Latin American Network Information Center - LANIC

-DATE-
19700423
-YEAR-
1970
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
LENIN CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
-PLACE-
CHARLIE CHAPLIN THEATER IN HAVANA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC SVC
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19700423
-TEXT-
Castro Address

Havana Domestic Radio and Television Services in Spanish 0333 GMT 23 Apr 70
F

[Text] Comrade diplomatic representatives of the Soviet Union, comrades of
the Cuban-Soviet Friendship Society, comrade guests, comrade Soviets
present here, comrade Cubans: The name of Lenin is something utterly
familiar to all of us. We are not doing to eulogize Lenin. We dare not do
so for feat that ideas would be unable to express everything which
admiration really encompasses.

I want to point out the sentiments that inspire our people's attitude
toward Lenin. Let me begin be saying that in the first place the homage,
the interest, the multiplicity of ways in which the sympathy, the
recognition, the admiration, and the affection of our people toward Lenin
that have been expressed have been extraordinarily spontaneous.

It was not only the interest of our party, of the revolutionary leadership,
of official institutions, but also the spontaneous interest of all our
people. Therefore, these expressions of sympathy toward Lenin differ from
what may traditionally and usually characterize many historic dates that at
times become something traditional, something conventional.

On this occasion, we commemorate an event which is without a doubt a
historic date of extraordinary importance, because on a day like today one
of the most extraordinary men of history was born. It was extraordinary not
only because of his human attributed, because of hits extraordinary
revolutionary attributes, but also, or better yet, basically because of the
extraordinary repercussions which his life and activities have had and will
have in the world.

In other words, we are observing an event of profound significance and are
marking it as we really could only commemorate it--with feeling, from the
heart.

Lenin is one of those really exceptional cases. A simple reading of his
life and his work, the most objective analysis of the way his thought and
activity unfolded throughout his life really shows him to be a really, I
repeat, exceptional man in the eyes of all human beings.

He had a teacher who was founder of Marxism. Two teachers, it would be
better to say, Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels. No one else has been able to
interest all the depth, all the essence, and all the value of the Marxist
theory. No one else was able to interpret that theory and carry it forward
to its ultimate consequences. No one else was able to develop that theory
and enrich it the way be did.

When Lenin was barely a child, there were already many shining
philosophical and political figures in the history of revolutionary
doctrine and in the history of Marxism, a number of very famous
interpreters of the doctrine of Marx. Practically no one had heard of the
name of Lenin. Many of those shining examples who tried in one way or
another to explain, disseminates, develop, and apply the theories of Marx
throughout the years were almost completely obscured by the figure and
personality of Lenin.

Lenin from the very outset was not only political theoretician, a political
philosopher, but a man of action, a constant and incessant revolutionary.
It fell upon him to develop a doctrine and apply it under such difficult
conditions that it is really impossible to imagine worse ones.

Lenin comes from the bosom of a nation which was very far behind in
comparison with the industrial, political, and social development of the
rest of Europe-- England, Germany, and France. He appeared in the heart of
a nation where the majority of the people were peasants, where the
prevailing conditions were absolutely feudal, where even a dogmatic Marxist
would have considered it the last nation in Europe to carry out the Marxist
revolution. It is precisely in the heart of that nation. In that bosom of
the czarist empire, where this genius of a man appears, truly a genius, and
develops and applies there, with extraordinary creative wisdom, the Marxist
doctrine.

When the brilliant revolutionary minds in Europe were not taking into
account the Russian revolutionaries, when they even observed those
revolutionaries with scorn, when many of then were not even taking into
account Lenin's thoughts and a Marxist revolution is czarist Russia.

Lenin was starting his long journey, his long delayed struggle to carry out
the Marxist revolution according to the conditions of that nation. Lenin is
the founder of the so-called Russian social democracy of those days, which
later was the Bolshevik, Party, and later the CPSU. Lenin practically laid
the first stone of that organization, of that movement. It is not a case of
there being no predecessors or preachers of Marx's thoughts. It is that
Lenin's political and revolutionary development was affected to such a
degree by Lenin's creative activity that we must say he was truly the soul
of that revolutionary thought, of that movement, and of that party.

Rarely in any process, perhaps never in a political process, has a thought,
a mind, an intellect been able to make such a large contribution. Lenin was
a tireless investigator and worker. It can be said that after acquiring
political awareness, he did not rest a single moment during his lifetime.
He did not cease to investigate, to study, and to work on the revolution's
course. There has been no gladiator who fought more ideological combats
that Lenin. It is surprising how many battles he fought in the ideological
arena. His history cannot be compared to that of other men who accomplished
extraordinary feats for personal merit.

In our ancient history, in world history, we were told, above all, about
great conquerors from ancient days to more recent centuries. We were told
about their feats and their victories. In reality, when humanity is able to
better evaluate, to reason, when it is able to appreciate in a superior
manner the events of humanity's history, those personalities will be
obscured when compared to the one who was a gladiator and fighter in
another arena, the one who was not a conqueror, the one who fought in the
arena to create, the one who fought and won hundreds of difficult battles
in the the area of ideas to liberate humanity. When a better and superior
evaluation is made history's personalities, Lenin, together with Marx, will
excel among the most outstanding [Unreadable text] thinkers, and intellects
in the history of mankind, because, as Marx himself said, with the birth of
a society free of exploiters and exploited, with the birth of a communist
society, mankind will have emerged from prehistory. That looks like only a
phrase, but, when we think about it, when we try to figure out what Marx
was trying to say; when we observe today's world, when we recall the recent
barbaric actions when fascism reached out with its paws in Europe; when we
look at barbaric actions being carried out today against Vietnam, Laos, and
Cambodia, those being carried out in Asia, Africa, or any other place, the
most modern equipment used against man to destroy man and his work, to
destroy his right to life and a minimum degree of happiness; when we see
what is taking place in today's world, which is what has been going on for
thousands of years, as humanity has not known anything better than tragedy
and drama through plundering wars between peoples, wars bred from the
moment the meaning of property developed in the heart of man; when classes
emerged in the heart of human society, leaving behind that drama as the
balance of thousands of years and until today [Castro does not finish
sentence]

Those crimes and wrongdoings are bred--this can be easily understood today
by anyone, even if he has been blindfolded--by the class spirit, by the
exploiting spirit, by the possessive spirit, by production methods, by
natural resources, and by the men that control those mediums and exploit
those resources. Therefore, when humanity surpasses this stage and the
terrors generated by the society of exploiters and exploited, then it can
be said in all truth that mankind; has emerged from prehistory to enter
into history.

Marx and Lenin are in fact the two human personalities who will have blazed
the trail from prehistory to the history of mankind. [applause]

Alongside them the previous personalities will not be historical
personalities but rather prehistorical personalities.

It fell upon Lenin not only to develop theory but to find concrete field of
action and the opportunity to carry it out. He struggled, as we said, under
extremely difficult circumstances. He fought hundreds of times in defense
of the doctrine, not as an apostle defending a mystical thought but rather
as a scientific defending a scientific interpretation. He defended the Marx
doctrine against all mystification, distortions, and deformations.

He defended it and demonstrated how correct Marx was. Historic facts
demonstrated how all the currents which Lenin fought led, in various
European nations, to the crisis of the revolutionary movement, the failure
of the revolutionary movement, the betrayal of the revolutionary movement.

What clear vision he used to fight the economist currents, the so-called
Legal Marxists, the opportunities, the revisionists. Here we see Lenin in
those extremely difficult moments of the revolutionary movement, perhaps
the most critical of all, when World War I took place and most of social
democracy--with Lenin's movement being practically the only
exception--under the spell of chauvinism in each one of its countries and,
betraying the first internationalist duty and the first internationalist
principle, threw in the lot with an enlisted as cannonfodder at the service
of the capitalists and the imperialists.

It was precisely at that moment when Lenin became, in practice, the only
leader remaining in the bosom of the revolutionary movement, the only one
remaining faithful together with his followers to those principles. From
then on he waged an ideological battle, one of the many, against those who
had virtually betrayed Marxism and abandoned the principles of proletarian
internationalism.

It was in those difficult years that he was once again an incomparable
defender of those principles and of that doctrine. Lenin has to develop his
work underground, in prison, in exile, as an emigre, carrying out his
political and ideological battle, surmounting immense obstacles of every
kind to be able to publish a handbill, a pamphlet, to be able to circulate
it throughout the vast areas of that nation, to be able to vanquish the
huge difficulties stemming from having to work and move amid nations with
social systems that he in fact proposed to change. Perhaps there is not a
more splendid chapter than Lenin's battle in defense of revolutionary
thought.

But it is also equally impressive to note how Lenin was able to realize
that the juncture of the imperialist war of 1914 was a moment of crisis for
imperialism, and that in czarist Russia, where the workers movement was
growing, and, above all, where that movement had been arming itself with a
revolutionary mind, a socialist revolution could be carried out.

If one were to ask whether it is possible to conceive of a more optimistic
man, one would have to answer no. A more tenacious man, a more audacious
man? On would have to say no. Because when the historic juncture arrived,
the moment to take over power, the moment to carry out the revolution.
Lenin had to wage very hard battles within his own party. He had to
struggle staunchly even against the views of many who had been his
disciples for years.

If one were to ask whether there was a man as misunderstood at Lenin, one
would have to say "no." On the other hand, one would have to say that no
man was better understood by the common man, better understood by the
worker, better understood by the masses than Lenin. The paradox between the
great misunderstanding that surrounded him and the great understanding that
he always found in the masses in astonishing and was a decisive factor in
each of the most critical and difficult moments of that revolutionary
process. Such were the conditions in which Lenin defended the thesis of
assuming power and the opportunity of doing to supported by the masses of
the party he forged during a period of nearly 20 years and by a handful of
the men, the disciples who were able to understand him. It is logical that
there were many uncertainties because of the judgement of taking power
under those circumstances, when there were many weak points in the
movement, when the Bolshevik Party did not even hold a majority among the
peasants, who were the majority of the population in old Russia. When the
nation was completely bankrupt as a result of war, and when it would later
have to confront the imperialist nations which would logically try to crush
the victorious revolution. There were so many accumulated difficulties that
it would be logical for many to waver.

Nevertheless, this is proof of Lenin's greatness, of his will of steel, of
his belief in the masses, of his faith in the scientific principles of the
Marxist doctrine; he never hesitated in confronting all those difficulties
and risks. Someday it will have to be said that no man ever accomplished a
more difficult feat than that accomplished by Lenin as head of the
Bolshevik Party under the conditions in which the first socialist
revolution was fulfilled. We sincerely believe that the study of those
events, of that epic.... If the days before taking power were difficult,
the days following it were to be more difficult, more difficult in
comparison; definitely most difficult.

The nation was experiencing severe domestic problems and was being invaded
at scores of placed. The territory of the new socialist state was gradually
reduced. It appeared that it would be rather difficult to survive the
situation. Nevertheless, that nation led by a thought, a doctrine, and a
revolutionary party, found the necessary will, the strength, and the means
of successfully overcome that situation. It must be mentioned that not only
was Lenin the most creative, the greatest fighter, and the greatest genius,
but also the most courageous, morally courageous. He proved to be
courageous in the most daring tests and in the most difficult decisions
during his lifetime and during the revolutionary process.

We honestly believe that to study Lenin's life, to study Lenin's thoughts,
to study Lenin's doctrines and example, is not to pay reverence, but it is
an advantage, a benefit for the peoples. We honor Lenin with emotion, but
when his work and life are studied, when his thoughts and doctrines are
studied, the peoples will acquire a true treasure from the political point
of view. We believe that this wonderful movement during the Lenin
centennial anniversary should continue with the study of Lenin's life,
works, and doctrine. The writings and works are many. Some are more
circumstantial, others are of the perpetual value, of lasting value, of
eternal value. Practically not one of Lenin's words or writings does not
have value. We believe that we should make an effort to continue to preach,
print, and study Lenin's works. This will allow us to better understand the
social processes, the political processes, the revolutionary processes, and
the international processes.

After reading any of Lenin's works once and finding it to be profound and
interesting, after a few years--especially while living through a
revolutionary process--we can find new things, new concepts, and always
with renewed interest. It must be said that Lenin's thoughts have greatly
influenced the Cuban revolutionary process. At the end of the October
Revolution Lenin's ideas were spread profusely throughout the world, and in
our country they found a nation ready for them. They found followers who
were inspired by those thoughts, and in the revolutionary struggle of 1930
to 1933 the Cuban revolutionaries were profoundly impressed by Lenin's
thoughts. To some of us, some of his works were a guide, a doctrine, a
means of understanding, without which we would have been benefit of
absolute truths, absolutely essential truths in a revolutionary process.

We recall how in the months preceding 26 July 1953 most of the small group
of comrades who were dedicated to those tasks were always going around with
the works of Marx and Lenin, and we remember how some of Lenin's books,
because they were Lenin's books, fell into the hands of the police during
searched made after the Moncada attack.

We remember how in the Moncada action a politically dominated prosecutor
included among his most serious accusations against us, among his most
captious questions, whether it was true that we had books by Lenin and
whether we owned them.

Naturally, due to the great amount of prejudice, of lies, of mental
conditioning they produced in broad sectors of the populace, they wanted to
brand the 26 July movement a communist movement. And it could not be said
that it was a communist movement. What could be said was that a group of
those of us who organized that movement was heavily impregnated with
Marxist-Leninist thought. [applause]

Perhaps they were interested in establishing a connection, and they would
be interested first because of the great prejudice, the large dose of
anticommunist toxin they injected into the populace in order to ingratiate
the imperialists and receive more support from them. One of the most usual
accusations was that someone was a communist, and often they were among the
most destructive accusations from the political standpoint because that was
the existing climate.

We remember that at the time we could not restrain our indignation over the
inbecility of bringing up the Lenin book and we angrily rose to say: Yes,
these books are ours and whoever does not read Lenin is an ignoramus.
[applause] It was practically a crime, a crime, gentlemen, to study Lenin.
It was not too long ago when the prevailing atmosphere inculcated through
long years of slanderous and lying propaganda was against Marxist and
against communism, and unfortunately this propaganda went deeply.

Remember the first days of the revolution? Sometimes out of curiosity we
would ask even a worker: Are you in favor of the agrarian reform law, are
you in favor of the housing law, are you in favor of the nationalization of
the banks? One by one I asked him about all those laws. Do no you agree
that the banks where the people's money is kept should be in the hand of
the state and that the funds can be used for the development of the
economy, at the service of the nation, and not for whatever pleases some
private individuals who are owners of the banks?

Do you think that all those mines should belong to the people of Cuba and
not to some foreign companies, to some types who live in New York. Yes and
yes to everything. Yes to everything and to each one of the revolutionary
laws.

And then I would ask, then you are in favor of socialism? Oh, no, no, no!
Absolutely no! It was incredible how they had conditioned minds to the
extent that a word was taboo, and idea was taboo. Hence a man could agree
in essence with everything but could not agree with the word.

I remember this because we drew decisive conclusions from Lenin's works. Of
course, when I talked about Leninism, I am talking about Marxism, about the
essential ideas of Marx developed by Lenin, and one very specific idea of
Lenin, the state and the revolution, which clarified so many concepts for
us, which enlightened us so much when the time came to work out the
revolutionary strategy, the struggle for the conquest of revolutionary
power. It was very decisive to the preparation of the strategy.

It did not fit the mold, no political process, none fits the mold exactly,
and it may be said that in politics molds do not exist. The Marxian theory
was never a mold, it was a conception, it was a method, an interpretation,
a science, and science is applied to each concrete case and there are not
two exact concrete cases.

Conditions were also peculiar to our country and Marxist ideas were fully
applicable to our country. I must say that the development of revolutionary
thought was strongly influenced by the traditions of our country, by the
history of our country, by the liberation struggles of our country.

It can be said that concept that inspired the revolutionary strategy which
led to the triumph in 1959 was, in fact, the union, the hybridization of a
tradition, of an experience peculiar to our nation with the essential ideas
of Marxism and Leninism. A nation without Cuba's traditions and without
Cuba's history would not have been able to reach a victory of this nature,
an advance of this nature. But, a nation with Cuba's traditions without the
essential Marxist-Leninism concepts, above all in a number of fundamental
matters, would not have been able to reach such as advanced stage. That is
why when we observe the many processes that are taking place in many parts
of the world in a lesser or higher degree, we always think that ignoring
Marxism and Leninism is a disadvantage for any revolutionary.

It might seem paradoxical to call a man who is not a Marxist-Leninist a
revolutionary. There is no paradox. Let us cite the case of the man who is
not satisfied with the society in which he lives, with the injustices that
prevail everywhere. He wants to change, he has the instinct and the
profession of the fighter, the instinct and the profession of the
revolutionary. When do we become revolutionaries? We being by being
revolutionaries on a particular day, and we never cease to be
revolutionaries.

Every day we gain more knowledge, we enrich our thoughts, the spirit.
Nobody can say that yesterday he was more revolutionary than he is today
and that tomorrow he will be less revolutionary than today. There are men
who want to change, who have many qualities that make a revolutionary, such
as a revolutionary will. There are men who understand today's problems,
such as misery underdevelopment, and technological backwardness.

Some men begin to understand the problem and take into consideration the
imperialist economic exploitation. They have revolutionary fiber and behave
like revolutionaries. Nevertheless those not familiar with Marxism-Leninism
will be a great disadvantage. What can be ascertained--and we have the
right to do so because we have lived through this unique experience and we
have tried to get something out of that experience daily--is that there is
only one revolutionary science, only one political science, just that
revolutionary and political science is Marxism-Leninism [applause] and that
there is no other political and revolutionary science. There is no other.
There is no other theory. Everything else is superficial, trivial, and
hodgepodge. Even in the universal language today--of the bourgeoisie, of
the capitalists--Marxist terminology is used frequently.

The division of society into classes is something that no one disputes, no
bourgeois politician, no bourgeois newspaper, no bourgeois theoretician.
The division into classes is universally accepted. Other ideas, other
phrases are accepted, and many of these phrases and ideas of
Marxist-Leninist. This means that the Marxist-Leninist ideas are spreading
throughout the world much more than before. I would not say that are
applied as much as they spread. I would not say they are used as much as
they are cited. It is odd to see that all over the world in student
sectors, in intellectual and progressive sectors, as a rule the
terminology, the phrases, the ideas that are heard, the Marxist
terminology, phrases, and ideas. What we stated before is today almost
universally acknowledged--that without Marxist-Leninism there is neither
theory nor science, be it revolutionary or political.

We have not doubt that this process will continue. We must not forget that
Marx was the most attacked and most defamed man of his era. Lenin was
defamed and attacked to a much greater degree. They made use of the worst
infamies within the revolutionary movement. Outside the revolutionary
movement they try to picture Lenin as the incarnation of the devil himself.
The bourgeoisie and reactionaries from all over the world were trying to
check the spread of revolutionary ideas with those ideas and stories.

But something else must be said: After the October Revolution there
appeared a whole series of individuals who denied Lenin. One of the weapons
used by the capitalists against the communists was the attempt at
diminishing Lenin's power in the revolutionary process by distorting
history. Hundreds of these hack historians, supposedly leftists such as we
have even now--a method of technique used by the reactionaries--these were
the historians, who supposedly belonged to the left, who distorted the
history of the Leninist revolutionary process. But a truly objective study
of history does not leave room for any comparison. No, no comparison
whatsoever, leaves room next to Lenin for any other way of thinking,
because Lenin's way of thinking excels, from the very beginning to the very
end, and is the very center of its existence, the soul of this process.
[applause]

It was in this way that the apologists of other personalities in that
process appeared. We are not dealing here with an attempt at demeaning
anyone, for there were many herds, many men of great worth, but there is no
doubt of that tendency toward pseudo, hack writers of the left from which
appeared the currents which tended to belittle Lenin's role in the
revolutionary process.

Of course, as time goes by, we will not be the only ones. The socialist
nations will not be the only ones. The day will come when all nations will
join in this homage to Lenin; the day will come when all states will join
in this tribute to Lenin; the day will come when the whole of humanity will
join in praising Lenin. [applause]. We do not have the smallest doubt of
this. Suffice if to remember that 12 years ago, we could have paid homage
to Lenin a only under the blows of the police. Just 12 short years ago,
these people who are rendering such a beautiful homage, such a sincere and
profound homage to Lenin, just 12 years ago, only in a part and under the
blows of the nightsticks could we have paid tribute to Lenin, but today
millions of Cubans express their affection and admiration for Lenin.

In the same way, someday millions of today's illiterates will be familiar
with Lenin, his work, his story, and his life; and homage will be, I
repeat, universal, which ennobles his role--that of the man who encountered
so many difficulties and so little understanding in order to one day be
understood and admired by thousands of millions of human beings.

I have expressed some ideas, some feelings, about Lenin, about his
influence in our ideological progress, but there has been another
fundamental influence: the influence of Lenin's revolution, the influence
that the party and the state created by Lenin had on our country's
revolutionary process. Because, as we were saying earlier, that without our
country's traditions and without the essence of Marxist thought, our people
would not have been able to take the enormous step forward that they took.
Out people would not have been able to become the first socialist country
in Latin America, the last to free itself from the Spanish colonial period
and the first to free itself completely from Yankee imperialism. [applause]

We would not have been able to say this if in October...of 1917, there
would not... is it 17 or 18? I always have trouble remembering. I am asking
you because you are the one who has studied this the most. [applause] Yes,
I remember that, when I was studying psychology, it was called a mental
lapse--on a date.

But let us come back to the idea that without the October Revolution of
1917, Cuba could not have become the first socialist country in Latin
America. [applause] We would have been just as revolutionary, our country
would have gone to its final conclusions, undoubtedly, but the greatest
sacrifices and the most heroic determinations could have prevailed over the
consequences of imperialism's might which is 90 miles from our coast. It
would have prevailed over the consequences of its criminal economic,
political, and military blows.

There are unfortunates in the world; this is known in certain intellectual
circles; sometimes these miserable creatures abound. Unfortunately,
imperialism has managed to create in some circles what we may call a deep
anti-Soviet feeling. These circles are related to this imperialist
technique that has tried to reduce the importance of Lenin's role. Today,
as everybody knows, there are supertheoretical revolutionaries,
superleftists, real supermen, who are capable of smashing imperialism in 2
seconds with their tongue. There are many superrevolutionaries who do not
even know the realities, the problems, the difficulties of a revolution.

Encouraged by such feeling, which is well nourished by imperialism, they
have a ferocious hate, they seem unwilling to pardon the fact that the
Soviet Union exists--and this is from the leftist positions. They would
like to have a Soviet Union after their own perfect image, after their own
ridiculous ideals.

Because a country is, before anything else, a reality, and a reality which
must be formed from many other realities. Those circles are forgetting the
incredible initial difficulties of the revolutionary process in the Soviet
Union, the difficulties to which we were referring earlier, the incredible
problems arising from the blockade, the isolation, the fascist aggression.
They are trying to ignore all this, and they almost consider it a sort of
crime that the Soviet Union exists, and this from leftist positions.
Complete dishonesty.

They forget about the problems of Cuba, Vietnam, and Arab world, that is,
wherever imperialism is dealing its blow. They are there, a country, a
state, that supplies the necessary arms so that the peoples may defend
themselves against that imperialism. Our case: 1.5 billion pesos in arms
from the Soviet Union. [applause] Under no condition should we believe that
we have received the most help; we do not say this in the form of protest
or claim. Other parties have had greater needs, such as the Middle East,
where many more arms have been supplied because of the situation there.

I want to say that the value of arms freely received by countries amounts
to billions of pesos. In our case, what would we have done without these
arms--we will not mention oil and some other items that were decisive and
basic at specific moments--perhaps the oxen, cart, horse, mule, living
somewhat like backward people. But it is always preferable to live
backwardly than to have to fight without arms. We are commemorating the
Giron event these days, and we can well remember: antiaircraft guns, tanks,
cannon, arms, mortars with which we were able to pulverize the mercenaries.

The existence of the Soviet state is objectively, objectively, one of the
greatest privileges of the revolutionary movement. [applause] What do I
mean by this? I mean that it is possible to have diverse opinions on
different problems, that a revolutionary movement may interpret or face up
to a specific problem in one way and others in another way. It is not
necessary that each party think exactly like others. No; do not be
confused. We believe that within the large diversity and complexity of the
problems, there will always be many different points of view.

We refer to the existence of a plague of pseudorevolutionaries, of writers
who are paid by imperialism, who with an unbelievable fury write against
the Soviet Union and, practically, do not want to pardon the existence of
the Soviet state. This is a matter that can only interest, feelings that
can emanate only from a reactionary and imperialistic hate.

These matters, these objectives truths, cannot ever be forgotten by men
with an elementary sense of historic truth, or reality, of justice. Neither
can they ever deny them. Today's world is very complex, a world that offers
nothing that is easy, and very difficult world. There are no easy solutions
to problems. The problems are many and complex.

These circumstances are used to slander, intrigue; there are some who do
not want to pardon this country because of the position it adopted in the
Czechoslovakia case. I refer to those pseudowriters of the left, and some
day it will be necessary to discuss, some day it will be necessary to have
an extensive debate anywhere. There are many who write about the Cuban
revolution, except in Cuba. Some of them do not observe even a rejoinder
because they are obvious agents of imperialism, obvious agents of
imperialism, who can still inveigle more than our idiots.

Nevertheless, we believe it is in situations such as this that the
revolutionary criterion is defined. This position we hold and repeat. We
were certainly not [applause] we were not going to act in the name of some
bourgeois logic, of some bourgeois concept; of a bourgeois policy. What was
important for us was the counterrevolutionary process occurring there, this
process of betraying Marxism. We cannot forge the Czechoslovak news agency,
which wrote about Che in terms worse then UPI and AP. There were numberless
cases like this, slandering other countries including Cuba, for that was
liberalism, yes indeed, liberalism.

And I believe that that was the moment, under those circumstances, when one
must know how to evaluate, how to react in the revolutionary fashion. Only
the imperialists would have benefited if that had not been nipped in the
bud, if that had not been cut at the root. Some said that how strange the
Cuba, considering how it could be invaded by the Yankee imperialists. Very
well, if the Yankee imperialists were to invade Cuba at any time, there
would be still a reason here for dying, down to the last man. [applause]

This is not a judicial reason; this is not a legal reason; it is a moral
reason, and when people are defending a just cause they right and die. What
can never be done is to lead a people to die for any unjust cause, what can
never be done is to lead a people to die for the counterrevolution. This is
the basic reason. In that instance there was a counterrevolutionary process
in progress, while here we have a revolutionary process. In case there are
some who still do not understand, we are not bourgeois liberals, we are
Marxist-Leninists and antiliberals. [applause] For us all bourgeois
philosophy and all bourgeois liberal ideas are somewhat akin to some old
superstition, out of style for a long time.

We were saying that when we speak about the positions taken and held by our
country, how the objective facts are above all, how the truth is above all
things, how we shall always keep in mind the objective importance, the
objective value, and how Soviet aid has been for us a decisive factor.
There are some who are not pleased that we recognize this: Filthy hack
liberals prancing about the world, charlatans who never had to face one
case, let alone the problems of a whole nation, who never had to see and
suffer the poverty, the wretchedness of the whole nation.

There are many from Rome and Paris who construct hypothetical and imaginary
worlds. Some of them live very well--I do not mean all, but some--for some
are simple agents of the CIA and the others are idiots, and they become
indignant when the people proclaim these truths. These facts we shall
always have before us, always present. These matters, these objectives
truths, these objective facts will always prevail in our relations with the
Soviet Union.

This is a good occasion to explain these positions. Even more so because
there is another topic we would like to touch upon in order to define our
positions. Two topics 1) the mercenaries' affairs [applause]; 2) our
position on the OAS [applause]. There are some things that need to be
defined.

This years has been a year of much work and few words. There are topics
that have been rolling, making the rounds, on which opinions have not been
given. What importance can this landing of the mercenary group have? What
other plans must be take into considerations? What is our position, in
general, in Latin America? And that our judgment is in the context of all
our relations, of all our attitudes, of all our relations with the United
States.

I want, in the first place, to explain the strategic objective of this
landing of mercenaries. They, the United States, have not yet said a word
on the matter. However, this is part of a plan that they planned to carry
out earlier--not in April--which consisted of being able to send a initial
group to a rather inaccessible area, where it would be difficult to
liquidate them, where they could remain for some time, and then later, send
similar groups to different parts of the national territory while the
harvest was going on.

This group--and let us see if the U.S. Government can evade its
responsibility--this group tried to land in January, and there is a
dispatch here which says:

"16 January, AP, Washington--The State Department revealed today that 14
Cuban exiles carried out an unsuccessful attempt to infiltrate Cuba late
week and were rescued 1 mile from the coast of the communist island by an
American Navy patrol boat. Robert McClockey, State Department spokesman,
said that the Cubans were rescued from their craft, which was sinking, and
taken back to Miami after a stop at the Gautanamo Naval Base."

This group of mercenaries--a great part of them, quite a few of them-- were
taken to the United States through Guantanamo when they left Cuba--one more
rude violation of the statutes of that arbitrary base. Not only did they
get to the United States through Guantanamo, but in January, when they
tried to make the first landing, when they tried to begin the plan, they
had problems with their boats and they took refuge and were helped and
given refuge at the Yankee naval base, which returned them to the United
States. And now that some group, equipped with AR-15's, AR-16's and
AR-18's, the most modern U.S. automatic rifles, lands in the Baracoa area.
How can the U. S. Government even insinuate that it has no responsibility
in these events?

And the plan, as I was saying, was--because when they left, it was with a
cameraman and the whole words--films for movies for television. On 26
April, great publicity followed by the landing of new mercenary groups.
That had a plan earlier, since January. The 26th they will make public the
films taken by a well-known gentlemen, a mercenary of the press called
"(Guayo)". If the State Department wants more information, I can ask the
gentlemen for it. He can even show it the films.

Of course, by the 26th there will no longer be any mercenaries left to
publicize. Yesterday, in a new contract with our forces, two more
mercenaries were killed and another two captured. [applause]

There are only four mercenaries left and they are encircled. [applause] And
of course, it is proven that it is very difficult for even a rodent to
escape the units of the Baracoa territorial division--units of mountaineer
militia. It will be very difficult, because when they get through one
encirclement, they quickly find themselves in another. The militia have
complete information, simply because in each peasant home there is a
militiaman. [applause]

So there are four mercenaries left and it is very difficult for them to
escape the units of the Baracoa territorial division the comrades who are
leading those operations who know much about operations than the
mercenaries, a whole lot more, and the two main leaders are already out of
the fighting. [applause] We have not set a deadline for the comrades to
capture the rest. On the contrary, when we talked to them we told them:
Don't hurry. Do not despair, because the area is very rugged, very
tangled--that area is a very difficult area to operate in. Do not get
impatient, I told them.

Yes, it is going to last a few days more, a few days less, but I doubt very
much that any one of these remaining can escape. So that is the current
situation. If they have any other little group, they can send it.
[applause] Another, although we doubt they will send them, because, with
this example...if they do not take warnings, despite the warnings... the
most modern automatic weapons of the U.S. Army, the pineapples--hand
grenades like the ones they use in Vietnam--and each one of them [had] 600
bullets.

But all right, the importance of this is even relative. In our opinion, the
plans that, for a few months, this Mr. Nixon has been hatching, to which we
are referring in Baracoa-- that is, they have still more serious plans than
these obstructionist plans, and it can be seen that they are preparing a
new, imminent adventure against our country. We know who is behind this
adventure but--besides, the way in which they are doing it--but not much
special information is needed for that, because many news reports of this
nature can be read every day:

UPI, 25 March 1970, New Orleans. Statements by Euologio Cantillo. Soon
recruiting stations will open in Miami and other cities in order to form an
army of anti-Castro exiles, announced former Cuban General Eulogio
Cantillo. The project is part of the Torriente plan, a new anti-Castro
movement launched during a gigantic exile demonstration 2 months ago by
Jose de La Torriente, one of the leaders of the Cuban colony.

This Jose de La Torriente is an active proprietor in Yankee businesses, who
has been in the United States for 55 years and is Yankee citizen.

We will have an army before the end of the year, promised Cantillo. We can
have one almost any size we need. [faint laughter] Cantillo said there will
be recruiting facilities in all cities with sizable Cuban colonies. In the
United States there are large colonies in Miami, New York, Chicago, Los
Angeles, cities in New Jersey, and many other in which Cubans, who arrive
constantly as refugees by plane from Cuba live. After the volunteers sign
up, we will chose those best prepared for military tasks, said the 56-year
old general.

Among the recruits will be veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion; [faint
laughter], former members of the constitutional Cuban Army, they call that
constitutional [faint laughter], those thugs, a few individuals from Fidel
Castro's rebel army, deserted who were never good for anything--with come
exception--there might have been one that was good for something--of those
who are the beginning of the revolution--that's what they call "from Fidel
Castro's rebel army"--and Cubans who have fought in Vietnam--that was all
that was lacking--in the U.S. army, he said.

The training for fighting in Cuba can be arranged in some South American
country, said Cantillo, and he added: Many kinds of training could also be
carried out legally in the United States, for example target shooting,
hikes, calisthenics--beside the training picked up there. If people who
were at pigs [Bay of Pigs], pigs who were in Vietnam [loud laughter],
"constitutional" thugs--a new name--and four miserable deserters, come, the
only thing that could be said of this army would be that it had chosen the
worst truth in the world [faint laughter].

In all this indecent such there are the Masferrers, the River Agueros, the
Prio Socarras--some will remember--one did not have to be a prophet during
that beginning when we said one day, together, all together, they put even
the smallest scruple aside. And there they all are, all of them, seated at
the same table and eating off the same plate. And here we have, for
example, one of this gentlemen's allies--Mr. Masferrer, well-known leader
of that band of murderers called "Los Tigres," which has nothing of the
tiger's claws, who murdered hundreds of peasants and citizens--if not
thousands--throughout the country.

And speaking of this movement, he says: The fools are asking: what means
will Torrientes use to accomplish the next miracle, now that he has
accomplished the first of unity for war. This is no secret to me: With any
army of patriots, with tanks, planes, and cannons, with money, with
powerful allies. Torrientes has this also. They will not appear on the
indiscreet pages of the Miami HERALD like those absurd reports on
Gautemala; but shortly there will appear on the television screens of the
four corners of the earth the heavy tanks that will smash the terrorized
communist mob in each city.

Many of our countrymen have seen these soldiers and tanks and have seen the
planes flying that will sweep the bandits off the island. They are not yet
marked with the emblem of the liberating army; but let no one despair
because the wings and turrents will soon be marked.

All this is taking place publicly in the United States; the recruiting of
an army, and so forth. In a statement by this Yankee in the Miami NEWS on
10 February, in which he speaks about a meeting in Miami, he said: I cannot
explain what I am doing. Neither can I reveal the plan at this time or the
names of those who are helping and are ready to liberate Cuba. These are
persons of a higher category than mine.

I have brought up only a few samples regarding what we are saying about Mr
Nixon--who is largely responsible for the Giron incident, and who said that
he would give a free hand to the mercenaries, and that if he had been in
the government the Giron invasion would have succeeded because we would
have sent the planes--and the shameless way in which they are proclaiming,
preparing, and creating the conditions for another adventure against our
country.

We are too well acquainted with those fellows, we know their idiosyncrasy
much too well. The reason the Giron event did not take this country by
surprise is that when the planes arrived on the 17th everybody was on the
alert. We were in headquarters when we saw the B-26's go by at dawn. They
surprised nobody because these past 10 years have taught us to block every
move they make.

We know that in future months or years these idiots, these cretins, these
criminals, will continue their game or aggression against our country. This
means that we will have to continue with out working implement in one hand
and a rifle in the other. [applause] We must continue to invest large
amounts of energy to develop and to defend the country. The imperialists do
not accept Cuba's acts and position.

It is good to mention that there have been some insolent statements to the
effect that they would be willing to talk with Cuba if Cuba breaks its ties
with the Soviet Union, its political and military ties. Referring to this
some time ago, to this policy of cretins, this advice of cretins: Break
with your friends if you want to be the friend of your enemies.

This is not because of basic principles, but because of something greater,
because of a deep revolutionary conviction. First, we would never accept
any condition from the imperialists. Second, we will never break our
political ties with the Soviet Union. [applause] Neither will we break what
they call military ties. On the contrary, we shall always be ready to have
closer military ties with the Soviet Union. With whom else can be have
these ties? With Yankee imperialism? [someone in crowd shouts "no!"] Our
political and military ties with the Soviet Union will never be broken.
Military ties may be broken only when there is no more imperialism. Our
counterproposal to the Yankee State Department is this! Cease to be an
imperialist state and we will break our military ties with the Soviet
Union. [applause]

Therefore, this is the kind of statement they make. And,of course, they
understand that all this noise, these new planes, all these things are the
result of the very firm position of the Cuban revolution. It is evident
that they are unwilling to leave the country in peace. Very well the,
another fact comes into play. Some months ago there were press dispatches
on arguments and more arguments in the different Latin American foreign
ministries concerning Cuba's return to the OAS. The curious thing about all
this is that there is no way of explaining or clarifying that Cuba had
never requested this return; that Cuba will never request this return, and
[applause] furthermore, so that there will be no doubts, that Cuba will
never return to that indecent garbage heap called the OAS. [applause] There
is no way of explaining or saying it. Very well, then, let us say it some
other way! Cuba will return to the OAS on the day when it throws the United
States out [applause] for genocide, for interventionism, for the numberless
and repeated and unceasing interventions among the Latin American nations.
[applause]

And these interventions have ranged from the thousands of bandit excursions
of all types against Cuba, the recent criminal invasion of Santo Domingo
not long ago, and all their support of and participation in the reactionary
and repressive regimes of Latin America.

There are some who, when they discuss Cuba and relations with Cuba and the
problems of the OAS, tend to use the argument of Cuban subversion. Well,
the truth is that there is no argument with less validity, for the country
which of more than half a century has followed a policy of unceasing
intervention is the United States, the most criminal, the most shameless
interventions. No man with any self-respect can invoke such an argument to
justify the blockade against our country because it lacks moral, legal and
any other kind of validity. For who in this continent could possibly have
any morality if they maintain relations with the United States? Who would
justify the criminal blockade of our country by claiming Cuban subversion?
This argument we can classify in only one way: impudence.

This now raises our position vis-a-vis the revolutionary movements. There
will come a day for giving certain explanations that we do not wish to make
now about real and feigned revolutionaries. Someday the story of these
revolutionaries, some of them, will be known, of those who issued
statements saying that Cuba was involved in its own economic development--a
new crime in the annals of Marxism, a new crime to dedicate oneself to
economic development! How about that! Such a degree of philosophical and
ideological underdevelopment! A new crime to be blamed on our nation! A
surprise! We had always thought that one of the basic duties of our country
was to defeat the blockade. The imperialists must have had some reason for
establishing their blockade and destroying the revolution.

What is the difference between the imperialist philosophy and that of these
pseudorevolutionaries who have discovered a new crime: that Cuba dedicated
itself to its economic development? Cuba is engaged and it has every right
to be engaged in its economic development. But Cuba has never nor will it
ever deny support to a revolutionary movement. This is not to be confused
with support of any impostor just because he is using the name of
revolutionary. The sad thing is that we have occasionally believed the
tale, and we have even met some of them. However, we promise that we shall
soon publish the story of some of these phonies, with details. Meanwhile,
let them talk; the papers are all there, and some of them who were
revolucioncidas....See, I invented a new work: [laughter, applause]
Assassins of revolutions, yes, because they had the opportunity to start
and to conduct a revolutionary war; they did indeed have the opportunity,
and they fumbled it. That type of pseudorevolutionary can expect no aid
from Cuba. Of course, but revolutionaries like Che; revolutionaries like
Che: [prolonged applause]

Willing to struggle to the final consequences, willing to fight, willing to
die--those will always be able to count on Cuba's help. This was a very
necessary clarification because there are many interpreters, prophets,
wizards, philosophers of each of Cuba's positions, and everybody talks with
such ease--especially when one of those reports is highlighted in the mouth
of some humbug. They are always echoed in Paris, in the liberal bourgeois
press of Paris, in order to discredit the revolution, always. But one must
not worry. Our position toward the revolutionary movement; As long as there
is imperialism, as long as there are people struggling, willing to fight
for their people's liberation from that imperialism, the Cuban revolution
will support them. [applause]

Let this be quite clear to those who have the impudence to doubt this
revolution's integrity and who think that we would violate principles for
economic reasons: This country would not have mentioned the intransigent
and upright position vis-a-vis Yankee imperialism that it has maintained
for a long time.

I am sure that if many of those cheap philosophers and theoreticians had
had to confront the formidable might of imperialism for a single month of
these 10 years--political might, military might, economic might--they would
have written 50 books to justify the coexistence with this imperialism, to
justify the best relations with that imperialism, casting aside all
principles.

There are wretches who do not want to forgive this country for its stand,
detractors whom we remember. This is not the first time; we all remember
when we forcibly remained silent for so long as a result of Che's departure
from Cuba. And the least many wretches said was that we had murdered Che,
and such things.

There are those who are serving the CIA with alleged leftist postures--hear
this well--of alleged leftist positions, who do not want to forgive this
country for the dignity and uprightness it has maintained vis-a-vis the
United States--the dignity and uprightness, [applause] despite its size
before U.S. military and technical might--who have refused to forgive this
country for the uprightness with which at given moments the lives of all
the people have been in jeopardy, without giving any one bit, as when the
crisis of October occurred. [applause]

We Cuban revolutionaries have gained a lot of experience over these years
in knowing how to distinguish truth from lies, sincerity from
hypocrisy--revolutionaries who have honest, though possibly erroneous
anxieties--and the paid agents of imperialism. Because of this today, the
anniversary of Lenin, we wanted to clear up these questions. On 26 July
last year, the beginning of the harvest, we set forth what our position
would be toward isolated cases of countries that sought to reestablish
relations with us.

And we said then, and reiterate this today, that a country that would be up
to casting aside and rubbish of the immoral OAS sanctions, that would be up
to acting independently and with utmost sovereignty; that would not be an
accomplice to the economic blockade against out country and aggressions,
the aggressions against our country; in that event we would accept the
reestablishment of relations with such a country.

In other words: That would be willing to show contempt for the immoral and
repugnant agreement of the Organization of American States, that would not
be an accomplice in the economic blockade and the aggressions against our
country. Our position will be one of the reciprocity with any country
willing to do this. The basis for these relations would be similar to the
relations we have been maintaining with Mexico. [applause]

Naturally, countries like this are very few-very few for the time being.
For the time being! When referring to support of the revolutionary
movement, we must say that it does not have to be exclusively for guerrilla
movements. It can be for any government that sincerely adopts a policy of
economic and social growth and is for liberating the country from the
Yankee imperialist yoke. Regardless of how this government has come to
power, Cuba will support it. [applause]

I am saying this because, as we were saying, in the history of mankind
there have never been two identical cases, not two circumstances exactly
alike. Now will there be two revolutions that develop exactly the same? New
possibilities and new ways are being born.

An increase in the concern among church sectors and military
institutions--two forces which were the most solid pillars of reaction,
oligarchy, and imperialism--has been noted recently in Latin America.
However, in church sectors and in military sectors, and, as a result of the
growth of the awareness of the peoples' subjection to exploitation, as a
result of the growth of the yoke--the awareness of the yoke, imposed by the
imperialists--as a result of the heroic and revolutionary position of some
priests, the most outstanding example of which is Camilo Torres in
Colombia, [applause] and revolutionary unrest, the forerunners of which
were the rebels of Carupano and Puerto Cabello in Venezuela some years ago,
which found its most lofty expression in the group of courageous
militarymen, who, led by Colonel Caamano, conducted the constitutionalist
movement in Santo Domingo--a movement which was crushed by imperialism's
criminal intervention--crushed but not conquered!

Unrest is also being seen in other countries, as is the case of Peru,
probably, the last thing the imperialists expected was that a movement with
an awareness of underdevelopment would be born from the armed forces ranks
and that the movement's goal was a plan for the country's growth. A
consistent plan for growth leads to a revolution. This is a new phenomenon,
worthy of being noted, and worthy of the greatest interest, and we are
watching closely this movement developing in Peru, very closely, because we
have seen how the reactionary press, oligarchy and imperialism lately has
been employing all their means, and have been carrying out a violent
campaign against the Government of Peru--a reactionary campaign, promoting
subversion.

However, since we have been through all this already we know full well what
imperialism's intentions are and the means it employs. All the reactionary
organs have carried out a very violent campaign against the people of Peru.
We already stated on 26 July our position concerning this and our interest
and reason for being careful about any statement we make about Peru, to
avoid by all means that Cuba's position be interpreted or used for ousting
the Peruvian Government.

We simply say, however, that any Latin American government the launches
itself sincerely and consistently on the road leading to the country's
economic and social growth and liberation from the imperialist yoke can
count on the support of our people and revolution in any sense and under
any ground. [applause] This is our position. We are not going to dogmatic
and neither will we ever act in a way which favors imperialist interests.
Never! Anything that may smell of being anti-imperialist will have our
support. And we will repulse all that smells of being imperialist.

This will be our stand, the one we previously talked about, on the
conditions under which our country could establish unilateral relations
with some Latin American countries. Of course, this statement will be used
by the most reactionary elements; it will be used to fight some people with
a stand different than that of the most reactionary and tougher elements.
The most reactionary and tougher elements opposed everything that had to do
with deals with Cuba. Very well, gentlemen, we agree. We fully agree. The
Yankee imperialists are concerned, we are concerned, we are not interested
in any deals with those gorillas; we are not interested in any deals with
that imperialism; we are not interested in any deals with the Organization
of American States, but we simply have the right to express our thoughts.
Nevertheless, we must frankly state that we sincerely appreciate the
statements of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago courageously condemning
the economic blockade against Cuba. [applause]

And by the same token, we sincerely appreciate the gesture of the
Government of Chile authorizing the export of a certain food products to
our country [applause] which we used to get from Chile, and as result of
the imperialist blockade, could not get them for several years. Therefore,
we can publicly say, aside from controversies and differences which we have
publicly had with that government, that we sincerely appreciate the
gesture. By the same token, we understand that that country's Foreign
Ministry refrained from getting involved in arguments and stated its
position against the blockade in a manner which was not unbecoming to our
country.

But those who dream of a repentant Cuba knocking on the doors of the
Organization of American States are dreaming. They do not understand our
spirit. Do they not realize that after 10 years they are the ones who are
defeated and we are the victors? They do not realize that after 10 years
[applause] all other formulas have failed, that no one talks about the
Alliance for Progress, that the United States has a Nixon who is
full-fledged imperialist and who does not talk about anything but private
investments and who treats them with contempt. They do not realize that the
anti-Cuban campaigns are no longer good business-the votes against Cuba,
that business is not too good--that we are progressing, that we are moving
forward, that there is no one who can say that the imperialist rule can be
maintained in this contingent in the coming years.

Who can believe that we could be such a bunch of idiots to incur something
that has been in the Bible for quite sometime, of the one who traded his
eldest son for a bowl of lentils? We are the first ones with the socialist
revolution in this continent [applause] and that honor, which we have been
able to defend during difficult times, we will never, renounce nor trade
for one, or 100 or 1,000, or 1 million bowls of lentils or gold or
anything. We, with our dignity, our decisiveness, will resist, we are
emerging victorious. It is a prove fact that they cannot be anything to
crush us.

We have had a fine start and in the next few years the rhythm of
development will be tremendous with the means and resources available to
our country. So, the future is ours. Crises and defeats belong to
imperialism. The revolutionary phenomena which has confronted the oligarchy
is moving around the world like a ghost, especially in this continent, so
there are no secure imperialist interests in this continent. It is foolish
and stupid to think that a repentant Cuba may request admittance to that
political house of prostitution, the Organization of American States.
[applause]

Will that be enough? Well, if the governments that are able to follow
international policies are respectful toward our country, we will be
respectful toward them. But the accomplices of the imperialist blockade and
the aggression against our country better not expect any considerations
from this country. They should stop arguing and remove that ridiculous
olive branch when talking about subversion because what was truly
subversion was the Giron incident, the hundreds of times that the
imperialists dropped weapons in this country, the thousands of crimes and
violations against our country, the shameless intervention in Santo
Domingo, and other such events.

We are not going to be intimidated with threats and we are not going to
become confused by dialogs which lack force and validity. Therefore, we
have said and reiterated and explained that all those who decide to fight
against imperialism can have our support. [applause]

And of course, the imperialists should not expect any consideration, any
cooperation; we have not said a word on certain problems, but people have
been saying that they have a lot of problems. The hijacking of planes; they
created them. And no they have troubles with the planes, the abductions of
ambassadors, All kinds of problems--and they created them.

Now there is not way to solve this. Let them solve it. In respect to the
planes, we enacted our law, and if they want to solve the matter of the
planes, they must abide by the letter of the law, article by article,
without removing a single comma from our law. [applause]

They have created a rash of problems with their rascalities, with their
piracies, with their misdemeanors, and now they are at a loss as to how to
resolve them. And they face all those problems, not knowing what to do.
Those governments are so discredited that they cannot even provide
safeguards for the ambassadors there.

We have no problem whatever. We guarantee the ambassadors that are here, in
this country, and we give them security. [applause] If they cannot, it is
their affair, but let them not count on any cooperation from Cuba in any
sense. We say this as of now, for they are talking about asylum and about
reaching an agreement--now they want to reach an agreement and Cuba is on
the outside, no? Well let us see what they do to solve the problems they
have created which are their problems, not Cuba's in any sense.

This is how things stand, these are the realities, and they are crystal
clear. We have spoken clearly to everyone. The imperialists are also
speaking clearly--what they are thinking of doing, what they are planning.
But we have wanted to speak in the clearest terms, and we think that there
is no more opportune time than this splendid day, this extraordinary date,
this centennial of the birth of Lenin.

Let us likewise shout "viva" for, in the first place, an eternal "viva" for
the immortal Lenin. [shout of "viva"] And an eternal "viva" for the
friendship between the peoples of the Soviet Union and Cuba [loud
applause]. Fatherland or death. We will win. [applause]
-END-


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