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Cuban President Fidel Castro said that US statesman George W. Bush aims to con Pope Benedict XVI, by reflecting on a recent declaration made by the White House chief.

Fidel Castro cited words by the US president, who stated that he would go to the Vatican “with a very open mind and really to listen to the Pope” and assured that they shares a common respect for human life, human dignity and freedom.

Bush would now like to con Pope Benedict XVI. The war in Iraq doesn’t exit, it doesn’t cost a cent, not one drop of blood has been spilled, nor have hundreds of thousands of innocent people died as part of a shameless bartering of lives for oil, gas, imposed by force of arms on the peoples of the Third World.,” expressed the Cuban leader.

Due to its importance, Prensa Latina integrally reproduces reflections by the Cuban president:

REFLECTIONS BY THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF:

BUSH’S LIES AND CONS

I don’t like the idea of seeming to be a vengeful person, someone wishful to relentlessly pursue an adversary. I had promised myself to wait a bit and see how the contradictions between Bush and his European allies would unfold on the vital subject of climate change. But George W. Bush went too far when he made a declaration that we read in an AP piece last Friday. The President of the United States stated that he would go to the Vatican “with a very open mind and…ready to listen” to the Pope, and he assured that they share a “common respect for human life and human dignity” and freedom.

“History has demonstrated that democracies don’t go to war with each other and therefore the best way to reinforce peace is to promote freedom,” he added.

“This will be the American leader’s first visit to Pope Benedict XVI. His last trip to Italy was in April 2005 for the funeral of Pope John Paul II”, the agency reported.

In one of my reflections I said that I wouldn’t be the first or the last person that Bush would order or authorize his agents to remove. Having seen his unusual declaration, I think that if Bush had ever read any history book, he would be aware that there, in Rome itself, an empire was born that nourished the vocabulary of political language for almost two thousand years; the Vatican City was also born there as time went by, after Constantine’s Edict of Milan which officially removed obstacles to the practice of Christianity at the beginning of the fourth century A.D.

Historians tell us that the Caesar Nero who ordered the capital of the empire to be set on fire was heard to exclaim in satisfaction while the tragedy was in progress: “What a great poet is perishing!”

If only the historians were right! If only Bush were a poet! If only the inhabitants of the planet were those belonging to those times! If only nuclear, chemical, biological and mass destruction weapons did not exist! Even though it was a sad occurrence, including the death of the poet, who would be alarmed by a fire consuming what today would be just a great village?

Evidently Rome is not yet included among the 60 or more dark corners of the world that the United States military must be ready to pre-emptively attack, as Bush proclaimed at West Point on June 1, 2002.

Bush would now like to con Pope Benedict XVI. The Iraq War doesn’t exist, it doesn’t cost a cent, not one drop of blood has been spilled, nor have hundreds of thousands of innocent people died as part of a shameless bartering of lives for oil and gas, imposed by force of arms on the peoples of the Third World. Nor does the danger of another war against Iran exist, including possible tactical nuclear strikes to impose the same infamous formula. We are all required to believe that Russia does not feel threatened by a possible shower of annihilating and accurate nuclear missiles giving rise to a new and ever more dangerous arms race.

Following the chronic course of his rude lies, we might well wonder: why did Bush free an infamous, self-confessed terrorist like Posada Carriles on the same day that the 45th anniversary of the imperialist defeat at the Bay of Pigs was commemorated? Worse still, would he feel even a smidgen of pain about the injustice of keeping 5 Cuban heroes prisoners, some serving two life sentences, because they were informing their country about terrorist plans? Banish the thought that Bush didn’t know who funded the countless assassination plots on Castro!

We have seen Bush making strange and disturbed grimaces while making official speeches to United States senators and representatives, boasting about the enemies he has had removed by issuing personal orders. He created official torture centers in Abu Ghraib and at the Guantánamo Naval Base; his agents, acting illegally, kidnapped people in many countries where CIA planes would secretly fly in, with or without permission from the corresponding authorities. Information would have to be extracted with well-studied physical torture methods.

How could he possibly think that Pope Benedict XVI would share values with him about respect for life, human dignity and freedom?

What does the Spanish language dictionary tell us?

Tall tale: an artfully disguised lie.

To con: to deceive, to hallucinate, taking advantage of someone’s naiveté.

I promised brief reflections and I am keeping my word.

With despicable and false accusations, five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters were taken to court a day like today but in 2001, for defending their country from terrorist actions.

With indulgence and satisfaction by anti-Cuban groups settled in Florida, the Cuban Five, as they are universally known, were condemned to long terms without witnesses or proof of the charges.

Gerardo Hernandez was sentenced to double life imprisonment plus fifteen years, Ramon Labanino condemned to life plus 18 years, Fernando Gonzalez, 19 years, Rene Gonzalez, 15 years, and Antonio Guerrero to life imprisonment plus ten years.

Hate and power of those who try to destroy the Cuban Revolution worked against those innocent men who risked their lives to provide intelligence on terrorist plans organized from the United States.

That June 8, the Cuban Five were declared guilty, even though authorities from Cuban State Security delivered a year before to the Federal Bureau of Investigation a huge volume of information and denunciations on the true perpetrators of terrorism, organized from the States.

Faced with that proof, the response was to detain Rene, Fernando, Ramon, Gerardo and Antonio on September 12, 1998, to subdue them to a tortuous and difficult process, ending in total solitary confinement.

The Cuban Five were turned into targets of a campaign that presented them as agents that threatened US security, when they actually were preventing the deaths of Cuban and even US citizens.

Cuba has begun its second national campaign against the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, the dengue transmitting agent, a defensive operation to preserve human lives.

The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, in coordination with local residents, will carry out hygienic-health tasks to avoid mosquito propagation, including the cleaning up of dumps and green areas, Granma daily reported.

These efforts guarantee the control of possible breeding grounds for the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which has caused so many problems in different countries.

The first campaign was held May 4-6.

Vietnam s National Assembly (NA) President Nguyen Phu Trong aimed Friday to expand and enhance legislative ties with Cuba, through an exchange of experiences, visits and cooperation.

Trong expressed his proposal by welcoming Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon, who started today a working and friendly visit, his first to this Indochinese country.

The Vietnamese legislative leader also suggested to share and coordinate positions, criteria and experiences in international forums, like the International Parliamentary Union congresses and other meetings.

Trong reiterated the Vietnamese government and people s support for what he called the “fair Cuban cause in defense of sovereignty, independence and the Revolution s conquests.”

Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung urged for the enforcement of recent accords with Cuba in a meeting with Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon.

The president called for the Intergovernmental Commission to enforce the accords recently signed in Havana by Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.

PetroVietnam company will develop gas and oil prospecting and production on Cuba s sea platform in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as direct rice farming, while Cuba will help Vietnam boost biotechnology.

Alarcon said he is sure that Vietnam will meet its goal to overcome underdevelopment and become a prosperous, modern and industrialized fair society by the year 2010.

Before bidding farewell, Dzung conveyed the Vietnamese people s joy that President Fidel Castro s health is improving and the warm and emotional welcome he gave Manh.