-DATE-
19730918
-YEAR-
1973
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
WELCOME THE CUBAN DELEGATION
-PLACE-
SOUTH VIETNAM
-SOURCE-
LIBERATION RADIO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19730918
-TEXT-
TEXT OF CASTRO'S 15 SEP SPEECH IN LIBERATED AREA

Liberation Radio [Clandestine] in Vietnamese to South Vietnam 0500 GMT 18
Sep 73 S

[Speech by Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro delivered at a meeting held in
the "liberated area of South Vietnam" on 15 September to welcome the Cuban
Delegation-- recorded in Spanish with sentence-to-sentence translation into
Vietnamese]

[Text] Dear comrades of the NFLSV, comrades of the PRGRSV, representatives
of the forces (?of the) revolutionary people in glorious South Vietnam, and
representatives of the revolutionary mass organizations: We have traveled
more than 20,000 km to arrive here, this being symbolic of our people's
great friendship and solidarity with the Vietnamese people. The Cuban
people have daily followed the selfless struggle by the South Vietnamese
people.

As noted by Comrade Tran Nam Trung, Cuba was the first country in the world
to recognize the PRGRSV. Cuba was also the first country in the world to
send its diplomatic representation to the South Vietnamese liberated areas
of the PRGRSV. Today we are very honored to be the first party and
government to send a delegation to the liberated areas of South Vietnam.
Our delegation is very proud of this meeting with the heroic soldiers of
your people and with a heroic people like the South Vietnamese people.

No people has ever had to resist and fight in such a difficult and hard
manner for its own independence as the Vietnamese people. Let us recall the
history since 1945, when respected and beloved President Ho Chi Minh
declared the independence of the DRV. (?Since then) the Vietnamese people
have always been a united and free people, and through all eras these
people have fought bravely to defend their independence and have always
achieved victory. When the French colonialists came here Vietnam became a
dependent country, (?but it was ruled) by the reactionaries, feudalists,
and rotten dynasties.

It is true that Vietnam was occupied by the French colonialists in the last
century, but the Vietnamese people have never been conquered. Year after
year the Vietnamese people fought heroically against the French
colonialists. This struggle acquired a new characteristic [word indistinct]
when the Vietnamese workers' class came into being and when respected and
beloved President Ho Chi Minh, with his clear-sighted thinking and talents,
united all Vietnamese workers, peasants, and progressive forces and founded
a vanguard party to lead the people's struggle to success.

The Vietnamese people gained their independence in 1945, but the
imperialists once again intervened. The reactionary Chiang Kai-shek clique
jumped into the north, the French and British colonialists and imperialists
jumped into the south, and once again the French colonialists--those who
lacked any honor to defend their country against the fascist, Hitlerite
clique--plotted to dominate Vietnam and waged a war of aggression. The
Vietnamese people were forced to wage an extremely difficult and hard
struggle for (?almost) 10 years to finally achieve success with the
glorious, historic Dien Bien Phu victory and the Geneva agreement.

(?These events) were important to the independence of North Vietnam and the
Vietnamese people's rights to defend their territorial integrity and settle
their internal affairs in a free and democratic manner.

However, after the French colonialists had to withdraw in 1945 the U.S.
imperialists came in. What right did the U.S. imperialists have to come to
Vietnam? Vietnam is tens of thousands of miles away from the United States.
What did the U.S. imperialists expect to gain here? Though having no right
and no reason, the U.S. imperialists intervened in Vietnam. They sabotaged
the Geneva agreement, prevented democratic general elections, and trampled
on the Vietnamese people's civil rights, democracy, and territorial
integrity.

The U.S. imperialists began their odious neocolonialist system in South
Vietnam. They employed every military, economic, and ideological means in
an attempt to subdue the South Vietnamese people. Worse still, to undermine
the Vietnamese people's spirit of heroism they set up a puppet government,
repressed the heroic people in a brutal manner, and arrested, imprisoned,
and killed hundreds of thousands of patriotic people in South Vietnam. Then
came the time when the South Vietnamese people, to defend their freedom,
independence, and the right to live, had to bear guns and rise to struggle
against the puppet regime and resist the neocolonialist dominating yoke.

In 1959, without the presence of the U.S. imperialists, the South
Vietnamese people could have wiped out the puppets in a few weeks.

The U.S. imperialists remain strong and very haughty and do not intend to
let the South Vietnamese people enjoy freedom. They are ready to use all
their military means and resort to every repressive measure to impede the
Vietnamese people's victory. They have disregarded the Vietnamese people's
sacrifice of blood and bones and their hardships, starvation, and
suffering. They are only ready to rule the Vietnamese people and (?deprive)
them of their freedom, although these people are tens of thousands of miles
away from them.

Therefore the South Vietnamese people have had to wage an extremely fierce
war for (?15) years. Although the imperialists resorted to every trick and
(?supported) the puppet government, they failed to impede the Vietnamese
people's victory. Although the imperialists waged a special war, with the
presence of tens of thousands of U.S. advisors, they failed. They then
shifted to a limited war with hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops. Despite
this they failed to defeat the South Vietnamese people's heroic struggle.
Following this the imperialists waged a destructive war against North
Vietnam and the Vietnamese people. They once again were defeated and failed
to defeat the Vietnamese people.

With their initiative and their struggle, the South Vietnamese people have
defeated the special and limited wars. The U.S. expeditionary troops were
forced to withdraw. The imperialists then devised a new strategy, dubbed
the "Vietnamization" policy. This means using the Vietnamese people to
fight the Vietnamese people. The imperialists organized a large, repressive
army in South Vietnam [word indistinct]. In the spring of 1972 the
Vietnamese people, by their marvelous struggle, frustrated the
Vietnamization policy and the imperialists had to end their bombing of
North Vietnam, and through the Paris agreement to agree to completely
withdraw their armed forces from South Vietnam.

This was a great victory, a marvelous victory. Earlier the French
colonialists were forced to withdraw following nearly 20 years of combat,
and the U.S. Armed Forces have now also been forced to withdraw. Moreover,
a great part of South Vietnamese territory has been liberated. A great part
of Laos and Cambodia has also been liberated [words indistinct]. A majority
of the (?South Vietnamese people) have been liberated.

The heroic struggle of the Vietnamese people and the peoples of other
Indochinese countries is not (?isolated). This struggled is extremely hard,
but also marvelous. Friends, you have given the imperialists a great
lesson. The imperialists considered themselves to be [words indistinct] and
invincible. However, you friends were able to defeat them. The imperialists
[words indistinct] cannot understand how a small, poor nation such as
Vietnam was able to defeat them. This can be explained by the fact that the
Vietnamese people are a heroic people, a people who have struggled for
their freedom and independence, and a people who have had the honor of
being an invincible people.

The imperialists are not invincible. It is the Vietnamese people themselves
who are invincible. This is a great lesson that you friends have given the
world. This is a great lesson you friends have given to the oppressed and
exploited peoples in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The imperialists have lost their prestige throughout the world, whereas the
Vietnamese people's prestige and honor have become increasingly greater
every passing day. The Vietnamese people's heroic struggle has seriously
influenced the United States itself, because a great part of the U.S.
people became aware of the true nature of imperialism and felt extremely
ashamed because of the crimes the imperialists committed in South Vietnam.
Many U.S. workers and youths were (?brought before a court), beaten, and
even (?killed), because right in the heart of the United States these
people struggled for the cause of Vietnam.

The above reflects the heroic Vietnamese people's extremely great services
to all mankind. However, as stated by Comrade Tran Nam Trung here, although
the United States has been defeated, the imperialists have not yet
renounced their scheme to impose a neocolonialist system on South Vietnam.
Therefore it is necessary to continue struggling resolutely, with the world
peoples' support, to demand that the U.S. imperialists and the puppet
administration strictly implement the Paris agreement.

The imperialists and the puppets do not want to implement the Paris
agreement because they know that if they do, they will be defeated.
Therefore they do not want to implement the cease-fire agreements, respect
the agreements, or implement the agreement provisions concerning respect
for the liberated areas and release of political prisoners. That is why
they are opposing national concord and unwilling to implement the South
Vietnamese people's democratic liberties.

The South Vietnamese people will get the full support of the (?socialist
countries throughout the world) in the struggle to demand that the
imperialists and the puppets implement the agreement. Do you know why the
puppets will be defeated once the agreements are implemented? Because the
puppets are thoroughly rotten and demoralized. The bourgeois and the
reactionaries do not work, and they are exploiting the South Vietnamese
people. There is a great difference between the puppets and the
revolutionaries. The revolutionaries (?and the workers) are honorable
people who are at the same time virtuous, stalwart, and valiant, who work
selflessly, and are imbued with deep patriotism. In the struggle between
these virtuous and demoralized people, you friends will certainly be
victorious. However, your struggle cannot be limited only to forcing the
enemy to implement the Paris agreement. You must also struggle arduously to
reorganize the liberated area and the people. You must endeavor to heighten
your compatriots' awareness in the areas still under temporary enemy
control and strengthen the revolutionary stand. You must strive to turn the
liberated area, the foothold of the revolution, into an inviolable area.
You must develop your own force and make it powerful and prevent the enemy,
who is now in a desperate situation, from launching attacks against the
revolutionary forces.

The puppets are now demoralized because they no longer have U.S. aircraft
to support them daily. Without the U.S. assistance and air support and a
strong puppet air force, the puppets would have been wiped out by the PLAF
in the early spring of 1972. (?Despite this enemy force), your friends have
achieved glorious successes. You wiped out numerous puppet military units
and liberated a major portion of your territory.

We are gathered here today in the South Vietnamese liberated area, at a
place where the imperialists built a strong military base which they though
no enemy force could occupy. The Cuban delegation (?confidently) moved
along Route 1 to come here. It passed through the liberated area of Dong Ha
and along famous Route 9 to finally reach the foot of this historic Hill
241, which you [words indistinct] with your valor and heroism.

You comrades explained to us today how you occupied the base in the area
and smashed its fortifications in just a few days. The imperialists will
probably never believe such a feat of arms. The truth was that despite
enemy cannons and aircraft you friends were able to smash all these strong
fortifications in only a few days. The victories you won here, as well as
in other South Vietnamese areas, yielded marvelous results. They enabled
you to force the U.S. imperialists to halt their destructive bombing in
North Vietnam, sign the Paris agreement, and permanently withdraw their
troops from South Vietnam. This was the result of your struggle. (?In view
of your initial victories), the complete liberation of South Vietnam and
peaceful reunification of your country are just a matter of time.

When we came here early this morning we knew it was going to be a fine day,
with the rising sun shining brightly in the east. Looking at the
surrounding mountains, hills, and delta, we thought of the Vietnamese
people. We told ourselves that Vietnam's future will be as beautiful and
bright as today, when you comrades welcome us, and will be as brilliant as
the sun that welcomed us this morning.

President Ho Chi Minh said: After the U.S. aggressors are defeated, we will
rebuild Vietnam 10 times more beautiful. In the Vietnamese people's present
struggle the entire Cuban people, who are building socialism 90 miles from
the United States, constantly and closely side with you, friends. Today I
want to express our thanks to and admiration for you. When we recall the
great victories and glorious successes, we also recall the thousands of
Vietnamese heroes who dedicated their lives to their fatherland's freedom.
Their efforts, sacrifices, and bloodshed are not in vain. With their blood,
victorious, indomitable Vietnam lives forever. Eternal honor belongs to
those who dedicated their lives to their fatherland.

Long live the heroic Vietnamese people! Long live the solidarity between
the Vietnamese and Cuban peoples! Long live the friendship between the
Vietnamese and Cuban peoples!
-END-