-DATE-
19600902
-YEAR-
1960
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON 2 SEPTEMBER 1960
-PLACE-
HAVANA
-SOURCE-
OBRA REVOLUCIONARIA
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19600906
-TEXT-
CASTRO SPEECH TO GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON
2 SEPTEMBER 1960

Source:  Obra Revolucionaria, Havana, No. 22, 6 September 1960, pp 15-39

Citizens:

It is obvious that each of your, from where you are sitting, is
completely unable to see the vast size of the crowd which has gathered this
afternoon. It is a true sea of humanity which stretches into the distance
on both sides of the Civic Plaza.

For us, the men of the revolutionary government, who have seen
many popular gatherings, this one is so huge that it impresses us deeply
and helps to show us the vast responsibility which you and we carry upon
our shoulders.

The people have gathered today to discuss important matters,
particularly those of an international nature. But why has no one remained
at home? Why has this been the largest gathering our people have held since
the triumph of the revolution? Why? Because our people know what they are
defending, our people know what battle they are waging. And as our people
know that they are waging a great struggle for their survival and triumph,
and since our people are a combative and a courageous people -- that is why
Cubans are present here.

And it is said that today, when we are going to discuss the same
questions as were discussed in Costa Rica, the 21 American foreign
ministers (shouts of "out!") are not seated here. It is very sad that they
are not present, so that they could have a chance to see the people they
condemned at the Costa Rica meeting. It is sad that they are not here, so
they could see how different the diplomatic language of the foreign
ministries and the language of the peoples are!

There, however, our foreign minister spoke on behalf of our people
(ovation). But those who heard him, the majority of those who were gathered
there, did not represent their peoples. If there, in Costa Rica, men
representing the true interests and feelings of the peoples of America,
particularly the peoples of Latin America, had gathered there, never could
a statement such as that issued against the interests of an American people
and against the interests of all the brotherly peoples of America have been
drafted (applause).

And what were they discussing there? There they were playing with
the destiny of our country, there they were white-washing the aggressions
against our country. There they were sharpening the dagger which the
criminal hand of Yankee imperialism wants to drive into the heart of the
Cuban fatherland (shouts of "Cuba, yes, Yankees, no")!

But why did they want to condemn Cuba? What has Cuba done to be
condemned? What has our people d to merit the Costa Rico Declaration? Our
people have done nothing but break their chains (applause)! Our people have
done nothing, harming no other people and taking nothing from any other
people, than to fight for a better destiny. Our people have wanted only to
be free, our people have wanted only to live from their own works, and our
people have wanted nothing but to live from the fruits of their efforts.
Our people have wanted nothing except to have what is theirs, that what is
produced from their land, that what is produced with their blood, that what
is produced with their sweat should be theirs (applause and shouts of
"certainly, Fidel, strike hard at the Yankees!").

The Cuban people have only wanted the decisions guiding their
conduct to be theirs, that the flag with the solitary star which flutters
over our fatherland should be theirs and theirs alone (applause)! They
wanted their laws to be their own, their natural wealth to be their own,
their democratic and revolutionary institutions to be their own. They
wanted their fate to be their own, a fate in which no interest, no
oligarchy and no government, however powerful it might be, would have a
right to interfere (applause).

And it must be our freedom, because it has cost us much sacrifice
to win it. Sovereignty must be ours and complete, because our people have
been fighting for sovereignty for a century. The wealth of our land and the
fruits of our labor must be ours, because our people have had to sacrifice
much for this and all that has been created has been created by the people,
and all there is here of wealth has been produced by our people, through
their sweat and their labor (applause).

Our people had a right to be a free people one day. Our people had
a right to govern their own destiny one day. Our people had a right to
expect one day to have a government which would not defend the foreign
monopolies, which would not defend the privileged interests, which would
not defend the exploiters, but which would put the interests of the people
and their fatherland above the interests of the greedy foreigners,a
government which would put the interests of the people, the interests of
the peasants, the interests of the workers, the interests of the young
people and children, the interests of the women and the old people above
the interests of the privileged and the exploiters (applause).

When the revolution came to power on 1 January 1969, just a little
more than a year and a half ago, what was there is our country? What was
there in our fatherland but tears, blood, misery and sweat? What was there
for the peasants in our country? What was there for the children? What was
there for the workers her? What was there in Cuba for the humble families?
What prevailed in our fatherland until that day?

The most inhuman exploitation, abuse, injustice, systematic
plunder of public funds by greedy politicians, had prevailed, the
systematic exploitation of our national wealth by foreign monopolies,
inequality and discrimination, lies and deceit, submission to foreign
ambitions and poverty had prevailed.

Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of families lived without hope
in their humble huts. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of children were
without schools. More than a half a million Cubans were without work. And
black Cubans had less opportunity than anyone to find work (applause). The
rural people lived in compounds. The sugar cane workers were employed only
a few months a year and they and their children suffered hunger the rest of
the time. Vice, gambling and all that goes with it prevailed in our
country. The farmer was exploited, the fisherman was exploited, the worker
was exploited -- the vast majority of the people were exploited.

Nothing as ever done for the people. No measures of justice were
ever undertaken to free the people from hunger, from their poverty, from
their pain and suffering, to free you, the Cuban citizens, to free you, men
and women, old people and children, to free you, this vast multitude which
has gathered here, to free the Cuban nation, to do something for it, to
make something good of it -- absolutely nothing was done (applause).

And the people, helpless, had to tolerate it. The people had to
pay the highest rents in the world in our fatherland. The people had to pay
the highest electrical rates in the world in our fatherland. The people had
to pay for telephone services as dictated by the interests of a foreign
company which extracted concessions from a tyrannical government, while the
blood of our heroic student youth was still warm in the courtyards of the
Presidential Palace (applause).

The monetary reserves of the nation were down to only 70 million.
Our country, in unequal trade with the United States, had paid out a
billion dollars more than we had been paid for our goods in ten years.
There were no factories. Who would establish factories for the hundreds of
thousands of Cubans who were without work? There were no plans for
agriculture, no plans for industry. Who would concern himself with
establishing industries? And the people, what could they do? What could the
sugar worker do? What could the sugar cane farmer do? What could the worker
do? the worker had only his miserable wage, the piece of bread which he
could not always provide to his starving children. The profits were carried
off by the foreign monopolies, the profits were accumulated by the owners.
The profits were accumulated by the inter ests which grew fat off the labor
of the people. And this money was either kept indefinitely in the banks or
was spent on all kinds of luxuries. Mainly, it went abroad.

Who would establish factories for the hundreds of thousands of
Cubans who were without work? And as the Cuban population was growing, and
as each year more than 50,000 young people came of age, what were they to
live on? What was the growing population of our fatherland to live on?

How were the peasants, the children of the peasants, to live when
they had neither work nor land? How was a people which was growing, and
whose growth was much more rapid than the increase in its industry and its
economy supposed to live?

The people lacked every kind of opportunity. The son of a peasant,
or of a worker, or of any humble family, could hardly hope to become a
professional one day -- a doctor, an engineer, an architect, or a
university technician. there were children of poor families who by dint of
great sacrifice managed to complete higher studies, but the vast majority
of the children of our families often even lacked the opportunity to learn
their letters, and there were entire regions in Cuba where there had never
been a teacher. Our people had access to nothing but work, if they could
find it! For our people, only the worst was available. For our people,
there were never any sports fields, never any streets, never any parks, and
there were many places where if there was a park, some citizens -- the
black ones -- were not allowed (applause).

This was what the revolution inherited when it came to power: an
economically underdeveloped country, a people which had been the victim of
every kind of exploitation. This was what the revolution found at the end
of its heroic and bloody struggle. And revolutions are not undertaken to
leave things as they were. Revolutions are undertaken to correct all the
injustices. Revolutions are not undertaken to protect and promote
privileges. Revolutions are undertaken to aid those who need to be aided.
Revolutions are undertaken to establish justice, to put an end to abuse, to
put an end to exploitation. And our revolution was undertaken for this, and
to this end those who fall gave their lives, and to achieve this goal so
many sacrifices were made.

The revolution came to correct matters in our fatherland. The
revolution came to do what each Cuban had been asking to have done for so
long. When any helpless Cuban citizen analyzed life in our country and the
picture presented by national life, he said: "This must be corrected. This
needs correcting, one day this must be changed." And the more optimistic
said: "One day this will be changed."

To correct matters in their country, Cubans had been fighting for
a long time. But there was a greater force which prevented us from
correcting things in our country. This force was the imperialist
penetration of the United States in our fatherland. It was this force which
frustrated our full independence. It was this force which prevented Calixto
Garcia and his brave soldiers in Santiago de Cuba from succeeding. It was
this force which prevented the liberation army from undertaking revolution
in the early days of the republic. It was this force which determined the
destiny of our fatherland from the very first. It was this force which
permitted the seizure of the natural resources and the best lands of our
fatherland by foreign interests. It was this force which appropriated the
right to intervene in our country's affairs. It was this force which
crushed so many revolutionary efforts. It was this force which was always
associated with everything negative, everything reactionary, and everything
abusive in our country. It was this force which prevented an earlier
revolution in our fatherland, and it is this force which is trying to
prevent us from correcting things in our country now. this is the force
which maintained the tyranny. This is the force which trained the hired
ruffians of the tyranny, which armed the soldiers of the tyrant, which
provided weapons, planes and bombs to the tyrant's regime, in order to keep
our people under the worst kind of oppression. This force has been the main
enemy of development and progress in our country. This force has been the
main cause of our evils. This force has dedicated itself to the failure of
the Cuban revolution. This force is trying to ensure that the war criminals
will return, that the exploiters will return, that the monopolies will
return, that the large estate owners will return, that misery will return,
that oppression will return to our country (applause).

Cubans must see with full clarity that imperialism is the force to
which we refer, that it is trying to prevent our people from achieving full
development. They must understand that this force does not what you, the
Cubans, to achieve a higher standard of living. It does not want your
children educated, it does not want our workers to profit from the fruits
of their labor. It does not want our peasants to enjoy the fruits of their
land. It does not, in a word, want our people to be able to grow, to be
able to work and to have a better destiny.

Our people have not had an opportunity in the past to understand
these great truths. The truth was concealed from our people. Our people
were miserably deceived. Our people were kept divided and confused. Our
people have never had an opportunity to discuss these matters of an
international nature. The people did not know a word of what was being said
by the American Ambassador to the government leaders. The people did not
know a word of what the foreign ministers were saying, the people counted
for nothing. The people were not gathered together to learn about their
problems. The people were not gathered together to be guided or to be told
the truth. The destinies of our peoples were decided by the US Foreign
Minister, our people counted for nothing in the destiny of the country.

Could Cuba continue to resign itself to this face? could Cubans
continue to tolerate this system? (Shouts of "No!") What have the Cubans
done? All they have done is to rebel against all this. All the Cubans have
done is to free themselves from all this (applause).

In their efforts to ensure that the revolution would fail, they
began by slandering it, they began by waging a campaign against it
throughout the world, to isolate us from the brotherly peoples of this
continent, and to ensure that the world would not know what our revolution
was accomplishing. Then, when the efforts to discredit the revolution, to
divide the revolution, to hold the revolution back, failed, more or less
direct attacks began. The bombing of our cane fields, air attacks upon our
territory began. They continued their maneuvers to leave us without oil and
they eventually attacked our economy and lowered our sugar quota by almost
a million tons.

This was a policy of aggression against our country, an act of
violating international law, an act constituting economic aggression
against the small country, in order to make it abandon its revolutionary
purpose. This was economic aggression, to obtain a political result.

The smallest nation had been attacked, the smallest nation had had
its fields bombed and burned by planes coming from the United States. The
logical thing, in any meeting of foreign ministers, would not have been to
condemn Cuba, but to condemn the United States for its attacks upon a small
country. The absurd thing was that the small country was condemned by the
foreign ministers, precisely because it served the purposes of the powerful
aggressor country. And this is what we are going to discuss today in this
national general assembly of the people of Cuba.

First of all, why have we called this general assembly of the
people? what does a general assembly of the people mean? First of all, it
means that the people is sovereign, that is to say, that sovereignty lies
with the peoples and that all power issues from it (applause). The people
of Cuba is sovereign. No one can dispute that the majority of the people is
represented here. No one can dispute that this gathering represents the
people. No crowd such as this has ever gathered in the annals of the
history of our fatherland. No meeting such as this has ever been held in
the annals of the history of our fatherland. No crowd such as this has ever
gathered and no meetings such as this have ever been held in the annals of
the history of America (applause).

Today, we Cubans can speak to America. We Cubans can speak today
to the world. This is no gathering of political bosses. This is no
gathering of a handful of mercenaries. This is a gather today of the people
(applause)! Let those who want to know what a meeting of the people is come
and see this! Let those who want to know what a democratic people is come
and see this! Let those who want to see what the people guiding its own
destiny is come and see this! Let those who want to know what a democracy
is come and see this!

Today, we can speak to America and the world (shouts of "Fidel,
Fidel, Fidel") because it is not a group of men claiming to represent a
people speaking, as did those who claimed to represent the brotherly
peoples of America at that meeting.

We can speak to America with the voice and the approval and the
support of an entire nation! Let those elsewhere in America who claim to
speak on behalf of their people gather those peoples together! Let those
elsewhere in America who claim to represent their peoples and who went to
Costa Rica to speak on behalf of their people gather their respective
peoples together! Let those in America who claim to be democrats gather
their peoples together, as we have gathered ours here today, to discuss the
problems of America with their peoples.

For the agreements of any international congress to have validity,
they must have the approval of the people. If they want us to respect the
Costa Rica declarations, let them submit them to their respective peoples
for approval!

(Applause and shouts of "Fidel, Fidel," "Cuba, yes, Yankees, no,"
"certainly, Fidel, strike hard at the Yankees," and "Fidel -- what is it
about him that renders the Americans helpless against him?"). This is a
principle, a basic principle of public law -- no foreign minister can
commit his nation in international legal documents if those documents do
not have the approval of the people.

No representative of any country attends an international
gathering on his own behalf. No one has the right to pledge the
international policy of a nation on his own account, and those who pledge
the conduct of their countries without truly representing them in fact
pledge nothing.

Any document drafted without regard for the sovereign will of the
people is null and void. Therefore, the validity of the Costa Rica
Declaration depends not on the foreign ministers, but on the peoples, and
no one can tell the people of Cuba that this declaration is valid because
they claim to represent their peoples. No! They must prove to us that this
is the feeling of the peoples (applause). And we ask the government of
Venezuela, the government of Peru, the government of Chile, the government
of Argentina, the government of Brazil, the government of Ecuador, the
government of Costa Rica, that is, we respectfully ask the governments of
America to call their peoples together in general assemblies and submit the
Costa Rica Declaration to them (applause). And let them not say that they
cannot do so! We are speaking democratically, because we can indeed speak
of democracy, we who call the people together and let the people decide
(applause and shouts). Because why doesn't the President of Venezuela call
the people together? (Shouts) We respectfully ask the President of
Venezuela to gather the people of Venezuela together in Caracas and submit
the Costa Rica Declaration to them. We respectfully ask the President of
Argentina (whistles) to call the people of Argentina together in a general
assembly in Buenos Aires, and to discuss with them, as we are doing here,
the Costa Rico Declaration (shouts). We respectfully ask the government of
Uruguay to gather the people of Uruguay together in the capital of that
country and to discuss the Costa Rica Declaration with them. We
respectfully ask the government of Chile to gather together in the capital
city (shouts) -- no, don't say anything -- we will wait and see if they do
so (shouts) -- to call the people of Chile together in the capital and
discuss the Costa Rica Declaration with them. We ask the government of
Peru, the government of Ecuador, but not, naturally, the government of
Nicaragua, or Guatemala, or Paraguay, because this would be a joke. No, we
are not speaking of these tyrannical governments, like that of Nicaragua or
that of Paraguay -- no! We are taking of those which call themselves
democratic governments, because democracy comes from the people! Democracy
means the government of the people, by the people and for the people
(applause and shouts of "with or without the OAS we will win the battle")!

And the government which does not call the people together is not
democratic! The government which does not consult with the people is not
democratic! To be democratic it is necessary to consult the people! (Shouts
of "This only happens in Cuba!").

And this indeed is popular representation, because here there is
no "rigging," no fraud, no purchased votes, no political bosses, no
political machines, nothing of the sort! This is pure democracy (applause)!
This is what a democracy free of impurities, a truly "pasteurized"
democracy is (laughter and applause). And let them not tell us that the
other is more democratic than this, that the democracy of the political
bosses, of the rigged elections, of petty po litics, of bribery, of buying
votes, of coercion, of political machines is purer than this.

Could there be anything more pure than a gathering of all the
people? (Shouts of "No!"). Has anyone forced the people to come? (Shouts of
"No!"). Has anyone paid the people to come here? (Shouts of "No!"). Are you
being paid for the work you would normally be doing? Because we know that
in a packed crowd such as this there are many who would be uncomfortable,
and we know the thirst from which you are suffering, we know the sacrifice
you are making. (Shouts of "That's all right! Forget it!"). When any of you
comes from such a distant place as the Province of Oriente, or the Province
of Camaguey, or Las Villas, or Matanzas, or the rural part of Havana
Province, of the distant quarters of the capital, to stand here for hours
and hours and to make all these sacrifices, you are doing so in an
absolutely spontaneous fashion. Each one of you knows that it is his duty
and comes here because he believes it is his duty, and that you have great
duties toward your fatherland, that you have to defend fatherland high,
and you have to rise up in protest against slander (applause and shouts of
"That's right!").

And you know that we must send a message to the brotherly peoples
of America, that we must answer the Costa Rica Declaration, that the entire
people must be present, because this is a people aware of its duties, a
people which knows that it is playing a great historical role, that it is
defending the very noble cause, that it is lighting the way for 200 million
human beings who are today suffering from the things from which you
suffered here in the past (applause).

And what does this mean? That the people are united, because the
people know that their interests are the interests which count, that it is
their will, which counts, that in their fatherland today absolutely nothing
is done except for their good. And this is how all governments should be.
All governments should exist to do good for their people, not to rob, not
to plunder, not to sell out the people, not to betray the people
(applause).

And it is for this reason that we who can indeed speak for
democracy set this forth to the governments of America, and we hope that no
one will be offended by this, because we are setting forth nothing evil. We
are only gathering the people together and all the people united have the
last work to say about the Costa Rica Declaration, and if the people do not
give it their approval, the Costa Rica Declaration has no validity for us
(applause)! And we hope that no democratic government in American will take
offense because we have asked it to gather the people together.

And since there are those who say that it is we who are
withdrawing from the American family, we say to them that we are not, that
those who have withdrawn from the American family -- that is to say, the
Latin American family, in order to associa te with the exploiting Yankee
Empire are those who were present there in Costa Rica. They indeed are
withdrawing from the Latin American family. But we are not. On the
contrary, we want our family, the peoples of Latin America, to meet
together and to hav e the last word, because this indeed is our family --
the peoples of Latin America (applause)!

But what is happening? What is the empire doing? It has cut our
sugar quota and distributed it among all these governments which should
have condemned this action. In other words, our country was the victim. The
US government cut our quota, and before going there to talk, it distributed
it among the judges. What has the United States government done? It has
engaged in bribery. It offered the judges a part of our quota it had taken
from us. But it did something else as well. While the discussions were
going on in Costa Rica, 600 million dollars of credit for distribution
among these governments, that is to say, the oligarchies of Latin America,
was approved. How could a government with any respect for itself or for the
others offer 600 million dollars of credit to the participating countries
during a conference? How can this be regarded as a moral policy? The policy
of the government of the United States which cut our quota and distributed
it among the oligarchies, allocating 600 million dollars of credit during
the conference to these oligarchies is an immoral one! In this way they can
buy the oligarchies, but they cannot buy the peoples! Let them go and ask
the peoples (applause)! Let them go and ask the peoples and they will see
that they will do what we did, telling them: "No, what we want is for the
mines to be ours, for the oil to be ours, for the industries to be ours.
Let the monopolies go back where they came from, for we do not need their
dollars." This is what the peoples will say (applause)!

Why? What is it that the people of Venezuela want? To be given
dollars? No, what they want is that dollars not be taken away from there!
This is what they want, that their oil not be taken, that their natural
resources not be exhausted. What the people of Venezuela want is for their
oil, their mines, their natural resources to be returned to them so that
they can develop their natural resources and advance. This is what the
people of Venezuela want. And this is what all the peoples want.

The peoples know that this money remains in the hands of the
oligarchies, the large estate owners, the exploiters, all of those who
direct the politics of these countries there. The peoples know that they
will receive nothing. This is why this diplomacy is carried on in secret,
and nothing is said to the peoples. The peoples are simple spectators, and
they are not consulted when these decisions are made.

For this reason, we say to the imperialists that what matters is
not the opinion of the oligarchy, because oligarchies can sell out, but the
brotherly peoples of American will never sell themselves for any
imperialist gold (applause)!

The imperialists went there to talk with their wallet in one hand
and a bludgeon in the other. However, I can tell you that even if they had
not taken a wallet, the Costa Rica Declaration would have been signed. Why?
because they had the bludgeon with them. And they would not even have had
to use it, and the others would have voted with the imperialists. Do you
know why? Because the large estate owners of America do not want agrarian
reform. The monopolies of America do not want agrarian reform. The
exploiters in Latin America do not want justice in Latin America. thus,
they, out of pure fear of a revolution which has done away with all
privileges here, which has done away with the large estates, which has done
away with exploitation, our of pure fear of a revolution such as this, and
our of fear that the peoples will catch the revolutionary contagion from
Cuba, they vote against Cuba, because what they want is to have the example
of the Cuban revolution destroyed.

But this is not what the workers of Latin America think. this is
not what the peasants think, not what the students think, not what the
people of Latin America think. the people of Latin America, although the
campaign has been waged against Cuba, although the cable reports of the
Yankee press agencies continually lie about the slander and say all kinds
of false things about the revolution, the peoples do not swallow the lies
of the imperialists (applause)!

Now, then, what did we do? We went there to talk, we set forth our
viewpoint there, and we did indeed talk. What happened? What everyone
expected. Despite the formidable reasons and the extraordinary moral force
on the side of Cuba, those foreign ministers, although many of them were
ashamed, signed the Declaration. Not all, because Foreign Minister Arcaya
of Venezuela (applause) ignoring, or rather refusing to heed the
governmental directive, because although the Venezuelan delegation,
following the instructions of the government of Venezuela, signed, Foreign
Minister Arcaya, representing the feeling of this heroic people of
Venezuela, which has been demonstrating in the streets for a week an
protest against the Costa Rica Declaration (applause). Foreign Minister
Arcaya refused to sign the Declaration.

And there is another case, that of the foreign minister who called
this meeting, obviously on the instructions of his government, because it
was the Foreign Minister of Peru who called the meeting to discuss the
so-called extra continental intervention. He was so disgusted by the
authoritarian attitude of the US State Department, so disgusted by this
farce, that the Foreign Minister of Peru also refused to sign the
Declaration (applause).

And although the Prime Minister of Mexico signed the Declaration,
he had hardly returned to Mexico before he said that he did not in any way
approve of the condemnation of Cuba, and although the Declaration
certainty was such a condemnation, he personally said that he did not want
to condemn the Cuban revolution.

This means that such is the moral force of Cuba, such is the
prestige of our revolution, that a number of foreign ministers refused to
sign the Declaration, and some of those who did sign made statements
setting forth their sympathies with Cuba.

Obviously, this does not alter the content of the Declaration,
which is against Cuba. And we know that very strange things happened at
this conference, where, Comrade Oliveres informs us, the delegation from
Argentina even presented a proposal in English -- it presented a proposal
in English there! Then it was explained that this was an error, but what an
error -- a delegation from a Spanish speaking country presenting a proposal
in English (shouts)!

Was this a triumph for imperialism? No, if it was a victory, it
was a Pyrrhic victory. Phyrrhic victories are those in which one loses more
than one gains. We will see now what they will say about this democratic
gathering, and whether they will dare now to say that a people must respect
a resolution which is not democratic. This will end their talk of
democracy! To date they have been able to talk of democracy in the United
States (shouts), but now, from now on, it will be we who speak of
democracy, we who gather the people together and discuss problems with the
people (applause). And those who have to pass emergency laws, repressive
laws, persecuting the people in the streets there with repressive force,
jailing the citizens, let them not speak of democracy. They who cannot
gather the people together -- let them not talk of democracy. They who
cannot gather the people together and consult with the people and rely on
the people to decide on the destiny of the country -- let them not repeat
the old phrases about democracy! And now we are going to discuss, we are
going to decide. The people of Cuba will decide at this national general
assembly of the people about the Costa Rica Declaration. Also we have to
formulate our declaration. As they issued theirs, we must issue ours here,
our Havana Declaration (applause).

Almost all the articles in the Declaration attack Cuba, but we are
going to read the three key ones, those which are most important. Then we
are going to decide if we accept or reject this Declaration. We went to
Costa Rica. We did not sign.

First of all, they have none, and secondly, if they had we could
not count on them either. this means that what they sought to do was to
deprive us of this aid, aid in the event of aggression. Why? So that we
would depend exclusively on them, when certainly they would abandon us in
the struggle. Thus, the intelligent answer, the proper answer, the
revolutionary answer and the courageous answer is that which the people of
Cuba sent to the foreign ministers who met in Costa Rica (applause).

Thus, on this point, they now know what to count on, what they
must expect.

There is another point which says: "We also reject the pretension
of the Sino-Soviet powers to make capital of the political, economic or
social situation in any American nation" -- they do not mention Cuba, but
they are referring to Cuba -- "because this pretension is likely to destroy
continental unity, and to endanger the peace and security of the
hemisphere."

Now we are going to ask a question? Do the people believe that the
Soviet Union or the Chinese People's Republic are to blame for the
revolution we have undertaken here? (Shouts from the people of "no").

Who is to blame for this revolution? Who is responsible for the
fact that the Cubans have to undertake this revolution? Who is to blame:
the Soviet Union, the Chinese People's Republic or the Yankee imperialists?
(Shouts of "the Yankees").

This means that the Yankee imperialists are solely to blame for
the fact that this revolution is taking place in Cuba, and therefore the
people of Cuba reject this accusation that the Soviet Union or the Chinese
People's Republic are trying, as it says here, "to make capital of the
political, economic and social situation of an American nation, to destroy
continental unity and endanger the peace and security of the hemisphere."
Who is endangering continental unity? (Shouts of "the Yankees"). Who is
separating one Latin people from the other Latin peoples? (Shouts of "the
Yankees"). Who summoned together their group of Latin American foreign
ministers to make a declaration against a Latin people? The Yankees. Who
has been the sole aggressor on this continent? The Yankees.

Thus our answer to this second point is that the Latin American
people have only been attacked, the unity of the peoples of Latin American
has only been destroyed by the Yankee imperialists, who are solely
responsible for the revolutionary process which is occurring in Cuba
(applause).

And to complete the evidence, one example suffices. Here, for
example, we have a treaty which was signed on 7 March 1952 by the then
Minister of State Aureliano Sanchez Arango (shouts) and the American
Ambassador. This treaty is called (shouts of "was called") -- is called or
was called, it is all the same, the Bilateral Military Aid Agreement
Between Cuba and the United States of America. Of course, this was a treaty
between a shark and a sardine.

And point 2 in Article 1, for example, is interesting. I know that
the people do not understand much about these treaty matters, because the
people were never told a word about this. And this was the policy of the
imperialists, who obliged each of the governments to sign a shark-sardine
treaty, a military pact. You can imagine what kind of treaties these would
be between the United States and the countries of Latin America --
bilateral agreements, binding all the peoples of Latin America by a series
of pledges.

And point 2 says: "the government of the Republic of Cuba promises
to make effective use of the aid it receives from the government of the
United States of America, in accordance with this agreement, with a view to
carrying out the defense plans agreed upon by both governments, according
to which the two governments will take part in important missions for the
defense of the western hemisphere, and unless" -- note well what the treaty
says -- "unless the consent of the government of the United States has
previously been obtained, this aid will not be devoted to other purposes
than those for which it was provided." This means that if we were witnesses
to the fact that the planes they provided, the tanks they provided, the
bombs and the weapons they provided were used to murder peasants, to bomb
peasants in the Sierra Maestra and to murder thousands of Cubans, that is,
to oppress the people and to wage a cruel war against the people, this
treaty says that "unless the consent of the government of the United States
of America was previously obtained, this aid should not be used for other
purposes than those for which it was provided." What does this mean? That
the government of the United States of America authorized the use of these
guns, these bombs and these planes against the people of Cuba.

This is a treaty which absurd though it certainly seems, since the
military mission departed long ago, but this treaty is still in effect. We
are going to submit it to the people too for consideration. Today we are
going to submit the question of whether this military treaty should be
maintained or cancelled to the people. (Shouts of "Cancel it.") Those who
want this military treaty to be cancelled right now will raise their hands.
(All hands in the crowd were raised.) This means that in accordance with
the sovereign will of the people of Cuba, this military treaty between Cuba
and the United States which has cost so much blood is cancelled (applause
and shouts of "burn it!"). No, we are not going to burn it. We will keep it
for history, ragged though it is.

Tomorrow, the Ministry of State, or the Ministry of Foreign
Relations, as we call it under the revolutionary government, will inform
the government of the United States that the people of Cuba, expressing
their completely free and sovereign will in a national general assembly,
have cancelled this military agreement, which is now outdated in terms of
fact and feelings (shouts of "out, out!" and "down with Caimanera").

Just a moment, just a moment -- we have not yet come to the
problem of Caimanera on the agenda of this assembly (applause). No, it will
have to wait -- there will be other national general assemblies, and we
must take up each matter in its proper place. And we suggest to the people
that we postpone the Caimanera problem until the proper time. We ask the
people to do this, because we would like to give another explanation too.
We are discussing today vents of an international nature, aggressions of an
international nature.

We have been the victim of economic aggression and, when they took
900,000 tons of sugar from us, we warned them in advance that they would
pay, sugar mill by sugar mill and enterprise by enterprise, for the attacks
they made upon our economy. They took 900,000, almost a million tons, from
us, and we nationalized 36 sugar mills, the electric company, the telephone
company, and the oil companies (applause). Well, they still have something
here, in reserve, and when they attack us economically again, then we will
nationalize the remaining enterprises.

What, then, will be the policy of the revolutionary government?
Very simple and very clear, and it is also necessary that the people
understand it and support it. If they continue the economic attacks upon
our country, we will continue to nationalize the US enterprises (applause).
But, if despite the fact that our country and our people have been the
victims of a continuing series of aggressions, the imperialists continue
their attacks upon our country and their efforts to ruin our country
economically and if they continue to attack our country, then we will
gather the people in a general assembly and we will ask for the withdrawal
of the US naval forces from the Gaimanera territory (applause).

Everyone already knows how they have taken over this part of our
island. Everyone already knows what methods they have used -- not
discussion with a free and sovereign country, but dealing with a country
under their control and a country subject to the clauses of the Platt
Amendment. Also, everyone knows the risk involved for our country when a
warlike and aggressive power maintains a base on our territory, the risk
the presence of a Yankee military base on Cuban territory involves for our
people in the event of an atomic war.

And also everyone knows how this has been a subject of constant
concern to us, and in this very place we have said more than once that if
anything should happen there, it would have to be self-generated, because
we will never fall into the error of giving them a pretext to invade our
country. If they want to invade our country, let them do so without the
slightest pretext, without the slightest justification, which they never
will have, and now they know what awaits them if they do invade our
country. But we know well the duplicity and the ferocity of the US State
Department. We are very familiar with the methods it has used. For this
reason, we have warned the people and we have warned the world that we will
never attack the base. On the contrary, what we must do is warn against any
self-generated provocation, because they are capable, perfectly capable --
who doubts it? -- of planning a provocation there with war criminals, in
order to have a pretext. And it is our duty to be always alert and to warn
the people of everything, and to warn the world of all the dangers. We warn
the people that anything which happens must be a provocation, because we
will never attack the base. When circumstances dictate, we will in
sovereign and democratic fashion, as we have done today, ask for the
cancellation of this treaty in order to recover our territory, but we will
never act in such a way as to give the imperialists a pretext for bloodshed
in our country (applause). And as our people are intelligent, and
understand that it is necessary to advance firmly, that we must carry
forward this struggle with the greatest intelligence, for this reason the
people support the line the revolutionary government is following on these
delicate and difficult matters.

Now we come to a point in the declaration which we have not yet
dealt with, because there is a point 5 which says: "We proclaim that all
the member nations of the regional organization" -- listen well -- "that
all the member nations of the regional organizations have the duty to
submit to the discipline of the Inter-American system voluntarily and
freely agreed upon, and that the most solid guarantee of their sovereignty
and their political independence derives from obedience to the provisions
of the charter of the Organization of American States."

Let us see what kind of a guarantee this is -- "the most solid
guarantee derives from the provisions of the charter of the OAS" --
provisions which were not able to defend us against air attack, against the
plans of the counterrevolutionaries, who are operating there in US
territory, from the expeditions being organized, from the attacks planned,
prepared and paid for by the US State Department, from the terrorist
attacks, from the bombs and from any act of disturbance inspired, prepared
and paid for by the US State Department. These provisions have not been
able to protect us from these attacks, nor from the growing hostility
toward our country, nor from economic aggression. but it states that "the
member nations of the organization have the duty of submitting to the
discipline." Indeed! Before submitting to the discipline, we would say that
all member nations, that is to say, all the governments, all the member
governments, should gather the people together and consult the people about
these OAS matters and about the Costa Rica Declaration. And when they
consult the people, and when the people agree to this, then let them talk
of discipline.

No, we understand our duty in this way: our Foreign Minister goes
to Costa Rica with the Cuban delegation, the meeting is held, and the
foreign ministers approve the declaration. What does the Cuban government
do? the government of Cuba gathers the people together and submits the
declaration to them. Now no nation can be bound by any agreement of an
international nature against the will of its people. We have been the
first and the only country to submit the question to the people for
consideration. If this is what we have done, it is our duty. We obey what
the people of Cuba say, not what the foreign ministers who take orders from
Washington say (applause). The government of Cuba is not bound to any
obedience,any discipline, any acknowledgement other than that which
emanates from the free and sovereign will of its people.

There still remains some matters which we would like to submit to
the people for consideration. We would like the people to say if they agree
that the policy of our country should be one of friendship and trade with
all the peoples of the world. (Unanimous shouts of "yes").

We would like to submit another matter to the people. Our people
have reestablish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. We would like
to ask our people if they are in agreement with our establishment of these
relations (unanimous shouts of "yes"). We would like to ask if our people
are in agreement with our maintaining relations with the other socialist
countries too (unanimous shout of "yes").

And there remains another question of great importance. As you
know, the imperialists have undertaken to accuse the Chinese People's
Republic of intervening in Latin American matters too, although the fact is
that to date our country, has not maintained diplomatic relations with the
Chinese People's Republic. On the contrary, our country has traditionally
maintained relations with the puppet government, that which is protected
there by the ships of the US Seventh Fleet. However, no country in Latin
America has dared to reestablish relations, not only diplomatic but even
trade relations, with the Chinese People's Republic. Therefore, the
revolutionary government of Cuba desires to ask the people of Cuba if they
are in agreement, if the people of Cuba in this sovereign and free assembly
agree to establish diplomatic relations with the Chinese People's Republic.
*Unanimous shout of "yes".) Therefore, as of this time, Cuba (shouting
continues), therefore we will break off diplomatic relations with the
puppet regime of Chiang Kai-shek (shouts of "yes") and if the Chinese
People's Republic also desires to aid us in the event that Cuba is attacked
by the imperialist military forces, Cuba will accept the aid of the Chinese
People's Republic (unanimous shout of "yes" and "we will accept it").

This means that we are indeed a free country in America, that we
decide our national policy and our international policy in a democratic and
sovereign manner. Democratic, that is to say, with the people, and
sovereign, that is to say, without heed to the dictates of any foreign
power.

This means that we, that is our people, do not ask the permission
of anyone when it comes to making a decision. This means that we are a free
country, a sovereign people. Those who can never call themselves free and
sovereign peoples are those which have to go and ask the permission of Mr.
Herter when they want to take a step (shouts of "out!"), those who have to
ask the permission of the Yankee Embassy before they can move. This
gathering of our people today shows that in fact Cuba is the free territory
of America! (Applause and shouts of "Cuba, yes, Yankees, no".)

They do not want revolutions in America? Well, they have a
revolution here in America! they don't want justice done in an American
country, so that finally our peasants will have land, our children will
have schools, our families will have homes, the people will have work,
beaches, opportunity, and so that the sons of the peasants and the workers
alike can go to the universities? They do not want a happy people? Well,
they have a happy people, even if they don't want it, because no one has
made a gift of this happiness to this people.

This happiness has been won with much sacrifice, and this is a
people which has a right to happiness, because it was able to win it,
because it is only when there is a revolutionary spirit such as that of the
people of Cuba, when there is a people a politically mature and as
formidable as ours, that a struggle such as that Cuba is waging can be
waged.

Our people have justly won the respect of the entire world, the
admiration of the entire world, the love of the other peoples in the world,
because they understand that we are a small people, that we have had to
overcome very great obstacles. They understand that we were a small people
subject to Yankee influence, to Yankee propaganda, to Yankee films, to
Yankee periodicals, to Yankee fashions, to Yankee politics, to Yankee
customers, and that everything was Yankee here! (Shouts.) Oh, how they talk
now, how they talk of Soviet intervention, or blame the Chinese People's
Republic, when the sole influence we saw here constantly and the only books
we had here daily, the only films we ever saw and the only customs and
fashions we had -- everything came from the United States! This means that
if there was an intruder, it was the Yankee imperialist, who tried to
destroy our national spirit, who tried to destroy the patriotism of the
Cubans, who tried to destroy our resistance to the penetration of foreign
interests. Thanks to the fact that we have an extraordinarily worthy people,
thanks to the fact that this people began its struggle very early, and
fought alone for its dependence for a century, a people which produced men
such as Maceo, Cespedes, Argamonte, Calixto Garcia, a people which had such
an extraordinary Apostle, a man so farsighted, a man so human, a man so
eloquent and wise as Jose Marti, who forged the nationality of the
fatherland (lengthy applause), and thanks to the men who undermost adverse
conditions, the men who in the republican era waged and unequal struggle
against Yankee penetration, men ranging from Juan Gualberto Gomez and
Sanguily, who stubbornly opposed this penetration, to the men who in the
20's and 30's sacrificed themselves and fell in the struggle to ensure that
the Cuban nationality, the Cuban national spirit, would survive, that the
national soul would not be absorbed by the powerful foreigner, thanks to
these men, to this work of generations, to this tradition, we have been
able to reap this maturity and this revolutionary awareness on the part of
our people, which America admires, the world admires. Cubans are admired
for their spirit, for their deeds, for their courage, for their enthusiasm,
because the Cubans are a people who, when they are told "it is necessary to
meet to respond to aggression, to show the enemy of Cuba that the people
are with the revolution, to show that the people have no fear, so that they
can see that the people are ready to carry out their pledge of "fatherland
or death"!" (shouts) -- that people rally a number so extraordinary,
filling a square as vast as this one, and providing a spectacle such as we
never dreamed of seeing with our own eyes!

This is the explanation of the admiration of our visitors, because
there is no more impressive or formidable spectacle than a people which is
alive, which is aware, which has a soul, which has a morality, right on its
side, a spirit of struggle, courage, when it is capable of understanding an
ideal and sacrificing all individual interests for that ideal. Because when
a people reaches this degree of revolutionary awareness, the individuals
merge in the soul of the people and then, individually, none of us matters,
for there is something which does not die and can never die -- it is the
people! Men individually may disappear, but peoples endure and this people
of ours, this revolutionary people, this multitude, this people which
parades past, this people which rallies, this people which works, this
people which studies, this people which is training itself is something
which has eternal life, immortal life, something in which the work of each
one of us, the grain of sand contributed by each one of us, will continue
throughout history, because those who come afterward will follow the
traditions of their people, as we have followed the traditions of those who
began to fight for the Cuban nation a century ago. Those who come after us
will follow our traditions and they will have the examples of those who
came before us, and it is for this reason (applause), for this reason that
the people say: "Fatherland or death!"

What does this mean? This slogan means that no one of us cares if
he dies provided his people lives, provided his fatherland lives, that no
one of us minds giving his life for the fatherland, so that the fatherland
can continue to live (applause and shouts of "fatherland or death" and "we
will triumph"). And why do the people say "we will triumph"? The people say
this because even though many of us may fall, even though individually many
of our compatriots, if the fatherland needs them, will sacrifice their
lives, it will not be in vain, but it will be so that the fatherland can
triumph! And for this reason each one of us says: "Fatherland or death!"
And the people say "We will triumph!" The fatherland says "we will
triumph!" (Shouts of "we will triumph!").

And we have not the slightest doubt that the fatherland will
triumph. We have not the slightest doubt because we know whereof we speak,
and because, moreover, this is not the battle of a group of men, it is the
battle of an entire people, and no entire people has ever lost a battle.
This is a battle with the right on our side, a battle for justice, a battle
for the welfare of our patriots, a battle for the welfare of our peers, a
battle for the good of man, a battle for the good of mankind, and never has
an entire people fighting for a noble cause lost the battle. But neither is
Cuba alone. It would be alone if it were not defending a just cause, if it
were not struggling for the good of mankind. But those who will be left
alone are those who are struggling against the progress of mankind, against
the welfare of man. They will be increasing alone, while we will daily have
greater company, those of us who are fighting for the good of man and for
the good of mankind! (Applause)

Our small fatherland today represents interests which extend
beyond our frontiers. To our small fatherland has fallen the task of
serving as the torch which lights the way for millions and millions of men
and women like us, who are suffering in a America today just as we suffered
in the past! It is our glorious destiny to serve as a light which will
never go out! A light which will be brighter every day and a light whose
reflections will reach farther across the territories of our sister America
every day! And our people know this, and for this reason their response is
so great, for this reason they act with such dignity and heroism.

Please allow us, those of us who have the responsibility of the
revolutionary government, permit me and my comrades to express here, to
satisfy our need to express the pride we fell in our people, the
satisfaction we feel with our people, the infinite happiness we feel thanks
to the successes of our people! (Applause and shouts.) Please allow us to
express the encouragement we feel in our work, the enthusiasm we feel in
our struggle, as our fervor for this cause grows, and as we feel our
strength and our energies multiply to continue working for the people, to
continue fighting until the last vestiges of injustice, the last vestiges
of poverty are gone, to continue working to bring welfare to our people, to
make our people happy, to outdo ourselves, to fulfill our duty, more
efficiently every day, more wisely every day. At moments like this, we
promise ourselves that even the smallest errors must be eliminated, and we
promise ourselves that although things have not been done entirely properly
or perfectly well or with complete wisdom, because who knows better than we
that men err, that men make mistakes, and that revolutions, however just,
noble and good they may be sometimes commit injustices, because it is men
who carry them out, men who implement them, and men who decide, but at
moments like this, before such a formidable crowd as this, we feel that we,
too, are growing and we feel as if we were yet stronger, had yet more love
for this cause, if more love is possible, and we feel more ready to make
the sacrifices which may be necessary, because probably very few times in
history has any group of government leaders found itself so respected and
loved by the people as have the men of the Cuban revolutionary government!
(Prolonged applause and shouts of "we are with you! we are with you!")

And there remains one more thing before concluding this gathering.
We are going to submit for the consideration of the people a statement
setting forth the viewpoints of the people of Cuba which we have been
discussing. It is in the nature of an answer to the Costa Rica Declaration,
a response of the peoples to the statement of the foreign ministers, the
declaration which will go down in history of America as the Havana
Declaration! (Applause.)

Once this declaration has been submitted to the people of Cuba for
consideration, we will ask all the revolutionary organizations in America,
all the workers' trade unions, the student, intellectual, and artistic
organizations and every revolutionary man in America to support it
(applause). It will have the authority of a declaration underwritten by an
entire people, it will have the prestige of a democratic contribution by
our people, because what must be stressed, and we will always have to
stress it, is the fact that the revolution came to power thanks to the will
of the people. It governs for the people and is kept in power solely by the
support of the people! (Applause). There is a revolutionary government
because there is a revolutionary people which supports it, and governments
stay in power either by force or thanks to the support of the people. They
are kept in power by the strength of military and political oligarchies,
which represent the most reactionary interests of each country, which
represent the exploitation of their workers and their peasants, and
exploitation of their peoples, and they remain in power thanks to the
combined strength or force, money and lies. And despite the attacks,
despite the aggression, despite the slanderous campaigns behind which the
powerful empire to the north has put its full support, despite its economic
attacks and its international diplomatic maneuvers, the revolution remains
in power. Why? Thanks to the people. And it will remain in power as long as
it has the support of the people! (Applause). And it will have the support
of the ! as long as it struggles and works for the people!

This declaration carries the weight of that strength and that
support.

"Havana Declaration:

"Invoking the image and the memory of Jose Marti (applause), in
Cuba, the free territory of America (applause), the people, exercising the
inalienable authority deriving from the effective exercise of its
sovereignty, expressed in direct, universal and public suffrages, have met
together in a national general assembly (applause).

"On its own behalf and expressing the feelings of the peoples of
our America, the National General Assembly of the People of Cuba,

"First, condemns all of the provisions of the so-called San Jose
de Costa Rica Declaration, a document dictated by US imperialists, and
attacking the national self-determination, sovereignty and dignity of the
brotherly peoples of this continent (applause).

"Second, the National General Assembly of the People of Cuba
energetically condemns the open and criminal intervention in which the US
imperialists have engaged for more than a century against all of the
peoples of Latin America, peoples whose territories have more than once
been invaded in Mexico, Nicaragua, Haiti, Santo Domingo and Cuba, and who
have lost to the greed of the Yankee imperialists extensive and rich zones,
such as Texas, vital strategic centers, such as the Panama Canal, entire
countries, such as Puerto Rico, which has been transformed into an occupied
territory, and who have also suffered ill treatment at the hands of the
Marines, ill treatment both of our wives and daughters and of the noblest
national historical symbols, such as the statue of Jose Marti (applause).

"This intervention, made possible by military superiority, unequal
treaties and the miserable subjection of treasonable governments, has
transformed our America, the America which Bolivar, Hidalgo, Juarez, San
Martin, O'Higgins, Cucre, Hiradentes and Marti wanted to free, into a zone
of exploitation over a period of more than 100 years, into a province of
the Yankee financial and political empire, into a reserve of votes in
international organs, in which Latin American countries have played the
role of cattle belonging to the "boisterous and brutal nation to the north
which scorns us" (applause).

"The National General Assembly of the People declares that the
acceptance by the governments which officially claim to represent the
countries of Latin America of this continuous and historically undeniable
intervention betrays their peoples' dreams of independence, destroys their
sovereignty and prevents true solidarity among our countries,and this fact
obliges this assembly to reject it, in the name of the people of Cuba, and
speaking for the hopes and the determination of the Latin American peoples
and the desire of the great immortals of our America for liberty
(applause).

"Third, the National General Assembly of the People also rejects
the effort to preserve the Monroe Doctrine, which has been used to date, as
Jose Marti foresaw, 'to extend the domination in America' of the greedy
imperialists, and in order the better to spread the poison which Jose Marti
also denounced in his day, 'the poison of the loans, the canals, the
railroads.'

"For this reason, and confronted with the hypocritical Pan
Americanism which is but the domination of the Yankee monopolies over the
interests of our peoples and the Yankee maneuverings of the governments
pledged to Washington, the Assembly of the People of Cuba proclaims the
liberating Latin Americanism which inspired Jose Marti and Benito Juarez
(applause).  And, in extending its friendship toward the US people -- the
people whose Negroes are lynched, whose intellectuals are persecuted, whose
workers are forced to accept the leadership of gangsters -- we reassert our
determination to advance 'with all the world and not with a part of it'
(applause).

"Fourth, the National General Assembly of the People declares that
the aid spontaneously offered by the Soviet Union to Cuba for the
eventuality of a possible attack on our country by the imperialist military
forces can never be regarded as an act of intervention, but constitutes an
obvious gesture of solidarity, and that this aid, offered to Cuba as
protection against an imminent attack by the Yankee Pentagon (shouts), does
as much honor to the government of the Soviet Union offering it as it does
dishonor to the government of the United States, its cowardly and criminal
attacks upon Cuba (applause).

"Therefore, the National General Assembly of the People declares
to America and the world that it accepts and welcomes the support of the
rockets of the Soviet Union (applause and shouts of 'death to the
gringo!'), in the event of an attack on its territory by the military
forces of the United States.

"Fifth, the National General Assembly of the People of Cuba
categorically denies that there has been any pretension on the part of the
Soviet Union and the Chinese People's Republic 'to make capital of the
economic, political and social position of Cuba, to destroy continental
unity and endanger the unity of the hemisphere.'

"From the first to the last shot, from the first to the last of
the 20,00 martyrs who fell in the struggle to overthrow the tyranny and win
revolutionary power, from the first to the last act of the revolution, the
people have acted freely and in accordance with their own absolute
determination, and therefore the United States or the Chinese People's
Republic can never be blamed for the existence of a revolution, which is
the full response of Cuba to the crimes and the injustices committed by the
imperialists in America (applause and shouts of "Fidel, sure, strike hard
at the Yankees!").

"On the contrary, the National General Assembly of the People of
Cuba believes that the policy of isolation of and hostility toward the
Soviet Union and the Chinese People's Republic called for by the government
of the United States and imposed by it on the governments of Latin America,
and the warlike and aggressive conduct of the US government, and its
systematic refusal to accept the Chinese People's Republic in the United
Nations, despite the fact that it represents almost all of a country of
more than 600 million persons, endangers the peace and security of the
hemisphere and the world.

"Therefore, the National General Assembly of the People of Cuba
ratifies its policy of friendship with all the peoples of the world,
reaffirms its determination to establish diplomatic relations with the
socialist countries, too (applause and shouts of "Khrushchev, Khrushchev"),
and as of this time, exercising its free and sovereign will, informs the
government of the Chinese People's Republic that it is willing to establish
diplomatic relations between the two countries and that therefore, the
relations which Cuba has maintained to date with the puppet regime
maintained in Formosa by the ships of the Yankee Seventh Fleet no longer
exist (applause).

"Sixth, the National General Assembly of the People of Cuba
reasserts, and is certain that in doing so it is expressing a common view
of the peoples of Latin America, that democracy is not compatible with the
financial oligarchy, with the existence of discrimination against the negro
and the actions of the Ku Klux Klan, with the persecution which has
deprived such scientists as Oppenheimer of their posts, which for years
prevented the world from hearing the marvelous voice of Paul Robeson, a
prisoner in his own country, and which caused the death, despite the
protest and the horror of the entire world, and despite appeals from the
governments of various countries and Pope Pius XII, of the Rosenbergs.

"The National General Assembly of the People of Cuba sets forth
the Cuban conviction that democracy cannot consist of the exercise of the
vote alone, which is almost always fictitious and rigged by large
landowners and professional politicians, but in the right of the citizens
to decide, as they are doing now in this General Assembly of the People of
Cuba, on their own destiny. Democracy, moreover, will only exist in America
when the peoples are truly free to choose, when the humble are not reduced
by hunger, social inequality, illiteracy and the court systems to the most
ominous impotence.

"For this reason, the National General Assembly of the People of
Cuba condemns large landholdings, the source of misery for the peasant and
a backward and inhuman system of agricultural production. It condemns
starvation wages and the evil exploitation of human labor by illegitimate
and privileged interests. It condemns illiteracy, the lack of teachers,
schools, doctors and hospitals, the lack of security for the old which
prevails in American countries. It condemns the discrimination against the
Negro and the Indian. It condemns the inequality and exploitation of woman.
It condemns the military and political oligarchies which keep our peoples
in misery and prevent their democratic development and the full exercise of
their sovereignty. It condemns the concession of the natural resources of
our countries to foreign monopolies as a policy of selling out and
betraying the interests of the peoples. It condemns the governments which
ignore the feelings of their peoples in order to heed the mandates of
Washington. It condemns the systematic deception of the peoples by press
organs which serve the interests of the oligarchies and the policy of the
imperialist oppressor. It condemns the monopoly held on news by the Yankee
press agencies, which are tools of US trusts and agents of Washington. It
condemns the repressive laws which prevent the workers, peasants, students
and intellectuals, the vast majority in each country, from organizing and
fighting for their social and patriotic demands. It condemns the monopolies
and the imperialist enterprises which continually plunder our wealth,
exploit our workers and peasants, impoverish our economies and keep them
backward, and subject Latin American politics to their designs and
interests.

"The National General Assembly of the People of Cuba, finally,
condemns the exploitation of man by man (applause) and the exploitation of
the underdeveloped countries by imperialist financial capital.  Therefore,
the National General Assembly of the People of Cuba proclaims to America:

"The right of the peasants to land, the right of the worker of the
fruits of his labor, the right of children to education, and the right of
the ill to medical and hospital aid, the right of young people to work, the
right of students to free, experimental and scientific education, the right
of the Negroes and Indians to 'the full dignity of man,' the right of woman
to civil, social and political equality, the right of old people to a
secure old age, the right of intellectuals, artists and scientists to
struggle, through their works, for a better world, the right of nations to
nationalize the imperialist monopolies, thus recovering their wealth and
national resources, the right of countries to free trade with all the
peoples of the world, the right of nations to full sovereignty, the right
of the peoples to transform their military fortresses into schools, and to
arm their workers, their peasants, their students, their intellectuals, the
Negro, and the Indian, women, young people, old people, all the oppressed
and exploited, so that they themselves can defend their rights and their
destiny.  (Applause and shouts of "Fidel, Fidel, what is there about him
that makes the Americans powerless against him?").

"Seventh, the National General Assembly of the People of Cuba
postulates that it is the duty of the workers, the peasants, the students,
and intellectuals, the Negroes, the Indians, young people, women, and old
people to fight for their economic, political and social demands
(applause).  It is the duty of oppressed and exploited nations to fight for
their liberation.  It is the duty of each people to stand with all the
oppressed, colonized, exploited or attacked peoples (applause), wherever in
the world they may be and whatever geographic distance may separate them.
All the peoples of the world are brothers!  (Shouts of "Unity, unity!").

"Eighth, the National General Assembly of the People of Cuba
reaffirms its faith in the prompt, united and triumphant advance of Latin
America, free of the bonds which transformed Latin American economies into
sources of wealth for the US imperialists and prevented the people from
making their true voice heard in meetings in which subservient foreign
ministers chorused infamous agreements with the despotic master.  It
therefore ratifies its decision to work for this coming Latin American
destiny which will permit all countries to establish true solidarity based
on the free will of each one of them and on the joint hopes of all.  In the
struggle for this liberated Latin America, along with the obedient voices
of those who have usurped official representation, the genuine voice of the
people can now be heard.  This voice with invincible power comes from the
depths of the Latin America coal and tin mines, from the factories and
sugar mills, from the feudal estates where the peasants and farmers and
cowboys of all the Latin American nations, the heirs of Zapata and Sandino,
are taking up weapons for their freedom.  This voice makes itself heard
through their poets and their novelists, their students, women, children
and vigilant old people.  To this sisterly voice, the National General
Assembly of the People of Cuba answers (applause):  we are here!  Cuba will
not falter.  Cuba is here today to ratify its eternal alternative to Latin
America and the world, as a historic pledge:  Fatherland or death!

"Ninth, the General Assembly of the People of Cuba:

"Resolves that this declaration will be known as the Havana
Declaration, Cuba, Havana, free territory of America, 2 September 1960
(applause)."

We submit this Havana Declaration to the people for their
consideration.  Let those who support the declaration raise their hands.
(All in the crowd raise hands, and for some minutes there is shouting:  "We
vote with Fidel!"  And "Fidel, Fidel, what is there about him that the
Americans can do nothing against him?"  Cheers for Raul Roa.)

And now there is one other thing.  What are we doing with the San
Jose Declaration?  (Shouts of "We are tearing it up!")  We are tearing it
up!  (Fidel tore it up before the crowd.)

These revolutions of the National General Assembly of the People
of Cuba, which we have just approved, will be communicated to all the
brotherly peoples of Latin America.

(The ceremony ended with the 26 July hymn and the national anthem
sung by the crowd.)

-END-