-DATE-
19711202
-YEAR-
1971
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
RALLY IN SANTIAGO
-PLACE-
NATIONAL STADIUM
-SOURCE-
SANTIAGO CHILE RADIO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19711209
-TEXT-
CASTRO SPEAKS TO FAREWELL RALLY IN SANTIAGO

Santiago Chile Radio Corporacion in Spanish 2329 GMT 2 Dec 71 C

[Speech by Fidel Castro in Santiago's National Stadium at his farewell
rally--live]

[Text] Chileans, the president has so impressed us with his words that we
must calm ourselves a bit. The president has spoken emotional and valiant
worlds, [applause] analyzing some present day questions, but in my case
although today I have seen some problems, I am a visitor. I should not
concern myself with such situations. [applause]

We should and we can speak of other situations which are common to the
interests of all our peoples. We should and we can concern ourselves with
other questions which are common to all revolutionary peoples. There is a
question which is very common for Chileans which we have encountered almost
everywhere. It reveals the Chilean patriotic sentiment and little of the
patriotic pride of the Chileans. The Chileans fill their lungs with air,
breath deeps and ask: "What do you think of this country? What impression
do you have of this country? Even though they know your opinion; even
though one has not yet formulated impressions. Or when they ask: "How has
our country treated you?" Even though they know the answer about our
feelings toward those who truly love this country.

But from the beginning there are impressions about which much can be said.
The impressions range from the majestic mountains, to the blue of the sky,
the beauty of the moon, the natural resources, the impressive countryside.
We are not all geologists; we are not naturalists. Unfortunately, beyond
all this all we have is what the proverb says: "All of us are a bit of poet
and fool." I imagine that the Chileans also know this proverb.

However, there are questions of much greater interest. We are interested in
the human countryside above all. We are interested in the Chileans above
all. [applause] If we have dedicated our life to anything it is human
question; the social question; the revolutionary question. If anything
awakens our interest, it is the struggle of the peoples of mankind. The
historic march of humanity from the time man lived in primitive hordes to
the man of today. If anything interests us it is the live spectacle of a
process in its critical moments.

Because the march of humanity has been slow. At time the march is held up.
At times it even goes backward, but also at times it goes faster. These are
the happy times. These are the moments of revolutions.

We have not visited Chile as tourists. We have visited Chile as
revolutionaries, as friends [applause], as supporters of this process, as
supporters of this process and this country. We have visited Chile--and at
this point allow us a small disagreement with the president, but not a
constitutional disagreement nor one of protocol, but simply conceptual. He
said that we had not come to learn nor to teach.

The difference is that if we are in complete agreement, we did not come to
teach--I do not know what kind of fear the people have who are going about
saying we have nothing to teach; perhaps it reflects a type of a complex,
subconscious fear--nevertheless, we say with complete frankness that we
came to learn. [applause]

But no one thinks that we have come to learn some of the things advised by
some libelers or wise men of the reactionary ideological theories who say
that "it is good that we have come to learn of elections, or congress, of
certain freedoms of the press, etcetera." A very interesting statement, but
we have already learned enough about all this. During 50 years we knew many
of these bourgeois capitalistic liberties. We know these institutions all
too well.

We are not saying that they are not good. In its time the Greek democracy
was good. [applause] Also in its time it signed an extraordinary
advancement in human society. The Roman republic--with its millions of
slaves, its circuses of gladiators, its Christians eaten by lions--and
medieval society considered themselves important over primitive slavery, in
spite of feudal servitude. The French Revolution was a historically
significant advance over medieval society. And the absolute monarchies at
one time achieved prestige and were considered high institutions in the
mark of human progress. And there even existed what we called enlightened
despots.

So that the [word indistinct] a new form of production and the creation of
new relationships between production and property and the distribution of
the products caused the birth of all these superstructures which were
considered good at a certain point in the march of humanity.

Anyone believed that any kind of society, any kind of social system, or the
superstructure representing a social system is everlasting, is mistaken,
because it has been totally contradicted by history.

One social farm succeeded another, and then another, and still another and
each time at a social higher level. Even the bourgeoisie, in its time, when
the proletariat did not exist, was revolutionary. It was a revolutionary
class, and it left the people in the struggle for a new social way. It also
led the farmers who were serfs of the fiefs, and it also led the craftsmen.
The proletariat did not exist and the human societies continued their
progress. To believe that way [the bourgeois way] arose two centuries ago,
to believe that way is everlasting, to believe that it is the highest
expression of human progress, to believe that through it humanity's
progress has culminated, is, from a historical and scientific viewpoint,
totally ridiculous.

Aside from that, every society, every social system, worn out, about to be
abolished, has defended itself. They defended themselves with tremendous
violence all through history. Not a single social system resigned itself to
disappear of its own initiative. Not a single social system resigned itself
to revolutions; Naturally, we say some were good.

But today they are doomed by history. They are basically worn out. They are
simply anachronistic. And anachronisms exist while they can. Anachronism
exist as long as the peoples do not have enough strength to change them.
[applause]

Anachronisms exist simply as long as they cannot be charged. But because
they cannot be changed at a given time, by means of a process, does not
historically mean that they will be everlasting.

In our country, where we knew that manner of exploitation, those
instruments wielded by the exploiters to repress the exploited ones, their
institutions, they have been changed. Is it any secret? It is any secret
what has happened in Cuba? And we at the technical university replying to a
question about our not having democratic representation--No--We do not have
democratic representatives and much less. As you perfectly well know, of
the type who have been called democratic representatives open our
continent. We were saying, in our country, our people do not need anyone to
represent them because the people represent themselves. [applause]

Our country has undergone profound changes, very deep ones; something that
is difficult to understand at a distance.

Very difficult to understand, above all when it has been magnified by lies
and slander, by those who have specialized in it through history, the
reactionaries.

Because there is a difference between a revolutionary and the reactionary.
A revolutionary does not lie, the revolutionary cannot lie, the
revolutionary lives of deep convictions, deep motivations, and the lie is a
violation of the character. A lie is a violation of man's most intimate
feeling. Lies are the weapons of those who cannot reason. Lies are the
weapons of those who have only contempt for others and, above all, for
their own people. [applause]

The revolutionary's weapon is truth. The weapon of the revolutionary is
reason, the weapons of the revolutionary are ideas; the weapon of the
revolutionary is (?Belief); the weapon of the revolutionary is his
conscience; the revolutionary's weapon is culture. The contemporary
revolutionary's weapon is the interpretation that he gives the scientific
laws ruling the march of human society.

We do not lie, and we will never lie. We are not afraid to tackle any
adversary in the area of ideas because truth will always win out in the
long run. The task of the revolutionary is, first of all, to arm the minds,
because no physical weapon is of many value if the minds are not forearmed.
[applause]

We are not even going to try to attempt, because of the distance, to have
you understand our country's problems. We will not try; it is not even
important; but we only say that when we said we came to learn; we did not
come to learn old worn old things and anachronisms of humanity's history.
[applause]

We are not basically interested in the day or the hour, how or when, the
Chilean people (?swept) away the anachronisms. No one will ever be able to
sweep them out anywhere as long as they are not capable. No one can sweep
them away before it is time. But we hope that they will be swept away as
soon as possible.

We have come to learn of a free process. We have come to learn how human
society's laws behave. We have come to witness something extraordinary,
something extraordinary which is happening in Chile. A unique process is
underway in Chile; something unusual, unbelievable. It is a process of
change: it is a revolutionary process where the revolutionaries are trying
to develop the changes peacefully; a unique process, practically unheard of
in the history of mankind--I will not say in history of contemporary
society, but it is unique in the history of mankind--where they are
attempting to carry forward the revolutionary process, legally,
constitutionally, through the laws established by society and by the
reactionary system, by using its own mechanism, by means of the very
weapons created by the exploiters to maintain their domination over the
classes.

Therefore, if is really something unique, something unusual.

What was our attitude? We the revolutionaries have done nothing unique or
unusual because the Cuban revolutionaries bear in mind that we have been
the first to bring about a socialist revolution in Latin America.

We do not have the virtue of having done it in an unusual way but out
attitude has been one of solidarity with that process, our solidarity for
those men who have liberated their way, our understanding, our moral
support, our curiosity because, as I have said on previous occasions, it is
not the revolutionaries who invented violence.

The class societies, all through history, have been the ones that have
created, developed and imposed their systems by means of repression and
violence.

The inventors of violence were at all time the reactionaries. The
reactionaries imposed their violence on the people.

And we have seen, and the world looks with interest, how this Chilean
process is developing under the current world circumstances, including the
current correlation of world forces. Now, that for us is an extraordinary
event.

Several times we were asked, academically, if a revolutionary process was
underway here. We replied without any hesitation: Yes. But when a
revolutionary process is started, or when the time arrived in a country
where what we could call a revolutionary crisis is produced, then the
battled and struggles deepen tremendously, and the laws of history take on
their full currency.

Anyone who has lived in this country 3 weeks; anyone who has seen and has
analyzed factors, the first measures adopted by the Popular Unity
government--measures which dealt a strong blow to the powerful imperialist
interests, measures which culminated in the recovery of the fundamental
wealth of the country, measures characterized by an advancement in the
social areas, measures characterized by the application of an agrarian
reform law which was not enacted by the Popular Unity government and which
was an agrarian reform law conceived with other objectives, a very limited
and very weakly applied agrarian reform bill when it was approved--has seen
that these measures have created and proved, one can say, the great
historic truth that the process of change generates dynamic struggle. The
measures which have already been carried out, and which constitute the
beginning of a process, have set loose social dynamic forces with class
struggle and have set loose the anger and resistance, as in all the social
processes of change, of the exploiters and the reactionaries.

The obvious question--as seen by a visitor--is whether in this process the
historic law of the resistance and the violence of the exploiters will be
realized because we have said that there is no case in history in which the
reactionaries, the exploiters, and the privileged members of a social
system have resigned themselves to a change, peacefully resigned themselves
to change. Thus this is an essential question we believe, and it is an
aspect in which we have been interested and something about which we have
been learning, and learning much during these days.

Yes gentlemen, especially those who asked me to come and learn, I have
greatly learned how the social laws function, how the revolutionary
processes function, how each sector reacts, and how the different forces
struggle. [applause] We have experienced it, and we have lived it ourselves
personally--and not because I have been stoned or shot at, or because may
hair has been burned. I have not seen a stone go by even at a distance.

As a visitor, as a friend, as one bringing solidarity, I have experienced
other aggressions which are well known: Insults and campaigns against me.

Possibly we have been guilty of intensifying some problems. Probably our
visit may have even stimulated those who wanted to create difficulties for
the Popular Unity government.

At a time when it has been said there were hundreds and hundreds of
reporters here from all over the world to report this visit, at a time in
which the whole word, in all the countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and
Latin America--people were talking of this visit, of this meeting between
Chileans and Cubans, of this meeting between two processes which began so
differently, when Chile and the Chileans image were being projected
throughout the world, it is obvious that it could produce a certain
irritation, a certain uneasiness, a certain exasperation, and would lead to
the acceleration of determined attitudes.

As a visitor, I have received in the name of the Cuban people much evidence
of affection, but we have had the opportunity to see and appreciate how
these phenomena were demonstrate.

Undoubtedly, the person who was visiting this country was not Benito
Mussolini [jeering], nor Adolf Hilter [jeering], nor a fascist. The person
visiting this country was not an instrument of the Yankee monopolies
[jeering], nor a friend of the powerful or the privileged classes. The
person visiting this country was a friend of the poor, a friend of the
workers, a friend of the peasants, a friend of the students, and a friend
of the peoples [applause and shouts of "Fidel, Fidel"].

For this reason, when we were talking and exchanging ideas with the Chilean
comrades at the invitation of the president, and they asked us what we
wanted to see, we said: "We want to get to see the nitrate, the cooper, the
iron, the coal mines, the work centers, the agrarian centers, the
universities, the mass organizations and the leftist parties. We want to
talk with the revolutionaries and to talk with those persons, who--even
though they cannot be considered revolutionaries--are decent persons."
[applause] We could not have said anything else. Thus this kind of visit
was organized. But why? [people shout "Why"] Why? Because we know where our
friends are, in what social class. We know that where the workers, the
peasants and the poor are, then that is where our friends are. [applause]
That is why we got the reception that we have received in all the towns, in
all the universities, in the countryside and the extraordinary affectionate
reception which we received in all the work centers, in all or them without
a single exception, not even in those places where the reactionaries
persisted more in deforming the consciences of the workers.

I say that the spirit of the workers, of the poor man, of the creator of
wealth with his sweat and his hands, was the same spirit which the laws of
history mentioned. That is why we had the opportunity to see this
phenomenon and how the phenomenon is produced, despite the great amount of
slanderous reports and lies which the Yankee monopolist press agencies have
spread about Cuba. And what purpose did all this serve? Naturally, we could
not even imagine it, and we would have to be really crazy to believe that
we were going to be affectionately received by the interests opposed to the
workers, the peasants and the poor of this country. We were not going to be
well received by the powerful class, the landowners, the reactionaries. In
two words Chileans, we did not expect to be well received the fascists.
[applause and shouts]

But, I repeat, we have learned something else. We have verified another law
of history, we have seen fascism in action. We have been able to verify a
contemporary principle: The fury of the reactionaries, the fury of the
exploiters in today's world, as has already been experienced many time in
history, leans toward the most brutal and the most barbarous forms of
violence and reaction.

All know the history of fascism in different countries, in the countries
which were the cradles of this movement--how the movement evolved and how
the privileged class, the exploiters, when their own institutions, invented
and created by them to maintain control of the classes no longer serve
them, they destroy them. They invent a legality, they invest s
constitution, parliament--when they invent a constitution, they invent a
bourgeois constitution, because socialist revolutions create their own
constitutions and their own forms of democracy. But what to the exploiters
do when their own institutions no longer guarantee their rule? How do they
act when the mechanisms which they have historically used to maintain their
control fail them? They simply destroy them. There is no one more
anticonstitutional, more antilaw, more antiparliamentarian, more
repressive, more violent, and more criminal than the fascist. [applause]

Fascism directs its violence against all, attacks the universities, closes
them and adjourns them; attacks the intellectuals, represses them and
prosecutes them; attacks the political parties, the unions, all the mass
organizations and the cultural organizations.

Consequently, there is nothing more violent, more reactionary, more illegal
than fascism. We have seen in this unique process how the law of history is
manifested, how the reactionaries, the exploiters, in their desperation,
and supported mainly from abroad, have generated and developed this
political phenomena, this reactionary current--fascism. We say with
complete frankness that we have had an opportunity of knowing and seeing
fascism in action. [applause] We sincerely believe that nothing will teach
us more than this visit, but it is also said that nothing will teach the
people more than the revolutionary process; every revolutionary process
teaches the people in a few months what at time takes year to learn.

Here is a question: Who will learn the most and quicker? Who will become
more aware quicker, the exploiter or the exploited? Who will learn faster
in this process, the people or the people's enemies? [audience shouts: "The
people"] And are you completely sure that you--the protagonists who are the
actors of this page being written by your country--are learning more than
your exploiters? [audience shouts: Yes.] Then allow me to differ in this
case not with the president but with the masses. [applause] Tomorrow you
will see headlines somewhere in the world saying: "Fidel differs with the
masses." We do differ in an estimate of the situation.

In this type of dialog on scientific and historic matter, we can say that
we are not completely sure that in this unique process the people--the
united people, the vast majority of the people--have been learning quicker
than the reactionaries, the former exploiters. However, there is something
else; The social systems which the revolutions are changing have many years
of experience, have gained experience in agriculture, have devised
techniques, acquired culture, and devised different tricks to obstruct the
revolutionary process. Then the masses, which do not have this experience,
this knowledge, these techniques, emerge and come fact to face with all the
experiences and techniques gained and devised by others. It you want us to
be frank, we have said that we cannot tell lies, but we might be mistaken
and make an erroneous estimate but we can never say [words indistinct] that
the learning process of the reactionaries has progressed faster than the
learning process of the masses. [applause]

It is perhaps that the people lack qualities? It is perhaps that the
Chilean people lack greater patriotic virtues, virtues of courage,
intelligence and integrity? No. We are highly impressed with the
characteristics of the Chilean people. Everywhere in our contacts with the
peasants we would ask them in what grade in school they were and they would
answer: We do not know how to read or write. We were highly impressed with
the Chilean character, in the receptions, in the tours, with the courage,
determination. We saw how men would throw themselves in front of the cars.
But furthermore, we were impressed to see women throw themselves in front
of the cars. On many occasions we saw mothers with children in their arms
stand on the road with impressing courage and determination.

We have seen qualities in the Chilean people which our people did not have at th
beginning of the revolution: A higher cultural level, more political knowledge--
well--More political knowledge because the situation which today exists
in Chile did not exist in Cuba: The electoral victory of the Marxist parties--th
Communist and socialist parties and the other organizations which supported
these parties. [applause]

In terms of political knowhow you have begun with a much higher level than
us. But there is something else: You have begun with patriotic traditions
which go back 150 years, and you have begun with a much higher level of
patriotism, of awareness of your country's affairs.

Our country was thoroughly penetrated by imperialist ideology. Our country
had been thoroughly invaded by imperialist culture; by the imperialist was
of life, by all the habits of that society which was close to us--the
United States. [jeering]

For this reason, in this sense we were much weaker than you. In other
words, in various aspects this people, this nation began with a higher
level than ours. From an economic viewpoint Chile has more economic
resources than Cuba. Chile has economic development which does not compare
with what Cuba had and a national resource which is now yours. Chile now
has such a natural resource as cooper in which 30,000 workers produce
almost $1 billion in foreign currency, in foreign exchange. [applause]
Chile has fuel resources--almost 2 million tons of oil--hydroelectric
resources, iron ore, coal, a food industry which is much more developed
than Cuba's. It also has a textile industry. In other words, you have begun
at a higher level of technical development and with an industrial
development which is much higher than that which existed in Cuba.

Consequently, all manpower conditions, all social conditions for
advancement exist in Chile. But you also have something which we did not
have. In our country the oligarchs, the landowners, the reactionaries did
not have the experience of their counterparts here. Furthermore, in our
country the landowners, the oligarchs, were not worried that social changes
might occur. They would say: "The Americans--they would call the North
Americans Americans--The Americans will take care of that and no revolution
can occur here. And they would rest on their laurels.

This is not the case in Chile. The reactionaries, the oligarchs, are much
better prepared than in Cuba, much better organized and much better
equipped to resist changes from an ideological viewpoint. They have created
all the instruments to wage a battle on every front against the advancement
of the process, a battle in the ideological field, in the political field,
a battle against the masses--Listen well--A battle against the masses, the
process.

Alright, this is the basic difference. There are other differences; there
are other differences. I am not mentioning the others because the paths are
completely different; however, when the revolution emerged victories in our
country, when the revolution began--we celebrate the victory of the
revolution on 1 January, but historically we consider it the initiation of
the process--when that process began, we also had opposition. You should
not think that we did not have opposition. Do not think that in Cuba there
was no resistance from the reactionaries and the oligarchs. We had
resistance, and it was strong.

They resorted to every means at their disposal, to all the weapons, aided
directly by the imperialists. They fought us on every front. They fought us
in the ideological field; they tried to fight us in the field of the
masses. They fought us in the battlefield. It can be said that we initiated
a process of armed struggle in Cuba, but we did not invent the armed
resistance. Armed resistance was very expensive to us; the armed resistance
of the reactionaries cost our country much blood and more victims than the
revolution war. Look, more men died because of reactionary violence than
died in the battles fought during the revolutionary war. We lost hundreds
and hundreds of lives, and we spend many millions of dollars because of
sabotage, the creation of mercenary bands in almost every area of the
country, the constant weapons' drops, the continuous infiltration of spies,
which cost us many years of struggle, and because of the mercenary invasion
of Giron, after the October crisis--actions instigated by imperialism. We
have had to fight during all these years. Now, we have won the battle from
all areas. [applause] We have won the battle first in the ideological area;
second in the areas of the masses; and third, we have beat them in the area
of arms. [applause]

In our opinion, the problem of violence in this process, including that of
Cuba [changes thought] Once the revolutionary regime has been installed, it
would be absurd, incomprehensible, illogical that the revolutionaries, when
they have the change to advance, to create, to work, to move ahead, would
promote violence. But is not the revolutionaries who in these circumstances
create violence. If everyone is not aware, surely their own life will
reveal it to them. [applause]

This was our experience when the Cuban revolutionary movement won. The work
was not easy; no one though it would be. Believe us, our country had more
parties than in Chile. There were more parties in Chile. In our country
there was everything, but along with this there was a desire to unite, a
conscience of union and of combining forces.

This was never lacking. You should know that in our country political
parties were not done away with by decree. No one believes that in Cuba
there was a decree combining the parties. No, in Cuba they united
progressively, over a process of years.

Today in our country there is only one revolutionary force. It is the
revolutionary force of the Cuban people. [applause] It do not know how many
tens of thousands of persons are here. You may know, more or less, that
this number could meet in Cuba within 10 minutes and within 2 hours, 10
times the number of people we have here could be brought together.
[applause] In 2 hours, and our capital has two-thirds of the population of
Santiago.

In our country there is a high level of unity, a great development of a
revolutionary conscience. They have generated a new form of very solid
patriotism, very solid, which has made our country a bulwark of the
revolution and a fortress in this continent that imperialism cannot
destroy. [applause]

We were shocked to hear what the president said: That in Washington or New
York, a high circulation newspaper published some statement by a high
official who said: "The days of the Chilean Government are numbered."
[audience boos] Well, a long time ago--aside from the stupidity, aside from
the interferences, aside from the unusual nerve, apart from the offense,
apart from the insolence--I want to point out that many years ago no
official of that country dared say that the days of the Cuban revolution
were numbered. [applause]

One must not only be indignant, one must not only not retreat, one must on
only proclaim wounded dignity or protest the offense. Ask yourself why they
believe this and why are they so sure. What calculations have they made?
What computers have entered into the question? I do not want to say that
Yankee computers do not make mistakes. We have a great deal of experience
which shows that they do make mistakes. [applause] At Playa Giron, the
computers of the Pentagon, the CIA, the government; everyone has made
mistakes. They made mistakes by the millions; therefore computers do make
mistakes. All of them.

We must ask ourselves: Why the optimism, why this security? On what do they
support it? You will have to ask yourself. And you will be the only ones
who can give the answer. Are you perhaps interested in the opinion of a
visitor not a tourist? Do you authorize it? Those who agree raises you
hands. With this authorization, with this plebiscite authorization
[applause] [crowd begins to chant] with this plebiscite authorization,
within the context I tell you that it is due to weaknesses in your own
revolutionary process: Weaknesses in the ideological battle, weaknesses in
the mass struggle, weaknesses before the enemies, the foreign enemy
supporting domestic adversaries trying to take advantage of every ebb,
every possibility. We can also say, due to weaknesses in the consolidation
of forces, in the union and expansion of forces.

You are living in a process, you are living in a very special process, but
is not new, since it is the process of class struggle. History has
uncountable examples. You are living in the part of the process in which
the fascists--to call them what they are--are trying to go into the
streets. They are trying to win the middle classes. At a certain moment in
every revolutionary process the fascists and the revolutionaries fight to
win the support of the middle classes.

Now, the revolutionaries are honored, the revolutionaries are honest, the
revolutionaries do not lie, the revolutionaries do not sow terror, anguish,
and they do not invent truculent wild tales. But the fascists stop at
nothing. They try to play upon any sensitivity; they invent the most
incredible slander. They try to spread fear and uneasiness in broad areas
of the middle classes. They trt to make the middle classes believe the most
unimaginable things. They try to awake the greatest fears in every order.
They have one objectives: Win the middle classes. And further; They use the
lowest, basest sentiments. Chauvinism, this narrow nationalism, egotism,
these they try to unleash by all means. By all means, Chauvinism, egotism,
the lowest passions, the unfounded fears. They do not stop at anything.

We have seen--because from time to time we have time to see something on
this long and agitated trip. Long in kilometers and days--regarding this we
are in complete agreement with those who are complaining [laughs]--and we
have seen it. They are telling such lies about things. What are they
getting at? Regarding out visit, for whom are the questions? Well, there
was only one way to visit this country. It was as a mute, a mute who did
not even communicate by signs--because much can be said with signs.
[laughter and applause]

Whatever them, whatever detail--first pharisaism: "Good he has arrived. He
has been received. We hope he does not confuse, that he does not meddle."
Then little by little--there: A meat pie, a man eating a meat pie; in
another place, there: The man's picture taken beside some girls in 'hot
pants' [laughter] There: The lie, "Fidel Castro jeered in the Andes."
Another lie: "Cold reception in Chuquicamata." Well then, trying to awaken
the chauvinism. Trying to present any attitude, any word, any answer to a
student as interference. So that we have seen in everything, every day, how
anything is used as a pretext to awaken distrust, fear, resentment. And in
this fight they are experts. They are competent.

As this moment, from our point of view as observer of this process, we see
fascism trying to advance and win ground in the middle classes, to take
control of the streets.

In addition, they attempted to demoralize the revolutionaries. In some
placed we have seen revolutionaries treated almost like slaves, and in some
places I have also seen them discouraged. Can you doubt I am truthful? But
if I were a man who did not believe in the truth I would not risk saying
this. It could even seem as if I had said something and then the adversary
shouts and I take off at a run. No. The adversary could not hurt me; he
would flounder in confusion, ignorance, in the lack of attention that is
demanded. [applause]

The success or the failure of the Chilean revolutionary process will depend
on the victory of the ideological struggle, on the mobilization of the
masses and on the ability and skill of the revolutionaries in growing, in
winning over the middle strata of the population. [applause] This is
because in our relatively developed countries, the middle strata is large,
and many times susceptible to lies and deceit.

The ideological conquest can only be won by truth, by reasoning, by sense.
There is no doubt about that. We were saying that something impressed us
very much today, and they were the words of the president [applause]
--especially when he repeated that he would defend the people's cause, the
people's will, and especially when he repeated that he was president
because the people wanted it so, and that he would fulfill his duties to
the end of his presidential term or they would remove him dead from the
presidential palace. [applause]

We who know him--we know that the president just does not talk, he is a man
of facts. [applause] We do not know him any other way; we know he is like
that, and when one can count on that type of dignity, when the people know
that they can trust in the man representing them, and when he repeats his
decision of resisting any attack from abroad in complicity with domestic
reactionaries--when the people can count on that, and when the enemies are
aware of that, that then constitutes a security, a trust, a banner, and we
as Latin Americans [words indistinct] hearts, to the president for that
courageous and dignified assertion. [applause]

[Words indistinct] how the people reacted to those words. There are phrases
that are historical and are valued as such, for their historical content
and have been converted into a symbol with reason, with the strength of
reason and with the physical strength of the people who accompany this
reason. [applause] When leaders, when chiefs are prepared to die, then the
men and women of the country are also ready to die. [applause]

The people are the promoters of history, the people write their own
histories, the masses write their history. Not a single reactionary, not a
single imperialist enemy could crush the people. [applause] The recent
history in our country demonstrates this, shows it. How they have been able
to resist and why. Because of the unity of our people, with the strength of
that unity in numbers. We said that in less than 24 hours we can arm
600,000 men. [applause] In our country, a tight and unbreakable unity has
been created between the people and the armed forces. That is why we can
say we are strong in defense.

Talking about history of ward, the professionals in the armed forces
[changes thought] in combat, the man is positive; in combat moral factors
are decisive; in combat man's morale is what decides. Those cognizant of
history know of the great heroic feats; know that when forces are united
that are inspired, deeply motivated, and capable of overcoming any
obstacles, of making any decision, to carry out the most incredible
sacrifices.

What gives then that deep dedication in our country defending foreign
danger? Ah, when the time comes to defend the fatherland, the fatherland is
not divided. There are no millionaires to beggars, great landowners will
full privileges and poor farmers without land and without work. The
fatherland is not divided between oppressors and the oppressed, the
exploiters and the exploited. There are no great ladies covered with jewels
and wealth and poor women who have to make a living in a whorehouse. The
fatherland is not divided between the privileged and those who have
nothing.

When our farmers are called to the army in our country; they know they are
not defending the fatherland of the exploiters, of the oppressors; they
know they are not defending the fatherland of the privileged. Because the
fatherland truly belongs to everyone and is for everyone--the land that
gives bread to all abundantly, without starving others--with love for some
and without humiliation for others. We have been able to give, to live, and
we know through bitter experience the terrible hardships our people have
undergone. Men and women, all have acquired a sense of dignity as they know
they are defending their own fatherland, defending a flag that is ours.
They are noble, full of patriotic feelings, and are capable of dying
because they have deeply felt the sense of fatherland--despite the fact
that many who were exploited lacked aspirations and encouragement--because
they are fighting for a fatherland that is theirs. [applause]

There would not be a people so powerful nor any armed forces so powerful to
fulfill the sacred duty of defending the fatherland, if the exploiters and
the exploited had not disappeared--that is to say, exploitation of man by
man. [applause]

History taught us a great lesson not so long ago. During the world war,
when powerful armies battled, what did fascism do? It attacked
Europe--invaded France, Belgium, Holland, almost the whole Western world.
it created a fifth column, it praised division, and that situation broke
the people's morale. When the fascist hordes attacked with their armored
vehicles and motorized divisions, they broke the lines and wrought the
complete demoralization of the people. Ah, but one day, 2 years later, in
June 1941, 4 million veterans of that same fascist army unexpectedly
invaded the Soviet Union. What did they encounter? They met with resistance
from the very first moment, from the very first day, from the very first
hour. The people were ready to fight and die. That country lost 18 million
people, gained the most extraordinary war experience in recent years.

That was when the Westerners learned to fight, with a fabulous superiority,
and when the Nazi army was destroyed. They disembarked at Normandy and
reached the border. In the Ardennes episode, the armored divisions were
forced to retreat hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. The fascists
launched over 300 divisions against the Soviet Union, and the people
fought, resisted and were not fooled. (?The battle) concluded in Berlin. It
was the Soviet Army that finally crushed the fascist hordes. [applause]

With that lesson of history, never--in spite of the proverbial patriotism
of that mission, in spite of that incredible patriotism--never has history
witnesses such a heroic, determined resistance. For this was no longer a
society of feudal lords, or serfs, or a fief, of czars with absolute power.
The socialist state resisted more, and the extraordinary thing is that a
socialist state of mainly peasants is today the powerful industrial country
it is. And it is a country that had helped small countries like Vietnam and
Cuba to resist such big dangers as the imperialist danger.

Men of arms know what a free and fighting country means, a country whose
motivation is highly developed. Because there are the men who make victory
possible, the men who can resist any difference in the size the forces.
They are the men who are capable of any heroic act.

We mentioned the French Revolution, when the bourgeoisie was the
revolutionary class leading the people. You will also remember how history
was repeated: How this country, invading by many countries, resisted and
defeated its aggressors. For it is in revolutions that people unite, that
secular injustices vanish and forces appear which no one and nothing can
crush. Someone said once, the historian of that revolution said, that when
a country begins a revolution, there is no force in the world capable of
stopping it.

That is why we say that our country is strong and united. We have moved
forward, and we are satisfied. If you allow me to express in all sincerity
one of our conclusions and one of our impressions to the Chilean people,
who are so curious and are very interested in impressions, I have an
impression which comes from the bottom of my soul. When I see the history
of this country, when I see these struggles, when I see to what degree the
reactionaries are trying to morally disarm the people, using many means--in
the bottom of my heart there is a conclusion: That I will return to Cuba
more revolutionary than when I came. [applause] I will return to Cuba more
radical than when I came. I will return to Cuba more extremist than when I
came. [applause and bravos]

I am using words to express an idea; since we want to convey an idea, I
will try to. The lessons, the experiences makes me feel more intensively
identified with the process which our country has lived through. [applause]
They make me feel there is a more profound life to our revolution and I
appreciate more its achievements and the progress we have made.

I do not want to speak longer. [applause and shouts: "Fidel, Fidel"] I am
very grateful for your kindness and your patience. [shouts] You know very
well that I have to leave. [shouts] You also know very well that you do not
need me here anymore. [shouts of "viva Fidel"] I am grateful for this
acclamation, an attempt to retaliate against those who tried to spoil the
visit, demanding our departure and even promoting a bill to make me leave.
[shouts of "Fidel, Fidel"]

Yesterday, we said it jokingly, and until yesterday we were joking. Today
we cannot be in a joking mood, reading the news of the incidents about
which I do not want to comment. When we hear news of wounded persons, of
fires, incidents which occurred while we were holding a reception at the
Cuban Embassy, where more than 600 Chilean personalities were
present--until that moment we made jokes and said: What are the
requirements to become a Chilean citizen? There was a lawyer there and I
asked him: How many days of residence? Where are the papers? I want to fill
them out. I could not joke about the insults so I joked about this. And I
decided to play a bigger joke. You would never prevent a Latin American who
fulfilled all the constitutional requirements from becoming a citizen of
Chile in 10 or 20 years. [applause] We were only joking.

We feel in a certain way that we are the sons of one community, part of a
world which is bigger than Cuba or Chile, which is Latin America.
[applause] The time will come; the time will come when all of us will have
the same citizenship, without however losing our love for our country; for
the corner of this continent where we were born; for our symbols, for our
flags, which will be fraternal flags; for our anthems, which will be
fraternal anthems; for our customs, which will be fraternal customs; for
our culture, which will be fraternal cultures.

When we have the necessary power among countries to occupy a dignified
place in the world, so that the powerful countries do not insult us, so
that the arrogant and proud empire doe snot announce tragedies and
disasters for us or threaten us in any way--for it is not the same thing to
threaten a small country as it is to threaten a great union of brotherly
countries which may be a great and powerful community in the future.
[applause]

That time will come; that time will come when the reactionary ideologies
overthrown, when narrow nationalism has been defeated, as well as the
ridiculous chauvinism used by the imperialists and the reactionaries to
maintain hostility and division among our countries [applause]--between
countries which talk the same language and are capable of understanding
each other the way we do.

The reactionary ideologies tend to divide. For Latin America to be united
one day--our America, as Marti said--it will be necessary to defeat the
last signs of the reactionaries, who want countries to be weak so they can
maintain them in a state of oppression, maintain them as subjects of
foreign monopolies. For all this is only a demonstration of a philosophy: A
reactionary philosophy, the philosophy of exploitation and oppression.

Allow me not to extent this visit, but to express a few more ideas if you
wish. [people shout "yes"] With which want to express our gratefulness to
all we have met--and we have met with many sectors of the Chilean people.
We met and talked with the workers, the students, the peasants, the people
in general, who received us in many places. And we talked with reporters,
with intellectuals, with economists and technicians, as the ones from ECLA.
We met and talked with deputies, with leaders of the Popular Unity Parties
and from the leftist organization.

We have met with everyone. [audience shouts: "The women"] I have not
forgotten them. We have met with the Chilean cardinal. [applause] We have
met with over 100 progressive priests, who constitute an impressive
movement. [applause]

We have held dialogs with members of the army, navy, and carabineros.
[applause] Everywhere, we have tried to answer--in a spirit of friendship,
respect--all the question is we are capable of answering. Two of these
meeting caused particular vexation and criticism; the meeting with the
cardinal--the meeting with the progressive priests--and the dialogs with
the members of the army, navy, air force, and carabineros. [applause]

We must frankly state the bases of those dialogs, and why and how the
dialogs were held, and whether or not we were being demogogic or acting
contrary to our convictions [changes thought] because we have seen that
there has been an attempt to insist on some of these questions. Indeed, if
anyone competed with us--if we had any rival--in receiving insults, it was
the cardinal. We had many matters to discuss with the Christian Left and
with the Chilean priests--extensive matters [applause] whose bases lay not
in opportunism, but in principle; not in advantage-seeking, but in profound
reasons, in convictions, in the conviction that it is advisable, possible,
and necessary to unite, within this Latin American community, the Marxist
revolutionaries and the Christians--the Marxist revolutionaries and the
Christian revolutionaries. [applause]

We discussed this matter at length with the priests--the basis of that
conviction which we hold today and which we have always held and will
always hold. Do not misunderstand the problems which the oligarchs in our
country created, in an attempt to use the church against the revolution. We
have often referred to the history of Christianity--that Christianity which
engendered so many martyrs, so many men sacrificed for the faith. And men
who are capable of giving their lives for their faith will always have our
deepest respect. [applause] It is the men who, since they defend bastard
interests, their egotism--and their full stomachs are incapable of giving
their lives for anything or anyone--that we will never respect. [applause]

We examine the many important people where purest Christian precepts and
Marxist objectives can coincide. Many people have tried to use religion to
defend what? Exploitation! Extreme poverty! Privilege! To make the masses
life a hell in which world, forgetting that Christianity was the religion
of the humble, of the Roman slaves, of those who, by tens of thousands,
died, devoured by lions, in the amphitheaters and who had definitive
statements to make about human solidarity or love for one's neighbor, who
had made statements condemning avarice, gluttony, egoism.

Many have forgotten that Christianity is the religion which 2,000 years ago
called the merchants merchants and the pharisees pharisees; which condemned
the rich and virtually said that they would not enter the kingdom of heaven
[applause]; which multiplied the fish and the bread. This is precisely what
today's revolutionary is trying to do through technology, through his
labor; through the rational, planned development of the economy.

If you seek the similarities between Marxism's Objectives and
Christianity's most beautiful precepts, you will see how many points of
agreement there are, and you will understand why a humble Paris priest who
is familiar with hunger--for he sees it at close range--illness, and death,
who is familiar with human sorrow--[words indistinct] who work in mines, or
who work among humble peasant families and who identify with them and
struggle at their side; or selfless persons who devote their lives to
caring for patients suffering from the worst illnesses [changes thought]

If all the similarities are sought, one will see how strategic alliance
between Marxist revolutionaries and the Christian revolutionaries really is
possible, It is the imperialists, and, of course, the reactionaries, who
are interested in preventing such alliances.

We also had lengthy discussions with military men--and by military men we
mean all the branches of the armed forces and all institutes. These
discussions were completely spontaneous, no one planned them. They were the
result of the official courtesy--of the extraordinary courtesy--with which
the president, the ministers and the government authorities tried to
surround the visit. Everywhere, in all the airports--everywhere--there were
also men in uniform and their representatives present. [applause]
Discussions arose spontaneously on many of those occasions--during
receptions, during meetings with the authorities. In became very evident
that there were many matters which could be discussed between the Chilean
military men and our delegation.

In the first place, our country had had to acquire tremendous experience.
We Cuban revolutionaries have had singular experience in different phases
of the struggle. First, at the beginning of the struggle, we had to fight
as irregulars; later we had to develop certain concepts and tactics of
struggle. Throughout our revolutionary war, we Cuban revolutionaries were
forced to participate in many battles under very unequal conditions,
greatly outnumbered.

We went through the most varied phases--phases of adversity, successful
phases. We were from extreme difficult moments to complete victories--to
complete victory. Later we had all kinds of experiences when all our
country's provinces were invaded by mercenary groups. We had to fight them
for years. These groups were equipped with the best U.S. weapons and radio
equipment and used all their technology. We have gone through Playa Giron
and we have gone through the October crisis--during which our country had
to suffer extremely tense moments, moments of extraordinary danger; during
which our country was, in effect, threatened by dozens of nuclear rockets.

We have had the experience of having to form our combat units with a view
of danger that is real and great. We have had to develop powerful armed
forces, to create schools, to learn the use of new weapons and new
technology. WE have had contact with the most profound experiences of the
last war--the reports and the documents. It is undeniable that, from the
technical point of view, from the professional point of view, there were
many matters that could constitute the subject of dialog--the interest of
Cuba's experience, of Cuba's process; the natural curiosity about historic
events which we all have. There were also questions of a human
nature--competency, effectiveness, traditions, each country's history, the
present and the future. What will out people's future destiny be in view of
the widening technological gap between the developed countries of the
countries which have remained backward? What will future concepts of
weapons, of the new weapons systems, be?

From both the professional and human point of view, things which concern
the fate of our peoples, there were many topics of this kind around which
the discussions developed. We had an opportunity to meet many men with
great talent, with much character--efficient men. We had the opportunity to
meet many valuable men--thanks to those discussions. We had an opportunity
to discuss matters connected with our traditions. We have, let us say,
mutually learned many things.

Was this in any way a sin? Was this perchance a conspiracy? Was this a
crime? Was there any reason for anyone to be offended? Why--if we talked
with the priests, with the cardinal and with the ECLA technicians--why
should we not talk with members of the Chilean Armed Forces? Why were
people so afraid of those discussions? [applause] Whom do they offend? We
even held talks during war. While we were fighting we used to hold talks
with the adversary--we discussed. While we were fighting, we used to
analyze matters. Who was right and who was wrong? If we have held dialogs
even with men who are fighting against us, why should we not hold them with
men who treated us with great courtesy, with great cordiality, with great
consideration and with great respect? [applause]

That is why today--on this day, on 2 December, as it happens, and nobody
planned it this way, it coincides with the 15th anniversary of the Granma
landing [applause] in which as a group of 82 men we arrived on the muddy
shores of Cuba-we also wish to express appreciation to those men for their
courtesy.

Batista's forces outnumbers our 1,000 to one. They had a total of 80,000
men. Some days later, misfortune made our situation even more difficult,
and we were only seven armed men when we could join again. The balance of
forces: 10,000 to one at least, a little more than 10,000 to one, 10,000 to
one.

In those moments we did not lose our courage, we did not lose our courage.
[applause] Perhaps this will help you to understand why we are not afraid
to reveal what can be the weaknesses of the revolutionaries or of a process
at a given moment: 10,000 against one. These men did not lose courage, they
continued to advance, they met with very difficult circumstances and they
always struggled with every adverse correlation of forces.

Even when the war ended, the correlation of forces was 20 against 1. Our
process went through these periods. This is why, revolutionary Chileans, I
mention this in relation to that day--that we must remember to draw the
conclusion that it is impossible to defeat a revolutionary people, a people
armed with a doctrine, with an idea, and determined to defend its cause.
[applause] We say that so the revolutionary lines will never lose their
courage, so that they will never lose their courage, so their morale will
never decrease even a little bit. Whatever the enemy's action, whatever his
partial successes, one must say: "forward."

Revolutionaries are impelled by deep motivations, by great ideas. They do
not encourage fear. No. Although, of course, revolutionaries know the fate
of crushed revolutions. We can cite two example: the Roman slaves'
revolution, Spartacus' revolution, crushed by the oligarchy, during which
hundreds of thousands of men were crucified and died along the roads to
Rome; and the revolution of the partisans of the Paris Commune, which was
ferociously smothered in blood. One can cite several modern examples.

When a revolutionary process breaks out, on one side fascism emerges with
all its tricks and maneuvers, all its military technology, all its
hypocrisies and phariasaism, its tactics to cause dread, its exploitation
of lies, its ruinous and petty methods. One must not be afraid of fighting
with arguments fighting with reason, fighting with the truth.

One must fight without being afraid of the results of a defeat, but being
aware of the high cost of a defeat of the peoples; fighting for a just
cause, fighting because one knows that one is right, fighting for an ideal,
fighting while knowing that the inexorable laws of history are in one's
favor, fighting while aware that the future belong to you, advancing with
the masses, advancing with the ideas, [applause] advancing with the people,
advancing in greater number, advancing with growing forces. [shouts of
Fidel]

What I say today in my long speech, which I have been able to deliver
thanks to your patience and consideration--what we said about tactics,
about union, about the possibility of everyone participating in this great
crusade for the America of tomorrow--was not invented by me when I arrived
here in Chile. These ideas are not the inspiration of a moment, because
here we have this document issued 10 years ago, known as the second
declaration of Havana [applause], and we consider it necessary to read come
paragraphs which summarizes the strategic revolutionary concept since that
time. Perhaps these parts will be useful to you.

When we take leave, what can we give you? If some ideas, some concepts
could be useful, we would feel satisfied, it at least spiritually we could
in some way pay your back for your affection.

The parts, which are consecutive, are as follows:

"Imperialism, using big movie monopolies, press agencies, reviews, books
and reactionary newspapers, resorts to the most subtle lies to create
division and inculcate in the most illiterate people fear and superstition
regarding revolutionary ideas, which can and must be feared only by the
interests and secular privileges of the powerful exploiters. Divisionism--a
product of all kinds of prejudice, false ideas, and lies-- secretarianism,
dogmatism, the lack of room to analyze the role of each social class, its
parties, organizations and leaders--these jeopardize the indispensable unit
of action among the progressive and democratic forces of our peoples. They
are vices of growth, diseases of the childhood of the revolutionary
movement which must be left behind.

"In the anti-imperialist and antifeudal struggle, it is possible to
organize the huge majority of the people around liberation goals which
united the efforts of the working class, peasants, intellectual workers,
petit bourgeoisie and the most progressive classes of the national
bourgeoisie. These sectors include the huge majority of the population and
bring together big social forces capable of sweeping out imperialist power
and feudal reaction. The old Marxist militant and the sincere Catholic who
has nothing to do with the Yankee monopolies and the feudal landowners can
and must struggle jointly in this movement for the sake of their nation,
for the sake of their peoples and for the sake of America. This movement
could also attract progressive elements of the armed forces also humiliated
by Yankee military missions, betrayal of national interests by feudal
oligarchies and the sacrifice of national sovereignty on Washington's
orders."

These ideas were voiced 10 years ago, and they are not at all different
from today's ideas. Our revolution has been consistent in its positions. It
has not been dogmatic, it progressive, it advanced. Sometimes it may have
some stages and some developments superior to earlier ones, but it follows
one line, to follows one principle, it follows one path. it has been
characterized by confidence in the people, confidence in the masses,
confidence in ideas, confidence in victory. It has been characterized by
firmness, intransigence, growth and (?form) on one side; intransigence with
principles on the other side. [as heard]

We spoke with many Chileans, we had long dialogs with them. The only ones
with whom we have never held dialogs and with whom we will never hold
dialogs are the exploiters, the reactionaries, the oligarchs and the
fascists. [applause] With the fascists, with the fascists, we have never
and will never hold dialogs.

We have had the great honor of talking with all the other Chileans, of
knowing them, of having exchange impressions, of having held dialogs with
them.

Dear Comrade Salvador [Unreadable text]. We will soon leave this beautiful
and wonderful country, we will soon take leave of this kind and hospitable,
wonderful, warm people. We talk along one thing with us a permanent memory
of this visit, of the affection, of the attention, of the honors that our
delegation received as the representative of the Cuban people, of the Cuban
revolution.

We can only tell you, dear president, you and the Chileans, that you can
rely on Cuba [applause], on it solidarity, on its disinterested and
unconditional solidarity; on what this flag represents, the homeland--not
the exploiters' homeland, but that of free men, a homeland where a
revolution has brought equality and justice, a homeland where man has
obtained what he claimed and has acquired dignity. To those who intend to
attack the legitimacy of the revolution, beautiful in its force, let them
explain how, if we do not have an aware and united people, a people which
know what dignity and freedom are, how have we been able to resist the
powerful Yankee empire culturally, politically and militarily?

Here is our solid homeland, here is its flag with represents the dignity of
Cuba [applause], which represents the nation in its broader meaning, which
represents patriotism in the sense of solidarity.

As the sons of Cuba, as the sons of America, these symbols which today fly
here, this physical nearness, is also the symbol of the nearness of our
peoples, of our ideas, of our cause and of our motives. As today is 2
December, may I end this speech as we always end them in Cuba: "Fatherland
or death, we will win." [applause and shouts of Fidel, Fidel]
-END-