-DATE- 19750129 -YEAR- 1975 -DOCUMENT_TYPE- SPEECH -AUTHOR- F. CASTRO -HEADLINE- CASTRO ADDRESSES RAIL WORKERS, HAILS SOVIET AID -PLACE- PLACETAS, LAS VILLAS -SOURCE- HAVANA INTL SVC -REPORT_NBR- FBIS -REPORT_DATE- 19750130 -TEXT- Castro Speech Havana International Service in Spanish 2250 GMT 29 Jan 75 PA [Speech by Cuban Premier Fidel Castro at Railroad Workers Day rally in Placetas, Las Villas Province--live] [Text] Comrade railroad workers, comrade youths from the Youth Labor Army [EJT] [applause], comrade constructors of the DAP [applause], comrade workers of communications [applause], agricultural workers, male and female comrades from the Placetas and the Province of Las Villas: [applause] The revolution cannot devote much time to the dedication of works. In general you know that there are many projects built throughout the entire country, and few of these works are officially dedicated. They are started and they are finished and other new projects are then begun. In former times the politicians devoted their time to dedicating anything. But the works were so few that they had lots of time left over. Why was this ceremony organized in this case to dedicate the first section of the reconstruction of the central railroad? Simply because this task, this work that has been started here, is very important, very significant for our economy and for our country. This railroad system, which the revolution found, is over 100 years old. The railroad started in Cuba in 1837 in a section of Havana Province, and it is said that Cuba was either the seventh or eighth country in the world to have a railroad, and it was the first in Latin America. It is also said that Cuba built a railroad even before Spain. The railroad continued to develop since it was the sole and basic transportation means in the interior of the country. At the beginning of this century the first branches of the railroad were begun. This particular section was built, as I understand, in 1902. It is therefore over 70 years old. And in reality our country has been left behind as regards railroads. A railroad is an irreplaceable transportation system in Cuba. Given the characteristics of our island--which is long and narrow, with a length of over 1,000 km-- there is no better transportation system than the railroad to cover long distances on land, for freight as well as for passengers, economically. In reality our country should use different types of transportation, different systems. It must use ships, logically, mainly for international transportation, and some domestic transportation. It must use automotive transportation especially for short distances and under certain circumstances for longer distances, and it must use railroad transportation. As regards navigation, the revolution has made a great effort by purchasing an entire merchant fleet which is in full development. As regards automotive transportation, the revolution has built thousands and thousands of roads and highways. Right now the central highway from Pinar del Rio to Santiago de Cuba is being built. It was necessary to make important efforts in the railroad department, and for this reason, some years ago a decision was made to start the pertinent studies. Once these studies were made, it was agreed to begin the projects for the reconstruction of the central railroad. As soon as the first projects were drawn up reconstruction began. Why is it called reconstruction? Part is totally new construction. The route it will follow--saving of course a good number of kilometers because it will be the straightest railroad--will have a length from Havana to Santiago de Cuba of 850 km. Approximately one-third of that length will be in a different location, not very far from where it lies now but it will be a totally new construction, the same as was done in this stretch from Olvier to Calabaza. Why was it started in this spot? Because it is in this region where we are right now that the most difficult stretch of the central railroad was located, the stretch that had the most curves and the most slopes. These slopes were surpassed only by those near Santiago de Cuba. But this was one of the spots that had the most problems for the operation of the railroad because trains had to drop off some of their freight in Santa Clara or earlier in order to be able to pass these places, that is, they had to lighten their load, and this represented a considerable delay for traffic. There had to be a new location in this area. The train would not follow the old route, and therefore a totally new stretch was built. It was decided to build a new stretch of almost 25 km, which goes into preparation today and which totally eliminates the great difficulties which the railroad operation met when transiting this region. The most logical thing was to start with the most difficult part. Moreover, as it was a totally new stretch, it did not interrupt movement; it did not force the trains to make detours. That is why the strategy followed was to start the new construction in a different location from the old line. And this is about one-third of what needs to be constructed. Not only have the 850 km to be built, of course, but to this the kilometers of all the stations and the detours must be added. Some secondary lines also have to be laid because of the new location. In all work on this program of reconstructing the central railroad will total 1,149 km either built new or reconstructed. Now, then, the old location must be worked on; the old line must be rebuilt. Once these new sections have been constructed we will begin working on those areas where the plan follows the railroad layout, that is, where the line is in effect going to be reconstructed. In turn, that will bring about a different type of problem. The huge land displacements and excavations that were needed in this area will not be needed in those places where the terrain is considered good. There we will work on the present layout; we will reconstruct the embankment, and the place will have all the requirements necessary for the type of transport that will cover that route. This of course will result in some problems, for instance with the railroad operation, because while we are working on these sections, railroad detours will be necessary. We will have to use a different line through the north or the south and, of course, during the reconstruction of the central railroad we will have to get used to the idea that until the central line is completed, we will have to make detours very often. Anyway, this job will take several years. At present there are eight brigades working on the railroad's reconstruction; one in Havana, another one in Natanzas, three in Las Villas, one in Camaguey and two in Oriente. This year we will have to add an extra brigade in Camaguey Province. According to initial calculations, less cubic meters had to be moved, but in total we have to move almost 30 million cubic meters of soil including the embankments, the main line, the detours and the other lines that have to be constructed. I almost forgot to mention that one of the characteristics of this railroad is that curves will be much wider. They say that the curves must have a radius of action no smaller than 2,000 meters, that is, the radius of the curve. Mathematicians understand this perfectly well. [laughter] What it means is that curves cannot be too narrow, too "tight" you would say, too closed. Curves have to be very soft so the train can make the desired speed. At present these trains attain speeds of 50, 70 km and in some areas, even a little bit more. We now hope to have a railroad where trains, especially passenger trains, can travel at speeds of up to 140 kms per hours. Of course, this does not mean that the country cannot have even faster trains in the future. In the embankments, which railroad workers call infrastructures because in the construction of one of these railroad lines we have to construct embankments as if it were a road, we have to construct sewers, bridges, under and overpasses--because we are trying not to have railroad-level crossings. As you know, at present all our railroad have railroad-level crossings, and who has not come across a railroad crossing? And how many accidents have occurred precisely at those crossings? Now we are hoping to construct a high-speed railroad which at the same time will be very safe--a railroad with an infrastructure, that is, with an embankment designed for even greater speeds and with no railroad-level crossings. This is what they call the railroad's infrastructure. The trackbed superstructure, which also belongs to railroad terminology, comes in once the embankment has been constructed and the steel rails are being laid. That requires the placement of stones--still used in modern railroad tracks--of crossties and of rails. After this has been done, in comes the signals system for the railroad's safety. As it stands, the infrastructure--that is the embankment, its layout, its design, its bridges and its roads without railroad-level crossing--would permit trains to reach speeds as high as 200 km per hour someday. However, this would require much more powerful trains. In other words, the line would have to be made electric. We would need very powerful trains and, of course, an even finer superstructure. Once the first stage of this line is completed, the rails will, of course, be stronger than at present; all the crossties will be of very resistant prestressed concrete with elastic fixings--this is another term used by railroad engineers which refers to the way in which they link rails and crossties. Of course, even this section has some wooden crossties because when we began the superstructure's construction, neither the elastic fixings nor all of the crossties were there. But of course, we are constructing over that basis. In the end, all crossties will be made of prestressed concrete, all fixings will be elastic, and the track's size and resistance will be adequate for speeds of 140 km per hour. Later on--and we have to leave something for future generations, we cannot be so ambitious as to want to do everything--the country may lay even stronger rails over this same layout and on this same embankment, and it may electrify the line so it reaches speeds of up to 200 km per hours. Then they would not have to do what we are doing now: reconstruct the whole embankment and prepare completely new layouts in order to modernize the railroad. The railroad will be left ready for later modifications, but what we are trying to do now with this reconstruction and modernization is to leave a permanent infrastructure and an adequate superstructure for combustion engines: speeds without going as far as electrifying the line. At first we considered whether one or two lines were needed, whether or not the railroad should be two-way. With the advice of the Soviet technicians, who have vast experience in railroad construction, we analyzed this very well and arrived at the conclusion that even under the heavy traffic we might attain in the future, the problem could be solved with just one line, that it was not necessary to construct tow lines, and that a large volume of traffic and a large degree of safety could be maintained with just one line. Sometimes we tend to believe that accidents can occur more easily with just one line, with so many trains going in different directions. But the use of this line has been mathematically calculated applying every modern control system and safety measure. So, with a one-track railroad we can transport all we need to in 1980, 1985, 1990 and for an indefinite number of years without having to make the very costly investment in a two-way track which most of the time would be sparsely used. This is why this very modern railroad is going to be a one-track railroad. This of course has to do with the system that railroad people call the signal system. I am not an expert of these matters. I am trying to explain it to you. If I keep reading maybe you and I can understand a little better what they mean by the signaling problem. Everything is here--the systems of signals, intercepting and communications. It also calls for the installation of a system capable of assuring the operation of the railroad at speeds mentioned before, that is, speeds up to 140 km. Signaling, the signaling system comprises the automatic control of trains in movement as well as the automation of the work at the yards and stations through signals along the track in what is called automatic intercepting. This consists of placing semaphores every 2,500 meters so that every train crosses that section when it goes by, automatically passing from the red light to yellow and then to green to allow the next train to continue on its way. There is also the possibility of controlling a section of approximately 200 to 250 km of track from the dispatcher's office. I am sure that railroad people understand all this very well. [laughter] This moves the various mechanisms, allowing the train to pass and indicating which track is available. This system permits the safe passage of the train, and in our case in which the plans are largely for one track it considerably increases its capacity. This system requires the installation of a 10 kw communication line all along the track to activate the signals, like the various motors that move the railroad switches and others. These 10 kw will be generated from auxiliary plants which will get their source of energy from the national network at various points approximately 100 km apart. The engine will be equipped with signal repeating devices for the engine to receive the signals all along the track which are repeated in a panel which automatically--in case the engineer does not react to it--acts by lowering the speed or stopping the engine. The dispatcher's office--the dispatcher's control center--has a panel with controls covering 200 to 250 km of track and has visual control of all operations to coordinate effectively the various crossings and authorizing the departure of each train under his control in a manner which assures the most efficient protection. Absolute protection is also assured by the installation of a system of safeguards mechanically and electrically interrelated to prevent any error. In other words, under no circumstance can any section of the track be used by two trains moving in opposite directions. This can give you an idea of the technical level, of the type of railroad we are planning to install in our central line. Besides, there will be no highway to encroach on a section of railroad tracks because a strong fence will be put up on both sides throughout the length of the railroad to prevent animals from being on the tracks, which is often the cause of accidents, especially when going at high speeds. You should perfectly understand the importance of high speed for our economy and how much time is saved in the transportation of passengers and cargo. This makes it logical for us to try to seek the highest speeds. This means that we are going to have a really modern railroad. Undoubtedly this will be the most modern railroad in Latin America. If before we were the first Latin American country to have a railroad, now we are going to be the first to have a railroad with very modern characteristics. [applause] This railroad program is not going to end here. Afterward, we must continue working on all secondary lines in the north, south, and elsewhere in the country. Our effort from now until 1980 will be on this central line. We will continue working on the maintenance and repair of the other railroads. Every piece of railroad track removed from here-- which is being replaced by absolutely new ones--is going to be used somewhere else, especially where freight is not too heavy and where trains do not go at very high speeds. Improvements will be made especially on the railroads operating in the sugar plantations. We have two types of trains which are very important, trains for public services and those operating in the sugar fields used for carrying sugarcane. Both types of trains are used to take the finished project to the ports. The old tracks and materials are going to be used to improve the other railroads. Later on we must work on the other lines even when we have made great progress in the central line. The railroads at the sugar fields also must be given plenty of attention because of their great economic importance. Today we are completing the first part of this line in a program that will take many years to finish. The reconstruction program of the central railroad has to be completed at the latest within the next 5 years, from 1976 to 1980. At this latter date the central railroad should have been rebuilt and modernized. We have been talking about railroad tracks, but a railroad is not just tracks and all the work that the tracks require. After the track is laid there is the problem of the signals for the security of the railroad, which I mentioned. There is the whole problem of communications along the railroad, the telephone liens. But that alone is not the railroad. In addition to this program there are the bases to support the reconstruction, and in the future, the maintenance. This requires the establishment of several industries, including a construction industry with a capacity to construct 1 million concrete railroad ties a year. In the future the ties which will be brought into the country will be made of concrete. There are plans to increase the production of cement, large plans, and there is no reason for us to use lumber, which is of poorer quality and expensive, and our country does not have an abundance of lumber. We will progressively eliminate lumber along all of our railroad beds. Plans have already been laid and the grading of land has already begun for the installation of a plant capable of producing 1 million ties a year in the city of Santa Clara. Until that plant is constructed, a very modern one, the ties will be produced at other provisional plants, naturally having lower work productivity but an almost craftsmanlike manner. In these initial years, especially 1975, 1976 and 1977, we will have to work to product the concrete ties in a relatively craftsmanlike manner. Naturally, they will be of good quality because quality will be attained, but with a very low productivity rate per man and at a higher cost. Naturally, it takes time to build that plant, and in the next few years crossties will have to be produced in smaller plants where more men are employed to produce ties of proper quality. We have to construct rockcrushers for the ties as well as for the ballast which must be used along the railroad tracks. We have to build sand-washing plants, and other large investments have to be made such as the bases for general reconstruction of the railroads, the ones that will be giving us the superstructure as the embankments are completed. There will be three of these bases, one in the region of Guines, in the west, one in this region, in the center, and another in the region of Cacocum, in the east. Those bases for general repairs will work on the reconstruction of new lines. Later they will work on the reconstruction of the branch lines and at the same time will do maintenance on the line. This is very important because it is not just a matter of constructing the railroad, but right now we have to take all the necessary measures for maintenance. Then there are large investments which are required in machine shops for the exploitation of the railroad. It is necessary to construct a number of new machine shops throughout the country and to reconstruct and expand existing ones. This requires large investments. Then we must construct many new stations and rebuild some existing ones. Work has to be done on the whole system of stations, and I believe that this involves some 53 stations along the 850 km. Some of them have to be relocated because the old stations, constructed at the beginning of the century, do not meet the needs of the railroad where they are not located. We have to find a location for the railroad in Santiago de Cuba, the location of the railroad for the Havana terminal, the location of the stations in each of the province capitals--and all this has to be done according to the city master plan and taking into consideration that the railroad will not cross the cities, that it will not cross streets at ground level. Then a large effort has to be made in the railroad stations. Furthermore, especially with a view toward freight transportation, we must construct freight-loading and-unloading centers along the line. Finally, I almost forget the investments that have to be made in new locomotives, in self-powered coaches, in passenger cars and in freight cars. All this requires large investments. The investments that are already being made in equipment for railroad use amounts to more than 100 million pesos, just in equipment for exploitation alone. Large investments are being made in track construction and maintenance equipment. You might remember that man, working that...[Castro appears to change thought in midsentence] heroic track maintenance work brigades, laying the railroad ties by hand-- mind you--with the use of crossbars, picks, shovels. Naturally, this must be overcome, and the completely modernized construction and maintenance brigades of the railroad will get this done. A total of 53 machines have already been acquired for this job of repairing the railroad. These are machines which automatically lay the ties. This afternoon we saw one of these machines, an expensive machine which requires skilled personnel, which has the productivity of 100 men and which automatically lays the ties and adjusts the track. All this which previously had to be done by hand is today done by machine. [applause] A total of 53 very modern machines have been acquired, some of which will work with the brigades that will do the reconstruction. Others will be used for track maintenance. But the country has acquired equipment for these jobs such as it never had before, and it is the most modern there is in the world for this type of activity. This requires large investments. It is estimated that the overall investment of this program of reconstructing and modernizing the central railroad will amount to more than 600 million pesos. That is a large amount. Naturally, many of these investments, especially the investments in machine shops, the investments in the repair bases, the investments in equipment will be good for not just this job but for all subsequent work as well. The 1-million-tie factory will be used for the construction of the central railroad. Later it will be used in the construction of the other branches of the railroad and will be continually used afterward in the maintenance of the railroad lines. This is an investment that is made now for the reconstruction, but it is a lasting investment. The same is true for the machine shops for the exploitation of the railroad. I was saying that a total of 1,149 km of tracks have to be constructed. We also have to construct 1,115 culverts, 398 bridges and, if my memory serves me correctly, 123 overpasses and underpasses. [applause] It is really a large job, an extensive job, a serious effort. Naturally, if all this had been done in the past it would have required who knows how many thousands of workers. Today everything is mechanized. The entire construction of the superstructure is done with very modern construction equipment. And I told you that we had bought 53 pieces of equipment for construction and maintenance. A large amount of other equipment must be added to this, devoted to the construction itself, rather than to maintenance of the superstructure. [applause] That is why the number of men will be relatively small for such a large project because of the degree of mechanization used in this job. We have in our favor the cooperation of all sectors as has happened here. Everybody here has worked, and we know that the inhabitants of this region--about 50 km of fence because there was a fence on each side. The inhabitants of Placetas and of this Cumbre region also helped in various tasks during the construction of this stretch, as did of course the DAP workers, those working in the brigade to build the railroad embankment [applause]. They started the work because they had to do all the excavation and build the embankment and the bridges. Once they finished, immediately and with a great display of efficiency, the comrades of the Youth Labor Army took over the job of building and superstructure [applause], because no single force builds everything. This is not a highway. In the case of a highway, the DAP does it by itself. Here the embankment is built by the DAP and the superstructure is built by the railroad, by the ministry. Railroad workers do these jobs, of course, and also this youth force which has been organized through the Youth Labor Army, to build that superstructure. The communications comrades have worked in communications. As we know, the stretch is completely finished. In the end, however, it will be necessary to return here to replace the wooden crossties with cement ones. But I was forgetting to tell you something. As you can see, the job is no longer done by placing crosstie after crosstie. There are shops where a whole unit is mounted. What does this mean? A full rail on each side. It already comes with its crossties mounted and in place. This is something new, is it now? The complete unit is built and placed [applause]. This is a system, but in the future, and in the end it will not be laid that way. The rails will be welded. There is, I understand, in this region there will be a welding plant that will weld the rails. Then one rail will be 600, 700, I believe even 800 meters long. Then that jostling will not be felt [laughter] which is the train bumping every 12 meters--the length of a rail generally--and the train always makes a peculiar noise when it jumps from one rail to another. It will be more comfortable. Sleep will be more relaxed in one of these modern trains because it will be running on 600, 700 and 800 meters of welded rail. You can imagine, you will see go by here--especially those close by--trains carrying those rails already welded 700 meters long, and there are special machines to carry and lay these rails. They do both jobs. But our peasants and the railroad's neighbors will see all this coming and going of equipment, of machines with units of rails, of everything. It is really very interesting. Of course all this construction requires a shock troop. The comrades of the railroad union, the Transportation Union, said they are going to form a shock brigade of 120 men to work with the same spirit as the sugarcane brigade, the "57th Anniversary of the October Revolution." [applause] No doubt this will be a great contribution to this work, because this is the spirit needed on this job, but aside from that, our youth, our organization of communist youths, has the central railroad project among its shock jobs. [applause] They have selected a certain amount of shock jobs for the next 5-year period. And one of them is, in fact, this beautiful project of the reconstruction and modernization of the central railroad. Therefore, it is very useful and very important to get this support from our communist youth for this job, because these are the tasks of the present time. In past years, when the struggle began, the task was war, war against tyranny, war against the armed enemy. Today our youth has other tasks--of course, above all it has to defend the country, and this is not at all forgotten for a single moment--but its battle, its struggle, its war today is against underdevelopment, against poverty. The war is the great battle for the country's economic development, for the modernization and for the advancement of the fatherland and this, of course, is not won with words but with sweat, with efforts, with a very large investment of human revolutionary energy. [applause] It is very beautiful to see an already finished stretch, a train moving, a modern locomotive moving along these steel roads, but how much effort goes into all this? How much effort, how much energy during weeks, months and whole years, from the time the photographers start to study the location and the planners to make up the project, all the different tasks until the end is achieved with the completed project! No doubt our country will be justifiably proud of the future of this central railroad. But this is one of those jobs that can only be done with effort, energy, with willpower, with courage, and with heroism. And this is where our youth will have a magnificent setting to serve the fatherland. The reconstruction, as I said before, is not everything. The later exploitation of that railroad cannot be forgotten for a second. That is why we hope many of the youths who take part in its construction--it is important that some continue to work in the railroad department--that from the ranks of the Youth Labor Army will emerge experts in railroad construction because we will be constructing railways for many years, and also some of the highly qualified workers whom we need for the exploitation of these railroads. We must give railroads an important transfusion of new blood. We must support the task of the dedicated railroad workers, who for many years have operated this important activity. Apparently railroads were forgotten. The railroads seemed to belong to the past. Our youth was not even slightly interested in railroads. The time has come for our youth to do its part for the railroads. Just as thousands of youths join our merchant marine and our fishing fleets--youths without whom it would be impossible for our country to develop these important areas of our economy--we need to incorporate youth in railroad activities. We no longer have the old railroad that we mentioned a few minutes ago. Railroads now require a much higher degree of training. We have obtained hundreds of modern machines for building, maintaining, repairing, and operating railroads. We no longer use shovels and sledge hammers. This expensive equipment requires highly skilled and trained personnel. These personnel must not only be prepared technically but, they must be serious personnel well trained morally, politically, and revolutionary. [applause] Imperialists have generally underestimated our people. They regarded us as incapable of good organization and discipline. They though us incapable of fulfilling the duties required for all this. In many ways we have shown them how mistaken they are. Right now we are showing them that we can build a modern railroad and operate the most modern machinery in this field. Later on, however, we will also have to show them that we are able to run this railroad with maximum efficiency. When it is modernized, our railroad system will be characterized mainly by the seriousness, efficiency, sense of duty and discipline of its workers. This effort will be judged by the efficiency with which our railroad will operate, judged by their punctuality. This cannot be said now because we do not have the right conditions, although we have to be as careful, responsible, and punctual as possible. The conditions that will be created will allow us to have a modern, well equipped railroad that will run with the precision of a clock, of a clock that runs correctly-- that is neither fast nor slow. [applause] Our railroad will need many technicians at all levels; university technicians, undergraduate technicians, and highly skilled workers. We know that we have the personnel in our country, railroad workers have great revolutionary and patriotic tradition. We must inherit this spirit of sacrifice from the generation of old railroad workers. We must inherit their dedication. Under very difficult conditions during these revolutionary years they have kept the railroads going. [applause] Our youths must follow their example and virtues at the same time that they contribute with their new blood and indispensable technical knowledge required for the operation of these modern railroads. They will have to study hard to learn how to run these railroads. Otherwise it will be hard. That is why, because of today's historical importance, this has been declared Railroad Workers Day. We must resolve to achieve these goals, to achieve this sense of duty, and this will. We must resolve to obtain the knowledge required by our people to operate these railroads efficiently. In brief, we must achieve a new railroad awareness in our country, [applause] so that our youth will pick up this banner. Today we honor all those who have worked on this project. It is also fitting that we honor all the technicians who worked on the blueprints and building of this project. [applause] Lastly, in a special manner, we have to express our gratitude to the dozens of Soviet technicians [applause] who worked and are working on rebuilding and modernizing this project. Over there also, in the great fatherland of Lenin, the Soviet people are devoting their efforts to the construction of a gigantic railroad project: the Baykal-Amur railroad, over 3,000 km long. We can very well imagine the enormous technical and engineering difficulties which will arise in the construction of that project: bridging wide rivers, going through mountains and building along hundreds of kilometers of practically uninhabited areas. It is going to be a great effort. Fate has so decreed that over there they are engaged in their great railroad construction while we here are involved in our great railroad construction, limited of course by our size and our status. [applause] We must say that without the cooperation of the Soviet Union, our country would not have been able to do this job. Much of the construction equipment and many of the control devices, machinery come from the Soviet Union. And, in fact, the Soviet Union supplies one of the basic elements for railroad construction, the rails. And they have granted us loans and resources to be able to accomplish this job which will no doubt be of immense benefit for our country and which will be one of the many evidences of accelerated progress which our country is experiencing at the present time, [applause] one of the basic jobs of the extremely important 5-year period of 1976-1980, during which no doubt our country will march even faster on the road to development. As a matter of fact, at this very moment a freight train is going along the new line. [noise of train and applause] We wish to congratulate the Villas workers [long pause and indistinct murmurs]. They say it is carrying 2,000 tons of sugar. [applause and train noise] It has two engines and 40 cars loaded with sugar. This shows that the engines are still not powerful enough to haul this with a single engine. [long pause, presumably while that train passes] We want to take this opportunity today to congratulate the Villas workers for the magnificent spirit with which they have tackled whatever tasks have been assigned to them by the revolution. [applause] Yesterday they did their duty in the war for the triumph of the revolution. Afterward they did it by defending the revolution because it was our agricultural workers and our workers and our peasants who quashed the mercenary bands, [applause] which one day attempted to obstruct the work of the revolution. Look at Escambray today, which they attempted to turn into a den of thieves, which they turned into the scene of crimes such as those of Venite, Asunce and many other revolutionaries, what Escambray is, its rate of development and progress, and what this province is today, its enthusiasm, its working spirit, its will to progress which is seen everywhere. The thousands and thousands of Villas inhabitants who have joined constructive projects, building highways, factories, housing, schools, dairies and all those works that are seen everywhere in this province. The brilliant sugar effort which they are accomplishing [applause], its cane cutters and its combine operators cutting cane and its industrial workers at the central extracting the sugar [applause] in the effort to use the sugar harvest [applause] to extract the last gram of sugar [applause], and to take advantage of the good prices which sugar obtains right now [applause], and to have the resources available to continue our development [applause] to continue progressing. We expect that the roadbed for the superhighway that will connect Havana with Santa Clara will be completed by the end of this year. [applause] A group of Villarena [inhabitants of Las Villas] brigades is working hard on this important job, which is also advancing rapidly. One of the Villas industrial construction brigades, which is going to construct the Cienfuegos cement factory, [applause] took first place on a national scale. [applause] In this province we are today celebrating the day of the railroad worker and have inaugurated the first 25-km section of reconstructed central railroad. [applause] We congratulate you for all these efforts, for all these successes. We congratulate the party of the province, its province of Las Villas [applause] its provincial committee and comrade Arnaldo Milian, first secretary of the party in the province. [applause] For all of this has been a very happy day, and in the same way that we can already see that the projects are turning into reality, how ideas become facts, we have no doubt that in future years, in the course of the next 5-year plan, this reconstruction of the central railroad will be completed and that the comrade railroad workers will also gather in some place of the republic together with the people to inaugurate this completed work. [applause] Fatherland or death; we shall win! [applause] -END-