Latin American Network Information Center - LANIC

-DATE-
19720726
-YEAR-
1972
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
26 JULY CELEBRATION
-PLACE-
HAVANA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC RADIO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19720727
-TEXT-
FIDEL CASTRO SPEAKS AT 26 JULY CELEBRATION IN HAVANA

Havana Domestic Radio/Television Service in Spanish 2227 GMT 26 July 72 C

[Fidel Castro speech at Havana's Plaza de la Revlucion on 26 July marking
the 19th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada Barracks--live]

[Text] Dear Comrade Nguyen Thi Binh, PRGRSV foreign minister and chairman
of the PRGRSV delegation to the Paris Conference, [applause], invited
delegations, representatives of the diplomatic corps, comrades of the party
central committee, national work heroes, comrades: We shall try to cover as
briefly as possible several subjects that must be dealt with today. The
last time that we met in this plaza we announced the trip of the Cuban
Government and party delegation to many countries of Africa and the
socialist camp. We expressed our purpose of strengthening and developing
our relations with those countries. During three sessions which lasted a
total of 22 hours we delivered a wide-ranging and detailed report on the
trip to the party central committee. For two days--for 14 hours--we brief
4,200 cadres of the party, government, organizations, and mass
organizations in the most detailed manner possible so that through the mass
organizations they could orient the people. During many public meetings and
through the issuance of joint communiques our people received detailed
information on the entire trip and became aware of the meaning of the trip
and the extraordinary warmth and friendship with which our delegation was
received everywhere.

In essence, we desire to ratify these impressions of our entire trip, about
Guinea, Sekou Toure, [applause], about the great scope and great merits of
the Guinean revolutionary process which in November 1970 had to face
critical moments due to imperialist aggression, about the Algerian
revolutionary process, President Boumedienne and the Algerian people
[applause]. We feel that both Guinea and Algeria are called to play
important roles in the struggle against the residues of colonialism,
neocolonialism and imperialism in Africa. As time passes, these impressions
become stronger. These impressions are related to the political history of
these countries which have been fighting for independence since the last
century and to the effort made in Guinea by the party, the wide-ranging
politicization of the masses and their militant and internationalist
attitude. In Algeria, this is reflected by the marks left by their heroic
struggle against French colonialism, a struggle which cost millions of
lives, millions of lives in the most recent struggle, and millions of lives
throughout the last century when they heroically resisted colonial
conquest. Our delegation found extremely interesting the contact with these
countries and their leaders and we feel that our friendly ties have
developed extraordinarily. An emotional proof of this is the telegram from
President Sekou Toure which has just been read here. The telegram pointed
out that 26 July had been declared a holiday in the republic of Guinea.
[applause]

Our trip to the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
were equally interesting and fruitful. Prior to that we made a visit to an
African country--Sierra Leone--which has gained independence and which is
fighting to consolidate its independence. At the conclusion of our trip to
Africa we began our trip to the socialist countries of Europe.

I can tell you we observed in every country visited a common
characteristic--an enormous interest in our revolution, extraordinary
support and a profound feeling of solidarity. Another common characteristic
is the extraordinary progress made in the social, educational, cultural,
technological, scientific and economic areas in every country visited.
Another eloquent fact is the enormous importance attached by all socialist
countries to international cooperation and the extraordinary and generous
effort made by the Soviet people, not only in the struggle against fascism
which culminated with the liberation of these fraternal nations of the
socialist camp but also in the cooperation and support for the
reconstruction of their economies. Something very characteristic, very
eloquent and we might say very revealing of the type of relations existing
between the Soviet Union and the socialist countries of Europe is expressed
by the fact that if in the past the search for and control of raw materials
started many wars, plunder and conquests, in the case of the socialist
countries of Europe these countries benefited from the circumstances that
the Soviet Union, being a country with great scientific and industrial
development, a country with great natural resources--essential raw
materials not available in these countries--provided them with the
essential raw materials. Great pipeline, gasline, and electric power line
links, as well as rail connections have been built. Through international
cooperations all of these factors have contributed to the development of
these socialist countries with very strong bases.

In this connection, we should not forget that the Soviet Union was
destroyed during the war and so were the industries of these countries
which virtually had to begin from scratch to undertake a difficult struggle
in the area of their security, in the development of their economy, in the
political and ideological field, with the imperialist countries. It is
likewise evident that throughout these years the imperialists did not cease
trying to sabotage, to subvert and to promote counter-revolution in the
socialist countries of Europe. It is also evident that a great ideological
battle has been fought, a battle in which the imperialists resorted to
every means, to all weapons. To a certain extent socialist Europe has been
a field of political and ideological battle, in which socialist ideas and
reactionary ideas of imperialism came face to face. Although there is no
doubt that this has been a long struggle and will continue to be a long
struggle and although there is no doubt that at given moments the
subversive action of the imperialists attained partial successes, the
growing strength of the socialist community and the consolidation of
Marxist-Leninist ideas of socialism and the advance of all socialist
countries visited cannot be questioned.

We concluded by visiting the Soviet Union. Our statements in that
country--several speeches--have been published. We were impressed by many
things during our visit to the Soviet Union--in the first place, by the
enormous scientific and technological progress which has been made in that
country, the great progress in the social field, the transformation of its
cities, and the great progress in the educational and cultural field in
general. But what impressed us most of all in the Soviet people--as we have
stated publicly--is the fact that the best revolutionary traditions are
maintained. The spirit of 1917 is maintained; the Marxist-Leninist ideas
are maintained as vigorously as ever. [applause]

It is an undisputable fact that imperialist ideology, propaganda,
imperialist finagling, have not been able to penetrate anywhere. The Soviet
people have acquired in addition to a great technical education and overall
cultivation extraordinary political cultivation.

But in the Soviet people that political cultivation is not just the result
of the education of the masses, although the education of the masses plays
an extremely important and decisive role.

The Soviet Union was the first socialist country. It had the first
victorious social revolution. Under the leadership of Lenin and of a
Marxist party during the special conditions of World War II [as heard], it
achieved the unity of the workers and peasants. It took over power in the
middle of the imperialist war, amidst extreme poverty and great ruin caused
by that war; it began the social revolution and for many years it had to
confront a counterrevolution civil war and intervention by the imperialist
countries. Therefore, to the imperialist war was added the destruction of
the civil war and of intervention. Under these conditions, completely
beleaguered, the Soviet people had to initiate economic development.

They are achieving that economic development through efforts no less heroic
than the efforts of the revolution and the efforts of the struggle against
intervention. By means of the 5-year plans, they are managing to develop
their industry, meaning to develop their technology, their science and
their economy. It was these circumstances which permitted the Soviet people
to confront the fascist aggression.

As is known, throughout Europe, the bourgeois governments barely resisted
fascism. The bourgeois governments collapsed before the attach of the
fascist hordes. There was heroism in all countries; heroism by the people.
There was heroism, which is certainly admirable, not by the governments but
by the peoples. We have the case of the people of Poland, whose soldiers
fought the German tanks with cavalry--the result of the sell-out,
irresponsible, and reactionary policy of the bourgeois governments of
Europe.

It was the USSR which bore the main brunt of the fascist war. Because of
this, the Soviet people were again put to an extraordinary test. Most of
their industries were destroyed--those which could not be moved east in a
matter of weeks. Unprecedented feats were achieved not only on the
battlefields but also in the field of military production. Factories were
rebuilt in a matter of 20, 25, or 30 days in the middle of the war amidst
shortages of fuel and food. The Soviet people made an extraordinary effort
which cost not only gigantic destruction but also the loss of 20 million
human beings.

Millions of soldiers died on the battlefields, millions of men, women and
children were murdered by the fascists in the occupied areas of the Soviet
Union. After than war there was the imperialist alliance again, the need to
rebuild the country and to support the reconstruction of the socialist
bloc, while surrounded by military bases, amidst the cold war, and
vis-a-vis a power which at that moment had a monopoly of nuclear weapons.
That forced the Soviet people to once again make extraordinary and selfless
efforts to reconstruct the country, to develop it means of defense, to make
progress in the field of science and to manage to catch up to imperialism's
military might at a time when the economy of the imperialist countries was
far more developed.

I am making this historical reference simply to point out something which
we said while in the Soviet union with complete sincerity--that the Soviet
people bear within themselves, and reflect, their own history. There is no
doubt that in the current events and still more in the future mankind will
recognize how great a service the people of the Soviet Union have
performed. Our country is one of the many examples.

Unfortunately, there is still considerable residue from the imperialist and
reactionary propaganda in the world. There is also a residue from the
confusion. We must not forget that for more than 50 years, imperialist
propaganda was focused against socialism, against communism, against the
first socialist state.

There are many people in the world who devote themselves to writing labels.
They no longer do it directly against socialism or against Marxism, or
against communism. They use more subtle means and devote themselves to
spreading lies and calumnies about the Soviet people, about the Soviet
Union. We have had occasion to see this during some of our trips.

We recalled this when we visited Chile and when we toured other places.
There is still a swarm of people in the service of the reactionaries who
devote themselves to sowing lies about the socialist bloc and the USSR. We
remember the headlines and the writings of the oligarchic and bourgeois
press. We had the opportunity to publicly argue with some of those people,
but in our opinion, the truth of the matter is that history, with its
overwhelming force, will take care of crushing and throwing on the trash
heap all the calumnies which have been written against the revolutionary
movement, against socialism, against communism and against the USSR.

We say this because during our visit to the socialist bloc and the Soviet
Union, the eternal intriguers did not fail to appear, writing their trash
against the Cuban Revolution. They never stopped making the handy claim,
the ridiculous claim, that Cuba is a satellite of the Soviet Union. This is
a phrase which imperialism's quill-drivers have been using in connection
with the revolutionaries for about 50 years. It must be stated that the
idea of satellites only fits in with imperialism and its accomplices
throughout the world--because there is a basic difference in the concept of
the world, of life, of history.

Some people are guided by internationalist principles--the revolutionaries.
The imperialists are guided by the principles of individualism, of egotism,
of wars of conquest, of oppression, of the plunder of countries' natural
resources, of the exploitation of the sweat of other peoples. That is the
history of capitalism. That is the history of imperialism.

The imperialists need satellites in order to plunder them, to exploit them,
to establish their monopolies there, to increase their income and profits.
The imperialists need puppets in those countries to support imperialism, to
support colonialism, to support neocolonialism. The imperialists need
absolutes. Relations between the imperialist powers and the rest of the
world are based on domination, exploitation and imposition.

What a difference from relations among socialist countries; what a
difference from relations between Cuba and the USSR. Who can tell Cuba
about these experiences; who can tell our people, who lived here, who knew
the past; who can tell our fathers who lived here, who lived that past;
who, better than our people, can know what the relations in the past were?

The Platt Amendment, Guantanamo base, the coaling stations, the control
over Cuba's best and most fertile lands, the control over public services,
over power service industries, over telephone services, over banks, over
mines, over the docks, over transportation lines, over foreign trade--and
what constitutes an important part of foreign trade--over the most
productive industries. Who cannot remember those liens at 6, 7 and 8
percent annual interest?

Who cannot remember the interventions in various countries--Haiti, the
Dominican Republic and others--to assure the payment of their debts and
taxes? Who cannot remember the Yankee ambassador's relations with Cuba's
governments? Who cannot remember the scorn for our people, the scorn for
Cuba's Governments, which, furthermore, were governments in the service of
U.S. interests? Who cannot remember the Yankee's arrogance, their pride,
their oppression, their impulsive nature, the sailor who desecrated Marti's
statue, the crews from their destroyers drunk in Havana streets? Who will
be able to forget those prostitute-chasing, drunken, insolent sailors? Who
will be able to forget those crimes? Who will be able to forget that in our
country the Yankees imposed prostitution on 100,000 women? Who will be able
to forget the gambling of all kinds, the roulette, the vices in the midst
of misery and poverty which the imperialists imposed on us?

It is fitting that it be known that unfortunately in many Latin American
countries and in many countries throughout the world, this situation
prevails, in addition to a host of other misfortunes, which include
unemployment, beggary, illiteracy, outrageous infant mortality rates, and
the lack of medical aid. But above all there exists something which cannot
be measured either in steel, or cement, or material goods. It is that
terrible lack of dignity, that terrible lack of rights for men, who see
themselves turned into vile entities, into vile tools for exploitation as
our people found themselves.

There is something which above all redeems the revolution and socialism,
and that is man's dignity, man's honor. [applause] Perhaps what most hurts
imperialists and their leaders is the fact that this small country--here on
the doorstep of the United States, in this Yankee mare nostrum in the
Caribbean area--has been able to overcome all this misfortune, has been
able to sustain itself [applause]. They will not forgive the Cuban
Revolution for this, nor will they forgive the USSR for the support it gave
us [applause].

The USSR did not give us its support in order to take over Cuban mines, to
take over Cuban lands, to exploit our people, to introduce vice,
prostitution, gambling, beggary, ignorance. It did not give us its support
to exploit our workers, to harvest the fruits of the sweat of our bodies,
to intervene here, or to invade this country. The USSR did not give us its
support in order to exploit anyone. It gave us its support out of a
political conviction, our of a revolutionary principle, out of
internationalist principles.

We visited numerous Soviet industries. Some such as the atomic energy
plants, the airplane factories and the electronic factories are extremely
modern. But we visited other factories which do not have such modern
equipment, where iron must be forged and where men must work with ovens,
with smelting furnaces, with hammers. This is hard work. And we saw
thousands of Soviet workers in the factory where Cuban combines are
produced. Thousands of men and women were working very hard there. How hard
the So people work, how intensely, how perseveringly, and in what a
disciplined manner.

When the Soviets have helped Cuba, when they have sent us free weapons--as
all arms they have sent to Cuba have been--and when they have given us
credit for industrial development to build thermoelectric plants, or to aid
mechanical industries, or fertilizer industries; or when in difficult years
they have supplied our country with all the resources and essential goods
necessary--even when we have had severe droughts or difficulties which
prevented us from sending equal aid to Cuban products; when the Soviets
helped us build a hospital such as the Olguin Hospital, or when they have
made countless efforts on behalf of our people, each ruble came from the
sweat of Soviet workers, [applause] from the efforts of men and women who
work arduously throughout that country.

The Soviet people do not have investments in any foreign country. The
Soviet state is not the owner of any mine, of any petroleum well, of any
industry anywhere in the world. What it has, what it owns, what it lends,
what it gives in aid, it does from what it derives from the Soviet Union's
natural resources and from the sweat of its own people. [applause]

The imperialists and the capitalists sometimes grant loans, but they grant
these loans at extremely high interest rates. Capitalist credits are
granted for 10 years--assuming they lend for 10 years--because they did not
even grant loans to us for 10 years. the Americans, the Yankee
imperialists, have always intervened to prevent Cuba from obtaining
long-term loans. But when a capitalist country grants long-term credit, at
the end of 10 years it has recovered twice the amount of money it lent, and
the credit must be paid through unequal exchange: we buy dearly and sell
cheaply, be it coffee, cacao, sugar, minerals, whatever. And what do they
lend? They lend what they plunder from other countries.

Yes, Yankee imperialists have granted some credits in Latin America. They
did so after the Cuban Revolution, but before that they did nothing. They
were inspired by fear of the revolution and by a counterrevolutionary
spirit.

What and how much did they lend? Perhaps for every $3 dollars they beat out
of the Latin American peoples, they lent $1. And this was done on the basis
of all kinds of concessions and privileges. Economic relations between Cuba
and the Soviet Union have been the most generous and the most revolutionary
which could exist between two countries.

The imperialists themselves, in their desire to discredit the Cuban
Revolution--although sometimes they do not know whom to discredit,
sometimes they try to discredit the USSR when it is convenient and other
times they try to discredit Cuban when that is convenient--have mentioned
the billion rubles which the Soviet Union spends daily in Cuba. They add
this and that and the only thing the barefaced imperialists do not take
into account is that this country of eight million inhabitants has had to
arm itself to the teeth in order to defend itself from the threats and
aggression of the imperialist country which is the richest and strongest,
from a military viewpoint, and most powerful. [applause]

What the barefaced imperialists do not say is this country has had to spend
much more than 1 million pesos a day and is spending much more than 1
million pesos a day only because it needs to defend itself from the
imperialists. Only in the defense area does Cuba spend more than 1 million
pesos a day. [applause]

What the shameless imperialists do not say is that the tremendous distance
across which Cuba must bring its imports and move its exports amounts to
15,000 kms and this has greatly increased transportation costs. What the
shameless imperialists have failed to mention is that Cuba has been
blockaded by the United States for almost 14 years. Ask them what country
under such conditions could withstand a blockade in which an attempt has
been made to starve us to death, to deprive us not only of medicines but
also of technical personnel and teachers. What country with an
underdeveloped agricultural economy could have withstood that blockade
without the support given to us in every area by the socialist bloc, but
above all by the Soviet Union? [applause]

Two factors have been decisive in the consolidation of the Cuban
Revolution; let us call them two principles, two inseparable issues. The
first is the possession of a revolutionary doctrine and its consistent
application. To consistently apply a doctrine amounts to being ready to
fight and die for one's principles. Our people--and this has been
demonstrated--were, are and will always be ready to fight and die for their
principles. [applause]

[Person in the audience says something to Castro]

A worker from the micro brigades says he is ready to go to Vietnam if
necessary. [applause] It is fitting to recall that when the Cuban
Revolution began it had no contact, no link with the USSR or the socialist
bloc. When we rose up in arms, when our people rose up in arms and
supported the struggle we did so absolutely on our own account. [applause]
When the first revolutionary laws were promulgated, we did so absolutely in
our own account. [applause] When the perils and threats began, we were
ready to run all risks absolutely on our own account. [applause]

What would have occurred had the socialist bloc not existed; had the Soviet
Union not existed? Well, the least that could be said is that they would
have had to kill all of us. That is the least that could be said.
[applause] However, this country which was waging a revolution on its own
account found something extraordinary, something which undoubtedly is the
most noble, most advanced and the most generous idea of human history.

Cuba found what is called internationalism, international solidarity.
[applause] For this reason we say that two factors were decisive in the
consolidation of the revolution: a revolutionary doctrine and its
inflexible and consistent application and international solidarity.

We must publicly announce this everywhere. It is our opinion that in
today's world, in today's world where imperialism still exists and is
powerful, in the final analysis there is no revolution without socialism or
without international solidarity. This is our opinion. [applause] We have
presented this opinion everywhere and we supported it unanimously at the
meeting of the central committee. History has shown which movements have
prospered, which movements have advanced. They are those which have carried
out a social revolution and those which have supported themselves in
international solidarity. [applause]

When the reformists, the chauvinists, the pseudorevolutionaries begin to
play as revolutionaries sooner or later they fall. [applause] Sooner or
later the imperialists will defeat and crush them. Why have they not
succeeded in defeating Vietnam or Cuba and why will they not be able to
defeat them? Because the are two nations which have applied these
principles. [applause]

While speaking about Vietnam and Cuba we do not pretend to make
comparisons. The Vietnamese people have faced the real need to make
sacrifices which are way above those which we have had to make. They have
lost millions of their best sons in the struggle for their revolution and
independence. Fortunately we were able to eliminate quickly the mercenaries
of Giron before they established a beachhead there. Had they established a
beachhead, with the Yankee ships, the Yankee planes and the OAS behind
them, we would have lost hundreds of thousands of lives--millions of lives.

So far we have fortunately been able to develop our revolution without
paying the price which the Vietnamese people have had to pay. In one single
aspect we can compare ourselves with the Vietnamese people, not in the
sacrifices which each nation has made, but rather in the will and
determination to die and shed the last drop of blood defending our cause,
defending our revolution. [applause]

However, here is a question for the pseudointellectuals, the
pseudorevolutionaries, the intriguers and slanderers: without the support
of the socialist bloc and the Soviet Union, without the weapons of the
socialist bloc and the Soviet Union, how many millions of lives would the
Cuban Revolution have lost by now? [applause]

We are not affected by little intrigues. Many of these fakes have never
been worthy of tying the shoes of a revolutionary. They have become the
scum of the imperialist world and are playing into the imperialists' hands.
We do not play into the hands of imperialism. For this reason, we say here
and we shall always say: our people are proud of the Soviet people's
friendship. [applause] Our people are joined to the Soviet people by the
ties of internationalism and by the ties of the most basic gratitude. Our
people are proud since we have had other friends.

And when we recall those friendships, we appreciate the full, immense value
of the friendship of the Soviet people who are altruistic, disinterested,
and revolutionary. That is what we saw throughout the Soviet Union. In all
the places we visited, in the people, in the members of the Communist Party
and in the leadership of the Soviet Union we saw a profound feeling of
friendship, of sympathy, of affection and of respect for our country. Never
in the history of relations between countries have there been such
relations. This is a historic fact, a historic truth. This relationship is
indestructibly solid, because it is not based on personal friendships. It
is based on principles and on doctrine.

Anyone visiting the USSR realizes to what extent Leninism is present
there--Lenin's books, Lenin's teachings, Lenin's doctrines. It is possible
that the doctrines and the principles of the founder of the Soviet state
have not been spread to such a great degree anywhere else in the world.
Marxism and Leninism are the daily fare of the Soviet people. [applause]
Leninism is studied in the schools, in the universities, by the people, by
the masses. That inspires great confidence and establishes the permanence
of the ties between Cuba and the USSR--in the principles which are the
principles of the leadership of the Cuban party and of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union [applause] and which are the principles of the Cuban
people and of the Soviet people. When relations are based on revolutionary
principles, they can be called lasting; they can be called imperishable.
That is what we call those ties.

We have spoken of such ties in connection with the Soviet Union because it
was the first socialist country and because it is the country on which the
intriguers and the fakes concentrate their campaigns. Of course, our
relations with the other revolutionary peoples--the socialist peoples, the
revolutionary peoples of Africa and Latin America--are developing at the
same time and these relations are based on principles.

During our tour of all those countries, we did not have Cuban national
interests in mind. We were not carrying requests peculiar to Cuba. All our
talks revolved around political matters, around revolutionary matters,
around matters of principle. But we must state, as an index of the respect
and the development of our country's relations with those countries, that
never before had we encountered greater respect, greater understanding,
greater desire and greater willingness to cooperate with Cuba, to help Cuba
overcome its difficulties, to help Cuba overcome underdevelopment, to help
Cuba emerge victorious in its blockade against imperialism [as heard], to
help Cuba in its struggle for economic development [applause]. We must
state that, as regards the economic field, never was any suggestion made by
our delegation; and when economic matters were touched on, they were
touched on only when the other parties so desired. [applause]

We brought up a matter of principle--that of economic
integration--following an analysis of the realities of our country, of what
its historical realities were as a country which had to depend on work
where productivity was a little more than 1,000 [word indistinct] a country
which traditionally had to employ a half million men in its sugar
production, a country without coal, oil, steel, wood, or electrical energy.
In today's world, what could be the answer, the requirements, for the
development of such a country? And what about the matter of integration on
this basis?

We are in this hemisphere, on this side of the Atlantic. We are Latin
Americans. We know that no small country, no microcountry, will have the
slightest possibility of progressing in tomorrow's world, of great human
and economic communities, amidst the gigantic scientific and technological
revolution, and amidst a struggle against an imperialism which still exists
and which will continue to exist for some time.

We know that in the future we will integrate economically with Latin
America. We are not, of course, going to integrate with the United States
because the differences in language, customs, mentality, everything, are
very great, despite the fact that we are internationalists. We think that
some day we will integrate economically and politically with the Latin
American peoples. [applause]

We are not dreamers. This, which was perhaps a [word indistinct] and which
was undoubtedly an idealistic product of rationality--what America's wars
of independence at the beginning of the last century accomplished--is today
a vital need of our peoples. We brought this matter up in Chile, in
Ecuador, everywhere. We are not in a hurry. We merely say what we
think--that the evolution of the world is leading us to that. But in order
for there to be economic and political integration there must first be a
social and antiimperialist revolution in Latin America. [applause]

We are not going to integrate with the United Fruit Company, nor with the
Standard Oil Company, nor with the ITT, nor with all those hundreds of
monopolistic (?octopuses) which are (?demanding that their rights be
respected) in many parts of Latin America. We are not going to integrate
with the large landowners and with the bourgeois. We have to integrate with
the workers, the laborers and the peasants, with the revolutionaries when
the inexorable hour of the revolution comes to Latin America.

But that takes time. We cannot make planes with a view to an integration
which might take 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 years. That is for the more
pessimistic. Meanwhile, what are we--a small country surrounded by
capitalists, blockaded by the Yankee imperialists--to do? We will integrate
economically with the socialist bloc. [applause] That is the matter of
principle that we brought up. In the future, we will integrate economically
and politically with Latin America.

Today we are spiritually integrated with the socialist bloc and we will
become economically integrated with it. Today's integration will not have
to conflict with tomorrow's integration. Besides, this will take time. This
integration will not take place overnight--neither ours with the socialist
bloc nor ours with Latin America. But it will come more quickly, more
rapidly, and we will work in cooperation with the economy of the socialist
countries. That is one of statements of principle which we have made and
which we state here. It fits in with our way of thinking and with the lines
we follow. It fits in with Marxism-Leninism and with the interests of our
people and of other peoples.

So then, we have discussed today and tomorrow. The day the hour of
revolution comes to Latin America we will be integrated with Latin America
socialist community of the future--and the socialist bloc.

We think that the support they have given Cuba and the support that they
give any Latin American country which makes an effort to assert is
sovereignty and its independence vis-a-vis the United States will justify
tomorrow's ties. In any case, we wish to state here that tomorrow's world
will change, but our friendship with the Soviet people will not change. Our
gratitude toward the Soviet people will be eternal. [applause]

We see the world of the future as Marxist thinkers saw it, as Marx and
Engels saw it as Lenin saw it--a world in which capitalism and imperialism
will one day no longer exist, a world which will be guided by different
norms, not by war, not by the right of conquest, not by class exploitation
in which certain classes lord it over others, certain nations lord it over
others, as mankind has known until now. With the disappearance of man's
exploitation of man, the disappearance of classes, the domination of
certain nations over others will also disappear in the sphere of
international relations. Such a world will come. Who can doubt this?

Did they not doubt, before 1917, that socialism might someday triumph?
Didn't many people doubt that there could be socialism in Cuba, 90 miles
from the United States? Didn't socialism triumph in the USSR? Didn't
socialism triumph in Cuba? Didn't the Soviet Union's socialism help
contribute to the triumph of socialism in Cuba? [applause] The path will
not be easy. The struggle will be a long one in every way and on all
fronts, but that day will come.

Now, what gives us this absolute guarantee? It is because Marxism-Leninism
is the denial of the exploitation of man by man, is the denial of man's
exploitation which precisely has been the source of crimes, wars,
oppressions and calamities that humanity has suffered for thousands of
years. That day will come, and someday there will be a socialist United
States. Who doubts it? I do not doubt it. [applause]

It is clear however that that socialism must be carried out first and,
moreover, must be well done. In the end they will benefit from the advance
of ideas and experience. Will it become socialism with the history and
merits of Soviet socialism? Well, that is difficult, because that was the
result of history. It was humanity's history which determined the emergence
of a people such as the Soviet people. It was a case of 50 years of
sacrifices and struggles. Perhaps someday the United States will become
socialist through elections, but they will not be able say--as the Soviets
can--that they have in their thoughts and spirit their own history full of
sacrifices and heroism.

To tell the truth, the United States does not know what are is in the
modern sense of the world. We already know their history--invasion of Cuba,
intervention in Cuba with 100 or 200 dead, if that, I do not recall now;
[as heard] intervention in Nicaragua, Haiti, the Dominican Republic;
occupation of the Philippines. But the wars never touched their borders.
They do not know what a bombing is; they do not know what it is to have an
industry destroyed; they do not know what it is to have a school
demolished.

Everywhere in the Soviet Union one can see reminders of war--in the form of
monuments, books, recollections. The Yankee imperialists never experienced
the destruction of even a bolt. This is why there are so many irresponsible
politicians there. This is why a fascist like Nixon can be president of the
United States. [applause] This is why so many foolish things happen in that
country and why so many irresponsible acts are committed there, because
they have no idea of what war is like. This is why they commit the crimes
they are committing. And this is the truth.

At any rate, tomorrow's world will have no place for capitalism, no place
for imperialism; and relations among nations will be governed by
principles. We can say now that as a small country our relations with the
socialist countries are based on principles, our relations with the Soviet
Union are based on principles; and we have had the opportunity to see these
principles in action.

We want to say a few words regarding Latin America, because we are Latin
Americans and because our future fatherland is Latin America, not the Latin
America with the monopolies, [applause] not the Latin America of the
oligarchs, landlords, bourgeoisie or exploiters, but the Latin America of
the revolutionaries. We are not and cannot be pessimistic; through various
ways the panorama of Latin America has been undergoing changes.

I have here a speech which I made on 14 July 1969. I shall read some
excerpts from it. I will read the following paragraphs: Let it be said once
and for all that our fatherland will never place a foot in that repugnant,
nasty, disparaged and filthy place called the OAS. One day we will have an
organization or association or community of revolutionary states of Latin
America. We are not impatient, we are in no hurry. We will wait until one
by one they break with the past, until one by one they develop their own
revolution.

As revolutionary nations--really revolution nations--emerge, our people
will share natural and indispensable ties with them. We will wait because
we hope to see Latin American countries break, one by one, their bonds and
change their structure like our country had done to begin the path of the
revolution and progress.

How long must we wait? As long as necessary--10, 20, 30 years, although we
do not believe, not even remotely, that we shall have to wait so long.
Important events are taking place, have been taking place in a Latin
American country--Peru. We have tried to be very discreet regarding these
events in Peru although in our judgement this military movement was of a
different nature than other military movements. From the outset of the
movement, from the moment they ousted the reactionary and proimperialistic
clique which had been ruling that country, the leaders of the military
movement made statements which clearly indicated their intention to develop
their country.

They have shown awareness of the backward state, the poverty and
exploitation which their country has been suffering and have indicated
their desire to free their country of such a condition. Their first move
has been against the imperialist oil company which has been exploiting and
cheating the Peruvian people. This is a patriotic move, a brave step.
Subsequently, an agrarian reform law was passed. Our opinion is that this
is a radical measure which, if applied properly, can be called a
revolutionary move. The oligarchic papers immediately attached the agrarian
reform program of that country.

We know that the Latin American oligarchy will never support any really
revolutionary movement. The Cuban Revolution will firmly and fully support
any revolution in any Latin American country. If a real revolution takes
form in Peru, regardless of who might be the promoters of such a
revolution, despite the fact that promoters are military men, many of whim
received their training in U.S. schools, if that revolution takes place and
continues as an antiimperialist revolution, as a revolution which promotes
structural changes, as a revolution which defends the people's interest, if
such a revolution takes place in Peru our people will support it and will
support the Peruvian people.

If as a result of revolution in Peru or in any other Latin American country
criminal blockades and imperialistic aggressions should take place, our
people will support that threatened country, our people will support that
attached country.

We also said: We will observe the events. We will support all that which is
revolutionary. We will avoid all actions which could be considered as
interference in this movement. We will not beg Peruvian leaders to
establish relations with Cuba. But if they should desire such relations one
day because they are really revolutionaries, we will not reject such
relations.

Later events have confirmed the Peruvian movement as a real consolidation
of this sovereignty, as a recovery of its natural resources, of structural
changes and of social progress. It is a movement which is going full speed
ahead. Our policy toward Peru was decided from the very beginning.

Unfortunately, not everyone understands the Peruvian movement. We
understand it. We have observed it with great hopes, and we have seen its
great development.

A conclusive proof of Peru's confirmation of its sovereignty has been its
attitude toward Cuba. We recall the earthquake, when we offered help. Oh,
other countries would have trembled. Cooperation from Cuba? No, no, the
Yankee imperialists do not allow such a thing. But the Peruvian Government
in the most casual way accepted Cuba's help, thanked Cuba for its help.

On an international level Peru has waged a war--within the OAS--against the
blockade. This action was spontaneous. Cuba's position regarding the OAS is
well known, but we respect the path, the way, the methods chosen by the
Peruvian Government. It carried the matter to the OAS, it defended the
cause there, and at the same time it made clear that it would make its own
decision independent of the OAS decision. [applause] And that is what it
did. As a result, we now have a Peruvian ambassador in Cuba. He is on this
platform with us today, representing his country with relations resumed.
[applause]

Our people, from this forum express their recognition of and fraternally
greet the Peruvian Government, and especially the president of that
fraternal county Gen Velasco Alvarado. [applause]

Our country is honored by these relations because they are the kind and
form of relations which we believe have a political value, a moral content.
Relations with any government which as fully reaffirmed its sovereignty,
which proposes changing the structures, which plans to progress in the
social area have for us a moral content, a human one, and one of solidarity
which means a great deal--just as do the relations established previously
with the Government of Chile. [applause]

More than a year after I spoke these words, elections were held in Chile
and the candidate of Popular Unity won, our comrade and great friend of our
revolution and of our country, Salvador Allende. [applause] One of the
first decisions he took upon being invested with the presidency of his
country was to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba. [applause] Popular
Unity's purpose is to radically change the structure and to march along the
path of socialism. Hence, the relations between Chile and Cuba are
revolutionary ones, the are relations which bestow honor upon us. And this
is very important because relations with Cuba are constantly being talked
about--being debated and discussed here and there.

Cuba's return to the OAS has also been publicly discussed. We have already
firmly said no. Those are not our objectives. For all I know the day might
come at the OAS--even in that saloon, as an institution [Castro does not
finish thought]. By calling it a saloon we are not criticizing the
governments. The Chilean Government believes it should be there and the
Peruvian Government also thinks that it should be there and we respect
their viewpoint. Undoubtedly they do no help to make the OAS happier and
pleasanter for Yankee imperialism. The day might come when the
antiimperialists become a majority. How long would the OAS then last? When
that day comes, the best thing would be to change the name of that trash
heap together with its objectives and purposes.

When the day comes when an organization is no longer controlled by the
imperialists, but by a majority of independent countries, we think then
that that institution will have to be revolutionized. It will no longer be
the OAS and will no longer have the foul taste it has today. [applause]

Well, we were saying--this subject under discussion is very boring--but no
one has asked us. Apparently, they do not take us into account regarding
this matter on the return to the OAS. Furthermore, we have said this 40
times. But, regarding relations: gentlemen, in order to establish relations
with Cuba, one should also take Cuba into account. No relations with Cuba
can be established unilaterally. [applause]

And why should we be interested in relations with a puppet of imperialism?
Why should we be interested in relations with a government which does not
have any kind of independence, that does not have self-respect, that does
not deserve any consideration? Relations today, and then tomorrow they are
given orders by the imperialists to break them off? Under no circumstances
will this occur.

Therefore, our relations with the Latin American countries must embody
principles, a moral and political content which must be based on full
sovereignty--period. And besides they must be based on a clear posture of
independence and non-submission to orders from Yankee imperialism.
[applause]

In the past we inherited relations--those were relations with the former
Cuba, they were relations with Batista and his gang, and they were broken
off, with an honorable exception, Mexico. By ignoring the treaties it
changed the characteristics of its relations with our country. [applause]

The other relations would be new ones, with a socialist Cuba, with a
communist Cuba, with a revolutionary Cuba. [applause]

That is why we clearly and lucidly set forth that in order to establish
relations with Cuba, first one has to count on Cuba, and to count on Cuba
one has to be truly free, sovereign, and independent. [applause]

Events continue to develop. But before anything else, a letter from
President Allende has just reached me and I want to read a few paragraphs
which convey recognition and greetings to the people of Cuba. Twenty-one
July 1972 Dear Fidel; A few words to express to you what 26 July means to
us, the revolutionaries of Latin America. The heroic deeds set in motion at
that time culminated in the liberation of Cuba. The revolutionary [word
indistinct] of a group which during the passage of years with its example
and its exemplary actions could defeat imperialism and reaction and renew
the awareness of an entire country which is enthusiastically building its
future. I realize what this date means to you and how the memory will
return of your heroic comrades, those who fell and those who continued
their redeeming tasks with deep conviction. The people of Chile always
stand by Cuba, and like everyone else we are today ever closer to Vietnam
which is sacrificing and heroic. [applause] I congratulate you that Cuba
and Peru have resumed relations. [applause] It is a big step which
strengthens the struggle of our peoples, and I ask you today to let Cuba
and its people know how deeply we the Chileans are aware of the Moncada,
its martyrs, its lesson.

And complying with that wish we have read you paragraphs from a personal
letter from Comrade Allende. [applause]

Other events are developing on the continent; another small country with a
heroic tradition, oppressed and humiliated by the imperialists is Panama
[applause] which is struggling to consolidate its sovereignty and
recover--revindicate its sovereign rights on the edge of a territory where
the Panama Canal has been built which has cost the fraternal people of
Panama so much blood and humiliation.

We do not have diplomatic relations with the people of Panama, and we do
not worry about that; we simply want to tell them as a matter of principle
that we sympathize, we are in solidarity with them and support their just
cause, their just demands, their just struggle for the liberation of the
Canal Zone. [applause]

Neither do we have diplomatic relations--just cultural ones--with the
people of Jamaica. A few days ago, a state secretary from that fraternal
country was here on a visit to discuss civil aviation agreements.

Panama and Jamaica have new governments of the great majority who are also
struggling and undertaking efforts for their country's development, for
social progress, and for consolidating their sovereignty. Although we do
not have diplomatic relations with that country--and it does not worry or
concern us--we also send to the people of Jamaica and its government in
their struggle for social progress and the consolidation of sovereignty,
greetings from the Cuban people.

[applause] About this matter of relations I wish to touch on a very
important point: the United States of America, the matter of the
imperialist blockade, imperialist subversion. Imperialist attacks against
Cuba are stirring up an increasingly greater and wider opposition within
the United States. We have said this on more than one occasion. It should
not be necessary to repeat it. But we also want to mention the following
thought which guides Cuban policy with regard to the United States: Cuba
today is not a territory in which war or peace is at issue. It is not
Vietnam. Cuba today enjoys a relative peace. This is not because the
imperialists have granted in gratuitously, but because we have prepared
ourselves, because we are stronger, and also because the correlation of
forces has continued to shift in favor of the USSR and the socialist camp.

And it is also due to a reason which merits our recognition and or
gratefulness: the heroic struggle of the Vietnam people. [applause] That is
why we said that in Vietnam a struggle was being waged on behalf of all the
countries in the world. Vietnam, in its heroic struggle for the defense of
its independence, has weakened imperialism militarily, politically,
morally. It has exposed it; it has awakened an antiwar sentiment in the
United States.

By maintaining its power at all costs, the revolutionary movement has
continued to grow over those years. The strength of the revolutionary
countries continued to grow and Cuba's strength continued to grow. Our
people have a reason for being deeply grateful to the people of Vietnam,
for in their struggle they also fought for us--because with their spilled
blood they helped to save Cuban blood. The imperialists [applause] have not
been sufficiently strong to wage war in Vietnam and continue their
adventures against Cuba. When the war in Vietnam ends with the
imperialist's defeat, the circumstances will then be very different. It
will not be so easy to plan wars against Cuba--not militarily, politically
or in any other way. Furthermore, imperialism's actions against Cuba are
increasingly discredited within the heart of the people of the United
States.

Starting from the premise that neither war nor peace are at issue here, our
situation is that we having nothing to discuss with them. That is clear.

There is the problem of the Guantanamo base, the economic blockade they
wage against our country, the subversive activities. Our position is very
clearly the following: We limit ourselves to unconditionally demanding that
they withdraw from the Guantanamo base [applause] that the blockade [heavy
applause] that the blockade ends and that the subversive activities also
end. That is our position and it is not debatable. [rhythmic applauding]

But are Cuba's concerns perhaps limited to our local and national interests
with regard to the United States? No; even when the war in Vietnam is
ended, even with the withdrawal of the imperialists from Vietnam there will
yet remain the problems of Latin America. And this does not concern
subversive activities by the United States against Cuba, not the Guantanamo
naval base. When they decide to talk with us, Cuba will not be the subject;
the subject will be Latin America. [applause] It is not that we presume to
represent Latin America. It is not a matter of studying the military or
economic power for counteracting the actions of Yankee imperialism on this
continent. It is a matter of principles.

Cuban and U.S. relations cannot improve as long as the United States
assumes the right to militarily intervene in any Latin American country, as
long as the United States assumes the right to practice intervention and
subversion in Latin America. We represent a moral principle in the struggle
against Yankee imperialism. We represent a position on this continent. We
are a banner and it is not a nationalist banner; it is an internationalist,
it is a [applause] Latin American banner. [long applause] We do not
represent a bourgeois government obsessed by exclusively national matters.
The problems in Cuba concern us, the problems of our people concern us, but
the problems of the other sister nations also concern us, as
revolutionaries, as Marxist-Leninists. We do not put our interests ahead of
those of the rest of the countries.

Therefore, due to reasons of mortality and principles, we cannot visualize
the improvement of Cuban and U.S. relations.

These principles were set forth and unanimously approved by the central
committee of our party for as long as the United States militarily
intervenes and exercises the role of a reactionary policeman as concerns
the sister nations in Latin America. [applause]

Therefore, U.S. relations with Cuba will not take place whenever Nixon
wants them. Who has told this man that one can play with the Cuban
Revolution? There will be no political deals made with the Cuban
Revolution. No one can play with the Cuban Revolution. Diplomatic
offensives are of no use with the Cuban Revolution. We say nothing; we
simply say that Cuba's doors have been completely closed to the politicking
and trickery of Mr. Nixon. [applause]

And whether Nixon or anyone else is president of the United States we say
to him that Cuba's problems are the problems of principles of the other
people of Latin America. [applause] And our relations cannot improve, under
any circumstances, with a gendarme and reactionary state. That is our
policy; these are the criteria which guide our conduct regarding the United
States.

Now then, could we carry out this policy of the revolution--clear,
intransigent-- if we did not feel strong militarily, if we did not feel
strong politically, if we did not feel certain about the country's
prospects in the future? Yes; we would carry out a policy of principles
always and under any circumstances.

In our difficult hours when we did not even have any links with the
socialist camp, in the actions that could cost us our lives--practically
the lives of all the people--we did it. We maintained our policy. What I
want to say is that the success of the revolution, the success of its line,
the march of this process in which Cuba plays an important role are a
guarantee and are actually made possible precisely because of our
friendship with the socialist camp, our friendship with the Soviet Union.
[applause]

Therefore, our people understand perfectly well that the basic requirements
of Cuban policy are its military strength, its political strength, its
ideological strength and its close relations of friendship and cooperation
with the socialist camp, and especially with the Soviet Union. [applause]
These make it possible and permit us to tell the imperialists: We want
nothing from you. We would not want anything anyway. We would not have
wanted anything when we were weak, much less would we want anything being
stronger. We did not want anything from the imperialists when our
difficulties were greater. We will not want anything now that we are
marching, that we are advancing, that our prospects are better than ever.
[applause]

We have put up all these years without relations with them, having been
weaker in the past, and poorer. Without hesitation or concessions we
shouldered our struggle against imperialism, and now with much more reason
and much more peace of mind, we are willing to remain 5, 10, 15, 20, 30
years without relations with the United States. [applause]

No advantage of any type, no economic advantage could tempt us because the
future of this country, this country's development fortunately for a long
time has not depended on any trade with the United States, in any economic
relations with the United States.

Tourists here playing roulette, tourists here in brothels, tourists to
corrupt? No, no difficulty, no economic benefit could compensate morally
for what Yankee tourism would mean in this country. [applause] It could
almost be said that as long as socialism does not exist in the United
States and there is not a radical change in mentality and customs, this
country could not assimilate the ordinary and regular U.S. tourist.
[applause]

It is not an insult of the U.S. people. But we are guided by different
customs, by different morals and by different principles And I think that
here they could neither find the things for which they cam before, nor
would we be willing to accept the corrupting influences of yankee tourism.

U.S. students, workers and revolutionaries can come to Cuba. Those of the
peace movement, the men and women of the U.S. left can come to Cuba; and
those who come there to help us in the work plans, to cut sugarcane, to
work; and honest men and women, men and women of good faith, and men and
women we cannot classify as the ordinary and regular tourist. There are all
sorts among the tourists--good and bad. Since they are U.S. citizens we
only want the good ones in our country, and not as tourists. [applause]

No economic advantage in any sense could tempt our country. Cuba's
development in all fields is assured without any relations with the United
States. Therefore, our people can wait peacefully. Our people can wait
peacefully, even until there is socialism in the United States.

If there is no socialism, if there were a realist government--in case
capitalism could be realistic sometime--with the changes in the correlation
of forces, with the growing imperialist weakness, it is possible that
sometime imperialist--even before ceasing being capitalist--they will have
to be realists [sentence as heard] If there were a government capable of
respecting the interests, sovereignty and rights of our people, and it did
not practice subversion and counterrevolution and ceased playing the role
of gendarme regarding the Latin American countries, we then could talk with
such a government.

But we are in no hurry, although we do greet with satisfaction those
advances and those new formulations being made in U.S. politics. It is even
said that one of the candidates favors ending the blockade against Cuba.
However, they include in a platform that Cuba cannot become a Soviet
military base. In our concept of citizenship, we begin by telling this man
that in our territory we do whatever we wish, [applause] and that no party
platform has the right to establish conditions of any sort here. We are
truly sovereign, and we understand it as such. And in what is understood as
a sovereign country, we do not sacrifice any attribute of sovereignty by
demand of the imperialists.

We would give up our sovereignty among all the countries of Latin America.
We would give it up to join a superior community. We relinquish our
sovereignty in the revolutionary movement and in a revolutionary world. But
in the face of imperialism, we would not even agree to discuss the most
initial nor the most elemental attribute of our sovereignty. So there is
the warning so that it can be well known that we do not accept any of these
stores. [applause]

However, we believe that in the traditional conflicts between the ruling
parties in the United States, the Republican Party--Nixon's party--has the
worst position-- is the most criminal, the most reactionary and the most
warmongering party, and there is not the slightest doubt of this.
Therefore, we perceive perfectly well and know that of all the politicians
who presently are involved in U.S. political life, Nixon is a criminal, is
the most reactionary and the most aggressive. We do not have any doubt
about this, and the worst candidate in the United States is Nixon.

We are not voters there nor do we vote there, nor anything like it. But of
course we cannot ignore the fact that the political contests there play a
role because Mr Nixon is now desperate and disoriented because he wants to
be reelected. And no one can guarantee this. If the Vietnam war continues
as it is now when the elections arrive, no one in the united States can
guarantee Nixon's victory. This is our evaluation and the only tactical
value we can give to the political contests. I make this explanation after
making the first one, after explaining what the criteria of our party are
regarding the United States. I point out that you give tactical importance,
especially son the Vietnam question, to the traditional confrontations
between the U.S. political parties.

Despite the time, I now speak about what has been the theme and is an
inspiration and soul of this concentration, and that is the international
solidarity, and especially our solidarity with the heroic people of
Vietnam. [applause]

Throughout our tour of all the countries we visited, in the public events
there was agreement on the imperialist escalation and the bombing.

The matter of solidarity with Vietnam became for our delegation an
essential matter, a fundamental matter, and we are satisfied of the success
of the results, with the joint communiques where the support of Cuba and
the socialist countries for the Vietnamese people occupied a fundamental
position.

We have listened with deep respect, sympathy and admiration to the speech
delivered by Comrade Thi Binh. Her words, her denunciations, her arguments,
here eloquence, here firmness constitute an honor for our people, for this
plaza, for this date, for this rostrum. It is an honor that from here that
speech has been delivered, those words have been pronounced, those
denunciation have been made and that position has been raised, because we
think that in the midst of the atrocious crimes by imperialist ferocity and
its cruelty, it is one satisfaction on this occasion, today to know that
here, some miles from the United States, a country is emerging, an
intransigent and nonnegotiable revolution is being implemented where
support to the heroic people of Vietnam has occupied a place of honor in
our feeling and in our hearts.

It was from here, very close to the United States, that they have exposed
their positions, denouncements and arguments. It is unquestionable that the
imperialists are in Vietnam carrying out acts of true desperation, and the
most reprehensible acts. We, in our visits through Europe, in our tour of
Poland, visited places that were the scene of large attacks, extensive
bombing by the fascists, big executions and big crimes. We visited a
concentration camp where four million people lost their lives--coldly slain
there, converted into fertilizer and grease. Their material components were
used for industrial ends. It is truly incredible that despite all the
ferocity of fascism, despite its acts of aggressions, what happened there
could be known and what the Nazi war criminals were capable of doing could
be believed through movies, photographs and witnesses only after the Soviet
armies liberated Europe and penetrated those camps.

In our visit to the USSR, we went to Leningrad which was subjected to a
900-day siege. And there is a cemetery there which recalls the million
civilians and fighters who died as a result of the siege, of the terror, of
the bombs, and from hunger. On that previous occasion we also visited
Stralingrad. We have visited numerous cities. This time we visited
(Voronei) and Minsk. There is not a single Soviet city without a monument
to the victims of that war. In Minsk, there is a whole project dedicated to
the memory of the 2 million people who lost their lives. Thousands of
villages were destroyed, hundreds of them razed to the ground with all
their inhabitants, who, without exception, were all murdered. There are
names of 13, 12 and 3-year old children, 6-month old children. They were
implacable and forgave no one.

Today, history remembers those crimes there with horror. They were crimes
which are really beyond imagination. History has already taken care to
gather it all. If at some time humanity did not see it, or did not know it
or did not understand it in its full magnitude, today, millions and
millions of human beings visit these areas every year. In literature and in
art, those events will be culled and remembered, and they will be
remembered forever. War criminals were tried at Nuremeberg and hung for
such crimes.

When we see the things the imperialists are doing in Vietnam--all those
things, the many ships, the thousands of planes, the use of modern
technology, of chemical warfare, of meteorological methods, of electronics,
of the most modern methods of advanced science and technology. All these
things are being employed against the people of Vietnam, which is 20,000
kms away from the United States, and which, as the Comrade PRGRSV foreign
minister has said, has done nothing to the United States.

Why is the United States in Vietnam? Because of imperialist expansion which
began as early as the middle of the last century and continued in the guise
of modern imperialism at the end of that century, and which continued
through this era. And so they arrived in Florida, they took possession of
Mexico, they took over the Panamanian national anthem, they installed their
base in Cuba and established a neocolonialist government. They took
possession of all the resources--mines, petroleum--of Latin American and of
the world. They took possession of Hawaii, of the Philippines and finally,
in its expansion, imperialism reached Vietnam.

Vietnam represents the most distant point where the imperialists went to
dig in their claws and to impose their rule. It is the point which
definitely marks their historical decline. They will have to withdraw from
Vietnam, and to continue to withdraw until the day when imperialism no
longer exists. Some 20,000 kms from the United States, they have clashed
with the Vietnamese people, whom they have forced to pay a terrible price
for the Vietnamese people's love of the revolution, for their love of
independence and for their love of freedom. The Vietnamese people fought
the French colonialists. They defeated the French imperialists. And as was
said here today, at the time of the Moncada assault when the struggle in
Cuba was beginning, the Vietnamese--tired of abuse, of outrage and of
crimes--rose up in arms in that area of the country under imperialist rule.

During all these years, during the years we were imprisoned, the years we
were fighting in the mountains, the years since the triumph of the
revolution, the Vietnamese have been struggling there for their
independence against the Yankee imperialists. And the imperialists commit
their crimes as if it were the most natural thing to do. They bomb cities
and destroy homes, schools and hospitals. They attack dikes and commit
similar villainies. We are sure that some day humanity will become fully
aware of all this. We are sure that some day it will become perfectly clear
how alike Nixon and Hitler are, and how similar Nixon's crimes in Vietnam
are to the crimes committed by fascism in Europe and throughout the world.
[applause]

Some day, monuments will also be erected there, some day, all these crimes
will be remembered. Some day, millions of human beings will curse and damn
Yankee imperialism there, and they will curse Johnson, they will curse
Nixon, and they will curse all those guilty of these crimes.

We imagine a kind of historic emulation between Nixon and Hitler in
cruelty, in lack of scruples--although it seems that Mr Nixon is gaining on
Hitler in the area of demagoguery and in shamelessness. The Nazis were all
consumate criminals. They did not try to depicit themselves as liberators.
They did not try to show themselves to the world as civilized people. And
this man is carrying out his crimes. He tries to justify them. He also
tries, through his demagoguery and lies, to diminish the importance of
these crimes.

Nixon has been denying that Vietnamese dikes have been bombed. We
understand that this matter of the dikes is a basic issue, because millions
of persons are protected by the dike systems--which have been under
construction for 2,000 years--from the periodic floods from the great
rivers caused by heavy rains in this region of the world. Not even Johnson
launched a policy of bombing the dikes. The PRGRSV has denounced these
bombings and has appealed to the world, imploring public opinion to
mobilize to stop these barbarous attacks. Nixon has gone even further, not
only by mining the ports, but also by bombing not only cities, schools and
hospitals but also dikes. And he denies it. But the photographs are there.
The documentaries are there. The testimony of the diplomats is there, the
testimony of visitors to Vietnam is there.

We have with us here a letter sent to Comrade Thi Binh by a U.S. citizen
who has excelled through her active and courageous fight in the United
States against the Vietnam war. She is the well-known actress, Jane Fonda.
[applause] The letter states: To Madam Nguyen Thi Binh from the
peace-loving people of the United States. We would like to take the
opportunity of your trip to Cuba to warmly embrace you and you heroic men,
women and children of Vietnam, who are carrying on the bravest struggle in
history to achieve freedom and independence for their country. many of us
have visited you country and we have seen with our own eyes proof of the
fact that the Nixon administration has escalated the war to an
unprecedented level though massive bombings and through the use of new
weapons and chemicals, which the Nixon administration employs especially
against the civilian population, and which are causing death and
mutilation.

This death and mutilation is perhaps only comparable to the destruction
caused by the Hiroshima bombing. Among Nixon's many crimes, we have
observed the dropping of (?laser-guided) bombs on civilian targets by
B-52's, the massive use of antipersonnel weapons and the new gases and
chemicals, such as the savage napalm, phosphorus and incendiary bombs.

Many of us can also bear witness to Nixon's systematic attempts to destroy
the dikes and irrigation systems in North Vietnam, right at the time of
heavy rains. History has never seen such a savage plan, which is
endangering the lives of 15 million innocent people in the Red River delta.
We call on all the peoples of the world to mobilize to prevent this
monstrous crime.

Nixon's Vietnamization program has failed. He and the Saigon regime are
isolated in the military, political and diplomatic spheres. In his last
desperate attempt to halt the course of his defeat, he will try to flood
North Vietnam, and he will make it seem as if it were a natural disaster.
We must act now to uncover his plan and to force him to end all the crimes
he is committing against the Vietnamese people, force him to withdraw from
Vietnam, to withdraw all his forces from your fatherland and to allow the
Vietnamese people to determine their own lives. [signed] Jane Fonda.
[applause]

A comrade has proposed that the cup of emulation won by Ceiba 1, where 95
percent of the students were promoted, be sent to a school in Vietnam.
[applause] We can give it to Comrade Thi Binh so that she can take it to a
South Vietnamese school. [applause]

Through the revolutionary movement in Latin America, through the
progressive organizations in the United States and throughout the world, we
must strongly denounce, we must act and we must voice our protest by all
means available, against the criminal and savage attacks against the
Vietnamese people, and especially against the incredible barbarity of
destroying the dikes.

We must give our fullest political, moral and material support to the
heroic people of Vietnam. But at the same time, we are completely sure that
the imperialists will be defeated and that they will have to withdraw from
Vietnam. History has so demonstrated this in the resistance of a nation
like Vietnam today, Algeria yesterday and Cuba in the last century.

A country determined to defend its cause, its independence no matter how
small, cannot be squashed, cannot be defeated through any technique, any
bombing strikes, or any war crime. Hitler, with his war crimes, could not
defeat the resistance of the Polish people. Hitler with his horrible crimes
could not defeat the Soviet people and in the long run the Soviet people
squashed him. This decision, this steadfastness, this heroism of the people
of Vietnam has moved the world and aroused the sympathy and support of the
entire world for its cause. This cause is invincible and Nixon should take
very much into account the words pronounced here, words which express the
Vietnamese people's decision to resist until their basic rights are
established, words which express the determination of the Vietnamese people
to not shrink one inch, to defend their demands, to defend their
fundamental points that will permit the liberation of Vietnam. That is, the
right of Vietnam to its independence and that will prevent a repetition of
what happened with the Geneva accords and that will prevent the
establishment of neocolonialism in any region of Vietnam. Nixon should take
this into account. We are certain that the Vietnamese people will emerge
victorious.

Any observer can clearly see that Nixon's acts stem from desperation and
despite his barbaric bombing strikes, the Vietnamese patriots' struggle in
South Vietnam will continue.

The combat capability of their forces is increasing, the response of the
South Vietnamese people, despite the fierce repression is a response which
is increasingly being reflected in the popular insurrections. Large land
areas have been liberated by the patriots and nothing will enable the
puppet and mercenary forces serving imperialism to resist the offensive and
struggle of the Vietnamese people. Public opinion will support Vietnam. The
protest movement will increase throughout the world and will increase even
in the United States. The Vietnamese cause, one way or another, will emerge
victorious with Nixon or without Nixon. This is our belief, [applause] we
are sure of this. [applause]

Today we received messages from the Cuban crewmen who remained aboard Cuban
ships at Haiphong [words indistinct] of Nixon and remained to unload the
goods even if they were sunk. There are Cuban doctors and nurses working in
Vietnam at the side of the Vietnamese people. Several days ago we also
received a message from them expressing their solidarity and determination.
This reflects our people's sentiments toward Vietnam, the determination of
our workers, peasants and students. A worker said here that he was ready to
help in reconstruction. The students of the outstanding high school offered
their cup. These sentiments express our peoples' attitude of solidarity
with Vietnam.

They are sentiments which are expressed by the phrase "For Vietnam, we are
ready to offer our own blood. [applause] and should circumstances demand
it, our people, our workers, youths soldiers would also be ready to offer
their blood. In line with their solidarity, with Vietnam, the Cubans are
ready to fight at the side of the Vietnamese people in Vietnam. [applause]
These statement are not made for ceremonial purposes. Whenever the
Vietnamese people deem it necessary let them give the word and these words
will become a reality. [applause] Regarding this Vietnamese matter, we wish
to say something else: Nixon should not underestimate the support of the
Vietnam which is being extended not only by world opinion, not only by the
countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

No, Nixon should not underestimate the support being given to Vietnam by
the socialist bloc. Nixon should not underestimate the support being given
by the Soviet people, the CPSU, the Soviet leadership. [applause] Nixon
cannot ignore the positions of the Soviet people and the positions of the
CPSU and Soviet people's leadership toward Vietnam. Nixon is aware of these
positions and cannot ignore or underestimate them. He is totally wrong if
he believes that the cause of Vietnam is weak. He is totally wrong if he
believes the Vietnam is alone because we know how the leaders of the
socialist countries think and how the leaders of the Soviet Union think. We
know what their principles are regarding the just cause of the Vietnamese
people and their determination to support Vietnam morally, politically, and
materially until the Vietnamese just cause emerges victorious. [applause]

For this reason, we believe that the cause of Vietnam is invincible, that
the Vietnamese people will win this struggle. Until attaining victory the
Vietnamese people can count on the unconditional support of the Cuban
revolutionary people. [applause]

We are going to close our speech. Basically we have devoted our time to
international affairs as befits the visit of the delegation representing
the PRGRSV. This fits in with the slogan of a 26 July dedicated to
solidarity, to internationalism. We have said virtually nothing about our
national problems.

This subject can be covered in a few words. From the viewpoint of our
country, we recall 26 July 2 years ago and all the progress we have made
since then in every area--in the mass organizations, in the general work of
the country's economy, in our people's awareness that we must continue
struggling hard and intensively. However, we can say that never have the
prospects of the revolution been as they are now and that in no sense,
neither politically or from the viewpoint of revolutionary awareness nor
from the viewpoint of the prospects of our work or from the viewpoint of
the growth of our relations and international ties and the cooperation of
the socialist bloc, never has the situation of the Cuban Revolution been
better than now.

On this 26 July we can say with satisfaction that our revolution has been
consolidated extraordinarily and that a promising future in every order
awaits our country. For us it is very satisfying to be able to proclaim
today: Hail the glorious and heroic people of Vietnam, [audience shouts
"hail"] for Vietnam we are ready to offer our blood. [applause] Hail
proletarian internationalism! [applause] fatherland or death, we will win.
-END-


LANIC |