-DATE-
19730908
-YEAR-
1973
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CASTRO ADDRESSES ALGIERS NONALINED CONFERENCE
-PLACE-
ALGIERS
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC SVC
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19730910
-TEXT-
FIDEL CASTRO ADDRESSES ALGIERS NONALINED CONFERENCE

Havana Domestic Service in Spanish 1800 GMT 8 Sep F/C

[Speech by Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro on 7 September at the
nonalined countries meeting in Algiers--recorded]

[Text] Representatives of the heroic national liberation movements,
delegates:

Comrade Boumedienne, the greetings of the Cuban delegation to you and the
distinguished representatives of the countries gathered at this conference.

I would like to stress the significance that we place on this Fourth
Conference of Nonalined Nations being held in Algiers. The Algerian
people's long and heroic struggle has commanded admiration and is a
stimulus to countries which have struggled against oppressors for national
independence.

Cuba is a socialist, Marxist-Leninist country, whose final goal is
communism. [applause] He are proud of this. He adopt our domestic and
international policies on the basis of this concept of human society. He
are, above all, loyal to the principles of proletarian internationalism and
my words will follow those lines. Every revolutionary must bravely defend
his opinions, and that is what I plan to do here.

This conference has discussed the different groups into which the world is
divided. For us the world is divided into capitalist and socialist
countries, imperialist and neocolorized countries, colonialist and
colonized countries, reactionary and progressive countries, in short:
governments which support imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism and
governments which oppose imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism and
racism.

We believe this to be basic to the question of being alined or nonalined,
because nothing exempts us from the basic commitment of firmly combating
the crimes that have been and are being committed against mankind. This
movement has certainly grown and this growth pleases us--in the case of
Latin America--because the presence of three new countries--Peru, Chile,
and Argentina--reflects progressive political changes that have occurred in
those countries. It is quality, however, and not quantity that counts in
the objectives of this movement if we really want to have political and
moral force in the eyes of the world. If not, we run the risk of
reactionary forces infiltrating the movement to hinder the attainment of
its goals. We also run the risk of having the unity and prestige of the
nonalined countries irretrievably lost.

Although the economic affairs of the countries attending are important, our
main activity is, and will be, centered around their political criteria.
During the months preceding the conference, we have witnessed, in the
political area, the disturbing tendency to pit nonalined countries against
the socialist bloc. This tendency is undoubtedly detrimental to cur cause
and only serves imperialist interests. The theory of the two imperialisms
advocated by capitalist theoreticians--one led by the United States, and
the other supposedly led by the USSR--has been echoed, sometimes
deliberately and sometimes through ignorance of history and current world
events, by spokesmen and leaders of nonalined countries. Those who, from
supposedly revolutionary positions, betray the cause of internationalism
have of course contributed to this.

In certain political and economic documents prepared for us at this
conference this current shows up, in one way or another, and with different
overtones. The Revolutionary Government of Cuba is opposed to it and will
stanchly oppose it under all circumstances. For this reason, we feel
obliged to consider this delicate topic an essential question for
discussion here.

There are some who, with obvious injustice and historical ingratitude, and
forgetting the true events and the deep and unbridgeable abyss that exists
between the imperialist and socialist regimes, attempt to ignore the
glorious, heroic and extraordinary services that the Soviet people have
rendered to humanity. They act as if the tumbling of the colossal system of
colonial domination implanted in the world until World War II, the
conditions that facilitated the liberation of dozens and dozens of peoples
who had formerly been directly subjected to colonialist countries, the
disappearance of capitalism in many areas of the world and the upsurge of
forces which keep the insatiable, voracious and aggressive imperialist
spirit at bay, had nothing at all to do with the glorious October
Revolution.

How could the Soviet Union be classified as imperialist? Where are its
monopolist enterprises? What is its participation in multinational
companies? What industries, what mines, what petroleum deposits does it own
in the underdeveloped world? What worker is exploited in any country of
Asia, Africa or Latin America by Soviet capital?

The economic cooperation which the Soviet Union is offering Cuba and many
other countries did not come from the sweat and the sacrifice of exploited
workers of other peoples, but from the sweat and effort of Soviet workers.

Others decry the fact that the first socialist state in human history has
become a military and economic power. He, the underdeveloped and despoiled
countries, should not decry this. Cuba rejoices over this fact, Neither the
end of colonialism nor the correlation of world forces which permitted the
heroic struggle of so many peoples for their liberation would have been
possible without the October Revolution and the immortal feat of the Soviet
people, who first resisted the imperialist intervention and blockade and
later defeated the fascist aggression and crushed it at the cost of 20
million dead, and who have developed their technology and their economy at
an incredible cost in effort and heroism without exploiting the labor of
even one worker in any country on earth.

It cannot be forgotten for even a second that the arms with which Cuba
crushed the Giron mercenaries and defended itself against the United
States, the arms with which the Arab peoples resist imperialist aggression,
those which the African patriots use against Portuguese colonialism and
which the Vietnamese employed in, their heroic, extraordinary and
victorious struggle, all came from the socialist countries, essentially
from the Soviet Union. [applause]

The resolutions enacted by the nonalined countries themselves help us to
understand where the line of division in international politics passes
today.

Whom do we accuse of having armed, supported and of continuing to sustain
the aggressor Israeli state in its rapacious war against the Arab countries
and in its cruel occupation of the territories where the Palestinians have
the right to live freely? We accuse the imperialism of the United States.

Against whom did the nonalined countries protest over the intervention in
and blockade of Cuba, over the intervention in Santo Domingo and over the
maintenance of bases in Guantanamo, Panama and Puerto Rico against the
peoples' will?

Who was behind Lumumba'a assassination? Who supports the murderers of
Amilcar Cabral? Who is helping to maintain a white racist state in Zimbabwe
and helping to turn South Africa into a ghetto of black men and women
living under conditions of semienslavement?

In all these cases the guilty party is the same U.S. imperialism which also
supports Portuguese colonialism over the peoples of Guinea-Bissau and Cape
Verde, Angola and Mozambique.

When our resolutions cite the millions of dollars, pounds sterling, francs
and marks which every year leave developing, neocolonized or colonized
states as a result of spoliatory investments and one-sided loans, they are
condemning imperialism and not any other social system. It is impossible to
change reality with ambiguous statements.

All attempts to pit the nonalined countries against the socialist camp are
profoundly counterrevolutionary and solely and exclusively benefit
imperialist interests. The only objective of inventing a false enemy is to
flee from the true enemy. [applause] The success and future of the
nonalined movement will lie in not letting itself be infiltrated, confused
or deceived by imperialist ideology. Only the closest alliance among all
the world's progressive forces will give us the strength necessary to
defeat the still powerful forces of imperialism, colonialism,
neocolonialism and racism, and to struggle successfully to fulfill the
hopes for justice and peace of all the world's peoples.

With the anguishing and increasing needs for power resources and raw
materials which the capitalist and developed countries are experiencing to
maintain the absurd consumer societies they have created, if the
extraordinary restraining power represented by the socialist movement did
not exist, imperialism would parcel out the world, humanity would suffer
the scourge of new wars and many of the independent countries which today
form this movement would not even exist. In high U.S. Government circles
there are even now those who openly advocate armed intervention in the
Middle East should U.S. oil requirements so demand.

To alienate ourselves from the friendship of the socialist side would be to
weaken our position and be left at the mercy of the still powerful
imperialist forces. This would be a clumsy strategy and colossal political
shortsightedness.

Mr President, Latin America watches with concern how Brazil, under the
sponsorship of the United States, is building a powerful military machine,
which goes beyond the needs of its rulers to use military brutality,
murder, torture and imprisonment against its people, and is obviously
geared toward becoming a military enclave within the heart of Latin America
at the service of North American imperialism. The Brazilian Government
which, together with the U.S. Government, participated in the invasion of
Santo Domingo and in similar complicity worked to overthrow the progressive
Bolivian regime and recently assisted in the establishment of a reactionary
dictatorship in Uruguay, is not only an instrument of the United States,
but is gradually becoming an imperialist state. Today it has an observer at
this conference, as does Bolivia. He hope that such regimes are never
admitted into the nonalined countries' movement. [applause]

There has been much talk here of the situation which exists in Southeast
Asia and in the Near East, of peoples being oppressed and held by
Portuguese colonialism, of brutal racist repression in South Africa,
Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Yankee imperialism continues to support the neocolonialist regime of South
Vietnam, which refuses to comply with the Paris agreements, and still
supports the puppet Lon Nol government in Cambodia; Israel mocks UN
agreements and refuses to return territories occupied by force; Portugal,
with the support of the United States and of NATO, scorns world opinion and
the resolutions taken against it by international organizations. Racist
governments not only increase repression; they are also threatening other
African states. These are bitter and irritating realities which are testing
the force, the unity and the will to fight of the nonalined countries.

The leaders and representatives of more than 70 states are meeting here.
Let us adopt concrete measures and agreements to isolate and defeat the
aggressors. Let us give decided and resolute support to the Arab peoples
who are under attack and to the heroic Palestinian people, to those who
struggle for the independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, Angola and
Mozambique [applause] and to the oppressed peoples of South Africa,
Zimbabwe and Namibia. Let us consistently fight against the imperialist
countries which support and endorse these crimes.

Nonalined countries, let us recognize the Provisional Revolutionary
Government of South Vietnam. [applause] And let us give it our unrestrained
support in its struggle for the fulfillment of the Paris agreements. Let us
support the patriots of Laos and Cambodia, and no force in the world will
be able to prevent the solution of these problems which affect our
countries in the Near East, in Africa and in Southeast Asia. The true
strength and the real depth of the nonalined countries movement will be
measured by the decisiveness with which we act on these problems. Cuba will
decidedly support the agreements reached in this regard, even if it
requires giving our blood. [applause]

We cannot ignore the Democratic Republic Vietnam. This thousand-times
heroic people suffered the most devastating war of aggression. Millions of
tons of bombs were hurled against its economic installations, cities,
villages, schools and hospitals. Its unselfish and triumphant struggle
against imperialist aggression has served the interests of all humanity. He
must not content ourselves solely with expressions of sympathy. Currently
that admirable nation is facing the harsh task of reconstruction. We
propose that the nonalined countries participate in the reconstruction of
North Vietnam, each sending its contribution to the extent of its own
possibilities. This would give a new and revolutionary dimension to the
nonalined countries in the field of international solidarity.

It is necessary that the nonalined Countries support Zambia and Tanzania
against the aggressions of South Africa and Rhodesia. It is equally
necessary that the nonalined countries support the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea in its efforts to achieve the peaceful reunification of
the Korean people; that we give the Panamanian people all our support in
their just struggle for the recovery of their sovereignty over the Canal
Zone; that we express cur solidarity to the Chilean people in view of the
imperialist conspiracy [applause]; that we unite with Argentina in its just
claim over the usurped territory of the Falkland Islands [applause]; and
that we defend the Puerto Rican people's right to total sovereignty.
[applause]

Our country has to endure the humiliating presence of a Yankee military
base on a portion of our territory. This base is maintained by force,
against the absolute will of our people who thus face a tight and criminal
economic blockade by the United States.

Nevertheless, Cuba is standing firm and successfully carrying on the
construction of socialism at the very doorstep of the United States. Our
country has been able to make headway because it has carried out a true
revolution which has radically eliminated all forms of exploitation of man
by man and has built a high fighting morale and a solid and indestructible
unity on this basis.

If one truly wishes to liberate a country from imperialist exploitation one
must also liberate the people from the sacking of the product of their work
by the feudal lords, the landowners, the oligarchs and social parasites of
all types. We request your solidarity with the Cuban people also.

The understanding among the socialist countries is vital to our victory but
the unity of the countries struggling for independence and development is
an indispensable condition. We support all declarations calling for greater
unity among the nonalined countries with respect to the main problems of
international life mentioned in the various motions presented here.
However, we are concerned, and more than Concerned, disgusted, to learn
that a leader of the stature of Sekou Toure has to defend himself not only
against the Portuguese colonialists but against plots hatched inside his
own underdeveloped Africa. [applause] Our faith in certain declarations and
postulates of unity decreases when we see how the People's Republic of the
Congo and the Somali Democratic Republic are not free from attacks by other
African forces and when we learn of the problems the revolutionary regime
of the democratic and proletarian Yemen Arabic Republic races in order to
smash hostile acts which, although they may originate in Washington, are
carried out in other not less distant places.

This shows once again that pure unity does not hinge on a passing
nonalinement but on a deeper and more permanent identity purpose based on
revolutionary principles, a common anti-imperialist program and the hope
for substantial and definitive social changes.

These are Cuba's stands. The viewpoints I have Just outlined probably will
not be shared by all leaders present here, but I have fulfilled my duty to
set them forth with respect and loyalty to all of you.

Thank you. [applause]
-END-