-DATE-
19710629
-YEAR-
1971
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
INAUGURATION-LUIS AGUSTO TURCIOS LIMA JR HIGH SC
-PLACE-
CUBA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC TV SVC
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19710629
-TEXT-
FIDEL CASTRO SCHOOL INAUGURATION SPEECH

Havana Domestic Television Service in Spanish 0202 GMT 29 Jun 71 F

[Text of speech by Cuban Prime Minister Maj Fidel Castro Ruz at the
inauguration of the Luis Agusto Turcios Lima junior high school in the
country--recorded]

[Text] One thing is certain, if it had not rained as it has today, this
place would not be Ceiba because [Castro chuckles] it looks as though it
rains every day here. Now then, part of the throng here has deserted.
[audience commotion] [word indistinct] No, no, no, no! We should not compel
them, we should not force them to get wet. This is voluntary, if we force
someone to get wet then there would be no merit.

Is anyone getting wet here? The merit is to the one who got wet, [audience
approval] [Castro chuckles] and those who did not get wet must have their
reasons. Perhaps they thought they would get a cold, or they might have
some problem. You have to take that into account too. Some [deserted]
because they were too cold. The truth is that the rain was cold, the rains
is cold. I was waiting to see if it was going to hail, that is about all
that did not happen here.

But then, this speech will be brief for obvious reasons. [Castro chuckles]
And what is more, I was going to be brief anyway because tonight is the
close of the transportation comrades and they also have an entertainment
program that will take 2 hours and so I must be punctual. Let us say with
the punctuality in which we want the trains and buses to run in the future.
[Castro laughs] So we are going to get used to the idea of a punctuality
that will be railroad punctuality in the future. Not the railroad
punctuality of today because you know more or less what it is like. Yet,
the transportation comrades say that they are going to make a big effort
until they get to run the trains on time.

Now then, as to this school, I want to say the following: That the
inauguration of these schools is now becoming a daily affair. The school
will be named in two ways: Ceiba II because of the order in which it was
built, and it will also be called Turcios Lima which is the name of the
school where the comrades used to go. [crowd approval, applause] That
school had practically [word indistinct] because it did not have adequate
facilities to operate. This is why (?we kept the name) in some cases of the
school and its name remains, but in this case they come with the name of
the school which is an honorable name of a Latin American revolutionary who
fell fighting for the revolution in his country.

Actually, today we inaugurate this school, tomorrow we inaugurate the first
one of the Isle of Pines. In April the first one in Matanzas was
inaugurated and possibly in August the first one in Pinar del Rio will be
inaugurated. And today this one is being inaugurated and there are four
more under construction. Thus we are moving at a good rate.

We are moving at the rate of one school of this type a month. We hope to
reach a rate of two schools of this type a month next year. When the rate
of two a month is reached we will need volunteers to inaugurate the
schools. [Castro chuckles] These are just the first few.

And above all, let us see if the comrades of the agricultural development
agency will try to complete these schools in the dry season. If we have to
inaugurate these schools in the springtime, then one of these days we are
going to have a hurricane and it is going to get us inaugurating a school.
[Castro chuckles]

We are therefore optimistic. We are happy. We are glad to have the
representatives of the transportation workers here. They have just
completed their meeting and they can get a clear picture to convey to their
comrades as to the type of school that is being developed, the type of
instruction practiced here, the education that their children will receive.

It is true that it should be a matter of pride for all workers to know that
the new generation is going to have the chance to get an education in
schools like this one.

As a matter of fact, the new generation is going to get what the earlier
generation did not have. We thus can be confident of a future in this
country, a new generation that will be integrally molded, in every aspect:
In the sense of study, of work, of duty, in the revolutionary spirit, in
the patriotic spirit, but also in the internationalist spirit and very
essentially, in the Latin Americanist spirit.

We have all enjoyed a very pleasant time with the cultural program in which
various junior high schools took part. Actually I am very appreciative of
the effort of the comrades, the progress they have made. Also I especially
wish to congratulate the comrades who performed in the last number of the
program which they did under the rain when [Castro chuckles] the raindrops
could be heard hitting the microphone over their voices. [audience
approval, applause] It was an exciting number.

I was asking the comrades of the Education Ministry whether we were going
to have these numbers at the Isle of Pines inauguration. They said that
there would not be a cultural program and I proposed that the possibility
be studied, if the ferry arrives on time, if all these things can be worked
out, then all these amateur student performers can make a little trip to
the Isle of Pines. [audience approval, applause]

[Castro turns and confers aside with somebody] They say that the ferry
leaves at noon. But let us ask the ferry whether it can make it 2 hours
sooner. [audience approval] [Castro chuckles] Let us see if the machinist's
mates can speed up the engines. [Castro chuckles] Let us see whether you
can arrive on time for the inauguration which is at 1700.

If you leave at 1000 then you will arrive at the Isle of Pines at
approximately 1600 and at 1700 you will be there again, because tomorrow's
inauguration will be the first on the Isle of Pines and it is a pity that
we could not sow the little seeds of this great enthusiasm for cultural
activities that is developing around these secondary schools.

Then there is hope, if you can keep healthy, if you do not catch a bad cold
[Castro chuckles], let us see if as soon as this function is over somebody
will give you something warm to drink, a tea [Castro chuckles], a hot
lemonade, or something, so you can be on the Isle of Pines tomorrow and
then it will not matter that it rained today. Perhaps it will not rain
tomorrow, and if it rains we know that in any case there will be a show.
For today's communists do not stop before any difficulty. Fatherland or
death! We shall win.
-END-