Latin American Network Information Center - LANIC

-DATE-
19610314
-YEAR-
1961
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
ANNIVERSARY OF 1957 STUDENT ATTACK ON PRESIDENTI
-PLACE-
HAVANA UNIVERSITY
-SOURCE-
HAVANA FIEL NETWORK
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19610314
-TEXT-
CASTRO SCORES U.S. ANTI-CUBAN ACTIVITIES

Havana, FIEL Network, in Spanish, Mar. 14, 1961, 0452 GMT--E

(Speech by Fidel Castro outside Havana University on anniversary of 1957
student attack on presidential palace)

(Summary)  We are gathered here today to commemorate another anniversary of
the sacrifice of a group of martyrs on a date which merits commemoration.
There are many dates we can commemorate, but some are like symbols, and
this date, Mar. 13, is one of the symbolic dates the country must always
remember.

A few days ago we gathered to pay homage to the workers and soldiers who
died when La Coubre blew up.  Today we gather to commemorate those young
university students who paid such a high price for what we have today.  It
was logical for us to gather here, we who represent the revolutionary
people, we here tonight are gathered those who represent the revolutionary
forces of the nation.

The speakers who preceded me summed it up; and it is quite true that those
who have stayed here, loyal to the revolution, are the ones who in fact
wanted to carry out a true revolution.  Comrade Cubelas enumerated the
members of the revolutionary directorate who fought along with Echeverria
and noted that all were present here, all those leaders of that
revolutionary organization.

We could say the same about all the comrades, who in the hardest days of
the mountain fighting stayed there ready to face all obstacles.  We could
say the same of the PSP man, who in the difficult days of the persecution
and clandestine activity refused to desert their cause.  We could say the
same of all those Cubans who for a long time, for years, had wanted this
hour to come to pass in Cuba.  We could say the same of all the patriots of
the past century who fought and died and did not have the chance to see the
Cuban flag fly really free.  The history of nations is made by loyal men,
men who persevere and refuse to desert their cause.

The revolution has been purging its ranks.  At commemorations like this, we
have seen some who come hypocritically, not having the right to be present.
The revolution has seen to it that they have been left along the roadside.
Many of them have gone to the other side but those of us who have remained
feel much better.  Sometimes we have needed great patience to tolerate
certain faces.

The revolution has not been exclusive or the monopoly of anyone.  They
could have exercised the right of becoming revolutionaries but they
preferred to be mercenaries.  The people were capable of forgiving sins,
but the sinners became traitors instead.  Those who have remained with the
revolution can smile at the rain as if it were nothing.

It is time for us to learn and to understand what a revolution really is.
A revolution is a very serious and very profound event in the life of a
people.  It is not an easy thing.  Our revolution is one of the events of
history.  The coming generations of Cuba, America and the entire world will
speak with reverence of our revolution.

That is why we should feel worthy of the task we are undertaking.  We must
have no illusions; it is not an easy task.  It is possible that the task
has not been too difficult up to now.  It is possible that it has not
required great sacrifices up to now.  It is possible that we have received
much and made few sacrifices up to now.

In reality, those who have missed having some of the satisfying things of
life to which they had been accustomed are the ones who exploited the
people.  They have seen many of their privileges disappear.  That class
still exercises some influence over the people.  That class preaches
disagreement.  It does not counsel strength in the face of privations.  It
is the first to protest, the first to spread its discontent and bitterness
among the others.

That is why we should learn to analyze the revolution as it is:  a conflict
of interests.  Revolutions are undertaken in the interest of the peoples.
Revolutions are made to bring happiness to those who have never had had
it, even if all privileges of a few must be taken away.

In order to understand the revolution well you must bear in mind that this
is a struggle between those who exploit and those who struggle so that the
people can have what they had always been deprived of.  Those who have
sacrifices are the privileged.  Those whom the revolution sacrifices
without any consideration are those who have exploited the people.

Imperialist's Aims

When the imperialist government decreed the suppression of our sugar quota,
what did it want?  When it wanted to prevent shipments of replacement parts
to Cuba, what did it want?  It wanted to bring hunger, to leave us without
economic resources, to halt our transport and our industries.  It wanted to
do these things in order to make us fail.  Why did it want us to fail?
Simply because we have put an end to the abuses committed against our
people' because we put an end to exploitation of our people by them;
because we recovered the nation's land which was in foreign hands; because
we redeemed the banks, sugar production, national sovereignty, all of which
were in foreign hands; because we redeemed for the people what yesterday
was held by the monopolies.

Therefore, so the Latin American peoples will not follow our example, they
want the revolution to fail.  They do not want to lose the mines, land,
banks, industries and businesses they have throughout the world.  Because
we were the first to do what all the peoples of America would like to do;
because we have decided to govern ourselves; because we have regained
independence and sovereignty; because we are a free people who do not have
to ask permission from anyone; because we dared face up to the imperialist
colossus; because they no longer find submissive executives here, they
want the revolution to fail.

Because Cubans are showing other peoples the way to liberation, a
liberation that can never be had from the hands of those who want to buy
the conscience of America with a few million dollars; because we are
showing America the true road of justice and liberation, which can never be
hoped for from those whose sole goal is to maintain their colonial dominion
over Latin America and obtain colossal profits at the expense of the
peasants.  It would be like a slave waiting for his master to free him.

We are showing America the true path, and that is why the imperialist
government has remembered that Latin America exists.  Up to two years ago,
the Yankee empire did not remember the existence of Latin America.  Now it
is alarmed, not over the welfare of Latin America, but from fear of losing
America.

Kennedy's Concern Deceitful

Who will believe that the financial trusts, the misers, the Yankee
millionaires are anxious over the progress of America?  The Yankee
millionaires and their representatives in the government are worried only
over the possible loss of their business in America, their oil wells,
their big landholdings, cheap labor, their outlet for capital.  It is
deceit, this alleged eagerness for progress that the millionaire Kennedy
spoke of today.

Kennedy knows that his allies and friends in Latin American are not the
poor peasants, the landless Indians; he knows that his allies and friends
in Latin America are the big landowners.  What does he speak to them about?
Does he speak to them about industrial development in Latin America, or the
use of natural resources, or economic independence?  No.  He talks to them
about houses, schools, roads.  That is, he speaks of making available 500
million dollars, but not for industrial development or agrarian reform.
Why?  Because Kennedy is a representative of U.S. millionaires, and they do
not want national industries in Latin America.  The American millionaires
do not want national industries in Latin America.  The American
millionaires do not want national industries, but Yankee industries in
Latin American countries.  And so when they talk about the 500 million in
alms, they dare not mention factories, national industry, or any of the
measures that would solve problems of the nations.

Kennedy cannot speak of economic development, because that is banned by his
complicity with the big monopolies, the millionaires.  The millionaires
will give alms, provided it is spent on things that do not mean developing
the national economy, or economic independence, because the financial
trusts would not be willing to accept any policy meaning economic
development in Latin America.  Besides, the alms would remain in the hands
of those who in general do not leave even the nails; those who receive the
dollars and send them out again the Europe or the United States itself.

U.S. Aid Not Needed

The 500 million dollars are not needed for schools.  Cuba is the first
country in Latin America that has the full number of teachers needed for
primary education.  Cuba is the first country in America, including the
United States, which will wipe out illiteracy.  Cuba by the end of this
year will be the only country in all America which can boast that everybody
can read and write.

The 500 million dollars are not needed to solve housing problems.  The
revolution has given everybody the house he lived in.  Besides, in Cuba
this year, 25,000 dwellings will be built in the rural areas alone.

The 500 million dollars are not needed to build roads.  In Cuba we are
providing magnificent roads in areas which had been without communications
for centuries.

The 500 million dollars are not needed to provide school buildings.  The
revolution has converted barracks into schools, and has built school
centers.  The 500 million dollars in alms are not needed to solve these
problems.

What is needed is to rescue our national resources from foreign hands.
Without the 500 million, or one million, which we do not need or want, even
after an act of unspeakable aggression deprived us of million--our economy
depended wholly on the market they had created, for their own
interests--even after they took away hundreds of millions of dollars,
eliminated the sugar quota in an unspeakable act of aggression that could
be expected from only imperialist freebooters, and in spite of ferocious
aggression, we can have teachers, schools, housing, roads, hospitals, more
employment, scholarship holders in the university; 80,000 in credits is
being arranged for small farmers, and national production has been greatly
increased.

How is this possible without alms, after they took away what we had a right
to, and although our economy had been forged by them on a one-crop system,
with one market?  How was it possible?  Simply because we have dislodged
all Yankee monopolies.  Simply because we have carried out a revolution and
rescued for the people the basic national wealth.

American Cannot be Bought

That is what cannot be counteracted with alms.  That is what cannot be
conquered with usurious dollars.  That is what they can never offer our
America, and our America cannot be bought with 500 million dollars; our
America cannot be bought in any manner, because economic independence is
not sold, national dignity is not sold, the future of nations cannot be
sold by anybody, and anybody who does sell it will be deceiving the
purchaser.

Kennedy wants to buy that which nobody can sell him, and therefore, faced
with the actions of a little nation, of one of the smallest nations in
Latin America, the all-powerful giant of the hemisphere becomes excited and
is filled with anxiety and fears and says that the Cuban problem is no
longer the giant's problem with the little country; the intimidated giant
feels weak in the face of the morale and the right and the prestige of the
small nation and says that it is America's problem.  (It is no longer?) a
U.S. problem with Cuba but all America's problem with Cuba.  And we might
say that Cuba's problem with the United States is not a Cuban problem with
the United States but all Latin America's problem with the United States.

The distinguished Mexican revolutionary leader Lazaro Cardenas rightly said
that if Kennedy took a notion to visit South America, he would receive a
reception much like the one given Mr. Nixon.

Why that hasty meeting with the Latin American ambassadors?  Why that
announcement of important declarations?  Why?  Because they realize that
America is waking up and because plans are failing.  The popular victories
of the leftist sectors in several Latin American countries are more than
enough to seriously worry Yankee imperialism.

There was the worthy attitude assumed by the Brazilian President
(Applause), and by the president of Ecuador in defense of the Cuban
revolution, that is in defense of the self-determination of peoples and
against unilateral or collective intervention in another country.  There
were the statements of the present President of the Uruguayan National
Council, the victory of Palacious in Argentina, and victories of the
Socialist and Communist Parties in Chile where the two popular front
candidates won a formidable victory, the extraordinary significance of the
conference on national sovereignty, economic emancipation and peace just
held in Mexico, the attitude of the Mexican Government regarding Cuba and
the support of some political figures as greater as Lazaro Cardenas--more
than enough reasons to worry imperialism.

Look at the imperialist press reaction to Quadros' attitude.  Quadros
proclaimed Brazil's right to trade and to maintain relations with all
countries of the world.  Quadros proclaimed his support for U.N. membership
for the Peoples Republic of China.  Quadros proclaimed the principle of
nonintervention as against Yankee plans for forming an anti-Cuba bloc.  He
said, No.

These are the sovereign statements of an American government.  They sent a
former ambassador who previously had shown lack of respect toward Brazilian
sovereignty.  It was correct for the Brazilian President to receive him
properly; he merely maintained the dignity of a president.  But that was
enough for them to unlease a propaganda campaign against him in the
imperialist papers.

The empire feels offended and says it will not tolerate an independent
policy in Latin America.  Now some Yankee papers threaten Quadros.

The newspaper EL DIARIO of New York, which published an interview with
Jorge Masetti, censured the Brazilian President and the PRESNA LATINA news
agency.  The paper said that Quadros will not last long if he continues as
he has.

We are sure that in face of imperialist threats, the Brazilian people will
unite with the President who maintains the national sovereignty.  But the
imperialists will not delay long in accusing Quadros of being a communist.
Some papers have already begun the campaign.

In Ecuador the President himself declared with extraordinary courage that
the imperialists had offered economic aid in exchange for breaking off
with Cuba.  What a corrupt and shameful policy is the policy of the
imperialists, the millionaire users.  They propose unworthy acts to
government Leaders of America.  That is the "Alliance for Progress" of
which Mr. Kennedy spoke.

Let us see what takes place in Latin America.  We will see if imperialism
is right or if Cuba is right.  Let us see if the conscience of America can
be bought as Kennedy believes, or if the conscience of America cannot be
bought as we believe.

Of course, reference to Cuba was not lacking. His allusion to the great
sympathy he feels for the Cuban people was not lacking.  Sympathy with the
landed estate owners, yes; sympathy with the Yankee companies that were
here, yes; sympathy with those who controlled the banks, yes; sympathy with
gangsters who controlled gambling and smuggling, yes; sympathy with the
thugs and the war criminals, yes; sympathy with the traitors, yes; sympathy
with the discriminators, yes; sympathy with the exploiters, yes.

But sympathy with the workers; no; sympathy with the peasants; no;
sympathy with the Negro, no; sympathy with the poor, no; sympathy with the
exploited, no; because the millionaire users sympathize with users like
themselves, but are incapable of sympathizing with the people.

A recent event, a very significant event, revealed much about the real
personality of the new U.S. President.  It happened that in Guantanamo
City, there was an outbreak of polio.  There was no vaccine there.  The Red
Cross official, perhaps because of lack of patience, instead of
communicating with the national Red Cross, took it upon himself to request
some vaccine from the base Red Cross.

What did the base do?  Did it give the vaccine and keep quiet?  No.  A mass
of reporters and photographers were present at the delivery of the vaccine.
that was bad enough, but the incredible thing is that within 48 hours, at a
press conference, the U.S. President declared that he sympathized with the
Cuba people as was demonstrated by the vaccine delivery.

If some day the imperialists were to ask us for aid to save some U.S.
children, we would give them the vaccine without publicity.  How did they
act?  Like a petty politician would have acted, just like those we knew
here.  The ridiculous part was that while they were playing politics with
that vaccine they did not realize they had sent outdated vaccine.  This
incident told us much about the character of that man who is always taking
advantage of an opportunity to say he loves the people but not the
Revolutionary Government.  Well, let Mr. Kennedy know that the government
is the people.  (Chanting)  Let Mr. Kennedy know that he cannot separate us
from the people, as we cannot separate him from the monopolies and
millionaires.  The Revolutionary Government and people are the same, as
usurious millionaires and the government are the same thing in the United
States.

This is a government of the people, by the people, for the people.  The
revolution is for the poor.  We are thankful for all the people of Cuba
have learned.  We are thankful for the way the Cubans have been taught that
the free world of the imperialists is the free worlds of the men murdered
under Franco, of German and Japanese militarism, the free world of the
murderers of Lumumba, the free world of the murderers of Sandino, and above
all, the free world of the criminals who murdered the soldiers and workers
on La Coubre, the free world of those who support the exploiters, the free
world of monopolies and trusts, the free world of the hypocrites who offend
freedom by speaking of it while seeking to make slaves of workers in the
service of users.

That is a world without principles, a world which practices crime and
violence.  Its only goal is gold, even if it is bloodstained.  It does not
believe in God; its only God is gold.  For them the only freedom and
democracy is gold; the only dignity is that which can be bought with gold.
They have no ideals that cannot be sold or exchanged for gold.  They have
no principles that cannot be exchanged for gold.  Gold, gold, gold--that is
imperialism's philosophy.

U.S. Revolution To Come

That is what we have learned.  If the U.S. people do not know it, it is
because they are not allowed to see it by the magnates who control radio,
TV, press, and movies, and are capable of taking the entire nation to
catastrophe.  For if the U.S. people do not understand this truth, it is
because machinery is set up to deceive them, to cloak lies by the same
methods used in propaganda.  But perhaps the day is near when the people of
the United States will learn, as the millions of unemployed grow, as the
economy plunges into crisis.  One day the U.S. people will learn.

We can tell Mr. Kennedy one thing:  He will see a victorious revolution in
the United States before a victorious counterrevolution in Cuba.  This
regime is on a solid foundation; that regime is based on a foundation of
injustice, doomed to disappear as colonialism and imperialism are doomed.
And so we can triumph in the new life, while they persist in the obsession
of an old way of life.  We have the might of right, of justice.

Force cannot keep the peoples of America from becoming free and attaining a
better world.  All the marines will be unable to prevent this.  All the
soldiers and planes, even atom bombs, will be insufficient.  When the
hungry men of Latin America know what they can do to become free, the right
of the empire will crumble.

In Europe, under the Nazis, resistance grew; groups of patriots fought the
invaders.  The imperialists are as (ferocious?) as the Nazis.  Nazism was
just a coincidence of imperialism.  Nazism and fascism are the goal, the
end, of imperialist regimes.  Those horrible crimes, that of genocide,
represented the same thirst for mastery, exploitation, and wealth which
dominates the brains of the Yankee militarists.  The Nazis could not
dominate Europe.  No matter how much effort is made to combat revolutions,
such effort is doomed to failure. History will reveal how all their
preventive measures will not prevent America from realizing its destiny.

Socialist Forces Superior

Cuba is not the only colonized country, the only country exploited by
imperialism.  The world is big, and the world of the countries which have
freed themselves is powerful.  Science at the service of mankind and
justice has developed much more powerful forces than those developed by
science at the service of exploitation.  Imperialism's might is decadent
compared to the might of the Soviet Union, People's China and the socialist
countries.  The imperialists cannot do as they please in the world as they
used to.  Their possibilities for maneuvering are very limited.  And before
them, inexorably, is the prospect that within 10 years the production of
the USSR will exceed that of the United States.  Inexorably, the standard
of living of the USSR will pass that of the United States.

The USSR was devastated by civil war, invaded, devastated again by the
great war.  Towns were leveled, livestock wiped out, the countryside razed,
while all U.S. industrial potential remained intact.  Fifteen years have
passed since then.  In the so-called free world there is more hunger and
poverty.  Kennedy himself admits this.  Standards of living threaten to
drop still lower in the free world.  Growing hunger is just a consequence
of imperialism.

We do not see how the problem can be solved unless imperialism disappears.
These are truths which cannot be changed by lies; they are irrefutable.  No
sermon from a reactionary cleric and no editorial in a reactionary paper
will change the facts.  The United States had enormous industrial capacity
after the war but it was not used for mankind.  Fifteen years later the
country ravaged by the Nazis is advancing so fast that very soon it will be
ahead of the country which did not lose a single screw during the last 50
years.

These are indisputable facts.  How is imperialism to escape defeat?  Only
by war and destruction.  That is the philosophy of those who know they are
defeated.  All they need to do is to add and subtract.  Imperialism today
has competition from its own allies, the other colonialist countries.  They
are competing among themselves.  Let them take their lies away, their
philosophy based on gold, their inhuman system of hunger and poverty.  Let
them go away and no longer have any place in history.  Let them go to the
past where they belong.

Humanity is advancing.  It is breaking the chains of slavery.  The world is
advancing.  What can the result be if not the complete sovereignty of
nations, the economic independence of nations, the cultural development of
nations.  The result cannot be slavery or colonies again.  Colonialists
cannot teach humanity anything.  In the name of the future, those guilty of
enslaving millions of men cannot teach humanity anything.

Kennedy will not be able to teach humanity anything.  People like
ourselves--the Russians, Chinese, Indonesians, Congolese, can teach
humanity something.  Humanity can learn from those who have broken their
chains.  Those who have chained humanity for centuries cannot teach
humanity anything.

Naval Attack

I want to refer to an incident which tells much about the "Alliance for
Progress," the military alliance for progress.  Today in Cuba, a country
devoted to work and not wanting war with anyone, a naval vessel entered
our second city to bomb a national industry in a senseless act, an example
of the work of imperialism.

What does that mean?  That aggression is growing more acute.  One cannot be
certain that one day they will not drop bombs.  In the same way they
attacked an industry today, they might be ready to attack the ports of our
country as in the days of piracy.  Everyone knows that the Central
Intelligence Agency has turned over weapons to our enemies.  Our small
country sees itself incessantly attacked by those who have been thwarted in
their aggressive attacks, with the revolution still marching forward.

We have here one of the shells fired against the refinery.  A 57 mm shell
of U.S. manufacture.  (Crowd shouts)  We ask ourselves if our country will
continue being the victim of this attack?  In reality, we do not know, but
we must have our courage ready for this and for everything.  We must defend
ourselves from these attacks.  We will defend ourselves.  We should be
ready for everything.  We would not be worthy of the task we have
undertaken if we were not.

Complaints of Shortage

There are some here who complain about not being able to see Gary Cooper
movies.  When a people must live ready for war, as we must, they should
prepare to solve their problems with intelligence.  When a shortage of some
article is announced, people come out and create an artificial shortage.
This has happened to soap and other articles.  If there is a shortage, let
it exist.  Speculation should cease, for it is stealing from the people and
shows lack of honesty and conscience.

We feel that the people are capable of cooperating.  Measures never should
be decreed without an explanation.  All government officials should work
with the people.  We are sure they will always cooperate.

Each of us must become a guard of the revolution.  We can direct the
schools. The revolution cannot clean out the schools because we have the
duty of educating.  But how can we permit our children to be led astray?
The children believe the lies they are told.  If a child is led astray, the
final guilt is ours for permitting it.  The children should always have our
greatest consideration.

In due time the government will take measures.  The revolution will not be
stopped.  Waging war on the revolution will only make the revolution
stronger.  The revolution will continue to advance victoriously.  It will
move forward with the true revolutionaries, who will temper their spirits
in a true revolutionaries, who will temper their spirits in a true
revolution.  With them we will continue forward, fighting our enemies,
correcting our mistakes, trying to strengthen the revolution in every way,
trying to gain ground on the enemy, trying to defend every man and woman,
trying to convince those who can be persuaded.  As for those who cannot be
persuaded, those who fight us, we will wage war on them.  Active
counterrevolutionaries, like the parasites they are, like the servants of
imperialism they are, we will exterminate.  The revolution must be hard on
its enemies.

I repeat that the revolution is a battle to the death between the interests
of the people and those opposed to those interests.  If the revolution does
not wipe out the counterrevolution, the counterrevolution will kill the
revolution.  The only force of the counterrevolution is the great force of
empire, of the mighty foreigner.  That force encourages the
counterrevolution, provides it with planes and pirate ships and weapons.
Force from abroad is all the counterrevolution has.  Since we are fighting
powerful enemies, and the counterrevolutionaries are agents of those
enemies, we are obliged to be hard.

The ranks of the revolution have been open to everybody.  It is necessary
to be hard with those who sell themselves to enemies of the country.  We
have not even denied exploiters the right to live with some comforts.  We
must be hard on those who have refused to see our generosity.

The revolution even suspended the revolutionary courts and the death
penalty; that shows the intentions of the revolution; but the revolution
had to riposte against those who kill workers.  Terrorists obliged the
revolution to restore the revolutionary courts.  We regret that the
revolution has to take such measures, but the revolution is not to blame.
It is the fault of the counterrevolutionaries, imperialism, the myrmidons,
who wanted to come and shed more blood and thought the revolution should
stand idly by.  the revolution would not do that.  Today it is the traitors
who must fear, the terrorists and plotters who must worry.  The workers,
farmers, students and working people who went through the frightful past
will not stand idly by.

We know what hands move the criminals; it was Yankee hands that forged the
tyranny and maintained it; it was Yankee bombs that were dropped on so many
families; Yankee explosives and agents were behind the sabotage of La
Coubre; it is Yankee explosives that have gone off in stores, schools, and
factories; Yankee arms are used by the mercenaries; Yankee planes violate
our territory; it is Yankee vessels which carry out acts of piracy against
our towns, Yankee officers train the mercenaries; and it was Yankee hands
that colonized our economy, imposed the Platt Amendment on us, and
prevented the victory of the liberating army in the fight for independence.
Those hands want to return.  We must be hard and implacable on whoever
serves those hands, whoever lets himself be used as a tentacle to carry out
the wishes of our country's enemies, who prevented the happy culmination of
the people's triumph in years past.

As for the rest, we will see; we will see if the violations continue; we
will see if they intend to keep our country in a state of war, or constant
aggression, and destruction.  We will see, for the peoples of America will
react, and the peoples of America will give a lesson to the enemies of our
people.  We are prepared to resist; nobody doubts that.  We are prepared to
stand firm; nobody doubts that.

Will Promote Revolutions

The revolution will continue forward, let nobody question that.  We will
defend ourselves.  We will know how to mobilize the resources necessary for
defense.  We will go on buying arms, we will bring mountains of arms, if
they continue harassment.  If they harass us with pirate ships, we will buy
ships to pursue them. If they harass us with planes, we will buy planes to
pursue the pirate planes.  If they promote counterrevolution, we will
promote revolutions against those who promote the counterrevolution.  And
let the myrmidons and mercenaries and imperialists know that we are not
alone.  Let their continual failures not lead them to continual stupidities.

It seems now that they are not even dreaming of a little government here
but are thinking of establishing one in exile.  Very well!  Let the Yankees
name the government in exile when they want to; we will name many
governments in exile, and to begin with, the government in exile of Free
Puerto Rico.  As soon as imperialism forms a counterrevolutionary
government in exile, we will form many revolutionary governments in exile.
What is happening?  They have not dared to land.  They know they cannot
seize even one little bit of Cuban territory or stay long at any spot they
land.  And now despair leads them to create a government in exile.  Very
well.  Let us wait and see if they form one, and let them remember that
every right they claim for themselves here in this hemisphere is another
right that we claim in the hemisphere.  We are not at all afraid of
imperialism.  We hope imperialism realizes that we will give back deed for
deed.  Let imperialism know that the revolution is not intimidated and does
not fear it.  And now let us see how they will answer in the United Nations
to Cuba's charges.  Let us see how they will answer in the United Nations
to today's act of piracy.

When we were in the United Nations, we waited to see what the U.S. delegate
would say.  He said nothing.  They are so brazen, they say nothing.  They
go from discredit to discredit throughout the world, without realizing that
there is only one sensible thing to do:  Let Cuba alone.  The more they
harass Cuba, the more Cuba will riposte.  The more they combat the
revolution, the more it will gain support in Latin America.  If they
understood that, they would take the intelligent path but they are stupid,
and they must be expected to act as such.

We will go ahead, certain of victory. Victory was much further away in
other times; much further away when Comrade Jose Antonio was being killed
in Havana, and on that Mr. 13 we had just (12?) men.  Today we are 12 times
500,000 and our rifles number a multitude.  The revolution has not promised
anything it has not put into effect.

So more and more goals must be set.  The revolution fulfilled its first
promises, and it intends to stick to the principles approved as that
gigantic assembly of the people.  Forward, then, always forward; that is
our course, always determined to face sacrifices.  Sacrifices thus far have
been few.  We have enough valor to face much greater sacrifices.  The
revolution will conquer.  Fatherland or death.  We will conquer.

-END-


LANIC |