-DATE-
19601202
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
BURIAL SERVICES FOR DR. MANUEL FAJARDO
-PLACE-
HAVANA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA FIEL NETWORK
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19601202
-TEXT-
CUBA
Dec. 2, 1960
CASTRO BLAMES U.S. FOR FAJARDO'S DEATH

Havana, FIEL Network, in Spanish to Cuba, Dec. 1, 1960, 1827 GMT--E

(Live broadcast of oration by Primier Fidel Castro at burial services for
Dr. Manuel Fajardo, Castro's personal physician)

(Summary)  Colleagues of the revolutionary army, militiamen, workers,
farmers, youths, ladies and gentlemen:  We have come here to bury a
commander of the revolutionary army.  This function must be painful for all
of us:  first, because the country is losing a good son; second, because
the revolution is losing a fighter of the first rank; third, because those
of us who were his friends and colleagues are losing a colleague, a friend,
and a brother.

Nevertheless, how should revolutionaries react to the death of a colleague,
a brave one?  Revolutionaries should understand the mission and fate of
fighters.  Death is the fate of all.  It is the only rest for a truly
revolutionary fighter.  Death is familiar to us all.

Why has Commander Fajardo died?  Who is responsible?  Whose fault is it
that country is losing a colleague like Fajardo?  Those who think there is
no justice; those who want the revolution to fail; those who want our
country to become again a land of injustice, privileges and crime; those
who want to dominate our people; those who want again to take over our
economy are responsible for the commander's death; but above all, those
from abroad.

They continue to drop arms by parachute so that the counterrevolutionaries,
the traitors, feel encouraged to go into the mountains, and are encouraged
by foreign help to fight against the revolution.

Guilty of the death of Commander Fajardo in the first place is the
government of the United States; guilty of the death of Commander Fajardo
in the first place are the bandits of the Pentagon and Intelligence Service
of the United States, which have been constantly parachuting arms over the
Escambray so that groups hostile to the Revolutionary Government may be
formed to oppose the actions of the peasant militia.

That is why Fajardo was in the Escambray, leading the peasant militia,
guarding the territory, and opposing all the efforts being made by
imperialism to form these groups of counterrevolutionaries.

Guilty of the death of Commander Fajardo are the same criminals of
yesterday who assassinated so many Cubans.  Guilty are those who sell their
country, guilty are the traitors, guilty are those who are not resigned to
the reality and the justice of the revolution.

In the ranks of the enemy, our pain is joy.  The death of a son of the
country is happiness for the traitors, but this happiness cannot last.  We
feel something more than pain; there is valor too; there is the spirit of
struggle.  There is pain, but there is also determination to forge ahead.
Traitors will have to die without glory.  We feel pain, but the traitors,
those in the service of foreign gold, those who do not want us to progress
and be happy, will have to die dishonorably before the firing squad.
(applause)

Colleague Fajardo fulfilled his duty as a doctor, a teacher, and a soldier.
The doctor and the teacher fell when the soldier fell.  The life of a
Fajardo is not molded easily.  To succeed in becoming what he was, it was
necessary to make a long, hard effort from the very first schooldays to the
last years of his career as a student; and to become rebel commander, his
sacrifice was great.  Fajardo was one of those who performed many services
following his appointment as commander.

There is one less commander in our ranks but how much better it is that the
commander who fell died for a cause and not as a traitor to his country.
Although we have suffered losses, men have fallen in line of duty.  When we
see so many faces of old soldiers, when we know of the reserves the country
has, the old reserves and the new reserves, we still have the consolation
of being able to say to the fallen soldier:  Rest in peace.

You have won the prize won by the good. You have won the right to the
eternal love of your people, of the present and future generations. We feel
deeply that you continue to live with us. We feel that you will see the
faces of children going to the city that you began.

Work will forge ahead.  Grateful children will see that the country forges
ahead at any cost.  The struggle will move on at any cost.
Counterrevolutionaries and traitors will continue to encounter top-ranking
soldiers like you.  We are consoled by the fact that we can say that
enemies of the people, no matter where they are or what they try, will be
annihilated.  Rest in peace colleague Fajardo.  (applause)
-END-