-DATE-
19720527
-YEAR-
1972
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CASTRO TOAST AT LUNCHEON GIVEN-RCP CENTRAL COMMI
-PLACE-
BUCHAREST
-SOURCE-
BUCHAREST SCINTEIA
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19720531
-TEXT-
Castro Toast

Bucharest SCINTEIA in Romanian 27 May 82 p 3 A

[Toast by Fidel Castro at the official luncheon given by the RCP Central
Committee in Bucharest 26 May]

[Text] Dear Comrade Ceausescu, dear Romanian friends, dear Cuban comrades,
we have been in Romania for just a few hours, and in this short time we
have been steadily gathering impressions; from our arrival at the airport,
from our trip to the headquarters, from the visit to the mausoleum, from
the visit paid to the State Council president at the Central Committee
headquarters and the awarding of the decoration, from the mass rally that
was improvized and from this wonderful meeting, this luncheon. Every
minutes we are given further evidence of your hospitality, kindness and
friendship.

We have arrived in your country full of good will and animated by the
desire to become acquainted with the work of the Romanian people, with the
activity of the RCP, to become acquainted with your way of thinking, to
gather as much information as possible, and in turn, to offer all the
necessary information, to express our ideas and our feelings. True, out
visit is a short one, but this is due to the circumstances on the other
side of the Atlantic. Therefore, we cannot travel to Europe too often, and
we were obliged to draw up an extensive program covering numerous
countries, and time on each country's soil inevitably has to be short.
However, we shall try to utilize it as fully as possible, to do everything
to become acquainted with as many things as possible in Romania. We will
make use of time within the limits of our physical and mental capacities,
but we will fulfill everything we proposed to fulfill.

We are also concerned over many of the things Comrade Ceausescu noted. WE
share the hope that solutions will be found you for the European problems
and that a climate of peace and security will be established on this
continent. We share the concern over the Middle East, and particularly the
regard to the Vietnamese problem, the intensified bombing of North Vietnam,
the mining of the ports, the provocative policy of Yankee imperialism and
its lack of scruples in carrying out any act of aggression which amounts to
true genocide against a people such as the Vietnanmese.

We are living in a very complex world with extremely varied problems, very
different ones. Different are the problems of Europe, Asia, those of the
Middle East and the problems of Latin America. We are in the special
position of being geographically located at a great distance from the
socialist camp, on the other said of the Atlantic, in the immediate
neighborhood of the United States, and in a part of the world where Yankee
imperialism had succeeded in truly establishing its domination in the
political, economic, military and even the cultural field. In no other part
of the world has the United States exerted such pressure.

Practically all the books that were read, the news received, the films
shown and the radio and television programs broadcast originated in the
United States, thus being factors for importing imperialist ideology. Our
struggle has not been easy and will not be easy.

Despite all this, our country has set an example of the way revolutionary
ideas may open the road even amongst great confusion, under powerful
ideological domination, under the influence of reactionary ideas. However,
the revolutionary ideas are strong and are based on reality, on the
evolutionary process of history. Their roots are in the feelings of the
people and coincide with their aspirations and needs, and therefore, even
though there was a strong imperialist influence in our country,
revolutionary ideas became strong, won the people over and were triumphant.
Despite its proximity to the United States, th entire country was able to
resist the political campaigns, the political offensive, and was able to
remain strong by relying on the people. This was a decisive factor without
which international cooperation and the extensive and generous aid granted
by socialist countries would not have been able to overcome the obstacles
before us.

We consider ourselves part of a continent, of a human community which
number over 300 million human beings today and which will number 600
million in 25 years. We speak in the same language, support the same
culture, we have lived similar historic experiences and have common
problems. The human, cultural and natural resources of this community are
numerous. The only thing missing in that part of the world if the
revolution. The revolution represents the only instrument capable of
cementing a great community among the ranks of the Latin America peoples, a
community capable of living and existing in the world under conditions or
survival, or equality and flourishing relations.

Our country is indeed a small country with few natural resources, and those
that may be considered as abundant, as are some mineral resources, call for
large investments as their exploitation is very costly. Therefore, we must
think of the future in long terms, the relations between our peoples, the
economic and political integration of the Cuban people and the rest of the
Latin American countries.

We will try--within the limits of the limited capacities of our forces and
the small dimensions of our country--to make a maximum contribution in the
revolutionary field, in the ideological one with a view to promote the
liberation of the Latin American peoples, to contribute to the struggle of
people on other continents for winning liberty, for achieving social goals,
their national, historic goals. Our country-- lying near the United
States--considers it a basic problem to maintain a firm position, to
maintain a radical position and to relentlessly defend the revolutionary
ideology and the banners of the revolution. We are aware that our struggle
will be a long one, that the difficulties we have to overcome are great.
The imperialists do not submit to the changes in Latin America, they will
not agree to the existence of a revolution near their territory. This
imperialists will accept coexistence with the revolution, with the Cuban
revolution, only to the extent that the Cuban revolution is no longer a
revolution, to the extent that it would no longer be an example for the
countries and that it would be neutralized, would capitulate. Imperialism
would accept coexistence with our country under conditions unacceptable for
the Cuban revolution. For this reason we are faced with a long struggle.
Precisely therefore our road will be difficult, but we consider that we
have overcome the most difficult years, we have passed the greatest
difficulties, we have surpassed the most difficult moments of the blockade.

We live at a time in which revolutionary ideas are developing amongst the
Latin American peoples and we are living in a time when even in the
American society great sectors are becoming acquainted with the problems of
imperialism and are becoming aware of the realities of today's world. Even
if we consider the road long and difficult we are optimists and concerns
the special conditions of Latin America. We act in this direction, by
understanding our problems, by trying to understand the problems in Europe,
Asia, the Middle East and Africa, as we are full of sound feelings of
cooperation with the revolutionary movement on the other continents, of
good thoughts for exchanging opinions to analyze the problems, and to
understand and cooperate.

We have come to your country in this spirit, and in this spirit we wish to
express thanks for your invitation, for your hospitality. It was not
difficult to reach communication; it was easy, it was simple in a very
short time, and the success of our efforts in auspicious, as are the
successes of our work and talks.

Let us raise our glass to friendship!

To the health of Comrade Ceausescu!

To the health of all of you.
-END-