Cubans who travel to Venezuela, as doctors or teachers, and therefore the forms in which Venezuela carries out her revolution have an impact in Cuba.

 

LM Is this having any practical effects? Do people arrive at a meeting and say “we need to be more democratic”?

 

CH My problem with you and in general with the Trotskyists is about what is democracy, the concept of democracy. As a Trotskyist myself, what is democracy? I think that in Venezuela there are more sections participating in the process. It is a young revolution in relation to ours, which is now 50 years old, and this means that without the pressures of Stalinism and the Soviet Union, it is working well. The question as always, and as Trotsky pointed out, lies in the revolutionary leadership. Sometimes we are not able to understand the historic process we are living through.

I think that in relation to Venezuela and Cuba there is something I must say before the end of the interview: a lot of Latin Americans, Cubans and Venezuelans, think that there is only revolution on our side, but I think that without the collaboration of left-wing forces, the organisation of left-wing forces in Europe and Latin America, we will not be able to succeed. For the first time there is a genuine globalisation of the world from the point of view of the left-wing forces. For this we need an organisation, so that the vanguard participates in the processes that are taking place.

 

LM We were here 4 years ago, my impression is that it is slightly more prosperous

CH This is true, a few years ago we had to face the collapse of the socialist block, and now the economy has started to recover, last year the Cuban economy grew by 12%, but, what we must avoid is that this economic growth is of the same type as the Peoples’ Republic of China. Economists will forgive me but we do not need to grow that fast, there are other priorities.

 

LM As a tourist in Cuba there are two economies, one for Cubans who work in the tourist industry and another for those who don’t.

 

CH All means of production belong to the state. What is true is that tourism, by being the one sector which brings more income, has become much more important from a purely economic point of view than other sectors of the economy (like education, teaching, etc). This is a contradiction.

 

LM You were talking about Fidel’s role in changing the education system in a very positive way. What do people feel happens after Fidel dies?

 

CH I do not know what people will feel. Honestly there is something much more important than even Fidel and my sons, and that is the revolution. When Fidel became ill, to us revolutionaries we saw it as he had fallen in combat, because there are still so many things to do. Like Lenin/s last fight, Fidel needs to wage his last fight, and Fidel’s last fight will be linked with Leon Trotsky.

 

LM Why?

 

CH Because is the only left that is left. It is the only real point of reference of Bolshevism. This is what Che Guevara fought until his death. Because Fidel Castro is like Lenin was, but the difference is that Fidel has been in power for 50 years, and we do not have a Trotsky. Our Trotsky was killed in Bolivia.

 

LM It seems Fidel has decided to wage his last battle on ecology and bio fuels. We republished an article of his in the last issue of SR.

 

CH He knows the importance of not turning food, grains, maize, and soya, into fuel. This is related to the survival of humankind. He has even questioned his alliance with Lula in Brazil regarding bio-fuels.

 

LM Your big nightmare is that China is the example that Cuba follows.

 

CH It is a nightmare. I am a physicist and I think it is one of the possible outcomes to the problem of Cuba. This is why I am terrified. I think that the other outcome is to proof, together with all left-wing forces in the world, that there is another way forward. We must give more emphasis to the role being played by revolutionary events in Latin America. We must remember what Che said, that there could only be revolution in Cuba if there was revolution in the world.