-DATE-
19680725
-YEAR-
1968
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CASTRO SPEECH AT VITA NUOVA PASTA FACTORY
-PLACE-
SAN JOSE DE LAS LAJAS
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC RADIO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19680726
-TEXT-
CASTRO SPEECH AT VITA NUOVA PASTA FACTORY

Havana Domestic Radio and Television Services in Spanish 0025 GMT 25 Jul 68
F

[Speech by Cuban Prime Minister Maj Fidel Castro inaugurating the Vita
Nuova pasta factory near San Jose de las Lajas--live]

[Text] Comrade workers of the Vita Nuova factory: We have toured the
factory and we think it is better than we can put into words. I think the
television cameras have given you a good idea of what it is like. I think
this is one of the first factories to be completely toured by television.
We thought the entire process was extremely interesting, and in general
this was so throughout the factor.

The Food Industry Ministry comrades have given me some information which I
will read to enable those who are not too familiar with this industry to
learn about it. the factory has an output of 82 metric tons of pasta every
24 hours. It will be in operation 280 days a year and will produce the
following types of pasta: first, pasta with durum wheat semolina; second,
pasta with durum wheat semolina and eggs; third, pasta with durum wheat
semolina, watercress, and eggs; fourth, pasta with durum wheat semolina,
carrots, and eggs. In the future, pasta with various vegetables may be
included.

The factory has 43 molds, and eight different types of long pasta can be
produced. It has 37 different types of short pasta and six different types
of (?nest and bologna) pasta. It looks as if we will have to learn some
Italian for this. [crowd laughter] This plant can almost vie with the
Coppelia ice cream plant, which has 53 flavors. [Castro chuckles, crowd
laughs]

As of 30 June, the factory has produced the following: 1,996,630 grams in
500-gram packages--in other words, 985.3 metric tons--and 260,160 grams in
250-gram packages, in addition to the ones produced this afternoon in the
plant.

Total production as of 30 June: 961.2 metric tons. The little, or better
said, the huge factory [crowd laughter] so far has produced 2,014.4 metric
tons. The pasta packaged in bulk containers are earmarked for social
consumption--National Tourist Industry, day nurseries, and so forth. The
short, long, and (?nest) pasta is packaged in 500-gram containers to be
sold to the public at 45 centavos. The pasta is distributed to various
cities in various provinces.

Pasta production in 1966 was as follows: noodles, 27,319 tons; pasta, 6,657
tons. Total: 33,976 metric tons or 4.3 kilograms per capita. The previous
production was for a population of 7,930,900 people. Pasta production in
1967; noodles, 30,240 metric tons; pasta, 7,910. Total, 38,150 metric tons,
or 4.7 kilograms per capita.

Pasta production in 1968 is for a population of 8,265,000 people. Noodle
production for this year is 28,665 metric tons; pasta, 17,595; total:
46,270 metric tons or 5.6 kilograms per capita.

The installed capacity of the nation increases, with this factory, from
38,000 metric tons to 61,000 metric tons a year. In other words, it almost
doubles the factory of [Castro leaves thought incomplete] including all the
pasta and noodles, it almost doubles it.

Taking in account the pasta capacity this factory increases output almost
four times. We suppose that next year they will even have a higher
production because by then this plant will have attained peak production.

In other words, according to an estimated population of 9.4 million people
in 1969 the per capita production installed capacity increases to 7.3
kilograms.

The cost of the plant: estimated value of the building, 800,000 pesos;
adaptation to the building, 575,000 pesos. The plans, machinery, equipment
and technical assistance, 1,728,400 dollars. Payment terms are 10 percent
down, 10 percent against goods delivered, and 80 percent credits payable in
5 years at 6.25 percent interest. Equipment and technical assistance was
supplied by the Italian engineer Mario Pavan. The machines bear this name.

Consumption of raw materials per metric tons of pasta: 1,014 metric tons of
semolina. For a daily output of 82 metric tons of pasta a day, 83.07 metric
tons of semonlina are required a day. For each kilogram of pasta with eggs,
four eggs are consumed: 1,000 metric tons of pasta with eggs require 4
million eggs. They have a little machine in there which punctures and
selects them. It is very good.

Assembly: The first equipment for the factory was shipped on 24 June last
year. [Castro says something indistinct off microphone] It is a year today
since the equipment was shipped. It arrived on 18 August.

The plant began operating on 6 September. Testing of the first line for
short pasta began on 13 January and production on 30 January. Within a half
year, the equipment was shipped, installed, and in production. Of course,
it was limited production. Assembly was done under the direction of
engineer Renato (Sanun), and the mechanical and electrical installation
under nine other Italian assemblers. Assembly was done by the Construction
Enterprise, with the Flour Enterprise participating. The building was
converted to this use by the Construction Ministry.

The plant's labor force consists of: management, eight persons;
administrative personnel, three--they say there is no bureaucracy
[chuckles]. They have one class--production and distribution workers,
including laboratory, maintenance, and so on--249, for a total of 260
persons, or 116 men and 144 women. Women are in the great majority.
[laughter, applause] According to the data supplied by engineer Mario
Pavan, who a few minutes ago explained the features of this plant, the
largest installations of this type existing in the world are: the
(Varilla), which can produce 100 metric tons a day with 30 production
lines, and most of the machines in this plant were installed a long time
ago; the Agnesi and Buitoni plant, which produces 80-90 tons daily; and the
(?Cortiseglia) factory, with an output of 40-50 metric tons a day. That is
to say, it produces less than the Vita Nuova factory and it was the only
factory with mechanized storage until Vita Nuova was opened.
Technologically, the installation of the (Cortiseglia) is the only one
comparable to this one. Of course, it does not have the egg-breaker and the
test laboratory Vita Nuova has.

In the United States, there are three factories which produce about 100
metric tons or more: Mueller in New York, La Rosa, and American Beauty.
This consortium attains more than 100 metric tons a day in four (?parts).

In Canada, Pavan says, there are none that can produce 80 metric tons a
day. In Latin America there are four factories that produce 100 metric tons
a day or more: Niccolini in Lima, Matarasso in San Paulo--we are doing a
bit of advertising for rival plants of Vita; this is not to compete, but
for the consumer--the Carosi in Chile, and there is another in Buenos
Aires. The Carosi plant has been modernized inn the past 10 years and
produces from 100 to 150 metric tons a day. Engineer Pavan himself reported
that from the technological viewpoint, the most modern and complete
installation existing in the world with this capacity is the Vita Nuova
factory. [applause] We refer to the overall complex, which includes
transportation and bulk storage of raw material, the installed capacity of
this factory with only 15 production lines, the experimental laboratory,
the modern egg-puncturing unit, and the mechanized storage of the end
product.

Productivity: This is an interesting fact--in Cuba there are 24 pasta
factories including this one. Production is 27 metric tons, not including
this one. There are 24 with this one, but with an output of 27 metric tons
per worker not including this one. Vita Nuova output is 88.5 metric tons.
Production per worker will increase as the personnel become qualified. This
is an interesting fact: each worker here has a productivity more than three
times that of the average for all the other pasta plants. This gives us an
idea of how wealth can be increased by increasing production with modern
machines, modern installations. That is, each of you does the work of
three. The others are not at fault. They do not have the machines you have.
Possibly in the future you will fall behind if there is a more modern
plant. It may be so, right? [women's voice says "Of course"]

The workers in this factory have worked 16,839 volunteer hours in January,
February, March, April, and May.

The following comrades took a course in Italy: the production chief, shift
chief, mechanics, and three in charge of packaging. In Cuba, 60 women
comrades took courses as pastamakers, hoist operators, laboratory
technicians, and so forth. A restaurant was built across the way. It seems
that it will advertise Pavan. [laughter] Its sepciality is pasta, and the
equipment was donated by engineer Pavan.

Here is the data for the factory. Certainly this factory was installed in a
building which was not especially designed for this type of plant. When the
revolution triumphed, it was being built as a brewery. For several years,
this building was underutilized, until it was decided to install this plant
on this site.

In passing, I wish to bring up the attitude of the revolution toward beer,
since beer is a product much to the people's liking, and some wonder
whether the revolution is against beer. There is nothing to that,
certainly. Actually, beer output has been rising considerably with the
existing installed capacity--1.2 million cases of beer were being produced
a month in addition to (?250,000) cases of malt beer. A cutback in beer
production has been made. It was reduced to 700,000 cases. but malt beer
production was increased to 700,000. The nation went through a very acute
drought and the food value of malt beer was compared to that of beer. In
other words, one production line was reduced and the other line was
increased. Almost 1.5 million cases of both kinds of beer are produced a
month.

Of course, there is still some underutilized capacity. In the future, it is
planned to increase beer output making use of the underutilized
capacity--about 15 percent. Beer requires bottles, raw materials, and malt.
But beer output will increase. Some of the equipment earmarked for this
plant will be used to increase the capacity of other plants. The revolution
does not plant of hold back beer production in the future. It will increase
beer production capacity without decreasing malt beer production. It will
increase as the demand requires.

You must realize that malt beer is sold to the public at a much lower price
than beer. This is a good example of the way the revolution guides itself
and always has to guide itself--not on the basis of how much money it will
make or how much profit an industry will make--we would not be socialist if
we wanted to work for profit. In socialism, one works or ought to work to
meet needs. [applause] This is one of the things that distinguishes a
capitalist from a socialist. Under capitalism, one works for profit. Under
socialism, one works to meet needs. One does not concern himself as to
which product is more profitable, but rather what product or line can
satisfy more needs or the most important needs, using the efforts and the
natural and economic resources of the nation.

Hence, from the point of view of receipts, it means that tens of millions
of pesos will be earned. All the same, this will contribute to better food
production. Of course, the people's taste for beer is also a factor, and
this the revolution must also consider. Beer is nutritious, but not to the
same degree as malt. More nutrients are found in malt beverages, but the
habits of the population are a factor, the tastes of the population enter
into it. The revolution must consider this.

A number of measures were taken during the revolutionary offensive. Some
may have interpreted them in the sense that the revolution was pursuing a
policy of curtailing fiestas and so forth. Nothing could be further from
the spirit of the revolution, for it wants all the people to have the most
recreation, sports, and education.

Heretofore, recreational facilities were available to a very small number
of people. The revolution wants to provide its 8 million plus people with
these facilities. We want to provide recreational facilities to the whole
nation, not just in some places in the nation. There are millions of people
in the nation who have never lived even near a movie theater. They have
never enjoyed what others have enjoyed.

Many of these facilities will be provided in the years ahead. For example,
they are building 80 small dams around Havana for irrigation. They are
small compared to the Paso Malo Dam and the El Mate Dam, but they are
sizable if the areas used for sports, fishing water sports, swimming, and
so forth are considered. Conditions will be arranged to enable the people
to participate in these activities. Some of them have been completed. Some
have been stocked with fish. A few days ago, we were walking near one of
the dams and we met two poachers. We told them that 80 of these dams would
be built and that they would all be stocked with fish, that they ought to
have patience and not fish now because the small fry would not have a
chance to reproduce. The dam now has carp, biajaca [a Cuban fish], and
trout. I think the comrades of the Fishing Institute are going to laugh.
The carp were biting quite well. The two fishermen had caught a mess of
little carp with just a little hook and some worms.

It must be a new kind of carp that bites well. They say that the trout eat
the carp, but at any rate they will have to stock all these fish. There are
other places--not only do we have beaches now, but we will have 80 dams.

There will be a huge dam near 100th Street--huge is relatively speaking, of
course, but it will impound 100 million cubic feet of water. It will have
an area of 60 caballerias. The botanical gardens will be near this dam.
They will cover an area of 40 caballerias. I think that they have planted
more than 100,000 trees. The comrades of the old botanical gardens in
Havana's old forest, which was not much of a forest--just four motheaten
bushes--have been planting a forest of more than 30 caballerias. There will
be more than 50 caballerias of forests almost in the heart of Havana. It
will feature one of the largest botanical gardens in the world. It will
have a sizable lake and recreation centers for all the people.

In short, the policy to be followed in all entertainment places, dance
halls, and movies is that they will continue to increase as revolutionary
resources permit it; this includes all traditional holidays and carnivals.
Certainly resources are not plentiful. The mobilizations have been very
great for all the farm plans begin executed.

This year the carnivals will be taking place in the provinces in the
capital, we had to sacrifice because all we have should not be made
available to Havana only. In Havana they organized major celebrations over
weekends; possibly some of you have been there--many have.

But the policy of the revolution is to develop all recreational centers to
the maximum, in line with the aspirations of our people and the aspiration
that a happy people ought to have all the facilities which once were only
privileges for a negligible minority.

I take advantage of this factory inauguration to speak on the policy to be
followed for beer. The only product no longer being made in Cuba is
artificial wine. This was done 5 or 6 years ago because it was made of
paint, alcohol, and sugar, and the capitalists produced millions of bottles
of it. We say that to stop producing this wine is a step in the right
direction. It is selling a wine which is not a wine. (applause)

The socialist state cannot swindle the people. It cannot produce a
fraudulent product which is also harmful, because there is nothing natural
about it. So we now bring in real wines from various countries to drink
here. This is another good example. It would have served to collect pesos
in the tens of millions; this artificial wine is not manufactured. Some
natural wine has been made of grapes from the Vanao area, and vineyards are
being planted, but for consumption of fresh grapes. As a matter of fact, we
have no ambition to become wine producers, as we have better conditions for
many other products.

If natural liquors are made--and rum certainly is being produced in a given
quantity--it is indeed a legitamate product. The rum can be more or less
strong; it will harm some less and some more. Some will benefit from it
under given circumstances, but it is a legitimate product. These items will
also be expanded, and wine will be imported. In the future, we shall have
more than enough resources to import wine for those who wish to have it,
especially if they drink it moderately. If it is drunk excessively, there
will have to be a campaign to explain to the people what is suitable and
what is not. We shall have to become accustomed to it.

Nowadays, prices are higher for drinks than for food and other things, and
this is logical. Another thing that has risen incredibly is cigarette and
cigar consumption. [he tries to repress laughter] It is tremendous; the
people are consuming unknown amounts. We shall have to campaign on this,
too, some day, because it is important that everyone know how to be
moderate, that the people be taught about what can harm them, and what it
can do to them. In the future, it will not be a matter of higher or lower
prices. Procedure must be found to teach the masses to control their
consumption. As far as production is concerned, it will be no problem.

Naturally, it is much more satisfying to open a plant of this type, or a
diary, or any product which is still more vital to the population. There
will be a day when people will be educated to know how many calories are in
every food they eat, how much protein, how many vitamins, and what is
adequate nutrition for good health. Naturally, in the future, when there
will be more protein in the form of fish, meat, and eggs, there may be less
consumption of pasta and some of such products as rice (?and bread).
Logically, as a country develops economically and has more funds for its
nutrition, its diet changes. If if eats too much starch and too little
protein, it may become fat, and this would not be good for either the heart
or kidneys, or blood pressure, or anything. The time will come when massive
campaigns will be needed to educate the public about the food that is best
for it.

Regarding the country's food intake, we have some data on how much is
consumed and what foods are imported. Some of them have increased in an
extraordinary manner. This is connected to the entire policy of creating a
food supply for the nation. There is a sign here explaining how to
consolidate the food base for the country.

The country now imports fats worth 34,911,400 pesos in currency; rice
imports cost 35,227,000 pesos, canned meat imports are worth 17,757,000
pesos, fruit preserves 5,484,000, and beans of various kinds like black
beans, peas, chickpeas, and lentils 15,733,000 pesos. Wheat flour imports
are valued at 30,256,000 pesos, wheat grain 23,019,000 pesos; for
milk--powdered milk, condensed milk in various forms--15,647,000 pesos;
butter 7,490,000 pesos; cheese 1,759,000 pesos; other important
items--wheat, vegetables for poultry feed production--4,440,000; inorganic
flour 2,248,000 pesos; oleagenous seed 3,229,000; potatoes out of season
3,155,000; cattlefeed 4,201,000 pesos; corn grain 11,471,000; finfish and
shellfish of various kinds 11,888,000 in spite of all the increases in fish
production. Total imports for the country in 1968 was 232 million pesos of
food--that is, all the wheat rice, fats, all kinds of food including
poultry feed, because the state plan for eggs is for more than 1 billion
eggs a year, which still is insufficient.

We are now increasing the poultry population by more than 1.5 million
additional chickens, which will produce some 1.2 or 1.3 million eggs a
year. National per capita food imports amount to 295,000 pesos.

Naturally, this figure is high, and it is partially due, in some lines, to
increased imports and also to price increases as compared to 1959 prices.
For example, lard costs79 percent more in 1968 than in 1959; rice, 8
percent; black beans, 194 percent; wheat flour, 4 percent; condensed milk,
23 percent; corn grain, 114 percent; butter 9 percent; potatoes, 270
percent; potatoes used to cost 24.4 a ton and now cost 90.2.

Naturally, we have to obtain these products from a great distance, and this
increases transportation costs considerably. In 1968 the total weight of
food imports was 1.44 million tons. This requires the arrival of 125
freighters of the 11,500-ton Pino del Agua class. In 1959, total food
import tonnage was 1,152,000 tons, equivalent to 110 ships of the Pino del
Agua class.

In other words, there is an overall tonnage increase. The population has
been increasing, and some lines, like wheat, have increased considerably. I
will give you comparative figures on the wheat flour consumed in 1959:
85,090 tons. In 1968, we will consume 273,716 tons. For wheat grain, the
figures are 97,427 tons compared to 297,000 tons in 1968, a vastly greater
tonnage.

The figures are less for some products than in 1959. For example, fats,
rice--proportionally much less--rich imports were 26 percent less in 1959.
Therefore, some imported foodstuffs have increased considerably, take wheat
flour and wheat, for example. Now, then, in the next 2 years the following
imported foodstuffs, will decrease progressively until they will disappear
completely: rice. By 1971, rice imports will not be necessary. We now
import 35 million pesos worth of rice. In 1971, we will consume more than
double what we are consuming now. We will consume almost half a million
tons of rice compared to almost 220,000 tons at present. We will consume
more than double and we will not have to import rice.

I was saying recently that by 1970, milk production for the second half of
the year will increase fourfold. Production will increase considerably, and
in 1971 it will amount to some 8 million liters a day and will become
another foodstuff which will not have to be imported at all. On rice and
milk alone, in the next 3 years, we should save 60 million pesos.

Similarly, canned meat imports will decrease as meat production increases.
The same will apply as fish production increases. Some foodstuffs, like
canned fruit, some of which jam production depends on, and some desserts
such as ice cream, will have to be imported, naturally. We will always have
to import some of varieties of fish. We do not know, for example, whether
we will be able to produce all the codfish we need, although codfish is now
considerable. We will have to continue to import some of these foodstuffs.

In the fats column, butter production will increase enormously. Lard
production will also show a marked increase. This will take place between
1970 and 1975. Of course, the first milk output increase will be in the
form of fresh milk deliveries. It will be earmarked neither for butter nor
for cheese production. Once all fresh milk consumer needs are satisfied,
then the surplus will be used for cheese and later for butter. In the
future, great swine herds will be fed with cheese byproducts from the
cheese factory.

We will have to continue imports of wheat flour and wheat because the
nation cannot produce them. Conditions for the production of such
foodstuffs do not exist.

Consequently, our exports will increase sizably. In turn, many foodstuffs
on which we expend huge sums will cease to be imported. There will be an
increase in funds for imports and an import decrease in some foodstuffs. It
is, of course, possible that at some future date there may be some butter
exports in order that various kinds of fats may be imported. We suppose
that in 1975 butter production will be more than enough to cover all our
needs today.

However, logically, it is not all going to be butter. We will need some
oleagenous oils; we may export this type of fat and import olive oil and
peanut and vegetable oil. Hence we shall still need imports of fats. But at
the same time we will export some types of fats. We will not consume all
the butter, just part of the output. As I was saying, other types of fat
consumption will include vegetable fats.

Thus food production will increase considerably in every way, permitting
increases in exports, which in turn will allow us to increase imports while
producing great savings in certain import lines.

Today we have inaugurated what is really a most modern factory. We are
delighted and filled with optimism that the revolution should have
factories of this type. We must not make factories with a backward
technology, factories in which workers productivity is minimal. We must
make factories of this kind and facilities such as this plant has--with the
most modern advancements, with ideal working conditions, a dining hall,
classrooms, a recreation room, all the sanitary facilities, and work safety
provisions.

We noted that productivity here is threefold that of our other plants. Our
country must not make a single factory unless it is of the most modern
type. In Cienfuegos, we are building a nitrogen plant which is also
technologically ultramodern. It will have an output of hundreds of
thousands of tons of fertilizer. It features one of the most modern
technical processes.

I have explained the policy regarding the development of the nation's food
production. Our country will need, between 1970 and 1975 and even beyond
that, between 1975 and 1980, hundreds of factories for the food industry.
We will produce sizable quantities of milk. First we will satisfy our needs
completely and then we will have to export. We will produce sizable
quantities of meat too, to the degree that our livestock increases at a
faster tempo.

Naturally, with our livestock in the process of developing, our cows will
not be slaughtered. Meat will come only from practically half the
offspring. Were they to be sacrificed, we would have a 70 to 80 percent
increase in meat production. But we are developing our livestock;
slaughtering is restricted to bulls and nonbearing cows. This is what will
assure us a huge increase. Enormous annual increases of millions of liters
of milk a day are going to be achieved every year that passes, from 1970
onwards. We were saying that between 1970 and 1973 we will produce more
than 4 million liters more milk a day.

In other words, if we achieve a level of 4 million liters of milk a day in
1970, we ought to reach a level of 8 million liters a day during the second
half of 1971; in 1972, 12 million, and production will increase at an even
higher rate afterward. This is precisely the outgrowth of this policy; we
have not eaten the cows. We have not sacrificed the cows. This had given us
great dairy heards and livestock that has undergone a transformation.

Our food industry will need hundreds of cheese factories. We will have to
process tens of millions of liters of milk a day. But by 1970, by 1971, we
will need more than 30 new plants to process and distribute fresh milk. All
the existing plants in the nation produce less than a million liters of
milk a day. New plants have been built, and with them can attain somewhat
more than 1 million liters a day. By the end of 1970, we should be
processing some 4 million liters of milk a day.

Double that quantity should be processed in 1971. That requires an infinite
number of installations, which should also be built with all the hygienic
norms for pasteurization of milk--for the conservation, pasteurization, and
distribution of milk. That means that milk is easy to get, but milk
requires many processes--beginning with the man in a dairy with all
hygienic conditions--and the process of the production of milk will have to
be mechanized. The milk is extracted, taken to receiving centers, is
processed, and pasteurized; that is, it is put not condition for
consumption. To prevent multiplication of bacteria, to make it a wholesome
food, and to distribute it to the population, more than 30 new plants will
be needed for fresh milk alone, beyond those in operation in 1971. Then a
still larger number will come, and especially there will come later the
plants for making cheese. All the huts where cheese is produced here are
not enough, for even an insignificant part of the milk (?production)
increase.

For the production of butter and powdered milk, very modern installations
are needed. We have had comrades studying in Europe all the problems of
milk processing, some 30 comrades. There are already plants for making some
type of cheese, where milk is poured into one end and cheese comes out the
other, completely automatic. Not for all kinds of cheese, but I believe,
for some types--cream cheese--very (?modern) installations exist.

We shall need an enormous milk industry. We shall also need an enormous
industry to process meat. We should have it with the purpose of seeing that
our country has one of the most modern food industries of the world, not
only because of the quality of the products that we are to consume, but
also because of the prestige of Cuban products, so that it will be know
that our industry has only the most complete facilities as regard
sanitation, quality, and technique.

I have mentioned only the lines of industry--the canning industry, the
preserving industry, and the ice cream industry. There is one factory that
distributes ice cream in the west. A modern plant is going to be built now
in Camaguey which will produce ice cream. It will have a capacity for
10,000 gallons a day. A factory must also be built in Oriente, so that this
industry will be established all over the country.

The food industry will require enormous investments and production
increases. The increases in egg production require many installations. The
increase in poultry production--when can we begin to increase the
(?flocks)? In 1970. Large quantities of feed will be invested in the
production of eggs. Fortunately, however, we have a product that will aid
the development of production, sugar, the proteins derived from the
molasses, because in sugar we have the valuable product of sugarcane. It is
possible that the day will come when, despite having a production of 10
million tons of sugar, the cane that is cultivated for use as feed for
cattle and fowl will be in quantities higher than the cane that is
cultivated for sugar. There is no crop--corn cannot remotely be compared
with it--for the amount of nutrients that can be obtained from a
well-cultivated caballeria of cane.

So, one of the bases for the future production of feed will be sugarcane.
Sugar also has calories and protein derived from the sugar syrup through a
biological process, in connection with which there is already a plant.
There is considerable experience being accumulated so that a good part of
our cattlefeed will come from sugarcane. And cane may be converted into
milk--in eggs, in chicken, in beef, in all. These are the miracles of
modern technology.

Our country will have to be inaugurating many plants for the food industry.
We estimate that we need five plants like this, five plants like this in
Santa Clara, Matanzas, Camaguey, and Oriente, that is, to have these
products distributed all over the country. There is no doubt that quality
in this plant is of the highest, and the food that is going to come out of
it in distinctive combinations is gong to be of many varieties and of
quality. If we put eggs and vegetables in these pastas, magnificant
products of this industry can be produced. So engineer (Alan) already knows
our needs in pasta factories, and Comrade (Micomet) will have to keep
designing projects, because in the future it will be necessary to construct
a building. There will be no line on one floor and another line on another
floor, but all will be on one floor, which will make production higher and
the process will be made even better and easier.

We do not know when we shall have the other four plants. It will depend on
the resources that the country will have and the other needs that the
country will have to tend to, since in the next few years many expenditures
will have to be made. In these years, expenditures will be made in the
sugar industry. That will give us exchange for the development of our
economy, but we shall have to make many expenditures in general, and very
especially in the food industry.

Something really encouraging in this industry, which in our opinion can be
taken as a model on that account, is that way the personnel have been
chosen for this industry, how personnel have been trained, and how the
broadest participation of women in this industry has been permitted in all
those activities they can perform. It must be said that the average age of
the workers is between 20 and 25 years. If the technology is new and if the
plant is new, the mass of workers that are making this plant work are even
newer. [applause] So, we shall have a very modern industry with a mass of
young workers. This type of worker is the symbol of what the society of the
future will be.

The 1.3 million youths that are in primary schools will receive instruction
through the sixth grade and, afterward, up to preuniversity level. A bill
is being studied that will make education up to the preuniversity level
compulsory, that is, through 12 grades for those who are naturally of
school age, just in case a person beyond that age now decides to study for
12 grades, but our youth will leave school with 12 grades of education as a
minimum so as to manage these machines, to manage a modern industry that,
as you can understand perfectly well, requires knowledge and technicians.
Any machine in the use of agricultural aviation, in the use of herbicides,
for chemical products, and cultivation machines--all require as much higher
education than that needed to use a shovel or a machete. Our people will
dedicate themselves in the future to production with very modern equipment
that demands ability, and knowledge. There will be no place in our
productive process, in which everything will be mechanized, for the
illiterate.

You have seen this very instrument for cracking eggs, which is not like the
process of the old cook doing it on the edge of a plate or skillet,
breaking an egg. In the same way that these four machines crack, I believe
8,000 eggs per hour, one day the work in the kitchens--the products of
which are carried to the children's centers and the schools--will also be
done by factories. The (?business) of an isolated cook breaking an egg on
the edge of a skillet will disappear. Since these foods will be prepared
with machines--because machines can do practically almost all activities
which man formerly did by hand--productivity will increase. You are now
already doing three times more than the average of other workers. Thus, it
is that with technology, organizations, and consciousness, and society can
reach unsuspected limits of productivity and, therefore, limits of wealth.

We shall have underway within a few years many industries with personnel
who must be (?communist), young, prepared for these activities, and trained
with a consciousness of real revolutionary workers. If we and all our youth
that we shall train, and if our people come to have all the most modern
techniques for production, our people will easily be able to produce
unlimited quantities of all those things that our country needs, and there
will be more than enough for youths and old people.

Some will say: What are we going to do with very old people? What do they
want? there are some that say give me some thing to do. They do not want to
be pensioned, they want something to do. However, will it be enough to pass
a certain age to have a right? That is formerly, pensions applied to only a
part of the population, a part of the workers. Now retirement applies to
all workers. But it is still not sufficient. Retirement should apply to all
society, that is, every person merely for being old will also have the
right to receive what he needs.

Who will product it? The active workers. Who? You, with your productivity,
with a productivity twice, three times, 10 times, 20 times greater than the
productivity with which they worked.

Whereas in the past in our country, exploited and colonialized, only part
of the people worked, only part of the lands were exploited, only part of
the natural resources were taken advantage of, and with antiquated
techniques, not enough could be produced to satisfy the needs of all the
population. Now our country--with all the population active and men, women,
and youths participating in production with modern techniques, taking
advantage of all natural resources, taking advantage of the lands and
taking advantage of the waters--shall be able to produce unlimited
quantities of these products so that all the people will come to have all
they need. This is what work productivity signifies. This is what a society
that does not work for profit but works for the needs of all people, who
will receive what they need equally, signifies. The communist formula is
for each to do what he is capable of and for each to receive from society
what he needs. An old man of, say 80 years cannot participate in
production. A man of 70 cannot participate, but he should have the right to
receive all that he needs. In regard to remuneration, the policy that the
revolution will follow will place him first.

When products begin to increase in the next few years, who will be the
first to benefit? We shall be first and give benefits to those who cannot
work any more. There still are pension rates that are nothing, 30 pesos, 35
pesos, and 40 pesos. And we ask ourselves: if the country increases its
production, if it produces more food, it it is going to increase its
general production, whom should we care for first? Is it just that we
should increase the pay of the young people first, or should we increase
the salary of the old people? An old man of 70 who has had to work all his
life under very difficult conditions, who received only 30 pesos, get ahead
very little. He may not be privileged to live where your youths will live
in the country. It is just, very just, that we increase their income first.
The income of those who worked their whole lives, who--exploited by
capitalism and imperialism--made many of the things that we have today,
better or worse, but they did them with their labor. An old road, but they
did it with their labor; an old railroad track, an old dock, an old sugar
mill--they did all this with their labor. It was very little. What they did
is not enough for us. What they did will be multiplied many times by our
youths. But is is just that we help, that we remunerate first those who now
receive less.

The policy of the revolution will be to increase pension rates before
anything else. Once this is accomplished, we will begin to increase the
salaries of those who have income. The road of communism must pass through
equalitariansim; but we expect to establish equalitariansism from the
bottom up. As we increase production, at the pace that our wealth, and
working from the bottom up, we shall finally establish equalitariansim.

This calls for really revolutionary concepts. It calls for a high degree of
conscience development, of discipline of work, of a sense of duty, of our
cultural institution, and we are certain that we will reach our goal
because we have faith in our people, we have faith in our masses, we
believe in you. We saw you as you worked today. We know that although this
factory has just begun to operate, you have already begun to love our
factory, you will always love this factory, you will understand all that it
means to our people, you will understand the benefits the products will
bring; you will produce the maximum, and, like you, so will the workers of
all our industries, in all our old industries, above all in the new
industries of the country that we shall build in future years.

Before closing, I would like to be allowed to refer to a matter that has
nothing to do with this factory, but which is in the news. It is a matter
of international policy related to the case of the minister--former
interior minister of Bolivia--who exiled himself in Chile. We want to make
it clear that in effect it was the Bolivian interior minister who made it
possible for the photostatic copy of the Che diary [lengthy applause] to
reach the hands of persons connected with the National Liberation Army of
Bolivia, and that he did this in an absolutely unselfish way, indignant
because of the way the Bolivian regime had treated Che--murdering him in a
cowardly way after he had been wounded in battle and taken prisoner--and
not conforming with the general policy of the regime which tyrannizes
Bolivia [and which is] bound over, hands and feet, to Yankee imperialism.

This is not all. The former Chilean [as heard] Government minister for many
months had been cooperating with the revolutionary movement in Bolivia,
running extraordinary risks to his life. Thanks to his action, it was
possible to obtain the copy of the Che diary and lay low the notorious
business that was being plotted in connection with this document by corrupt
elements of the Bolivian Government and certain imperialist firms.

On the former Bolivian minister's arrival in Chile, the U.S. imperialist
government and the CIA tried in every way to obtain his return to the
Bolivian border. They used every type of pressure to obtain this. The
Yankee ambassador in Chile has been actively working on this. They even
invented and published the hoax that former Minister Arguedas was possibly
implicated in some sort of maneuver by the Bolivian Government against
Chile.

Nothing could be more absurd than this supposition, which was published by
the CIA to confuse Bolivian public opinion and to somehow obtain, by means
of deceit, the return [to Bolivia] of the former interior minister of the
Barrientos regime.

Of course the CIA is worried, because Former Minister Arguedas knows every
move of the CIA in Bolivia and many of the CIA activities in Latin America.
That is why it has been desperately inventing schemes and deceit to try to
get the former minister back to Bolivia. To return him to Bolivia would be
to turn him over to the Barrientos henchmen and CIA for them to
assassinate.

We must say also that even if the Chilean authorities granted permission
for the former minister to take asylum in Chile or to leave for another
country, we do not doubt that the CIA would do its utmost to eliminate him
physically, because of the deep concern over the fact that the former
minister has so much information on CIA activities. This was the reasons
why the Revolutionary Government of Cuba decided to offer the former
Bolivian minister political asylum in our country. [lengthy applause]

And we hope that all imperialist and CIA pressures will fail to counteract
the traditional spirit of hospitality that characterizes the people of
Chile. Barrientos' insults against the people of Chile are not faked. His
irritation is quite real and true, considering the implications that his
former interior minister's attitude reflects on Barrientos' regime, above
all, his attitude of support for the revolutionary movement and his
attitude of denouncing all the criminal activities of the CIA in Bolivia.

Since, in connection with his asylum in Bolivia [as heard], a series of
lies was spread, a series of campaigns to confuse Chilean public opinion,
we feel obliged to make public what has been the attitude of the former
Bolivian minister.

Fatherland or death, we shall win!
-END-