-DATE-
19610105
-YEAR-
1961
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
-PLACE-
HAVANA
-SOURCE-
REVOLUCION
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19610105
-TEXT-
CASTRO SPEECH ON SECOND ANNIVERSARY
OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION

Source:  Revolucion, Havana, 5 January 1961

In view of the exceptional circumstances under which Fidel Castro
delivered his vigorous and extremely important address to commemorate the
second anniversary of the Cuban revolution and in answer to the
interventionalist threats of the Yankee imperialists and the
counterrevolutionary planters of bombs and active phosphorates, Revolucion
is publishing its text in full so that the millions of Cubans who heard him
can strengthen their patriotism and their determination to defend their
fatherland with their guns and bare hands by reading the words of Fidel
Castro.

If the haughty millionaires in the "Filthy House" in Washington,
the insane militarists in the Pentagon and the Wall Street monopolists have
had any illusions about the acts of counterrevolutionary sabotage they have
directed and carried out within our country, believing that they can
intervene, because they will find some shameless and abject allies here,
they had their answer here in the thousands and thousands of men parading
with rifles, anti-tank guns, machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons, and in
the vigorous address by Fidel Castro.

Visitors from all countries, who are encouraging and honoring us
with their presence at this ceremony, and Cubans all;

Once again we have met in this great plaza, which has always been
filed with the warmth and the enthusiasm of our people.

However, there are many who are not present: there is a large part
of the mass of the people, who cannot be with us as they always have been
at this moment, because other duties demand their attention.  Nor can
the men who paraded before the people for almost nine hours (applause) be
with us here, because they left their jobs to march and they have gone back
to their jobs (applause).  Nor can the dozens of thousands of militiamen,
who kept vigilant watch over the fatherland while they marched, so that
the enemy could not make capital of today's commemoration to extract some
possible advantage from it, be with us (applause).

Thus, many thousands of good Cubans, of robust workers, who have
always contributed, through their presence and their revolutionary fervor,
the tone of enthusiasm which has always characterized these gatherings, are
lacking.  However, we have witnessed the usual enthusiasm. And the unusual
presence of Cuban women is due to the fact that since many men could not
come tonight, their wives came, and their daughters came, and their sisters
came, to take their places (applause).

We have come today to commemorate the second anniversary of our
revolution.  All of us recall that day two years ago when the revolution,
properly speaking, began.  Perhaps many of those who enjoyed privileged
situations in our society believed that there would not be a revolution.
It is possible that they did not even have any idea of what a revolution
was.

Those who did not want and whose interests were not served by a
revolution, those who could never accept the revolution, are not with us
today.  Those who did indeed understand the need for a revolution, or who
have come during the passage of these two years to understand this need,
those who have seen, those who have had the unusual opportunity to see what
a revolution is, at the end of two years, after two years, are here with
the same enthusiasm as on that first day (applause).

This enthusiasm (it began to rain gently, and the audience began
to shout: "Put on your coat!").  I hope that the rain will not hinder the
ceremony tonight.  (The public shouted "We are getting wet!")  I believe
that indeed you will get wet, but in that case, I had better get wet with
you (shouts of "No!" Dr. Castro took off the coat he had put on, and the
crowd immediately shouted "Put it on, put it on!" and "Cover yourself
up!:).

Comrades.  We understand perfectly that under other circumstances
it might be more or less important if we got wet.  What we have difficulty
understanding is why at a time such as this, when the fatherland is in
danger, in moments such as these when all of the people are ready to give
their lives to defend their cause (applause), if at times of danger to our
country, such as these, when those of us who lead the people are ready,
together with the people, if we are all ready together, we, above all,
because this is our duty, why it is worth concern at a time like this if a
few drops of water fall on us (applause and shouts of "Cover yourself up!"
Dr. Castro put the coat on again).

If we cannot persuade you with reason, and we believe that we are
right in what we are saying, we will not argue further.  In any case the
ceremony, the time, the minutes and the things about which we must think
tonight are of much greater importance.

We spoke of those who did not understand and could not understand
the revolution, and of those who did understand it.  First of all, a
revolution does not come about without a reason.  Those who believe that we
are the cause of the revolution are mistaken.  Those who caused the
revolution, paradoxically, are those who could never want a revolution
(applause).

There would not have been a revolution if there had not been so
much injustice against our people.  It is proper to start with the fact
that the blame for the fact that our country is engaged in a revolution
must be assigned to the great abuses committed against our people for so
many years, to the exploitation to which the country was subjected, to
which it had always been subjected.  Any one can understand that without
these circumstances, there would not have been any reason for a revolution
in our country.

The revolution, then, was a necessity, and the revolution is being
carried out and will be carried out (applause)!

What is a revolution?  Is it perhaps a peaceful and calm process?
Is it perhaps a rosy path?  A revolution is the most complex and the most
convulsive of all historical events.  It is an infallible law of all
revolutions, and history teaches that no true revolution can ever fail to
be an extraordinarily convulsive process.  If it is not, it is not a
revolution.  Even the foundations of a society are affected, and only a
revolution can affect the foundations, and the pillars upon which a social
order rest are shaken, and only a revolution can shake them.  If these
foundations are not affected, the revolution could not take place, because
a revolution is something like the raising of an old building in order to
put up a new one (applause). The new building cannot be built on the
foundations of the old.  Thus, the revolution in its process must destroy
in order to build (applause).

And this is what we have been doing during the two years --
destroying the foundations of the building.  Thus, those who wanted that
old building which is being destroyed by the revolution, the structure
representing their privileges and the extraordinary advantages they enjoyed
at the expense of the others, are watching the demolition we are carrying
out sadly and in discouragement.  And the revolutionaries, who feel no
nostalgia for the past, and who have their eyes fixed on the future and
only on the future, we are living in the hope, in the encouragement and in
the inspiration provided us by the new social edifice we are building
(applause).

And in these two years, while the enemies of the revolution have
advanced from words to deed, the facts have increasingly clearly revealed
the conflict between these two criteria, between these two forces: those of
the past and those of the future, those who cling to yesterday and those of
us who cling to tomorrow, those who did not want change, those who wanted
the continuation of a system and an existence in which the most
inconceivable injustices were inherent, and those of us who are determined
to create a new world for our people (applause).

The conflict between the old world and the new world was
inevitable, and as this conflict is growing sharper every day, it was
necessary to clarify ideas for the people, but not only to help the people
to understand, for we must clarify ideas for the enemies of the people as
well (applause).

We are not going to speak of the benefits of the revolutionary
here today.  There is no need to repeat here what the people know perfectly
well, what everyone of you has seen and experienced.  There is no need for
us to enumerate to our generous visitors the number of things the
revolution has done.  You are not here without reason.  You have not
embraced the flag of the revolution without justification.  Everyone knows
that revolutions entail the destruction of privileges and the interest of
exploiting minorities and serve the interests and the rights and the
aspirations of the vast oppressed or exploited majorities (applause).  We
will set aside these enumerations, and we will state and analyze why a
conflict of interest was inevitable, why the interests of the majority and
the interests of the privileged minority had to clash.

Even those who receive its benefits do not always understand the
revolution.  It is possible that some of those who benefit from a
revolution are not even capable of understanding it. There are some men who
are true sons of the past, a product of the past.  This privileged minority
exerts an influence over a part, which may be a smaller or larger part, of
the people because it was the minority which received an education, which
held political power, which monopolized all the media for culture and the
promulgation of ideas, and which tried to model the thinking of the people
to its thinking.

Some times a large part of the masses fails to understand the
revolution, as in the case of the slave who was exploited in a country in
which agrarian reform was undertaken, and who exclaimed:  "Why are they
taking the land away from my master, if he is a good one?"  (Applause.)  In
other cases, however, a revolution is understood by the majority of the
masses, and fortunately, this has been the case in Cuba (applause).  And
the struggle of the privileged minority, the struggle of the enemies of the
revolution, which has from the very first been designed to confuse the
people, has failed.

The privileged minority and the great interests which were
affected by the revolution have made an extraordinary effort to persuade
those very people who have profited from the revolution, the men and women
liberated by the revolution, to plot against it.  They have tried to turn
the people freed by the revolution against their revolution (shouts of:
"To the wall!").

And this is invariably the tactic of the dominant classes when
they are removed from power.  Anyone who analyzes how the people are
deceived, for example, how through systematic false propaganda it is
possible to confuse great national groups, if one understands, for example,
the tragedy of the United States, the people of which are systematically
deprived of all true information by the monopolistic news agencies, one can
see how the most powerful thought media, which exert an influence on the
ideas of the peoples, are systematically used by these dominant minorities
in order to perpetrate the most criminal deception upon the people.

One can understand the hopes the enemy of our revolution places in
the idea of confusing a part of the people.  However, it was much easier to
deceive foreign peoples, the brotherly peoples of our continent, than our
own people, because we were witnesses to the events, while the news
received by the great masses in America comes through the agencies which
are the declared enemies of our revolution.

However, these masses, who are not witnesses the events happening
in Cuba, are nonetheless witnessing the suffering to which these peoples
are subjected and to which we were subjected, and this is the only
explanation for the fact that despite the tremendous campaign waged against
our revolution, our Cuban revolution has the sympathy of the broad masses
of the brotherly peoples of Latin America (applause). The perception of
suffering itself has been more powerful than all the distortions of truth
to which our revolution has been subjected.

But if we want to understand things as they should be, we must
remember that no revolution has been spared slander.  There are
circumstances which repeat themselves so inexplorably that it is virtually
useless for us to hope to be free of them.  The distortion of truth, the
worst slander and the worst kind of attack have been the first harvest of
all the great revolutions in the history of mankind.

If we wanted to measure the merit of our revolution and its
courage, it would suffice to measure the hatred of it felt by the great
reactionary interests in the world.  It would suffice to observe the hatred
the worst and vilest exploiter among the modern imperialists feels for it
(shouts of "out!").  It would suffice to note the hatred of the most
reactionary press in the world for our revolution, the tremendous campaign
of slander which it began to promote against it from the very first.  This
will help us to see, to the great satisfaction of our people, that our
revolution,too, will go down in history as a great one (applause).  But no
revolution can be free of these inevitable evils -- slander, distortion of
the truth, aggression.  We should not believe that we can escape these
things or any of the other inevitable consequences of any true revolution,
because this is a true revolution (applause)!

The conflict of great interests is inevitable.  The bitter
struggle between the revolution and the counterrevolution is inevitable.
The struggle to the death between these two forces was inevitable, and
within a revolution, all struggles are to the death (applause).  Only
dreamers and the ignorant can imagine otherwise.  We have known this since
the very first, and we understand it more clearly every day thanks to the
experience the struggle provides and because of what one learns in a
revolutionary process, as we have all learned, you and we (applause).

However, as there is no better teacher than the facts, it was
necessary for the facts to teach us.  It was necessary for the facts
themselves to lead the people, the great mass of the people, to a better
understanding of what a revolution is, to understand above all and first
of all, that a revolution is not a bed of roses, a revolution is a struggle
to the death between the future and the past (applause).  The very nature
of any revolutionary process makes any other alternative impossible.  The
conflict of interest is too acute within a revolution for things to be
otherwise.  The old order always resists death, and the new order, the new
society, the new world which is forged by a revolution fights with all its
energy to survive (applause).  The struggle becomes a vital matter for both
forces.  Either the counterrevolutionaries destroys the revolution, or the
revolution destroys the counterrevolutionaries (applause and shouts of "we
will triumph!").

Both forces have their goals and their tactics.  Both forces know
what the resources they have are.  Every counterrevolutionary movement
represents a force, and there can be no revolution which does not generate
a force opposed to it.  The revolution itself generates the forces which
combat it.

And the counterrevolutionary movement finds its social support
among the great privileged interests which have been ousted from economic
and political power.  It finds its support among the great estate owners
who have lost their lands, the great landowners who have lost their
properties, the great industrialists who have lost their factories, the
great bureaucrats who have lost their sinecures.  It finds its support in
all the parasites existing in society.  (Shouts of "out!").  It finds its
support in the social scum which is the product of ignorance and
exploitation.

The counterrevolutionary movement has the support of all the
parasites and all the social scum (shouts of "out!:), that sometimes large
army of elements which thrive on what is rotten, the large army of men who
were satellite parasites, small parasites in orbit around the great ones,
and whom we know in our country as the hired ruffians (shouts of "out!:),
spies, petty politicians, men who lived off vice, either gambling, traffic
in drugs, smuggling, white slavery or crime, or from the rental of their
strength to the powerful ones, whose privileges they defended and for whom
they killed and oppressed the people -- all of this social mass, including
all the cowards, all of those who are vicious, all of those who are
miserable, all of those who are parasites, support the
counterrevolutionaries (shouts of "to the wall!").

But in our country there was also a very special circumstance,
because the most powerful support of the counterrevolutionaries, their main
force, was not this mass of the miserable, the parasites, the exploiters,
the assassins, the vicious and the cowardly.  The main support of the
counterrevolutionary came from a force which has made itself felt
throughout the world, a very powerful force, so powerful today that it is
the main hindrance to the progress of mankind, so powerful that it is
creating conflicts in all the continents of the world, so powerful that it
is interfering in the affairs of a majority of the nations in the world, so
powerful that it seeks to determine and in many cases does determine the
state of other peoples.  The basic support of the counterrevolutionaries in
Cuba was inevitably that of the great foreign monopolies, that is to say,
the support of the great imperialist forces.

This force is so powerful that how many governments are there is
America which can say no to it?  How many politicians can say no to it?
This force is so powerful that there are very, very few politicians among
the various peoples of America who can say no to it, and the governments
which can deny it are true exceptions.

This force is so powerful that the majority of the men in public
office, and the vast majority of the government leaders on this continent
and the others in the world always have to say yes.  And our people say to
the powerful force to which so many say yes, our people say no (applause
and shouts of:  "Cuba, yes, Yankee, no").

But it is not easy to say the word no to a powerful force.  The
peoples cannot say no to the face of a powerful empire with impunity.  This
no to the imperialists had of necessity to be the Cuban revolution, and
the imperialists decided to destroy this revolution which said no, refusing
to joint he infamous chorus of those who had always said yes.

The powerful empire decided upon the destruction of the Cuban
revolution.  The Cuban revolution inevitably clashed with the powerful
empire.  Is there a naive individual in the world who believes that
agrarian reform could be undertaken, that the land could be taken from the
great imperialist companies without a conflict with imperialism?  Is there
any naive individual in this world who believes that public services could
be nationalized without a clash with the imperialists?  Is there any naive
individual who believes that it is possible to aspire to an independent
economy and an independent political life without a conflict with
imperialism?

It is hardly likely that such a naive individual could exist,
particularly since events have been teaching us the truth.  Thus, the
counterrevolutionary forces found their support in imperialism, and the
struggle of the Cuban revolution ceased to be a struggle within the
national framework, and became a struggle of our national interest against
those of the imperialists.  And this reflected a law governing all
revolutions:  the reactionaries who are defeated in a country always seek
the support of foreign reactionary forces.

Reactionary solidarity exists in the world, and in all
revolutions, the reactionary classes have always tried to regain domination
of a country with the support of the international reactionaries.  But in
this case, it became a struggle between David and Goliath:  the struggle of
a small people against the imperialist giant, whose vast hands can reach
the peoples of all of the continents of the world.

The struggle of the Cuban revolution became an epoch, the epoch of
a revolution taking place in a small country, struggling against the most
powerful empire of modern times, and this powerful empire has placed every
resource and every facility in the hands of the counterrevolutionaries.
The imperialists became the leaders of the counterrevolution, and at this
moment we are engaged in a struggle in which the counterrevolutionaries
have the full support of this powerful empire.

Perhaps this is the greatest merit of our revolution.  Perhaps
this is the great merit which history will assign to our revolution -- the
fact that it did not face a small enemy, but a very powerful one, and this
powerful enemy undertook to "restore the rule of the abject" here in our
country (applause). And the abject individuals stirred to life, became
active again.

Quite certainly, without the effort the imperialists have made
against our revolution, our country would not have the slightest problem,
this would be the happiest land in the world, and this would be a nation of
peace and work.  Without imperialist support, what could the enemies of the
revolution do?  The enemies of the revolution would not even dare raise
their voices.  The enemies of the revolution would not even dare to
challenge the great mass of the people.  The enemies of the revolution
tremble before the people, tremble before the great majority of the
people, but the imperialists took away this fear, the imperialists gave
them hope, the imperialists gave them support and resources, but above
all, they gave them the belief that one day they would be able to dominate
this great mass, they made them believe that it does not matter how great
the popular support of the revolution was, that sooner or later the
revolution would be destroyed by the imperialists and then they, the abject
ones, could rise to power over the lost hopes and ideals of our people.
(Applause)

And the abject ones indeed believe that one day their imperial
masters would place them here again, with a little flag they claim as a
national emblem, with the hymn they claim as the national anthem, and with
a mark on the map to promote the fiction that the abject govern and that
they give the orders.  But these people could not live except on that which
is rotten, and they could neither exist nor serve as the tools of
imperialism, except in the corrupt world and environment in which our
people lived before the bright day of 1 January 1959 (applause).

And the revolution was able to raise up this country, eaten away
by rot.  The revolution was able to raise up the country, which was the
setting for all political vices, all kinds of crimes.  The revolution was
able to block all the abject individuals from public life.  The revolution
was able to block all the petty politicians from public life.  The
revolution was able to block all the criminals and tortures from national
life.  The revolution was able to block all the parasites from national
life.  The revolution was able to do away with the vicious and the vices.

The revolution was able to do away with all the public
immoralities.  The revolution was able to do away with theft, with crime,
with hunger, with misery, with ignorance (applause).  (Shouts of "Fidel,
Fidel!").  The revolution was able to do away with banditry, with dishonor,
with lies, with treason, with injustice, with exploitation (applause and
shouts of "to the wall!").

The revolution was able to do away with the shameful submission to
foreign interests and the revolution was able to liquidate these foreign
interests (applause).  The revolution was able to do away with prejudice,
with unjust and cruel discrimination (applause).  The revolution was able
to create hope in the people, to awaken in the sleeping people the most
noble aims and ideals (applause and shouts of "we will triumph!").  The
revolution was capable of awakening national shame and reviving and giving
rebirth to the extraordinary virtues of our people.  And from a past in
which life was a shame, a past in which life was without hope, the
revolution brought to the country to a time in which it is a great honor to
be a son of this nation (applause and shouts of "Cuba, yes, Yankees, no!").

The revolution awakened the moral sense of the people.  The
revolution awakened human solidarity in the men and women of our people.
The revolution did away with egotism and made generosity the main virtue of
each citizen. The revolution gathered the best of the nation.  The
revolution cleaned house, the revolution purified, the revolution made the
country decent, the revolution redeemed the country.

But the abject ones cannot resign themselves, and they, aided by
their imperialist masters and entirely in their service, paid in the
miserable gold of the imperialists, are dedicated to corrupting the
country, of working to return the country to corruption and slime.  They
place bombs (shouts of "to the wall!"), murder innocent children, injure
women and men without consideration, and attempt to destroy the wealth of
the people.  Those who did not place bombs in factories yesterday when they
were the property of exploiting farmers do so now that they are the
property of the people.  (Shouts of "to the firing wall!").  Those who in
the past did not sabotage industries which were owned by foreign
enterprises or millionaires sabotaged them today when they are owned by the
people.  Those who yesterday, when the national economy was in foreign
hands, when the wealth of our fatherland served to swell the fabulous
fortunes of the foreign monopolies, when the bread produced by the sweat of
our people was not for us, when the wealth created through the work of the
people was not for the benefit of the people, did not sabotage, did not
plant bombs, did not spread active phosphorous, did not attack now do so,
when everything belongs to the people.

We, the men who were in the mountains, never have adopted the
tactics of terror.  We have felt a real revulsion for these methods.  But
nonetheless we could understand that the young people wanted to destroy
enterprises which were not national, but foreign, and a means of exploiting
the people, that they wanted to destroy wealth which was not Cuban, but
foreign.  We could understand that young people rebelled with hatred
against vice, against crime, against plunder.  We could understand how they
felt hatred for the assassins, the thieves, the torturers.  We could
understand that they had a noble aim.

But today, against whom are the planting the bombs?  Against the
scrupulous and absolute honor of the men governing the republic?
(Applause).  Against whom are they planting the bombs?  Against the
barracks we have converted into schools?  (Applause).  Against whom are
they planting the bombs?  Against the teachers we have sent to our rural
people?  (Applause).  Against whom are they planting the bombs?  Against
the doctors we have sent to every corner of the country?  (Applause).
Against whom are they planting the bombs? Against the lands we have given
to the peasants?  (Applause).  Against the homes we have provided for the
people?  (Applause).  Against whom are they planting the bombs?  Against
the 200,000 new employees to whom the revolution has given jobs?
(Applause).

I would like all the men and women who are here and who work to
raise their hands (the men and the women of the people raised their hands).
Look at this sea of hands!  This is what the revolution has done!  And we
ask ourselves, for whom are the bombs meant?  For these hands which labor,
these hands which produce the national wealth?  (Prolonged applause and
shouts of "to the firing wall!").

The bombs are meant for the clean hands of those who create, the
honest men and women of our people, the men who are fulfilling their duty
nobly and gallantly, the men who have learned to respect the human
individual.  Those who did not attack the ruffians want to murder soldiers,
militiamen and men who have never struck a single citizen, who have never
put hand on anyone (applause)!

The cowards encouraged by the imperialists have filled themselves
with the false bravery which leads them to believe that the abject ones,
protected by the powerful, can triumph.  The cowards have filled themselves
with the false bravery allowed by the fact that the revolution has been
generous and extraordinarily humane.  The abject ones have filled
themselves with false courage because they know of the concern the
revolution has devoted to avoiding strict measures, severe measures.  The
abject ones have filled themselves with false valor.

They know that no representative of the authorities will strike
them or torture them.  They know that this is an immovable principle of the
revolution.  But since, moreover, the revolution decided one day to abandon
the revolutionary courts and suspend the executions, and although later it
reestablished the revolutionary courts, it was very generous and very
tolerant with the counterrevolutionaries and traitors, what happened?  What
happened was that the abject ones carried on as they pleased.

Planting bombs and engaging in sabotage became a lucrative
business, and a safe one.  If they were not caught, they received the
splendid funds with which the American Embassy paid terrorists here (shouts
of "out!").  If they were not caught, there is a crowd of agents of the
CIA, the FBI and the Pentagon here who are operating with impunity (shouts
of "out!") and it is these agents who have given the terrorists the most
modern tools of destruction.  It is they who have supplied the terrorists
with high power explosives, with very effective chemical substances, with
all the tools of destruction and sabotage.  It is they who have supplied
the terrorists from bases there, in US territory, and their planes are
constantly harassing our fields and our cities.  It is they who have given
hospitality there to the criminals, to those who have murdered soldiers
here and who have gone to hide there, those who have stolen planes even at
the cost of passengers' lives.  It is they who have been constantly sending
weapons to various parts of Cuba in an attempt to promote insurrections,
and it is they, above all, who have encouraged these miserable abject
individuals.

Thus, they have found a lucrative business -- destroying a
people's factory, a people's shop has become a task for which the
imperialists pay well.  If they are caught, they have no problems in the
police stations, and also the revolution has not executed them (shouts of
"to the firing wall!" and "now, yes!").

The revolution sentenced them to prison, but as the
counterrevolutionaries believe blindly that the imperialists will get them
out of jail and place them in power, they are full of illusions.  And the
history of revolution teaches that in this sharp battle of interests the
counterrevolutionaries are not concerned with prison sentence, because
they live with an ambition, they live with the hope of receiving their
sinecures some day, and what is important to them is to live, because they
believe that the powerful foreign master who aids them will rescue them
from prison and will save them.

This is a harsh truth, but it is a truth.  The prison sentences do
not frighten the abject ones, they believe that they will spend only a few
days in prison.

And for this reason, with the greatest impudence, even in these
days when there has not been a single family which has not had enough, what
is necessary to spend a few happy and tranquil days (applause), when the
revolution has managed to give all the workers an end-of-the-year bonus,
they have planted bombs in crowd-filled establishments, and they have
burned warehouses full of Twelfth Night toys for children (shouts of "to
the firing wall!").

And they believe that they can destroy with impunity the wealth
that the people create with their work and their clean and honorable hands.
The hands of the abject ones want to destroy what the hands of the honest
men, the men and women workers of our country, produce, in order to collect
their miserable pay from their foreign masters.  The abject ones believe
that the revolution cannot do away with them, and the revolution, which has
done away with many evils, knows how to do away with them also (applause)!

The revolution has had great patience.  The revolution has allowed
a number of agents of the CIA, disguised as diplomatic employees of the
American Embassy, to remain here plotting and promoting terrorism.  But the
revolutionary government has decided that within 48 hours, the Embassy of
the United States here will not have a single employee more than we have
(interruption of a prolonged ovation) allow me (ovation continues) allow me
to complete my thought.  The fact that we made this statement in a certain
way served the purpose of discovering the desires of the people.  We were
not going to say all of the employees, but not one employee more than the
number we have in the United States, in other words, 11 (applause).  And
these gentlemen here have more than 300 employees, of whom 80% are spies
(shouts of "let them go!") if they all want to go (shouts of "let them
go!") then let them go!.  (Shouts of "let them go!"), "Cubans, yes,
Yankees, no!" and "Down with Caimanera!").

While on the one hand they are exerting pressure to persuade the
governments of the Latin American peoples to break off relations with us,
they, through their diplomatic representation, have brought a real army of
spy agents and promoters of terrorism here.  And in recent days they have
gone so far in lack of respect for the interests of the people, that in
making investigations in search of some houses in which to establish a
voluntary teachers' training center, we found three Embassy employees
living in a house left them by a gentleman who had gone to the United
States, and despite the urban reform, these three gentlemen were living
there openly without even paying rent (shouts and whistles).

We must realize that they had purchased a large part of the money
stolen by the war criminals, that is to say, they gave them dollars,
purchasing pesos at a very low price, at 20 cents each, and some have been
so shameless as to steal the price of the rent of a house from the people
of Cuba (shouts of "out!").

And while they exert pressure on other governments to break off
relations with us, they use the Embassy to introduce spy agents and
terrorists here, because they have been directing the terrorism under the
cover of diplomatic immunity.  For this reason, the revolutionary
government is adopting this position I have set forth here.  We will not
break off relations with them, but if they want to go, so much the better
(applause)!

And as the revolution is a struggle to the death between the
people who want to advance and the abject ones who want to cast us back
into corruption, there is, as we have said, no alternative to the
revolution:  either the counterrevolution will annihilate the revolution,
or the revolution will annihilate the counterrevolution (applause). Either
the counterrevolutionaries will wipe out the revolutionaries, or those of
us who are revolutionaries will wipe out the counterrevolutionaries
(applause).

And therefore, we proclaim here our readiness to adopt severe
measures against the abject ones in the service of imperialism (applause).

All of the guests present at this ceremony and at this
commemoration of the second anniversary are special witnesses to the
feeling of our people (applause) and to the fact that the paid agents of
imperialism have destroyed the wealth of the people and are destroying the
lives of the people.  Our visitors are witnesses to the fact that a small
country, undertaking the true revolution against the opposition of an enemy
as powerful as the imperialists, who have such a volume of economic
resources for bribery and the purchasing of consciences, such resources
with which to corrupt, such technical resources with which to destroy, the
Cuban revolution finds itself faced with the vital necessity of
annihilating the terrorists and the counterrevolutionaries (applause and
shouts of "to the firing wall!").

And on the fourth of next month the Council of Ministers will meet
to approve a very severe law providing for capital punishment not only for
terrorists, but for the leaders of the terrorists (applause), severely
punishing not only the planting of bombs, but the possession of explosives
of any nature (applause), authorizing capital punishment for those in
possession of explosives and inflammable substances used in sabotage
(applause), for every act of terrorism against the revolution, and every
act of sabotage of our national wealth (applause), and authorizing the
application of these penalties by means of summary procedures, such that 72
hours after the discovery of an act of terrorism or sabotage (applause),
the terrorists or saboteur will be penalized by the revolutionary
government (applause).

We know how to liquidate the terrorists, we know who the
terrorists are, we know who supports the terrorists, what the interests
here which are allied with the terrorists are.  We know that the terrorists
hide in homes of privileged gentlemen or whose affected by the revolution.
We now that the terrorists hide in the homes of the rich, we know what
social class supports the terrorism, we know how to liquidate terrorism,
liquidating not only the terrorists, but doing away with the last privilege
and the last economic interests of those who support the terrorists
(applause).

And if we have to take possession of the homes of the privileged
individuals who aid the terrorists, we will take possession of them, one
after the other, and establish school centers there, or put the inhabitants
of the poor quarters which still remain in the capital to live there
(applause)!

We know how to take the social fortresses which support the
counterrevolution, and if we have to take over an entire quarter, we will
do so (applause).  You can be certain that for each privileged individual
who lives in a luxurious home there are ten families here which live in a
single room (applause).

In saying this, we set forth our determination to liquidate the
counterrevolution, to liquidate the counterrevolutionaries, to destroy all
of the support of the counterrevolution and the terrorists (applause).  And
therefore, this year will be one of struggle, a year of hard battle, but
this year we will liquidate the counterrevolutionaries (applause and shouts
of "we will triumph!")!

They are trifling with the revolution, and they cannot imagine the
strength and the resources of a revolution.  The revolution is preparing to
defend itself against its enemies.  These weapons you have seen paraded
here, which are only a small part of the weapons the people have, because
here only a small part of the forces the nation has to defend itself
parade, but you were witnesses to the bravery, the martial aspect and the
enthusiasm of these women and men.

We should mention here that these men have for months given up
their periods of leisure, and in some cases they have given up the warmth
of their homes to take courses lasting several months, sometimes without
seeing their families, in order to train themselves in the handling of
these weapons (applause).  The men who handle the anti-tank batteries are
all worker-militiamen, 20 to 30 years of age (applause). The men handling
the heavy mortars are worker-militiamen under 25 (applause).  The men
handling the anti-aircraft guns are young men whose average age is 17
(applause).  The young men handling the bazookas are members of the youth
brigades who have climbed to Turquino Peak five times and have passed
extremely rigorous tests (applause).  They are men of the people, men of
humble origin, who were today, parading before the illustrious visitors who
are our guests, the pride of the nation (applause).

They know, as the poet Neruda said, that our battle is their
battle, and that our victory is the victory of the brotherly, peoples of
America (applause).

And they will go away with an unforgettable memory of what they
have seen today.  What have they seen?  A traditional military parade?  No.
Our people have never applauded an military parade when the weapons were in
the hands of those who used privilege against the people.  The people, on
the other hand, massively applauded the parade of their armed forces:  the
people applauded the tanks, the guns (applause), because they are their
tanks, their guns, because they are their weapons for defending all that
the revolution has won for them.  And they are not defended by a military
caste, but by the weapons of the humble workers and peasants, who have
learned to handle guns and other weapons more perfectly than the privileged
ever did.

And the abject ones, the privileged individuals, the parasites and
the children of the parasites who want to hoist the shameful banner of
crime and betrayal of the fatherland  -- let them realize that they will
not have little boys to deal with, but that they will be faced with men
(applause) who know labor and sacrifice!  And if they still believe that
imperialism will raise them to power, if they harbor illusions, let them
know what they should know.  We hope that no one doubts that these men who
have paraded here are men ready to die (applause).

The people are much stronger than any oligarchy.  The people are
much more powerful than any minority interests, and if they hope that here,
supported by the imperialists, they will be able to cause bloodshed and to
oppress the fatherland, let them know that they will find nothing, they
will not take a single building intact, they will not find a single house
intact, because we will defend each building with automatic weapons, with
machine guns, with bazookas and with cannons (applause)!  And we will
defend each building and each house from the roof to the cellar, and when
there is not a wall left standing, we will defend the ruins of the houses
(applause)!  And in each building and each fortress there will be one of
us, in each building and each group of men there will be a leader who will
never surrender (applause) and who will fight to the last bullet and will
then fight on (applause)!

These men who wear on their sleeves the honorable insignia of
rebel officers or militia officers are men who know what their fate is
(applause), and each rebel army soldiers in these units you have seen
parade here today, each militiaman in the special combat battalions, whose
firepower is equal to the firepower of an entire division in the last war
(applause), is a man who knows what his fate is.  The honorable and worthy
men and women of this country are men and women who know what their fate is
(applause), and each one of the thousands of members of the juvenile
brigades is a young person who knows what his fate is.

Each one of the teachers who has paraded here is a man or woman
who knows what his fate is, and each of the workers who paraded here, or
who did not parade because he was in a trench, and each of the workers who
are here, each of the modest men of this country is a man who knows what
his fate is (applause).

This is the destiny we have chosen, and it is one to which there
is no alternative.  For this reason, we wait, confident and alert, calm and
determined.  The danger which hovers over the fatherland does not frighten
us, but emboldens the people (applause).  We wait confident, we await
whatever may come with confidence. However criminal and treasonable the
blow may be, it does not frighten us. We will live through days of danger,
real danger, and the responsibility will fall not only to this
administration, but to the president-elect of the United States, because if
they believe that they can push the blame on the present administration, we
warn them that no attack could ever be carried out without the complicity
of the new government leaders elected in the United Sates (applause).

We hope for some corrections on the part of the new
administration.  We know that the political circumstances in the world and
the circumstances of the change which will take place in the United States
will force the new administration to adopt a more sensible and calmer
policy if it does not want to lead the world toward real slaughter and an
apocalyptic holocaust (applause).

Today we are in the same danger as the rest of the world, we are
running the risks the rest of the world is running,and the world is running
the risk of a war.  The world knows who is always pushing mankind to the
brink of atomic war.  There are many places where these enemies of mankind
and of peace have created zones of conflict, and mankind has the right to
nurture the hope that a maximum of good sense will lead the new political
leaders of the United States toward a more cautions and sensible attitude,
because no interest, much less the bastard interests of the monopolies, the
egotistical and repugnant interests of the monopolies, can justify forcing
mankind to live in the nightmare and the anguish involved in the
consequences of a war.  The world has a right to hope that there will be a
minimum of sense on the part of these men, and the world has a right to
hope that in the coming eighteen days the rotten leadership of the current
administration will not push the United States into the most criminal, the
most shameful, the most cowardly and the most repugnant of all its actions
(applause)!

We have accepted all of the contingencies of this struggle.
Calmly, we are prepared to face what it is necessary to face.  Therefore,
there is no uncertain path for us.  For us, all the paths, that is to say,
all that we will do and all that we hope for in the future, are known,
because we have established a line for ourselves and whatever our fate may
be, it will certainly be a great one, because the destiny of peoples who
triumph is great and the destiny of peoples who know how to die rather than
accept defeat is great (extensive applause)!

We will never be conquered.  For those of us who defend a just
cause, defeat does not exist (applause)!

And along with the fate of our country, they are trifling with the
fate of the world, they are putting the fate of mankind in danger.
Humanity will continue to advance, no one can doubt this.  Man will triumph
over evil.  Mankind will triumph over all injustices.  What we do not know
is what the price will be, what victory will cost, what the backward and
reactionary forces of the world will make mankind pay for its triumph, for
the fulfillment of its hopes.  How much will humanity have to pay?  This is
the question mankind asks today with real uncertainty, and which mankind
views with justified concern.  Humanity is fighting to be spared a truly
catastrophic price for its advance to a world without colonies, without
slaves, without the exploited and the exploiters (extensive applause)!

Mankind will triumph, no one doubts it, whatever the price may be.
One need only examine history to understand that those in the modern world
who are acting as the warmongers, the provocators do, are inevitably
condemned to defeat, as fascism was condemned and as Nazism was condemned,
but mankind paid a very high price.

Would that there were in these men who in some way influence the
decisions of the United States a minimum of common sense which would give
the humanity, which wants peace and does not want war, a little hope
(applause)!

The destiny of the world is at stake now, and an attack upon our
country, which would give rise to adamant and prolonged resistance, would
be an attack upon the world, which will not leave us to fight alone
(applause)!  Because we know what we are not alone, because w know and we
are certain that an imperialist attack upon Cuba would lead them to their
own destruction.  But nonetheless, we do not want them to commit suicide at
our expense (applause)!

And we are not thinking only of Cuba, for this would be
egotistical.  We are thinking also and with sadness of the sacrifices which
an attack upon our country would involve for other peoples, the dangers it
would mean for mankind, because above man, above individuals, there are
nations, and above nations stands mankind (applause)!

Thus, today, as we return to our homes or to our jobs, we must
realize that we are living in an overwhelming important time in the history
of our country and of the world.  We must be persuaded that our slogan,
fatherland or death!, is not just a slogan for the fatherland, but one for
mankind!  (Ovation.)
-END-