On Fidel’s 95th birthday, the foreign minister stressed the importance of preserving his arsenal of ideas and concrete contributions in the face of the fight that is being waged in the political communication field.

Fidel Castro saw the development potential for society provided by the Internet and understood this meant ‘the transformation of the military industrial complex into a military cultural complex,’ he said.

In this regard, he focused the defense of the country on the information front with an original program to face culture from an emancipating viewpoint, which he called the Battle of Ideas.

Rodriguez also mentioned that some of the achievements of the historic leader are the universalization of access to telecommunications and Internet, the boost of Joven Club de Computación (Youth Computing Clubs), the creation of the Infomed network, Universidad para Todos (University for All), the universalization of computer science education and other social programs.

He also recalled that, under these same conceptions, Fidel Castro later shared with former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez the ideas for the creation of the powerful Telesur channel.

The foreign minister said that the use of lies, misinofrmation, the hyperbole of our problems, toxicity and hatred is trying to annihiliate the social consensus, but these are intentions that crash into the patriotic and socialist conviction of the Cuban youth.

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