-DATE- 19810417 -YEAR- 1981 -DOCUMENT_TYPE- SPEECH -AUTHOR- F. CASTRO -HEADLINE- 20TH ANNIVERSARY-PROCLAMATION OF SOCIALIST NATUR -PLACE- CUBA -SOURCE- HAVANA INTL SVC -REPORT_NBR- FBIS -REPORT_DATE- 19810420 -TEXT- CASTRO SPEAKS ON SOCIALIST DECLARATION ANNIVERSARY PA171432 Havana International Service in Spanish 0300 GMT 17 Apr 81 [Speech by Fidel Castro Ruz, president of the Cuban Councils of State and Ministers, at a ceremony on 16 April at La Cabana firing range, Havana, to mark the 20th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist nature of the Cuban revolution---recorded] [Text] Invited guests, fighters of our glorious revolutionary armed forces, fighters of the territorial troop militias; Today we commemorate a very important date, 16 April 1961. It was an afternoon like this one, sunny and clear. In a solemn, revolutionary, people's ceremony, we buried the fighters who fell during the cowardly, criminal and traitorous surprise air attack launched against the airports of Ciudad Libertad, San Antonio de Los Banos and Santiago, Cuba. An enormous crowd of armed militiamen and people gathered there that afternoon. It was the prelude of the mercenary attack at the Bay of Pigs. All of this had been organized over many months. Everything was ready: the mercenary troops, the air attacks, the publicity, the propaganda, the coverage, all organized by the Government of the United States, the CIA and the Pentagon. However, this was not publicly admitted. Recently, on recalling that date, on recalling the events, on recalling what was published in the United States and internationally, we were still struck numb by the lies, the hypocrisy, the barefacedness that surrounded that attack. For this reason, we have brought a book which contains words and incidents of the time. When the attack took place in the dawn of the 15th, a surprise attack on three airports, what did the U.S. press say? What did their agencies say? It is worthwhile to recall it. ( Miami, 15 Apr, UPI--Cuban pilots who escaped from the Fidel Castro air force landed in Florida today in World War II bombers after bombing Cuban military installations to avenge the betrayal of a coward among them. One of the B-26 bombers of the Cuban Air Force landed at Miami International Airport riddled with holes from anti-aircraft and machinegun fire and with only one engine functioning. Another bomber landed at the Key West Naval Air Station. A third bomber landed in another foreign country to which the three bombers had originally planned to go after the attack. According to reliable local Cuban sources, there are unconfirmed reports that another airplane landed in the sea close to Tortuga Island. In any case, the U.S. Navy is investigating the case. The pilots who asked not to be identified, descended from the plane wearing flight uniforms and immediately requested asylum in the United States. Edward Allen, director of the Miami immigration services, said that the requests are under consideration. Miami, UPI--The pilot of the bomber who landed in Miami explained that he was one of 12 B-26 pilots who remained in the Cuban Air Force after the desertion of Diaz Lanz and the purges that followed. Diaz Lanz was the chief of Castro's Air Force who deserted in early 1959, shortly after Castro took over the government. The pilot said that today he had been assigned to carry out a routine patrol in the area around his base and that the other two pilots, stationed in Camp Libertad in the outlying area, had taken off on other pretexts. One of them was scheduled to fly to Santiago, Cuba, and the other said that he wanted to check his altimeter. The first pilot was in the air by 0605. My comrades, he added, took off earlier to attack the airports that we had decided to punish. Later, because I was running out of fuel, I had to go to Miami because I was not able to reach the destination we had agreed upon. It is possible that the others went to strafe another camp before leaving, perhaps Playa Baracoa, where Fidel has his helicopter. The pilot did not disclose what destination had been agreed upon. Miami Beach, AP--Three Cuban bomber pilots, fearing betrayal of their plans to escape from Fidel Castro's government, fled to the United States today after strafing and bombing airports in Santiago and Havana. One of the twin-engine planes of World War II vintage landed at Miami International Airport with a lieutenant at the controls. He outlined the manner in which he and three of the other 12 B-26 bomber pilots remaining in the Cuban Air force, had planned for months to escape from Cuba. The other plane, with two men on board, landed at the Key West Naval Air Station. The names of the pilots were withheld. Immigration authorities took the Cubans into custody and confiscated the airplanes. Edward Allen, district director of the U.S. Immigration Service, released the following statement by the Cuban Air Force pilot: I am 1 of the 12 B-26 bomber pilots who remained in Castro's Air Force after the desertion of Diaz Lanz, and so forth. Three of my companions and I had planned for months to escape from Castro's Cuba and so forth. The entire prefabricated story is like this. At the same time, the news was circulated around the world. These reports were published everywhere. All over the world it was reported that the bombing on the 15th was the result of an uprising within the Cuban Air Force. Mexico City, 15 Apr, AP--The bombing of Cuban bases by renegade Cuban planes was received with satisfaction here by most of the newspapers. They and the groups of Cuban exiles said that the bombings were part of the beginning of a movement of liberation against communism. The government remained silent, while groups of leftist and communist students supported the statements made by Cuban Ambassador Jose Antonio Portuondo, who said that the bombings were cowardly and desperate attacks by imperialists. There was great activity by Cuban exiles. A Cuban source said that the new Cuban Government in exile would go to Cuba shortly after the first wave of invasion against Fidel Castro's Cuban regime to establish a provisional government which many anti-Castro Latin American governments would speedily recognize. According to AP and UPI, the declaration issued by Dr. Miro Cardona said that a heroic blow for Cuban freedom was struck this morning by some Cuban Air Force officers. Before flying their planes to freedom these true revolutionaries tried to destroy the greatest possible number of Castro military planes. The Revolutionary Council is proud to announce that its plans were successful and the council has made contact with the brave pilots and has encouraged them. Their actions are one more example of the desperation to which patriots of all social levels can be driven under Castro's implacable tyranny. While Castro and his followers try to convince the world that Cuba has been threatened with invasion from abroad, this blow, like others before it in the name of freedom, was dealt by Cubans living in Cuba who decided to fight against tyranny and oppression or die trying. We will not give their names for security reasons. This is what the press said. But what did the U.S. representatives at the United Nations have to say? According to AP and UPI, U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson rejected Roa's statements and repeated President John Kennedy's statement that under no circumstances, I repeat, under no circumstances, would there be an intervention by U.S. Armed Forces in Cuba. Stevenson showed the commission UPI photographs showing two planes which landed today in Florida after bombing three Cuban cities. They have Castro Air Force markings on their tails, Stevenson said, pointing to one of the pictures. They have the Cuban star and letters. They are clearly visible. I will gladly show this photograph. Stevenson said that the two planes were piloted by Cuban Air Force officers and manned by crews who had deserted from the Castro regime. U.S. personnel did not participated in today's incident, and they were not U.S. planes, he stressed. They were Castro's own planes. They took off from his own air bases. We said then: Here we have, as few people have ever had, the opportunity to see from inside out, from top to bottom, from side to side, what imperialism really is. Here we have the opportunity to see how imperialism's financial, publicity, political, mercenary, and security structures operate. We see officials who swindle the world so coldly, in such a shameless way. Imperialism plans and directs crime, arms, trains and pays criminals. Criminals who murder seven workers' children land freely in the United States, though the entire world knew of their deeds, and state that they are Cuban pilots. They prepare the fictitious and novelistic tale and spread it throughout the world. They publish it in all newspapers, and air it on reactionary radio and television stations to explain the incident. We also said then that the U.S. imperialist government would have no alternative but to confess that they were their planes, their bombs, their bullets, and that the mercenaries had been trained, organized and paid by them. This was the information published regarding the incidents. It was a secret that the U.S. agencies already knew. This was a secret known to many U.S. newspapers, including such prestigious and liberal newspapers as the New York TIMES, which was then aware of the whole plan and hid it from U.S. public opinion and from the world at the request of the U.S. Government. Many lies, many myths were destroyed then. That incident, however, taught us much. It was not like today, after 20 years of revolution, that our people are better prepared, have a greater political culture, a greater understanding of the world's social and political problems. Those bloody, shameless deeds taught us much. It was then that the socialist nature of the revolution was proclaimed. [applause] There could not have been a better opportunity, because there was another lie, that our people were being deceived, that our people had been betrayed by its leaders. Until then we could say that the Moncada program had already been fulfilled, all the laws [applause] all the laws passed during the first years of the revolution were laws and measures that were, in essence, proclaimed in the Moncada program. The Moncada program already had the seeds; it created the conditions for a socialist revolution. [applause] No other revolution, except a socialist one, could exist in our country then [applause], or none of us would have been truly revolutionary. Our enemies said that we had struggled against the Batista tyranny for another type of revolution. In the very moment, however, when we were facing our strongest enemy, Yankee imperialism, when we were determinedly fighting against its plans and its forces on the eve of the fighting, when our people were determined again to fight to shed their blood and to die. The socialist nature of our revolution was proclaimed. No one knew how much that struggle would cost, because-- if the mercenaries had not been defeated right away, in less than 72 hours, preventing them from establishing a beachhead, a solid piece of land under their control, and a so-called provisional government that the press dispatches said would be recognized immediately by many governments--that struggle could have cost our country hundreds of lives. However, our people did not waver. They prepared themselves, as was proved. They fought with all their might. They fought and shed their blood in those epic days for the Cuban socialist revolution. [applause] All those who have fallen since the past century for the freedom of our fatherland have fought one way or the other for the socialist revolution, for the revolution that suited our people in those historic days, for the only true revolution. Those who fought for our independence fought for a just revolution, which in those days was an independent revolution that could not yet be socialist. Those who fought throughout the so-called republic, those who fought in the Moncada, in the Granma and in the mountains, those who fought in clandestinity had already fought for the only just revolution, the socialist revolution. But those who fought in Giron fought directly for the socialist revolution. On that occasion we said: What the imperialists cannot forgive us for is the dignity, the integrity, the courage, the ideological firmness, the spirit of sacrifice and the revolutionary spirit of the Cuban people--also, the fact that we made a socialist revolution under the very nose of the United States [applause], the fact that we are defending that socialist revolution with our rifles, and the fact that we are defending this socialist revolution with the same courage that our antiaircraft artillery yesterday riddled the attacking planes with bullets. But we are not defending this revolution with mercenaries. We are defending it with men and women from among our people. Who has the weapons? We asked at the time. Does the mercenary have the weapons, perhaps? Does the millionaire have the weapons, perhaps? [shout of "no!"] Do the farm managers have the weapons, perhaps? [shout of "no!"] Who has the weapons? [shout of "the people!"] Whose hands are lifting those weapons? [indistinct shout] Are they the hands of a young gentleman? [shout of "no!"] Are they the hands of exploiters? [shout of no!"] Whose hands are lifting those weapons? [indistinct shouts, applause] Are they not the hands of the workers? Are they not the hands of the peasants? Are they not hands hardened by work? Are they not creative hands? Are they not the humble hands of the people? [indistinct shout] And who are the majority of the people? The millionaires or the workers? The exploiters? The privileged or the humble? Do the humble have them? [indistinct shout] Are the privileged a minority? Are the humble a majority? [shout of (?"yes!")] Is a revolution in which the humble have the weapons democratic? [shout of "yes!"] Then we added: Companeros, workers and peasants, this is the socialist and democratic revolution of the humble, with the humble and for the humble we are willing to give our lives. [applause] Companeros, workers and peasants of the fatherland, yesterday's attack was the prelude to the mercenaries' attack. Yesterday's attack, which cost seven heroic lives, sought to destroy our planes on the ground, but it failed, for they only destroyed two planes, while most of the enemy planes were either damaged or shot down. Here, in front of the tomb of our fallen comrades, here alongside the remains of the heroic youths, the sons of workers, or the sons of the poor, let us reaffirm our decision that, just as they bared their chests to bullets, just as they gave their lives, no matter when the mercenaries come, all of us, proud of our revolution, proud to defend this revolution of the poor, by the poor, and for the poor, will not hesitate to defend it from anyone, with up to our last drop of blood. [applause] Here, on that day, the socialist nature of our revolution was proclaimed. Exactly 20 years have gone by and in response to the same questions we have the same answers. Facing the same threats are the same people with the determination to struggle and triumph. It has been 20 years of socialist revolution. Socialism has brought many things to our fatherland, that not even our most bitter enemies would dare to deny. Socialism worked the miracle of ending illiteracy. In that very same year, 100,000 brigadists taught reading and writing all over the country. Socialism took us into the struggle for a sixth-grade education, which today is the minimum level of education of any of our workers. Socialism involved us in the struggle to which we are committed today, the struggle for ninth-grade education. Socialism established schools, technological institutes and universities throughout our country. Socialism put us in first place in Latin America in the area of education. No other Latin American country can make the claims that Cuba can make today. [applause] Not even the United States can say that it has no illiterates. There are illiterates in the United States and there are many semi-illiterates in the United States, people who have a third- and fourth-grade education. Therefore, we can say that socialism, in the field of education, put us in first place in this hemisphere. [applause] Socialism worked the miracle of wiping out many diseases and reducing the number of children who died in the first year of life to less than 20 in every 1,000, something that no other country in Latin America can claim. In this, we are at the same level as the world's developed countries. Socialism built hospitals, polyclinics, and health institutions in our country that, through preventive measures and effective therapeutic measures, have put our country in first place among the so-called underdeveloped countries, not just of Latin America, but of the world. Socialism worked the miracle of putting our people, in the area of culture in general, in first place in Latin America. Socialism took us into mass sports, it won us first places, it won us championship titles among all the peoples of Latin America. Socialism worked the miracle of eradicating unemployment in our country, of wiping out idle time and placing us in the position of being the country with the highest employment levels of all Latin America. [applause] Socialism worked the miracle of ending the practice of begging in our fatherland. This was an evil of many centuries. It worked the miracle of eradicating drugs, prostitution and gambling. What other nation can affirm this in our entire hemisphere? Can this, perhaps, be claimed by the United States, a country where crime increases year after year, as do drugs, gambling and prostitution? No, it could not claim this. This was brought to our country by socialism. Socialism worked the miracle of initiating, under difficult circumstances and in the midst of a criminal and brutal total economic blockade by the United States, the sustained economic and social development of our fatherland for over 20 years. Socialism has changed and is continually changing the face of our country. In 20 years, along the width and breadth of the island, cities have changed. Today it is difficult to recognize Holguin, or Granma or Camaguey or Villa Clar, or Cienfuegos or Pinar del Rio or other cities. Socialism has planted factories in our country. It has crisscrossed the country in all directions with communications, with highways, with roads. The socialist plan has generated great hydraulic resources for our agriculture. It is transforming our rural areas and it is creating a new country with the stubborn and dedicated effort of our people. Socialism has brought a truly new conscience to our people. Socialism has trained hundreds of thousands of technicians at different levels: tens of thousands at the university level, hundreds of thousands at the level of middle-level technicians and skilled workers. It is enough to say, for example, that over 15,000 doctors are serving in our hospitals and polyclinics and that in 5 years, this figure will surpass 20,000 by an ample margin and will be close to 25,000. Suffice it to say that over 200,000 professors and teachers, the great majority of whom graduated and received their degrees under socialism, are teaching in our universities, our polyteclinical centers, vocational schools, technological institutes and elementary schools, including the child centers. Socialism has created a different man in our fatherland. It has created a new man. Socialism has opened up our relations with the world and today, along with the USSR and other countries of the socialist community, we occupy a place in the vanguard among the progressive peoples of the world [applause], among the peoples who are struggling to establish more just, more humane societies. Is or is not our socialist society a thousand times more just, a thousand times more humane than capitalist society? Could anyone deny it? Socialism gave that to us. Along with justice and conscience, it brought a great social development to our people. It also brought the development of great forces, such as our mass organizations, or labor organizations, our committees for the defense of the revolution, our peasant and women's organizations, our youth and student organizations and even our pioneer organizations, extraordinary forces which today help to consolidate and promote our revolution. Socialism and its conscience brought us a vanguard party, a party of organized, disciplined, conscientious communists. The figure of over 400,000 members in our party and over 400,000 in our socialist youth tells us what socialism brought us and what has been achieved by the ideas of socialism and Marxism-Leninism in our country. [applause] We did not always know how to take advantage of all the benefits and opportunities of socialism. We could say that perhaps our achievements would have been even greater, or higher or more complete if we had known how to take advantage, in the course of 20 years, of all the potential and advantages of socialism. As he said to congress, we were not always wise. We did not always make the best decisions, but we were always capable, with all the honesty in the world, of admitting and of noting in time any error, any erroneous decision, and of rectifying it, in order to move forward because even when one marches through the mountains with a compass--our compass is socialism; our compass is Marxism-Leninism-at one moment or another there may be small deviations from the route. Even ships which are sailing in the oceans at times make small detours. To us, the path of socialism was something absolutely new that was being tried for the first time not only in our fatherland, but also in the entire hemisphere. However, above all, we can say that we have made good use of time, that we have corrected errors and today our revolution is stronger and more solid than ever. It is not just a matter of words. You workers, peasants, students, men and women, you fighters know how we work today in our country. It is demonstrated by the harvest itself. Despite the blights, against which we have waged a battle and won, the harvest is being carried out with more organization and efficiency than ever. Now, on 16 April, the harvest is practically complete and 89 percent has already been milled, something that the capitalists never did. The most they ever achieved is 85 percent. Although our harvest is not being completed manually or by animals but rather by tractors, trucks, combines and machines, which are even more sensitive to and affected by any rainfall and which are even more sensitive to and affected by the dampness of the soil. Despite all those factors, we have surpassed our own goal of milling 85 percent and we are up to 89 percent. We have faced up to the tobacco blight and this year our country has a record, a historic potato harvest [applause], a record historic crop of vegetables, potatoes and other tubers, a record crop of citrus fruits and so on. In many agricultural areas, we are having a historic, record crop. Our construction is being carried out with more organization and more efficiency. We are engaged in building industries that require thousands of construction workers, like the (MOA), for example, or the textile factory in Santiago or the Balance spinning mill in Havana, or the thermoelectric project in the eastern part of the city, or the first electro-nuclear plant that we have already begun to build in Cienfuegos despite the imperialist blockade. [applause] Despite the huge economic crisis currently affecting a large part of the world, with the friendly, fraternal and generous cooperation of the USSR, the socialist community and the progressive countries, our fatherland is unquestionably advancing, and that is something not even our fiercest enemies can deny. We have learned to manage our economy, our factories, our agricultural centers. We have learned to manage better our schools, our hospitals, our service centers. But most important, we will learn more every day because, among other things, socialism has enabled us to become the owners of our factories, of our mines, of our railroads, of our ports, of our merchant marine, of our land, of our wealth. Everything in the fatherland's soil is ours! It belongs to our workers, to our peasants, to our students, to our men and to our women! [applause] We are owners of that which is ours, and we can do the best with what is ours. And now that I have mentioned men and women--I often use the term man not to discriminate against women but as a generic term that includes our species, both man and woman--I remembered while mentioning the things that socialism has brought us, that one of these was the end of the cruel discrimination against women and blacks in this country [applause], the end of discrimination for reasons of age or sex. Regarding this also we might ask here today, has the United States managed to eradicate racial discrimination? [shout of "no!"] The exploitation of women? [shout of "no!"] And the prostitution of women? [shout of "no!"] No, no and 1,000 times no! [applause] These are the truths and the facts which speak, explain, persuade and convince us of what socialism has meant for our country. This is why the day we commemorate is so important. But perhaps, regarding our national security, is there any difference between today and yesterday? We are here again. We are preparing again because we are being threatened again and aggressive policies against Cuba are being implemented and imperialism speaks again, not only of economic blockade but also of naval and military blockade. Imperialism threatens us again, and speaks of aggression. This is why the similarity between this 16 April and the former one makes us undertake great efforts for our defense. This is why we are forced to mobilize the people--the men and women of our people, all of the people. We are organized in territorial troops militia. We have hastened the building of fortifications and we have strengthened our defenses in all ways. However, there is a difference between this April and that one. There have been important changes in the world and we want to emphasize them. The balance of force between imperialism and socialism is different. Important changes have occurred. But very important changes have taken place in our country. On that 16 April, it was only a few weeks since we had received our first tanks, our first cannons and our first antiaircraft equipment from the Soviet Union. They were the first ones and we were just learning to use them. We had also bought some weapons in the West, the first bought by the revolution, so the imperialists would not have reason to say that we were receiving socialist weapons. You must also remember how that brutal and savage incident occurred, the blowup of La Coubre [freighter blown up in Havana harbor in March 1960], which cost the lives of about 100 workers and soldiers. In those days we had some FAL rifles which were used at the corner of 2d and 23d. We already had our first cannons and tanks and were hastily learning to use them. But there were not enough instructors and sometimes what the militiamen learned in the morning, they taught in the afternoon to thousands of other militiamen. Seeing the approaching aggression, hundreds of batteries of cannons, antiaircraft equipment and other weapons were organized and prepared as well as possible in a matter of weeks. Tens and tens of thousands of militiamen mobilized through the country. The capital alone had about 50,000 militiamen at the time. And so it was throughout the country. Our army was beginning to develop in its knowledge and control of modern techniques. So much has happened since then. We have advanced so much. Today we have tens and tens of thousands of regular officers and reservists in our Revolutionary Armed Forces. Today we have knowledge and experience, organization and control of techniques which we did not have at the time. We did not have hundred and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of reservists who have gone through our armed forces with tens and tens of thousands--and I am still short in number--of internationalist combatants who have experienced the struggle, war and sacrifice. [applause] We did not have today's opportunities in which in practically only a few weeks, we have mobilized and partially trained and formed cadres and leaders, and we are training hundreds of thousands of fighters of the territorial troop militias. [applause] It can be said that never was such a force organized with such speed and, we can add, efficiency. Proof of our progress in organization and our experience is the record time in which the territorial militias are being organized and training. Therefore, we are not joking. The revolution does not joke. It works seriously. It knows how to work seriously. The threats of the imperialists do not make us tremble. The threats of the imperialists do not frighten us. On the contrary, we convert the imperialist threats into strength. And to the imperialists, who so well know the slogan "Remember Pearl Harbor [in English]," remember other things, we could say: Remember Giron [in English]. [applause] Giron should have been a lesson not to be forgotten, to learn how to treat Cuba differently. They believed that when the little planes arrived, everyone would be terrified. The militiamen did not delay for a second. In a matter of seconds, they responded to the enemy fire. This occurred with our artillery militiamen, young men between 15 and 20 years of age. That was their age. This occurred with our militiamen in Giron and everywhere else, when the first enemy appeared. And during those days, they declared that they were expecting the people to rise up and so forth. They imagined defeated, frightened troops. But what happened? They underestimated our people's ability, dignity, valor and heroism. Their brigades, their planes and their tanks lasted, as the saying go, as long as a merengue lasts at the door of a school. But on that occasion, we were not prepared to fight against 1 mercenary division; we were prepared to fight against 10 mercenary invasions. When our tanks arrived at Giron, they lined up in front of the Yankee battleships, gunboats and aircraft carriers. Everyone was very clam, with a bullet in their guns. In other words, we do not fear imperialism. We do not fear its soldiers. We will not hesitate one instant to defend our soil, our fatherland, our revolution, not for an instant. And they should know this. They should be aware of it. That is an experience they should not forget. If they think that they are going to resolve the differences between Cuba and the United States by means of aggression and threats, they are mistaken. If they think they are going to intimidate us, that they are going to frighten us, that they will defeat us with threats and aggression, they are mistaken. That is what we have said to the imperialists and it is what we want to say to them (?today). [applause] We have very clear ideas, very profound (?actions), very resolute decisions. We do not want war. We do not provoke conflicts. We do not want to provoke conflicts, but beware of provoking us, beware of pulling us into war, beware of involving us in a conflict. [applause] If they impose a conflict, a war, upon us, they will see what a people prepared for anything are like. They will see what a communist people are, what a patriotic people, a Marxist-Leninist-internationalist people are like [applause], because socialism also brought us more patriotism and socialism brought us internationalism. We are an internationalist people, but we are also a very patriotic people, a people who are very much aware of our rights [applause], very certain of our ideas and of our cause, very proud and very self-confident. The imperialists must know that if those people of Giron were already strong, the people of today are 100 times stronger [applause], and more prepared in every sense: more prepared politically and more prepared psychologically. Therefore, again we find ourselves obliged to mobilize and to prepare. However, we will not abandon our revolutionary tasks because of this. We will not abandon our creative work because of this, We will not neglect our factories, our fields, our constructions, our hospitals, our schools, our services. No. It is precisely because of this that we must make a greater effort. It is true that it takes time. It is true that it requires great human energies to prepare for the defense of our country. It is true that it takes resources. However, our people have the ability to multiply themselves. In circumstances like these, one man becomes two or three; a woman becomes two or three women, of 100. When circumstances demand, one does in 2 hours what normally requires 1 hour. [as heard] When circumstances demand, one works as long as is necessary. We have the resources within ourselves, in our energy, in our will. That is why we will simultaneously make this effort on behalf of defense and on behalf of the country's development and production. We will teach that to the imperialists, so they do not imagine that because we are organizing and preparing we are going to neglect the country's development and production. We are going to prove that under these difficult circumstances, our people grow taller and are capable of developing both tasks at the same time--strengthening the defense and strengthening the economy. [applause] In the territorial troops militia, there are men of different ages. Some are very young and have not yet gone into the service, others carry out essential production tasks. Still others, because of their age, are past the age limit for members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces' reserves. They there are women of all ages, peasants, workers and students. They constitute a tremendous and fearsome force which, together with the regular troops of our Revolutionary Armed Forces, represent an entire people armed and prepared to defend themselves. The imperialists have imposed this effort on us, just like they have imposed the blockade on us. But we have been making a revolution for more than 22 years, and more than 20 years have elapsed since Giron, and here we are, building socialism for more than 20 years. We will still be here in another 20 years, and when still another 20 years go by and for as many 20 years as may be necessary. And if we work well, our people will be increasingly patriotic, united, conscientious, and prepared to withstand any trial. Others may be used to trembling in the face of the threats of imperialism, but not our people! [applause] We must meditate on this date, meditate on.this day, from the very bottom of our hearts. We must plan to make whatever effort is necessary to fulfill these sacred duties toward the fatherland and socialism. Circumstances have willed that this day should closely resemble that of 20 years ago. But fortunate circumstances have made it possible to contemplate this spectacle today, to contemplate these people who have the same or even greater awareness, and the same or even greater determination that those of yesterday. [applause] Once again we can repeat the statements made on that 16 April. Let us vow to defend this cause of the poor, with the poor and for the poor. Let us vow to defend our socialist revolution to the very last drop of blood! Fatherland or death, we shall overcome! [applause] -END-