-DATE-
19840730
-YEAR-
1984
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
INTERVIEW
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CASTRO, GHANA'S RAWLINGS VISIT-HAVANA UNIVERSITY
-PLACE-
HAVANA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA TV SERVICE
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19840731
-TEXT-
CASTRO, GHANA'S RAWLINGS VISIT HAVANA UNIVERSITY

FL301600 Havana Television Service in Spanish 1200 GMT 30 Jul 84

[Text] Commander in Chief Fidel Castro and Flight Lieutenant Jerry John
Rawlings, chairman of Ghana's Provisional National Defense Council, having
visited the University of Havana where they met with young Ghanaians
studying in Cuba. Fidel and Rawlings were met by Rector Fernando Rojas who
also welcomed Politburo member, Jorge Risquet and the other high level
members of the Ghanaian delegation accompanying Rawlings.

[Begin Fidel Castro speech in Spanish with consecutive English translation
-- recorded] [applause] [Indistinct chanting in background] Now, then, this
will be a meeting between the Ghanaian students and Comrade Rawlings. I
think that this is a (?mission) to study problems affecting Ghana, the
progress in revolutionary (?matters), and matters of interest for you and
your countries [as heard].

We have just arrived, have really just entered the door and will now leave
you alone because when I go on a trip and meet with my students who are
abroad, I like to be alone with them. [applause]

It has been a great pleasure and provided me with much happiness to be able
to be here with you and say hello. There are 22,000 foreign students from
80 countries in Cuba, all, or almost all of them from Third World countries
and many thousands of students from Africa. Not often do I have the
privilege of meeting with them. It really makes a great impression on me to
meet with you here and listen to your songs and see your enthusiasms, and
to see what constitutes a promise for Ghana's future. [applause]

Comrade Rawlings... [leaves sentence unfinished] Don't they speak Spanish?

[Students answer in Spanish] Yes.

[Castro] Comrade Rawlings wanted to return today to the school on the Isle
of Youth and meet with the students from Ghana. He did not feel that his
planned visit was sufficient, and wanted to return to meet with the
students. This display of interest for the revolution and for the students
made a very good impression. I believe that the students on the Isle of
Youth must have felt encouraged by Rawling's two visits and his talks. And,
I am sure that they now feel encouraged to make a greater effort in their
studies.

Likewise, I think that this visit has stimulated all of you and that you
will make better use of your time, returning to your country with the best
training possible because your country needs it. I know unfortunately, that
many students from Africa go to London, Paris, Portugal, and other places,
and do not return to their country. Many of them stay in those countries
and do not develop a patriotic awareness. The other countries can offer
them better salaries than can our countries which are underdeveloped, that
lived for centuries without a future; we cannot offer that. That is why we
need technicians, doctors, engineers, architects, and experts in
everything, who have great patriotic and revolutionary consciousness and
who will not go to work for the former colonial powers, but will work for
their own country. [applause]

I have always thought with great satisfaction, that although our country is
not rich, it does not have the abundance and the luxury which capitalist
developed countries have, but that we do our upmost to share whatever we
have with the students. And, above all, the most important thing, when they
graduate they will not stay here, but return to their countries to help and
serve their countries. [applause]

Hope that when you return home you will have the best possible training. We
have done our best to improve our teaching methods and in the future the
teachers will be better trained at our universities. Surely in this year,
new students from Ghana will arrive to be trained in our country, but I am
sure that your work will be of great importance, and of great usefulness.
We have said that the future belongs to the revolution, to socialism, and
to the youth. You are Ghana's new generation and in the future you will be
responsible for great tasks.

I thank you for your kind welcome and congratulate you. I hope you have a
good vacation, which you will very probably take soon. I wish you great
success [applause] [Shouts of "Viva Cuba" and "Viva Fidel"]. [end
recording].
-END-