-DATE-
19710630
-YEAR-
1971
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
ISLE OF PINES SCHOOL INAUGURATION
-PLACE-
CUBA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC RADIO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19710630
-TEXT-
CASTRO'S ISLE OF PINES SCHOOL INAUGURATION SPEECH

Havana Domestic Radio Services in Spanish 0128 GMT 30 Jun 71 F

[Text of speech by Cuban Prime Minister Maj Fidel Castro Ruz at the
inauguration of a junior high school on the Isle of Pines--live]

[Text] Isle of Pine workers, students, teachers: We had hoped the rain
would not interrupt the inauguration and, actually it has been a splendid
afternoon. Today we have had a chance to see the amateur groups from the
various schools without the rain interrupting. We have had a chance to see
in all its splendor the magnificent school that you have just finished
building on the Isle of Pines.

The school principal told you that 11 years ago they had some 50 secondary
school pupils in the Isle of the Pines; now they have more than 200 and
with more enrolling for the next term the figure will be double the number
of pupils required for this school--500.

If we analyze the number of pupils in primary school we find that there are
354 in this 1970-71 term in the sixth grade. They will be the ones who will
be enrolled in this school when they are promoted. Next year we will have
686 in the sixth grade. There are 1,467 in the fifth grade. Then we have
fourth, third, second, and first grade with 956, 879, 1,512, and 2,038
respectively; in preschool, 954. This makes a total for the 1971-72 term of
8,492 primary and preschool pupils.

According to these figures, the least required on the Isle of Pines in the
next 10 years is practically one secondary school a year like this one. Of
course, if a large class is promoted in primary, the number of pupils per
year, the number of secondary school pupils will grow considerably.

A few years ago, we also could say that we did not have this type of
installation, and when the scholarship student plan began we have to
improvise a number of buildings. Sometimes they were apartment buildings,
sometimes houses that used to belong to the bourgeois rich in the capital.
In other cases we put them up in military buildings when the barracks were
turned into schools, and of course, we were a long way from schools of the
type we are inaugurating today.

Now, incredible as it seems, we are inaugurating this type of school with
some frequency. You will recall that a school of this type was inaugurated
in April in Jaguey, yesterday one was inaugurated in Havana, and today this
one is inaugurated on the Isle of Pines. This is a small record--two
secondary schools in 24 hours. [applause]

What is interesting is that we now have eight brigades building secondary
schools, we have three in Havana Province, one in Guane, one on the Isle of
Pines, that makes five; two in Jaguey, makes seven, and one in Santa Clara
which makes eight.

In addition we have five brigades building the technological institutes:
The Forestry Technological Institute with 1,200 pupils north Pinar del Rio;
the Electronic Technological Institute which is being built in the Rancho
Boyeros area, near the Martinex Villena; the Textile Technological
Institute will begin to be built at Alquitex and the brigades are already
organized; the Refrigeration Technological Institute of Santa Clara is
under construction; and the Agricultural Technological Institute of
Camaquey is under construction too. That makes 13 brigades building
institutions of this type.

A brigade is already at work on the construction of a classroom monitor's
school at [Vento]. This makes 14 brigades constructing buildings of this
type. New work teams will be organized to build teachers schools in various
provinces. In addition, we expect to have 15 brigades for secondary school
construction alone by the year's end.

The current pace is approximately one school of this type per month. And
yesterday I explained that the rate we hope to attain in 1972 is two
schools a month, and the rate for 1975 will be 10 schools of this type a
month. That is 10 per month. It seems a lot and yet they are not enough. We
estimate that by 1980 we would have to increase the pace from 1975 to 1980
to build all the schools we need.

And this is only for basic secondary schools, this does not include the
technological institutes, the teachers schools, the primary schools, and
the preschool centers which must be built. Staffed by teachers and service
personnel, supplied with materials, books, furniture--it is really a very
big effort that we must have, yet we feel encouraged that we are
approximating this pace. And we can say that at this time we have 14
brigades, in other words, they are working simultaneously on the
construction of that number of institutions of this equality. Anyone can
understand perfectly what the future will be.

Today when I was looking at the landscape from the building at the back of
the school and I saw the dam and its surroundings, I could see the other
school to be built and the three sites of the three next schools after
these two are already located.

We shall try to organize a second brigade on the Isle of Pines to build
secondary schools. If possible, organize one for earth moving and four for
construction. The prefabrication plant on the Isle of Pines now has a
capacity for six schools of this type a year. Now then, you might ask
yourselves: "But how can we build, for example, four or five or six
secondary schools every year. What pupils will come here to study in these
secondary schools?" and of course, it is logical [Castro chuckles] that
with two secondary schools already, in addition to the six when they are
finished, we do not have the pupils on the Isle of Pines for them. What
does this mean? That, in addition to the solution, which will be an optimum
one, because, of course no area in Cuba will have 100 percent of its pupils
in this type of secondary school and you already have it. [sentence as
heard] By next year--and from now on--100 percent of the pupils on the Isle
of Pines will enter secondary schools of this type.

The Isle of Pines has 30,000 inhabitants and, of course, when I pointed out
the number of primary and preschool pupils it has, we see that if there are
5,492 pupils in the next term, some 30 percent of the inhabitants on the
Isle of Pines are in primary school, they are primary or preschool-age
children.

The fact is that the Isle of Pines has magnificent natural conditions for
citrus cultivation as well as other crops. As the school principal pointed
out, there used to be 40 caballerias of citrus groves here in the past, and
now, this school alone will tend 40 caballerias of citrus and we already
have 900 caballerias of citrus on the island. They have to be cared for and
then harvested.

The island now also has a capacity for 200 million cubic meters of water
because the dam construction plan has progressed very rapidly. This is
equivalent to 50 percent of capacity. In the coming years the impounding
capacity will continue to grow, thus the island is getting filled with
lakes.

Now, according to studies, there are some 3,000 caballerias of citrus that
can be planted on the Isle of Pines. The studies give all the details about
the various types of soil but it is felt that some 3,000 caballerias of
citrus can be planted.

Well, it says the Isle of Pines here but actually the name of the island
has been changed to the name by which it is presently known: "Isle of
Youth." But if it is really going to be called the Isle of Youth and we do
not have sufficient population [Castro chuckles] to develop this island,
who then should build this island, basically speaking? Who should develop
and maintain this island? To put it simply--the youths.

Who are these youths going to be? They are going to be the young high
school pupils. Of course, also taking part in it are the "followers [the
Camilo Cienfuegos and "Che" Guevara path followers], the [centennial] youth
column, the soldiers of the military units, the young columnists of the
island; in short, there are not enough of them to carry out the development
program of this area.

This is why the youths of this area will not be the only ones who will go
to the Isle of Youth high schools; youths from the capital will also go to
school here. If we calculate that the total number of high school pupils in
1980 will be some 5,000, perhaps 6,000, then notwithstanding this in order
to tend the citrus groves of this island--I am still not convinced that it
should be called the Isle of Youth for I see it as more of an aspiration
than a reality, as a prospective thing--we would need some 30,000 to 35,000
youths, and we figure that the city of Havana will have no less than
100,000 junior high school pupils in 1980. Depending on the way the primary
schools function, we have a possibility of having a greater number of high
school pupils. However, to carry out this idea of "the
school-in-the-country," of locating schools in those types of activities
which young persons can do, we find that all the plantations in Havana
Province of this type would not be enough to board all the high school
students, to locate all the high schools needed to bring this system to all
the youths in the capital.

Havana pupils would possibly have [to go] to the Jaguey area, because we
need some 70 high schools in that area, and possibly Matanzas Province
which will have other schools of this type in other areas will not have
available a number of pupils corresponding to these figures. [as heard]

Hence, in 1980 there will be pupils from the capital in the interior of the
province, in the Matanzas areas, in some of the nearest areas of Pinar del
Rio, and on the Isle of Youth.

When we have some 30,000 pupils in schools of this type then we will indeed
have, by every right, the Isle of Youth. This implies the solution of
construction problems and the solution of transportation problems. We are
calculating what the future needs will be to try to guarantee in every way
transportation between Havana Province and this area.

Now, what is the advantage of this area compared to the Jaguey, Ceiba,
Guane area? It is the circumstances of possessing from the natural point of
view an incomparable landscape. The beauty of this island is now something
proverbial. It was always the dream of visitors, travelers, tourists, and
persons who wished to relax. It has a rolling topography and its citrus
groves will further enhance this marvelous landscape and, in addition, it
is going to have lakes everywhere. It is almost like that now.

Therefore, when we built a junior high school in Ceiba and found out that
they turned out to be very beautiful installation with well-tended citrus
groves radiating from them to make a very beautiful sight, this is true
here as in Matanzas.

Yet, although we can bring all the sports installations there--track and
field, soccer, basketball, volleyball, baseball--open space permits us to
do what would be very difficult in the city. What is more, lately they are
building the first swimming pool in one of these schools. It will help us
to calculate with precision the materials and equipment, the cost of such a
pool. If we can build swimming pools we can include another sport which is
swimming.

But over there they do not have the privilege of having these lakes which
have been created near these schools. What does this mean? That all these
schools will have everything they have in those schools [in Havana City
schools]. They will also have ample swimming facilities and they can also
have additional sports--rowing, kayak boating, sailing, fishing--in short,
all the water sports which can only be practiced in open areas.

Today we had a chance to visit the recreation center--it is called the
Vietnam recreation center--and it is needed a very pretty place. They have
a number of boats and they plan on getting 200 rowboats. There is a
cafeteria and it is quite a beautiful place.

But when we were thinking about [Castro chuckles] this school, we saw that
this school is more of a recreation center than that one. It is even more
of a recreation center than that one. Why? Because of the facilities the
other does not have; in the first place, the boats, rowboats, fishing
boats, rowboats for sports, sailboats, kayaks; it will have facilities for
bathing. They still do not have that over there. They will have to create
this type of installations here.

In addition, we have sport fields here that they do not have over
there--baseball, and all the ones I mentioned earlier. They also have
dwellings and dining halls. They have everything.

If you can remember some motel, the kind that attracts the attention of
drivers, the ones with gardens and green areas, well, no motel, no resort
or tourist motel has the facilities or the installations in that high
school. It does not even have the beauty of that high school. [applause]

An idea came from this. I was confronted with the circumstance that the
country has limited vacationing facilities. It has limited facilities in
beaches and recreation centers. I understand that some 250,000 reservations
have been distributed to the workers this year for their vacations. It is
not enough.

We are beginning to expand the facilities for the workers vacations. We
will always face the fact that in July and August, especially August, the
demand is at the peak. The hot months, the school vacation months, and in
addition, the greatest number of vacations in industry.

Thus the idea came to try out a vacation plan at Ceiba junior high school
for the parents of the pupils. We will carry out the first experimental
plan in August. More than 1,000 persons will take part in four groups that
will spend a week at the school. They have a full program, including a
little work program, too. This is so they can exercise their muscles.
[applause] Yes, a little work program has been included. [applause] You see
how many things can be reconciled in the revolution; how many things are
reconcilable in socialism.

During the months of school vacations, the schools are empty and yet they
have all types of recreational facilities. These are the months when we run
short of facilities. Most of the parents of the pupils there are workers in
industry. Many of them are textile workers from Ariguanabo.

Why the pupils' parents? Because the pupils' parents are connected with the
school. They are part of the school. They are part of the school councils.
They are interested in the best operation of the schools. They are
interested in the best maintenance of the school because their children go
there, relatives close to them.

So we thought that the participation of the pupils' parents in vacation
plans would contribute to the best maintenance of the school, and in
addition, since there are agricultural projects around these schools, what
would happen if we did not have anybody [to work these farm lands] during
vacation time, [with the school children away at vacations]

So you see how many interests are served by it--the interests of the
school, the interests of the workers, the chance for a vacation, the
interests of the economy -- everything is reconciled in one package.

What kind of work will they do? Work similar to that done by the junior
high school pupils when they are in school every day. And what do they get
after the 3 hours of work in the morning? They get bread, lunch, rest; a
whole program of sports and recreational activities in the afternoon. They
will be reminded of their school years, playing baseball again. [Castro
chuckles] Well, maybe they play ball because a baseball seems to be too
small for certain ages and we have to give them slower and bigger balls and
(?count) the bases.

And they will also have swimming, excursions, visits to various places on
certain weekdays. At night they can go to cultural events of this type,
like the one we saw here. Movies too.

Thus the program is very good. The first little program they have made is
very good and we are anxious to see how the plan turns out.

We hope it is successful, and it would be very important if it is
successful. Why? Because it means that if in 1980 we had the schools of
this kind which we need, if we had them because we cannot say for certain
yet that we will have all we need in 1980, but if we had all that we
need--some 1,200 schools of this kind--in addition to a capacity for some
700,000 youths who would be receiving an integral education and
participating in the creation of the people's wealth, we would also have a
capacity in the summer for some 2 million persons [words indistinct] we
will be building the schools, the best schools that have ever been built in
our country, and which possibly have no rival elsewhere, both because of
their material base and their educational concept.

We would be organizing magnificent summer camps for our workers, for the
parents of those youths who are going to attend these schools. We would not
only have the parents of the youths attending those schools, but even the
youngest brothers of the secondary school students will attend summer camp
in the schools which they will attend as students in the future. Therefore,
it can be conceived as a child's dream: He will attend school at the very
place where he spent his holidays, that place that was so pleasant and
hospitable. However, at the same time they will be magnificent centers;
they will be making an extraordinary contribution to the economy of the
country. Because we can assure the secondary school students as well did
today with the students of this school that the value of the production of
the citrus area assigned--and as students, they can comfortably learn in 3
hours with the energy they possess and the application of technology,
machines, herbicides -- the value of production would exceed the cost of
these schools. So, from an economic standpoint, production would greatly
exceed the cost of the investments and the annual cost of the schools. And
that for us is the only way to develop a program of this kind, because our
country is still too poor to be able to attain such education levels, and a
type of school in which the young did not participate in production would
be impossible.

It would be absolutely impossible to talk about 1,200 schools of this kind
within 10 or 12 years. Why? Because our economy could not in any support
such institutions if at the same time they were not production and
development centers. In this way we will incorporate our youth into
productive work. This way we will fulfill the percepts of Marx and Marti.
In this way we will achieve this type of higher education, this type of
communist education, because nothing gives us a clearer idea of what
communist work is than the work carried out by the young in this school.
They work with such enthusiasm, such spirit, and such energy! What quality
their work has.

Yesterday, after the inauguration of the Turcio Lima school in Ceiba, we
toured the areas of cultivation of the Ceiba III school. We saw the citrus
plantations in the best of conditions, whole areas without one bit of
weeds, the whole are perfectly kept, despite the fact that this is late
July. Under other circumstances and at other times it would be completely
full of weeds. And they are not even working with herbicides, although we
believe that it is correct at this period of the year to apply that
technique at this school, however, working by hand and introducing coffee
into the citrus areas. The plantations are kept in magnificent condition--a
condition never maintained previously. And this is only possible through
the efforts of a great many--a youth community of this kind.

Something similar happens at the 8 October school in (Santa Mella), on the
(Feliu) and (Thieu) plantations. Similar news reaches us from the area of
Jaguey and from other secondary schools of this kind. And this, together
with very high levels of school education. We had the opportunity to
witness the implementation of what only a few months ago were simple
theories, simple ideas, and the result is this type of institution. That is
why we have not the slightest doubt that the success of these schools is
assured. We have not the slightest doubt that this school here, this new
school, will not lag behind the rest. Our first contact with the students
of this school that we are inaugurating, our first impression, left us
without the slightest doubt that they are going to be a magnificent group
of students. They will be examples. And we have not the slightest doubt
that from our elementary school Pioneers will emerge the future students
who will build the Island of Youth. We have not the slightest doubt that
the Pioneers will volunteer in more than enough numbers to fill all the
schools we may build here.

That is why it will be your duty--the duty of the students of this Island
of Youth--to begin to establish contacts with the elementary schools of the
capital during the year -- contacts with them, invitations, and visits of
Pioneer representatives of the fifth and sixth grades. So you will maintain
contacts, so you will tell your comrades what this island is like, what the
scenery is like, what advantages it has, so that, as we said before, we
will have more young candidates to ask to come here who will not care about
the 90 kilometers distance of inner sea we have between Havana Province and
this island. Naturally, the special circumstance of distance and the sea in
between will not make it possible to have the same system of the weekly
visit home in the schools of this island. We will not be able to take those
who live in the capital to their homes every weekend. A system would have
to be established by which visits would be made approximately every 30, 32,
34 days; and they would accumulate several days so that they can stay some
4 days with their relatives and then return here.

At present, we have no doubts that we will be able to do this sooner or
later. If we cannot accomplish it--if our people cannot accomplish it by
1980--then surely by 1985 at the latest they will. If they do not
accomplish it in 10 years, they will in 15. However, we already know at
present the pace at which we are going to build. We already know, as we
were saying, that we will build one a month and that in 1972 we will build
two a month, increasing progressively until in 1975 we will be building 10
a month.

At present, we already have the factory which produces prefabricated units
for these schools. By the end of the year we will have a capacity for some
50 per year. That does not mean that 50 a year are going to be built; 15
brigades could not build 50 a year. However, the capacity in the
prefabrication industry will reach an approximate capacity of 50 by the end
of the year. Of course, part of this capacity must be used in the
technological institutes. Part of this capacity must be used in the
teachers training schools. And part of this must be used in other kinds of
educational buildings.

For example, there is the matter of living quarters for the teachers. This
is being submitted for study and discussion. We are discussing the best
alternative--whether the school, not the school but rather the building
[for living quarters]--should be built in the next little town or in an
area close to the school.

I also said at the school that was inaugurated yesterday that a building is
being constructed, which according to latest reports--and I say latest
because today I was asking about them and they have given me different
figures--but the latest, which seem more accurate than those of comrade
Josefina, an architect who designed this school. She told me that the
building would have 20 double and 18 single apartments. I do not know
whether this is the latest figure, but it is around 30 or 30 some odd. We
also have, for testing, an apartment building that is used to be the
teachers building which is relatively near.

We discuss, and discuss again, we go to the circles, and to the primary
schools, to the village, here and there. The professors have to travel, so
therefore we must carefully, minutely analyze and make the final decision a
logical one. Anyway, we are testing, and already at the school that was
inaugurated yesterday there is a building.

Now, when the decision is made, it is because a number of teachers housing
buildings will be constructed. Here the building will be built in the
nearby village, in a section, or it may be built some 100, or 200 or 500
meters away from the school.

The building there also has similar prefabricated material. That is why
although the capacity is for 50, next year approximately some 25 schools of
this type will be built.

How many will you build next year? So far, according to what comrade Lince
was explaining to me, he was making an effort to organize the second
brigade [several words indistinct].

Then, possibly next year some five or six schools could be built of this
type. But this will depend on the success we have in recruiting personnel
for the construction. And we already know that one of the more delicate
matters we have here is the matter of a labor force.

There is no doubt of any kind that the island is changing. Does anybody
doubt this? All we have to do is recall what it was like a few years ago.
This is known because it was almost an American possession. We were joking
on our way here with comrade Montane, who feels very proud of being a
native of the Isle of Pines, and we were telling him: Montane, you,
technically, are American! [crowd laughs] Technically, you are not Cuban
you are American, because you were born in the Isle of Pines when it was an
American possession, and when the treaty granting complete sovereignty to
the so-called Isle of Pines went into effect, Montane had already been
born. [crowd laughs] In fact, he was born under North American
jurisdiction. So we will have to grant him Cuban citizenship. But, well, we
are internationalists. We are not going to pay too much attention to that.
Afterwards, when sovereignty had been established here, the old mentality
left. The "pinero" as he was called, will now have to be called the young
one, as this is the Isle of Youth. Here everyone will have the title of
"young one." When the "pinero" spoke of the island, he did not really
identify with the national causes. Aside from that, we had the very famous
[name indistinct] penitentiary, which in times past was used as a prison
for revolutionaries, and also for those who committed common crimes
[passage indistinct]. But fortunately now, it is considered almost a
historical place.

Great changes took place in the moral, political, revolutionary order and
great changes in the economic and social order. There is now a great
capacity for constructing large buildings here and plenty are being built,
although they may not be enough, because naturally it will be very
difficult.

A complete highway system has been built, plantations have increased
notably, hydraulic resources have also increased notably and what is most
important plans have been drawn up and we are working to attain
extraordinary development. Therefore, who can doubt that great changes have
taken place? We who saw this region during the early stages of the
revolution and we who see it today, have difficulty believing the change
that has already taken place here. Of course, we should never think that
enough changes have been made. We do not want to think for a minute that
because it has the first little school, that because it has the first
recreational center, because it has three dams, and because it has 900
caballerias of citrus trees, you will believe that everything has been
done.

No, one thing we have to agree on; that is that we are only beginning. What
has been done is a source of encouragement, hope, optimism, but the fact
remains that we still have the main task ahead of us. The day must come
when another type of communication between this island and the other will
have to be established. We expect great things for this region.

What can happen if we give reins to our imagination? We are studying the
possibility of building a huge fresh water dam at [few words indistinct].
If we let go a little farther afield, thought is given to the possibilities
of constructing a highway over the inner sea in the not too distant future.
If we go a little further, it would not be possible, at a yet later time,
to undertake great engineering projects to drain dry some parts of this
inner sea.

When we speak of all these possibilities, we know that this requires an
industrial base, a technical base. Well, the best of intentions are not
enough. Knowledge is necessary, much technical knowledge is necessary,
profound knowledge is necessary. During this time we have had to struggle
against many factors, many adverse factors; our accumulated poverty, our
lack of industrial-economic development.

But the worst problem we have had to cope with is our ignorance. At the
outset, as you know, almost 30 percent of the people were illiterate. And
even now, when statistics are compiled, we find that in this factory a
certain percentage which has finished the second grade or perhaps third
grade. This percentage of foremen who have completed the primary school,
not too many the high school, and a smaller number of university graduates.

Yet any kind of project, as you know, requires profound technical know-how.
When a highway is planned--when it is designed, when it is constructed--a
dam, an irrigation, an electrical, a transportation system, modern
machinery, combating diseases, plagues, weeds--the use of chemical
means--education, sports, and culture--all require trained personnel.

If these comrades have been able to carry out their tasks, it is because
they have had instructors, good instructors--many were trained by the
revolution. This is the most splendid thing they possess: They have been
improving their activities and their work.

But there is nothing in any line that does not require technical know-how.
And one of the biggest scourges, the biggest scourage we have had to
overcome these years-- better said, cope with, for we have had to cope
with, and we could not rightfully say overcome--has been illiteracy.

Let us say, semi-illiteracy, widespread ignorance. The future will be the
antithesis, when you, all who are young people now, when the young people
of these schools will have lived 10, 15, 20 years, these times will be
fleeting memories. Then we shall be reaching the antithesis of today, above
all the antithesis of the early years, when we have
600,000--600,000--students at the middle school level; when we have 1
million students at the secondary and the higher middle school level; when
hundreds of thousands of youths are attending university; when tens of
thousands graduate at the technological level; when tens of thousands
graduate from the university level every year--then we shall have the
antithesis. And what will be the antithesis? Widespread education,
widespread technical know-how. And how will our country be? It is even hard
to imagine. When all this becomes a reality, when there is widespread
culture in all lines--production, political, moral, scientific, technical,
education, sports, and all kinds of instruction.

If today, as a council is organized to support the school--and this is
splendid support when the parents gather together--as the defense
committees meet for any reason, as committees to support transportation are
organized, and as the masses gather and offer a big contribution, what will
it be like when those masses, organized, will be contributing the
knowledge, the experience, and the technical training they lack now? What
will the country be like?

I repeat, it is hard today to imagine what this country will be like when
it becomes the antithesis of what it is now, when these revolutionary
years, which pass more and more swiftly and see work being done at an
increasingly accelerated pace, are behind us and we will have become the
antithesis of a country wherein ignorance was universal, and stand as a
country wherein the command of technology, science, and culture is
universal.

It is that kind of country for which we work. That will be your country. It
is the country for which you should work. That will be the splendid
objective, the honorable goal, of this generation of young people.

Just as it fell to other generations to struggle, to be jailed, to suffer
hidden persecutions, and to fight--and indeed it was their lot to work in
the first years of the revolution--you too will have to defend the country,
naturally.

It can not be said that you will have to live surreptitiously. Such
circumstances seem absurd. But who can doubt that to keep defending the
country will be one of your most sacred missions? Who can doubt that you
shall face risks? That will be your fundamentally sacred obligation.

But besides that, you will be part of the future. You will know that
country which will be the antithesis of today. You will know a community
which is vastly developed and has widespread technical knowledge. If today
we can see splendid results, what results will the future bring.

We have been privileged to know the revolutionary community of today--a
revolution which, despite shortcomings and setbacks, is noble, struggling,
combative, and patriotic.

You will know a community wherein these virtues will have been developed;
where there is a deeper and broader command of the science, technology, and
culture it lacks today. It will be a community which will have accumulated
all the know-how and the experience of higher-level institutions and of the
present years. It will be a community with a higher political culture and
much more highly developed humane feelings; a community whose ideas and
humane solidarity ties will be genuinely socialist, genuinely communist.

It is toward that tomorrow and that community for which we work today. It
is toward that tomorrow and that community which you should work because
you will be the protagonists, actors, and participants in that tomorrow and
that community. [applause]

To conclude, the comrades had suggested a name for this school. It is a
marvelous name--a name bearing the symbol of a date, a doubly glorious
date: The date on which Maceo and Che were born. This is why they proposed
calling this school, this first school, "14 June" [applause] as a tribute
to Gen Antonio Maceo, [applause] as a tribute to Che. And this is what we
are naming this first school, worthy of their example, worthy of their
history, and worthy of what they did for the fatherland: "14 June."

Fatherland or death, we shall win. [applause]
-END-