-DATE- 19850308 -YEAR- 1985 -DOCUMENT_TYPE- SPEECH -AUTHOR- F. CASTRO -HEADLINE- CASTRO ADDRESSES CLOSING SESSION OF FMC CONGRESS -PLACE- HAVANA'S KARL MARX THEATER -SOURCE- HAVANA DOMESTIC SVC -REPORT_NBR- FBIS -REPORT_DATE- 19850312 -TEXT- CASTRO ADDRESSES CLOSING SESSION OF FMC CONGRESS FL082340 Havana Domestic Service in Spanish 2216 GMT 8 Mar 85 [Speech by President Fidel Castro at closing session of Fourth FMC Congress, given at Havana's Karl Marx Theater -- live] [Text] Distinguished guest delegations; women and men comrades. The program has been intense. What has been done and what remains to be done today... [laughter, applause] Time is scarce in organizing ideas as well as expressing them. Therefore, I am going to try to synthesize where possible and to be as brief as possible. [laughter, applause] The impression I have and the one that is shared by many comrades is that a great congress has taken place. [applause] I even listened to some comments that frightened me [laughter], such as that of Comrade Fernandez, who told me: There are great expectations. It was probably my second scare within a few hours. Because I already said, as someone said to me: Where are they [the women] going to take us? [laughter] And now there are expectations. I do not know if its affect will be positive or negative; although, they added that they had gained a very good impression of the congress. I do not know if the men are as frightened as I am or if the women are as hopeful as I am. [laughter, applause] Well then, these could merely be alarmist speculations because when I inquired further, they told me: No, no news from the front. [laughter] All is quiet. [laughter] There has not been any insurrection by the men in the country. [laughter] There is no reason for one and there is no reason for any special expectations because the people have been receiving reports about everything that has been discussed. They said this congress was going to be on television. I said don't put it on television; I am talking among family at the congress. And they wanted to relieve me of some concern, saying someone is going to explain things clearly. But when I read the newspaper, I found that it was almost all there. Reporting almost all is bad because in such circumstances, one prefers either everything or nothing be reported because sometimes, just one little word is misused and reporters, who are certainly not bad people, include more ideas than international reporters, who lack both space and time to report on various topics. But some problems are so delicate and so complex that when they delete a phrase or three words, I myself, am in doubt about what I said [laughter] when I read about it in the newspaper. That is not a criticism of journalists, on the contrary. They have performed very well. But they have been dealing with some very complex subjects such as the problems of discrimination, or the application of moral parameters, or whether this is a rebirth of bourgeois morality. Perhaps it should be said that morality does not belong only to the bourgeoisie. Perhaps some of the precepts stem from the time of slavery, or the old days, or the Middle Ages or later from the bourgeoisie. There are some principles that have permanent value. And every society adds something or takes something away from those principles. Actually, what we meant was the preeminence of applying in a discriminating and unequal way these very principles. What we have been saying was that these themes, quite complex and very interesting, have been under discussion, and I do not know if this discussion is the cause of the expectations or of the alarm, whatever you choose to call it. No? There has been hard work and much discussion. And it seems to me that the correct conclusions have been drawn. There is nothing that is absolutely important. The most important thing happened on 1 January 1959 [applause], it was when the revolution triumphed. Everything that followed is a consequence of the triumph of the revolution, with a capital R, and without quotation marks. [laughter] The past 5 years work was studied after the third congress was held... [rephrases] They remembered to bring some water. The advances made after the third congress were really significant, which were reflected in the report and it can be said that there was a jump in quality in this area as well as in many other aspects of the revolution. The organization grew by 400,000 new FMC members, and it especially grew by adding young members. With our better prepared, better educated, and more revolutionary youth, we now have some 2,764,000 FMC members. I don't know why Manolo Ortega wrote off more than 14,000 FMC members [laughter] when he said here that there were 2,750,000 members. Perhaps he wrote off the number of new members, but to not undermine what one member described as the not so new. [laughter] These are without a about the ones who are better prepared. I believe all of us are aware of that. The FMC has grown in quality and in organization. Some 83 percent of the Cuban women between the ages of 14 and 65 -- I do not understand these limits very well, but the percentage has decreased because lifespan has been extended, and the number of people over 65 years of age and in good health has increased. Maybe they introduced some modifications because you cannot limit membership in an organization and bar the many women who are retired or who are housewives and are in just the right circumstances to serve the organization. The preparatory level of cadres has risen both in the political area and the general instruction area. Almost 70 percent, a high figure, of the members have completed preuniversity level and 4 percent of them have completed university level. I suppose these figures will continue to increase. The work over these past 5 years can best be measured by the results. In all fields one can concretely see that things which were planned at the third congress have been completed and one could almost say that they have been completed in an outstanding manner. On the matter of incorporating women into the work force, and I remember during the time of the third congress, the preoccupation, because we did not know for sure just how much the economy would grow due to international economic problems which could be seen, if we would have employment for the growing number of women. We even wondered if we should emphasize this or not, taking into account what the necessities were, if there was going to be a situation where young males were going to be unemployed. Nevertheless, reality has worked out differently. The period during which there were more women entering the work force was during this time, during all the years of the revolution. The figures can be seen in the main report. During the second congress there were 590,000 women who entered the work force, and at the time of the third congress, there were some 800,000. This amount grew by more than 200,000 women. During this last period, we have seen this grow with more than 300,000 additional women entering the work force. There are two figures, one which was given in the report, correlated some time ago of some 1,100,000 women in the work force in production and services. Comrade Veiga spoke about a figure of 1,142,000 from an up-to-date study. That is to say that in 5 years, some 342,000 women have been incorporated into the work force. This is tremendously significant if we consider what has been reiterated here many times. At the beginning the prejudices and inequality were such that it became necessary to carry out a great effort and a concentrated campaign to incorporate women into the work center. That is reflected in the fact that when the revolution occurred, only 12 percent of the workers were women. It is obvious that there were many women who wanted to work and were not able to find employment. But when that demand was satisfied, we encountered other problems, prejudices, and even the lack of possibilities or hiring women. At the time there were not enough schools. Today there are more than 500,000 students attending secondary or pre-university schools. There are more than 400,000 youths attending semi-boarding schools today. We did not have then the more than 800,000 child care centers we have today. But there were many prejudices, and many people had to be persuaded to hire women. Many families, many husbands had to be persuaded to permit women to work. Today more than 37 percent of the work force is made up of women. That is proof of the progress we have made. In light of those figures, one asks which other Latin American countries can say that more than 37 percent of their work force is made up of women. I am not saying 37 percent of the work force are women in whorehouses, or working at similar jobs, such as in bars an4 other places where there is no respect or consideration for women. This alone represents great progress. But women are not only holding jobs in stores, markets, or other places where a high degree of technological training is required. There are women working in public health, not in low-level activities requiring very little education, but thousands and thousands working as physicians at higher levels. They work as nurses, as laboratory technicians, and in related positions. Not only are there women working in the education sector as primary schoolteachers, but they are professors in secondary and pre-university schools, technological institutes and others. They can also be found at the highest level of education, where approximately 43 percent of the university professors are women. The same thing can be said of research centers. The main thing, as the report stated, is that a growing percentage of women have joined the most diverse productive activities. They can be found in factories working not only as laborers but as high-level technicians. Not only can they be found in the textile industry but also in the machine industry, and many other industries such as the sugar industry, which in the past were considered to be the exclusive domain of men. It was mentioned here that 20 percent of the work force in Santa Clara's machine industry or in Moa's projects are women. Women's participation in other activities continues to grow, not only as technicians but as qualified workers. Among those industries, for example construction, this same progress can be seen in the fact that 53.8 percent of the country's technicians are women. That progress in this field is a really strategic success, a success which can be guaranteed by the fact that more than 50 percent of our university students are women. Not only do they outnumber men in number and in percentage, but they also outrank them in quality of work performed. This explains the yearly growth with respect to the growth of the male force. I have some figures here. In 1980, the growth of the male work force amounted to 0.3 percent. This is clear. If the proportion of men working was greater... [sentence incomplete] If the proportion of men working... [rephrases] Then the percent of 2 million, the 10,000 out of 2 million is not the same as 10,000 but of I million. In the first case, 10,000 represents 5 percent growth and in the second case it represents 10 percent growth. But at any rate, the figure is significant. Because in that same year of 1980, the increase in the female work force was 5.4 percent. In 1981, the increase in the male work force was 2.8 percent and that of the female work force was 8.2 percent. In 1982, the male work force grew by 4.7 percent and the female work force grew by 8.3 percent. In 1983, the male work force grew by 5.3 percent and the female by 8.3. In 1984, the male work force grew by 3.2 and the female by 5.7. It is logical that as the number of women workers approaches the number of men workers, these figures are getting closer together. One should bear in mind that a considerable number of women -- although I do not believe the figures have changed basically -- are working in the country's defense and security organizations. It has been necessary to employ a large number of men in this activity. Now, a growing number of women are joining the defense and security organizations. But the total number of men in defense and security activities would not fundamentally alter the number of women participating in the basic activities of the country. Really, this phenomenon in our society and, I believe, in other Latin American societies, truly constitutes a revolution. How many years had to pass before this could be achieved! How many centuries, how many millennia! The result of 26 years of revolution, with a capital R and without quotation marks, has been to change women's activities regarding what they receive from our society, the dignity of women in our society, changes in the ways the capitalist society in our country provided employment and a way of earning a living to women. This occurred when old concepts were abandoned, deprivations were eliminated, and shameless and indecorous activities were given up. Nevertheless, we are aware that we have not yet fully achieved victory. And as we have said on other occasions, one of the revolution's most difficult tasks and goals -- the one that takes the longest to achieve -- involves discrimination against women, which still is manifested to a certain degree in our society. There are several causes for this. They have not yet been overcome. Some are subjective others objective. There has been much discussion of this in the congress. Practically an entire day was taken up with questions regarding access to jobs by women, of the difficulties that still exist due to various forms of discrimination. Also discussed were questions regarding promotions. I believe the measure of a revolution is when one can say that it was the period when the number of women entering the work force-grew the most, in figures that approach 50 percent -- 80,000 to 1,142,000. Between 40 and 50 percent, if the mathematics I studied in my day -- it was not as good as that of the present day -- does not deceive me, 342,000 to more than 800,000, more than 40 percent in just 5 years. Nevertheless, the fact that we spent an entire day discussing these problems shows that we are working hard on these problems, such as when any form of discrimination appears. We are not irritated by the number of cases, just one case of discrimination would be sufficient to irritate us. It does not have to be something that occurs commonly for us to be concerned, and I imagine that the great majority of the country -- the men and women who have responsibility -- fulfill the policy outlined by the party; but wherever there is a case of discrimination, even though uncommon, we must fight against it, such as the cases that were pointed out here. There have been cases of a man and a woman asking for employment, both having equal skills, and the man was selected, not because he was better prepared, but simply because the other applicant was a woman, because of the problems dealing with pregnancy and unavoidable absences during certain periods. These things make us angry. There are other cases which provoke greater anger, such as preferences of one woman over another because of personal sympathy or physical aspect. [applause] This reminds us of very repugnant practices in the days of capitalism. I feel that a true revolutionary, a conscious and humane man cannot allow himself to act as such. Matters dealing with evaluations were discussed. This topic was discussed at length. We heard Comrade Veiga explain the measures being adopted in that respect, and the desire to continue overcoming bad behavior, or better said, thoughtless actions because certain factors are not taken into consideration when women's evaluations are made at work centers. [Words indistinct] also those difficulties. We will overcome them. In this connection, some problems and objectives were discussed. Problems of women's responsibilities at home, with the family were discussed. Despite the articles of the family code, articles which are not strictly juridical but political and moral, they have had good results, above all with the new generation But real and objective circumstances, such as the fact that in institutions -- in this case hospitals and child care centers were mentioned with regard to the period of the child's adaptation to the center -- there were concrete limitations such as parents not being able to accompany a child in a pediatrics hospital and similar situations. There were cases of fathers whose wives were fulfilling internationalist missions, or ill wives or having problems which made it impossible for them to stay with the child in the hospital. In this respect, there was discussion of other problems of those accompanying children, such as men being forced to fulfill this function. This does not mean that every sick person must have someone accompanying him as a general rule. An adult does not need someone to accompany him in the hospital. But the case of a child is different. The child needs to have a mother or some other relative with him. It helps in the treatment. This policy was a great jump forward by our hospitals. It was demonstrated during the dengue epidemic when all hospitals were filled. We did not have enough nurses to go around to provide good treatment, but a mother would be there on duty 24 hours a day. This was a great progress. In the case of children, it was very important. In the case of adults, there could be instances when the very presence of a person who accompanies the ill could lift the spirit. But the rule was that men could not stay with ill persons in the hospitals. This was discussed, agreements were reached, realistic objectives were examined, even the women's and man's characteristics were examined. Not everyone agreed on this. The physicians were concerned about the behavior of one and the other. It would not be surprising that the education of each, environment in which they were raised could have an impact on this. The problems, objective possibilities were examined to start these practices in pediatrics hospitals, or in maternity hospitals having adequate facilities. One of the major drawbacks was the wards of the older hospitals, which are unlike the new ones. We studied this. problem at the Almeijera Brothers [a hospital], at those types of hospitals with small cubicles for one or two persons; all these factors were studied. The opinions of the ministry and that of several doctors were heard, and it was decided to take [word indistinct] in principle. It was decided to start this policy in the pediatrics hospitals and conduct a study to decide whether to implement it in all hospitals. It is possible that there will be a meeting of all hospital directors to study closely the problems and the possibilities; to study what should be done, and how we should do it, by hearing about various experiences on how they have done things and how they have taken care of problems such as the (?lack) of medicine through meetings with staffs of professors. In this same theater, one time, thousands of medical professors met to concretely study the problems in a good way without creating any types of problems or disrupting our hospitals, but to study ways of advancing these policies which would really do away with the prohibitions found in many cases, hard cases -- hard for a family member who is sick, or is not sick but has someone in the hospital. Such prohibitions existed in many cases which were hard cases, not exceptional cases, but when a couple decides that one or the other will enter a hospital. Only the involved couple can make this decision, because this cannot be an administrative decision or one that is decreed. The state committees on work, salaries, and social services were worried whether this would bring about a certain amount of indiscipline or pretexts for absences from work. It was proposed that this should not be limiting factor. We have better ways and policies of fighting absenteeism rather than using a precept of forbiding something which on one hand discriminates against men, although some had really worked for, and on the other contributes to obstructing the promotion of women and their incorporation into the work force. These are new problems which have come up. A number of years ago there existed the feeling that a mother should not be working. Advances were made, and it was put forth that this was a problem, especially for the new generation. The problem, in my opinion was taken up in a correct manner and will also have a correct solution. This also applies to the case of child care centers, as I mentioned before, and to other activities in which in an objective manner, precepts, customs, or factors which would hinder the application of a certain policy, were contributing to discrimination and unjust evaluations of a woman's possibilities. Also discussed was something I mentioned at the start about different moral parameters being applied to judge the conduct of men and women. And it was not said to spread to the female population the bad habits or indiscipline of men. We should never spread the worst in this matter, but in all cases the best. As I said, although, it was not in the newspaper, we were not trying to elaborate on rules of conduct. I said that socialism had not really thought about establishing such a code, but the revolution continues to generate new values and new ideas, [word indistinct], principles; and morality in solidarity. I do not know if some day someone will finish the codification. I believe we should adapt the best values from the society of men. This is what we must propagate and spread, the values of solidarity, and the fight against egoism, and the irrational impulses that a person can have. Always be a society apart from certain values. What cannot be bad, is the application of certain parameters or values to men and different ones to women. I do not know if this is the cause of mutterings at the bus stops, where there have been such mutterings about the expectations that Fernandez was telling me about. I do not believe this. In any case, we would have to find out the age of those who are muttering. [applause] The matter of promoting women was studied. It was said that there had been advances in certain areas and in certain ways. It was pointed out, and this is nothing new, that for example, [words indistinct] 51 percent or perhaps 60 percent of the members of cadre directorates are women. The leadership is made up of women. In the Federation of University Students, about 48 percent are women. This was not reflected in the same manner in other activities. The trade union sector was mentioned. It is nothing new that a high proportion of women hold responsible posts in the unions, even though in this area, as in many other fields, at the rank and file level women only comprised 47 percent. This is outstanding if one takes into consideration that the male work force proportion is much greater still. We said that we have reached 37 [percent]. This means that 63 percent belongs to the male work force. [as received] Many things cause this, sometimes objective problems, as I mentioned before. The great burden the woman carries when she wants to work and has to take the child to the hospital, or has to accompany her mother or grandmother to the hospital, and in addition has to go to the store, dry cleaners, laundry, and the famous laundromats. [laughter] The number of those laundromats has increased and they are believed to be a great help for the women. Why should they be a great help for women? Why should she be the one who goes to the laundry, dry cleaners, laundromats, the one who cooks, the one who goes to the store? That is why the improvement of services, repair of television sets, radios, washing machines was discussed, even a great improvement in recent years was mentioned. There was satisfaction to note the improvement in those services is something that helps women. But why should it help women? Because they carry the heaviest burden. I do not know if the female scientists have help in this. They have a lot of work. The same thing with the physicians. I imagine they also do this type of work. It is not dishonorable to do this type of work, but I ask myself: Should this growing female technical force not be helped by the men in those activities? [applause] We said that because of that enormous burden, the promotion of women becomes more difficult, or because of the prejudices in dealing with women, one asks, can they do this task, or assume this leadership? The subjective factors, and almost everything begins there, should be overcome, that is, the machismo prejudices which we have inherited some of these prejudices from the Arabs and some from the Spaniards. The Arabs remained in Spain some 800 years, and the Spaniards were here some 400 years. We have a legacy. It is cultural, in our blood, and so forth. I am not criticizing. I am relating historical facts, which is not the same. I have no desire to offend anyone, and I have utmost respect for the customs and creeds of all countries. I repeat, respect. But we live in another country, in another era, with different ideas, with different concepts, in the midst of a revolution. We also have determined cultural inheritances, even though this machismo concept does not only occur in Latin American or in Arab countries. There is a lot of machismo and women are discriminated against in Western capitalist countries, as well. We only have to refer to the information published by the news media. They were mentioning yesterday what takes place in the United States and other Western countries, where women are paid half the salary for doing the same job. This is a generalized phenomenon and even though some of these problems are derived from religious beliefs, national beliefs, or national customs, they are mainly derived from the capitalist exploitation system, and the capitalist system manages to exploit women to a maximum. It not only exploits and discriminates against women, it also exploits and discriminates against children. We must struggle against these realities and these discriminatory ideas. That is a task of education and awareness, but this not only refers to men; it also refers, and I dare to say, most of all, to women. [applause] I think that the men in our country have advanced with regard to their prejudices. Perhaps they have advanced even more than the women in this regard. There exists a generalized belief among women that such and such work can be better done by a man, or that some work can be better performed by a man, because a man does not have to give birth to children, or bear children, according to the hospital director in Guines. Now, looking at Guillen, I do not know which is more poetic: give birth to a child or bear a child. [laughter] The poets will say give birth to a child, for example, give birth to a child at dawn, when the sun's first rays light up the day, and so forth. [laughter] and the hospital director tells us: A woman will bear a child in the swimming pool [laughter] and the woman gives birth in a swimming pool, in fact. This is new technology, considered superior to any others; thanks to this the babies are born in the water, our hope for winning Olympic medals in the future. [laughs] [laughter, applause] Men cannot fulfill this natural, or social, if you wish, task, so it is believed that they are better. Because men cannot get pregnant [laughter] they do not need maternity leave. [laughter] For this and other reasons, it is forbidden for men to bring children to the hospital when there are women who can do it. Of course, we must be objective and accept certain realities. We have to eliminate prohibitions that are irrational and create more facilities for women, because this is also important, especially while old ideas tend to prevail. However, the system should be equally useful for the mother and the father, mainly because the father should share in the responsibility. If we do not have child care centers, we will have to stay home and take care of the children. [laughter] There are certain material matters that must be reorganized, but we have a subjective element that must be overcome; the result will be well worth the struggle. In fact, one is surprised because we recall that although a great part of the burden still falls on the women's shoulders, a noticeably increasing number of women, despite this rivalry, work, perform in a distinguished manner, and fulfill their duty. This is a fact. What do we see now? Yes, what do we see? We have observed that female students in secondary and pre-university years attain higher grades than men. Women are more disciplined and more devoted to study. During our selection of medical students, we have found it necessary to choose only the very best. If we consider only their respective grades, two of every three candidates would be women. Two. [applause] We have tried to have an equal number of men and women perform the various tasks and missions. We have even considered the possibility of marriages among medical students, so that if they should be assigned to an internationalist mission, family ties would be preserved. Our success in overcoming our bias is not the only factor to consider; our internationalist mission members also have to take into consideration each particular country. We cannot rest assured that the biases of half of the countries of the world have been overcome just because we have overcome ours. So we have had to establish a quota of approximately half men and half women. In addition, there are some restrictions based on their records. They must have at least 90 points and in many provinces men have not attained the minimum 90 points. As a result, there are always 52 percent women and 48 percent men. We will not lower our standard of not enrolling students scoring less than 90 points, For this reason, we will have a larger number of women. [applause] There are times when a woman's minimum is 91 or 92 points. It has even been sometimes difficult for a candidate having 93 points to enroll in higher studies. We have analyzed the labor situation. Between 1980 and 1984 of every 10 unemployed people, 7 were men and 3 were women. During this period, more than 96 percent of women stayed in their jobs. This percentage was higher than that for men during the same period. I asked Veiga [not further identified] and was told that 85 percent of women did their duties. Again, this percentage is above that attained by men. [applause] In the militia, women are more punctual and more disciplined than men. [applause] And women behave better socially than men. So what factors can prevent or justify a lack of promotion of women? Biases in men and women must be combated. We know that these things do happen, but we cannot expect that these biases will immediately be overcome so that women can be promoted. Women must abandon some of their own concepts and prejudices. This problem has been apparent many times when women have been promoted and have said: No, I cannot do this task, or another woman has said: No, do not assume this responsibility. It is true that those objective factors that we mentioned previously do exist. The reason is that the difficulty involved becomes greater because of the mental attitude. We have had women nominated to become area delegates who did not want to be elected to the position, despite their qualifications. Some of these factors and prejudices of women and men, plus objective factors, explain why only 11 percent of women are delegates freely nominated and elected by the masses... [rephrases] These delegates constitute the basis for people's power in municipalities, provinces, and the nation and are not proposed by the party, but by the area residents, who nominate and elect them freely, without any party participation. So only 11 percent of the area delegates are women. In the provinces, the number is higher, while those in the National Assembly reach 22 percent. Of course, a different type of work is done by the National Assembly. All this should give us a clear idea that objective and subjective factors are present that make promotion of women difficult. Our women have demonstrated intelligence, a revolutionary attitude, spirit, and sense of responsibility. It is the duty of our society, our revolution, our party, and our state to struggle tenaciously to overcome these difficulties. This is precisely what was most intensely debated during this congress. Of course, the report indicated many other things, such as the important work in the field of health carried out by the Women's Federation, the various health promotion drives in which the federation participates, and the work carried out by more than 57,000 sanitation brigade members that has been so important for the improvement of our general health standards, and the reduction of our infant mortality rate to between 15 and 16 percent. Life expectancy has increased, and our efforts in an early detection of cancer have saved countless lives. This is very important. In the near future, we will continue our efforts to improve our standards. We can and should improve them. The infant mortality rate has been reduced to 15 per thousand. This is one of the lowest among the 15 leading countries in the world. But we must continue to struggle, even if it is in successive steps. I am sure we will succeed. We will have to make a special effort this year. This year in particular, we will have to strive harder. We have commented on the needs of all the provinces, but some provinces, three provinces, in fact, reached lower levels: Havana City [as heard], Matanzas, and Camaguey. Others were between 17 to 18. The eastern provinces suffered a higher rate. Yesterday, I received the figures on this year's performance. This year, as of 26 February, we have reached a higher rate; unfortunately, between 1.6 to 1.7 higher. Although the rate went down in some provinces, it went up in others. It especially rose in the city of Havana, mostly due to a high number of acute respiratory ailments. We must look into this to see what happened, whether a new virus, weather conditions, or objective or subjective factors could have had a bearing on this situation. We must look into this. Otherwise, since we have started off the year with this problem, we run the risk of not lowering the rate in 1985; in fact we could experience a slight increase. We must look into this problem. The party, the popular power, cannot neglect any sort of increase. This could be very important, especially to see what can and should be done. We must make an optimum effort in all health services. Women, the FMC, must wage a constant battle, even if the country's successes are closely linked to the work done by physicians and health organizations, as well as by mass organizations. There is a factor contributing to the mortality rate that also affects the health of women. The problem stems from early or teenage pregnancies. Undoubtedly, this has been one of the areas which undermines the country's and the FMC's efforts in particular. This is noticeable chiefly in the eastern provinces and mountainous regions, where there are marriages at a very early age and very young mothers. According to experts, teenagers, young women who have not yet fully matured, face higher health risks in many ways. This situation can cause serious problems for these mothers. Early pregnancy and motherhood bring all sorts of complications. We must disseminate information on the effects of early motherhood on women. The child is also affected, not only in terms of the infant mortality rate; but in pregnancies in mothers who do not yet have the physical maturity for pregnancy and childbearing. To this [the higher mortality rate] we must add the lack of experience, thereby increasing not only the number of deaths but all sorts of ailments: birth defects, brain damage from a lack of oxygen, and so forth. In sum, not only is the mother in danger, but the child also faces physical and mental risks. Since we are aware of that situation, we must disseminate information to make the people aware of it. We must strive to reduce the problem until it is totally eradicated, eradicating the factors that lead to early motherhood. There is another vast area in which the FMC's work is of the utmost importance: the area of education. This was discussed in a report on the various initiatives, including the work of the Brigades of Combatant Mothers for Education [Brigadas de Madres Combatientes por la Educacion] . More than 12 ,000 of these brigades are comprised of more than 1.7 million mothers. These mothers work in schools and children's circles; participate in the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution [CDR], in schools for fathers, and participate in campaigns to upgrade schools initiated in Pinar del Rio Province. I must also point out the FMC's effort ,for cultural improvement, first in the sixth grade and now in the ninth grade. I also understand that there are more women participating in the worker-peasant education classes than men. In addition to the FMC's efforts in the education and political growth of its own members, its efforts in general education and political development programs are very important; its quality continues to improve. Regarding the area of education and the role of women, we must say that education is not the sole responsibility of women. The role of the parents and the home is decisive and essential. I have the results of some research by various organizations on this topic. They are very interesting and we will look at them shortly. Why does a youth develop antisocial behavior? Why does a youth grow up with criminal tendencies? How does the family influence children's academic performance? It is all here in these reports. They not only discuss the influence of the family but also of other materialistic factors. They all influence the academic performance and behavior of children and teenagers. This confirms something that the revolution has often reiterated: Education is not only the task of schools, teachers, and professors, but education greatly depends on the home environment and the parents. [applause] When there is no control over the children, when the parents do not care whether the children go to school; when they tolerate failure to attend school, then the schools cannot do much for those children. From the very beginning, the revolution has stressed the importance of this. I believe that you might remember the barbarity of the first few years of the revolution when CIA agents and counterrevolutionaries circulated rumors that we would take away paternal authority. Many people believed them. That was why many easily frightened families sent their sons to Miami and thus many families were separated. That is what happened to many of these poor youths. [Words indistinct] this is absurd. This is nothing new; it is just another false accusation against socialism. This has happened in other countries. This kind of accusation was also made at the time of the October Revolution. The revolution has actually made a permanent call and demands that the nuclear family help educate the new generation. The report's purpose was to present a short summary of the problems and current family conditions that contribute to deviations in the development of a student's personality. To prepare this report, 16 related research projects were cited. Those research projects were conducted by specialists of the Psychology Departments of the Universities, of Havana and Villa Clara, the Ministries of Education and Public Health, the Centers for Diagnosis and Orientation of (?Children), National Directorate of the Federation of Cuban Women of the [name indistinct], and the Interior Ministry. The report analyzed two categories: youths without problems, with normal behavior and school performance; and youths with behavioral problems, rather significant behavioral problems. This research involved 3,800 children and covered the entire country. They were all approximately 7 years old and all were born during the same week. The researchers studied the characteristics of these 7-year-old Cuban children. The results were significant. The study provided subjective as well as objective factors. However, when objective factors cannot be overcome, like overcrowding in same households, then we must put more emphasis on subjective factors. The research studied the relationship between the child's living conditions, the parent's educational level, and the importance of attaining a sixth or ninth grade education. The effect of working mothers' on the students' school performance, educational maturity, as well as physical measurements of their growth is interesting. The results obtained demonstrate that there is a close positive relationship among the variables mentioned here. For example., the capacity for mental work is satisfactory in 78.1 percent of children from families with the best living conditions. This contrasts significantly with the group of children who live in homes where conditions' are not as good, among whom only 38.9 percent developed a capacity for good mental activity at school. I do not think this has to do with the child's congenital capacity. This has to do with several scales. The difference between the two groups is nearly 40 points. Analyzing performance tests in mathematics, reading, and writing, a similar pattern can be observed. 89 percent of the children with a higher standard of living performed well on the reading and writing test. This contrasted sharply with the children in less favorable conditions. Only 37.8 percent of those performed well. The difference between the two groups is more than 50 points. A similar irregularity occurred on the mathematics test. Another significant pattern has been observed in the scores achieved by students in their reading, writing, and mathematics tests in relation to their mothers' education. We will have to include fathers in future studies. It has been observed that 90.7 percent of children in the group with mothers with 13 or more years of education scored well on the reading and writing tests while 68.6 percent of students whose mothers had studied for 13 or more years scored well in mathematics. Unfortunately, despite the importance of mathematics, students fall short in this field and achieve lower scores than in the reading and writing test. However, 68.6 percent of students whose mothers have reached 13 or more years of education have good scores, while only 35 percent of students whose mothers with between zero and 3 years of education achieved good scores in the reading and writing test, and only 31.4 percent of these students scored well in the mathematics test. This demonstrates the importance of subjective factors such as the mothers' schooling. We now come to an interesting fact. When we consider the relationship between working mothers and the results of the reading and writing, as well as mathematics, tests, scholastic aptitude, and work capability, we see that children of working mothers achieve higher scores than those students whose mothers do not work. [applause] Perhaps this should be considered with some analysis regarding the possible influence of the technical ability of women, which we might describe as technical power. It would be advisable to determine what percentage of women can be considered as technicians and whether this could influence the observations. Education might also have an influence, as well as habits and other factors, but the situation is encouraging. In the cases of troublesome boys who experience difficulties and engage in antisocial behavior we have observed 2,200 cases of minors who engaged in antisocial behavior. The result of 15 studies was the following -- this explains some problems against which we must struggle and that are not easy to eliminate: Approximately 80.7 percent of these youths are between 10 and 16 years old. A high percentage of school absenteeism was observed, between 40 and 70 percent in the various surveys. School absenteeism is one of the main causes for late adolescent misbehavior of boys engaged in antisocial activities. The report goes like this: It was observed that the group of minors considered... [rephrases] Here is another fact: In the groups of minors studied, males form the majority. Unfortunately, males comprise between 90 and 100 percent of all cases considered. They are far ahead in this. As can be seen, the group of minors studied present negative characteristics in their development, and their formation shows a deficient quality. It is significant that the school's influence upon these minors is limited by the high absentee rate. Regarding the characteristics of the family environment of the minors considered, the most important is a high percentage of divorced parents, between 55 and 90 percent. In these cases in general, the mother does not exert any educational influence...[rephrases] I mean, the father does not exert any educational influence on the minor. This interesting factor influences the minor's behavior. I think that some day we will also have to analyze the factors that influence divorce. This type of problem occurs later. Above all, however, it can be seen even in these cases that the father does not exert an influence on the minor. In the case of divorce, the parents must have an even greater sense of responsibility for their children. There is a high percentage, between 50 to 90 percent -- analyzing different groups, hence the figure between 50 to 90 percent -- of parents who have absolutely no disciplinary control over their children or who do not feel responsible for their children's antisocial behavior. They do not know what the children are doing outside the home, who their friends are, and are basically disinterested in their fulfillment of school and social duties. It even comes out in some research that most minors are in the habit of staying out until the early morning hours, a situation over which their parents have no control. Relationships in the home environment are very negative, influenced by squabbling, alcoholic parents, and so forth. This can be seen in many cases. Educational methods based on threats and corporal punishment are evident in 60 to 100 percent of the cases studied. In general, the basic elements of the nuclear family of these minors -- parents and siblings -- are negative role models, including between 50 to 90 percent of the parents. In one group, 100 percent of the 872 minors evaluated by the diagnostic and orientation centers have relatives with records of criminal and antisocial behavior. The crime phenomenon becomes a sort of heritage. In some studies, it surfaced that parents and relatives fail to provide emotional and material support for the minors. That observation was made clear in the research conducted on the juvenile inmates of the East Havana Rehabilitation Center and on those evaluated in the diagnostic and orientation centers; 60 and 100 percent respectively of those evaluated stated that they have no affective relationships with their parents and that there is no trust or communication. In most cases, the parents have a low academic level,usually not above primary school. This can be observed in between 80 to 100 percent of the groups under study. Some of the studies stressed the large composition of the nuclear family. It is significant that in the homes of 1,121 minors studied, the nuclear family ranges from between 8 to 12 persons, something which is related to the overcrowded conditions [2-second break in transmission] because their houses are in poor physical condition. In general, there is little revolutionary integration in these cases. In rare instances there are parents who are politically militant. It is worth noting that some research, in general rather than specific terms, indicate that there is a high percentage of parents whose occupation is unknown or who are not part of the working community. The research points out that there are outstanding differences between the families of teenage lawbreakers and those who manifest correct social behavior. As was shown, the families' characteristics directly influence the minor's moral upbringing. As for the lawbreakers, their relatives do not have the right academic formation, as reflected in the absence of positive role models and the lack of compliance with established norms, as well as educational methods based on corporal punishment. Lack of affectivity is markedly absent in their relationships, leading to the disruption of the necessary communication with adults and other members of the family. Thus, minors are not prone to develop positive personality traits, since they lack the appropriate guidance to learn socially accepted norms and values. I think that these studies are of great interest. I feel these must continue and be enhanced if we want to know the concrete and precise factors contributing to this kind of problem. We clearly see the family's role, the family's academic level, the family's political and moral behavior, and we can see the effect of material factors such as overcrowding. I thought of using those figures, considering the great importance of the FMC's social work, of the 18,000 social workers. Each time, the revolution is [word indistinct] [applause] the fight against school absenteeism, the need to improve the schools' work, to make greater efforts in schools, especially when one is aware of these kinds of problems, the importance of the cooperation of all mass organizations in this struggle. We may have perfect schools and perfect teachers, but if the child does not go to school and does not do his homework, there is no control over him and he begins to stay out late. We have the accurate scientific data to say that this is the influence of certain factors in the child's and youth's upbringing. Fortunately, this is not the case for the large majority of nuclear families or children. However, as long as there are 2,000, 1,000, 500 or just 1, we must combat those problems and the causes that give rise to them as an essential duty of our revolution. That is, the revolution's work becomes more complex all the time, more sophisticated. We must seek some degree of perfection, which, of course, cannot rise out of ignorance. One is amazed when one remembers the early times, when we had neither schools or teachers or even sociologists to conduct these studies. Viewing it as a whole, enormous progress has been made, but we still have these traces, which explain the problems. It is not merely a matter of telling anecdotes; one must fight against the causes that give rise to these problems, which in fact emphasizes the work conducted through the years by the FMC, or which should be carried out by the youths, the CDR's, and the mass organizations. It would even be worth conducting a comparative study between urban and rural areas. It is difficult to imagine any,one wandering about late at night in the rural areas. In the rural areas they have cooperatives. Those are the differences between the large capital city and cities like Camaguey, Holguin, Bayamom, Tunas, and Santiago. You see how we are shown that the larger the city the greater the problem. There is a task in which the Federation has played a very important and decisive role in the last 5 years. It is a task related go the defense of the homeland and the revolution. [applause] These 5 years have been the years of the country's greatest and, we might add, most fruitful efforts in the area of defense, because of the imperialist threats against our homeland. These threats have forced us to multiply our forces and we have done so several times, taking into consideration not only the quantity but also the quality of our effort and the revolution, when defense became a task for our entire people. Today we are in comparably stronger and will continue to be so, because we will continue perfecting our people's ideas and their training for the defense of our country. When the Territorial Militia Units [MTT] were created, the male human resources were depleted, but we had an enormous potential of healthy women in full bloom, who were not physically incorporated into the country's defense. The incorporation of women into the defense tasks was one of the factors that most contributed to the development of our views and the multiplication of our forces. At present, 48 percent of the MTT forces are comprised of women. [applause] Moreover, 20,000 women have been trained as command cadres and, according to news received from various regions of the country, and from the comments made by the companeros in the Defense Ministry, they exhibit notable qualities and capabilities for carrying out the assigned tasks. [applause] This is what it means to incorporate women into all areas of the revolution, not only in the field of economics, production, and the services; not only in the area of education or the development of our people's awareness; but in something as fundamental and decisive as the defense of our country. It seems to me that this is decisive proof. And if there is reason for having any expectation for this congress, it is because this is not only a women's congress, but a congress representing half of our MTT. [prolonged applause] A congress of the defenders of the homeland. [applause] A congress of the new combatants and soldiers of the revolution. [prolonged applause, chants] This has constituted one of the most gigantic advances made in recent years, and for this reason our homeland today is stronger, safer, more invincible. Women have also fulfilled important internationalist missions with extraordinary dignity. I think that in fulfilling these missions, Cuban women have filled unforgettable,, honorable, and glorious pages of history [applause] in many parts of the world. For instance, we cannot forget the effort they carried out in Nicaragua: the Cuban women who comprised almost half of the teachers' contingents that for years taught Nicaraguan children in the most distant rural areas of that country, until [3-second break in transmission] to fulfill that task. Thousands and thousands of children would have gone uneducated in that fraternal country without the noble effort of our teachers. Our own collaborators in all areas in Nicaragua used to say that teachers were the most admired, because of the hard, difficult, and even risky conditions under which they carried out their mission. There was much talk [2-second break in transmission] about Cuban collaborators in Nicaragua. Naturally, there has been a practice of multiplying fig,ires. We never give any figures. We do not have to account to imperialism for how many collaborators we have in any given country. [applause] Nor do we ask them how many they have; how many soldiers, officers, military men, and CIA agents, or even volunteers in the Peace Corps, as they call it. However, we have observed the practice, the method of fabricating, of distorting their political interests in order to justify who knows what crimes. More than once while talking to journalists and even U.S. visitors we have mentioned our teachers and their merits. It is incredible that our teachers should frighten some people. However, this fear is not totally groundless. Is it fear of the number of teachers and civilian collaborators or even the number of military collaborators? No, it is not their number. It cannot be their number. It is the force they display, the force of our ideas, which are capable of creating those teachers and those collaborators. This is much more powerful than all the tanks, destroyers, aircraft carriers, bombers, strategic rockets, and deadly weapons that the enemies of human progress could have. It is much more powerful because the men and women who represent these ideas do not fear [applause] military technique or might at all. Who is braver? Those who manufacture those arms and then assume the privilege of threatening revolutionaries, people, or patriots? Or those who feel absolutely no fear, but feel contempt for that might, for those weapons, and for those threats? [applause] I believe it is that spirit that the reactionaries and the imperialists fear. This spirit is simply invincible. [applause] And this is not the spirit of a handful of men, of a group of men. It is the spirit of a nation. We have wondered: Why haven't others sent teachers to live under the conditions existing in the most remote places, to live with the local families, eating what those families eat, sleeping where those families sleep? Those families often live in shacks, along with the domestic animals and the teacher. On some occasions, the Education Ministry, concerned with the health of those teachers, decided to send them food, powdered milk and the like. But this did not solve any problems and could not resolve the situation because none of our teachers would drink a glass of milk in the morning in a place where there were children who had no milk. [applause] The food we sent them did not last long because they immediately shared it. And I asked that question because this is indisputable proof of the strength of our ideas and of the moral, not just material, victories of our revolution. I have mentioned some countries which imperialism presents as models, and some of these countries even have many resources that are being lavishly wasted. And I have asked: Could this model country send 2,000 teachers to Nicaragua to work under the existing conditions? No. Could it send 1,000? No. Could it send 500 under the existing conditions? No. Could it send 100? So, if they don't have teachers to be sent a few kilometers from their own capital, how are they going to send teachers to work under the conditions existing in Nicaragua? These are some questions. Look at all the model countries in this hemisphere, at all of them. They are perfect. Incredibly democratic models. They are incredibly respectful of human rights, so they say. We wonder how long they will be able to claim this, because these are the prize students of the teachers who taught them the techniques of murder, torture, disappearances, and all forms of repression. How long will these so-called formally democratic governments last, once these good students start resolving problems, imposing order, and protecting the sacred status quo to prevent terrible communism from propagating, advancing? Dangerous and terrible communism. People must be made to disappear so that they don't turn communist. Everybody must be executed, exterminated. And they must be told that they must bear with hunger, misery, ignorance, unemployment, in other words, with every single vice and defect that this society has experienced and will not easily forget, and that some want to safeguard with bullets and blood. The idea is to prevent the spread of that horrible thing, socialism, communism, and Marxism-Leninism. I have asked: Could all the model countries together send 2,000 teachers to Nicaragua to work under the existing conditions? No. How terrible. What are human values? What kind of human values or human rights e,Fist in places where man is educated in conditions of such egotism and individualism that it is difficult to expect any act of solidarity, including the supreme act of solidarity, which is to offer one's life for another people, for another country, not only for his own people? I am not saying that our sister Latin American nations do not have potential. There is a great moral potential and potential for solidarity. They have as much potential as we do and, perhaps more. But this potential has not been developed because the model countries do not permit the development of morals and human values. I do not doubt this. I am not speaking of the human potential in our neighboring countries. I speak of the potential of the imposed system. I ask about the system. Can they appeal to the teachers to carry out this task under such difficult conditions? Can they call on 2,000 teachers? No. On 1,000 teachers? No. Nicaragua was criticized, Cuba was criticized for sending teachers to Nicaragua, teachers who did not go there to teach Marxism-Leninism. We met with the teachers and told them to be absolutely respectful, to strictly limit themselves to teaching. We told them not to get involved in any way in people's religious beliefs, to have absolute respect. And they did this. They thus earned the affection and respect of all Nicaraguans. Then I can say that we did not just have 2,000 teachers in Nicaragua. When we requested volunteers for this mission, 30,000 persons offered their services. When 2 or 3 teachers were killed [applause], 100,000 persons offered their services. [applause] There you can determine whether or not the values represented by our revolution and our ideas are truly dreadful, And when our party speaks of these values and these (?forces), it is truly admirable to be able to affirm that half of those involved are women. [applause] In many cases they are mothers, [applause] willing to leave their children and families for 1 or 2 years. This is the revolution's work. I cited an example, and I could cite many more. However, I wanted to refer to this example, stating the scope of our solidarity with a neighboring country within our hemisphere. The imperialists are right! In fearing our teachers, our collaborators, our men, and our women because of their banners and the invincible ideas that these banners symbolize. [applause] Here among ourselves, on the occasion of this congress, there are some 150 delegations from other countries, [applause] which I will not call foreign delegations, but sister delegations. [applause] These delegations express the struggles of all the peoples and the female sector of these peoples against the injustice we have fought during these years. They express the goals we are struggling for and will continue to struggle for. They express, above all, the world's concern for peace and the peoples' concern over the madness of the arms race and the aggressive policies that not only threaten peace, but also threaten the survival of humanity. I am sure that just as your presence encourages us, our companeras' work and the successes they achieve will also encourage them in their struggles. [applause, chants] The guest delegations include those who represent the women of brother peoples of Latin America. During the past few months, [applause] we have contacted representatives of Latin American women on the occasion of the event that was to be held in our country. Now we have the privilege of having them among us. We have contacted physicians, filmmakers, writers, and many Latin American groups. We can attest to the fact that something new is growing in the spirit of Latin American peoples. There is something going on deep inside the women, men, and workers in all walks of life: the awareness of the crisis in our hemisphere. This awareness is indicated by the more than 1,500 pediatricians who attended this congress from Latin America. More than anyone else, they know how many children die in every one of those countries and why they die. The children who die are not counted by the hundreds or thousands. They are counted by hundreds of thousands. Nearly 1 million children less than 1 year old die every year. As the UNICEF director said here, if the infant mortality rate in these countries were similar to that of Cuba, then 750,000 of these children would be saved every year. [applause] These physicians know how many children between I and 4 years old and between 4 and 16 years old die. They also know the life expectancy of these children and why they die, as well as how many hospitals there are and how many have yet to be built. They know how many of these children receive medical care and how many don't, and why. You don't have to be Marxist-Leninist or socialist. You just have to have eyes to see. There are people of various ideologies at this congress who are becoming increasingly aware of the tragedy. These include writers who reflect this awareness, filmmakers, women, and workers. There are also many political delegations from a wide variety of parties. They express the degree of terrible crisis, which is worse than any previous one. We can discuss the crisis of the 1930's. It is still being discussed. There is now a similar crisis, which is even worse. Products exported by Latin American countries sell for less than they did in the 1930's. In addition, the population of these countries is much larger, about two and one half times larger. There are now many more economic and social problems that (?require) much more political skill. Back then, we did not have that $360-billion debt, this enormous debt, in addition to our other many problems. The payment of this debt is being demanded. These countries are being pressured to pay off nearly $40 billion per year in interest and they don't have any possibility of paying this amount, because the Latin American peoples have reached their limit of endurance, no matter bow strongly they are pressured. They cannot withstand any more pressure, Huge interest rates, 12, 13, 14 percent are being demanded of these peoples. These rates depend on the disposition and the sovereign will of the northern colossus, whose currency is overvalued, whose interest on its loans increases according to its whim. First they loan dollars. Then, they increase the value of the dollar. Then, you cannot pay the dollar borrowed at its previous value. Now you have to pay much more. For the amount that you borrowed, you have to pay 8, 10, 12 or 14 percent interest. In addition, the amount that you borrowed circulated, and returned to the North. It was spent in the North, generated employment in the North. And not only the dollar, but also your products and raw materials were sold at lower and lower prices. This is the inexorable law of the exchange imbalance. What Latin American peoples buy is more and more expensive and what they sell is worth less and less. Those who manufacture a screw, a nut, or a piece of equipment there make $1,000 or $1,200 in the [words indistinct]. Those who produce sugar, cacao, coffee, peanuts, or iron and copper ore there earn $60, $80, $l00. it takes more and more coffee, cacao, sugar, meat, seeds, or mineral ore to buy industrial equipment in a bulldozer. And this has been happening for 50 years. How long will this situation continue? In addition, we have the protectionist laws of the empire and the nations that are the empire's allies. Payments must be made, but you cannot sell here, regardless of how low your prices are. And I will buy your coffee and cacao, but if you manufacture anything I will not let it go through. If it is 1 square meter of cloth, I will not let you get it in. Ah, but you have to pay me. And you have to pay me my overvalued dollar and you have to pay the multiplied interest. This is the reality; this is the situation imposed by the (?demented) system that is now in crisis, As we were saying, (?we are faced with) an unbearable situation. We have said publicly how we view the situation. If imperialism insists on demanding the payment of that debt and the payment of that interest, then Latin American societies will explode. One need not be an expert or a specialist. A person would have to be blind not to see this. After more than 20 years, we now recall the Alliance for Progress. There was talk of reform, to prevent revolutions, and of economic aid -- $20 billion over a period of 10 or 15 years. This came in the wake of the Cuban revolution. No one had thought about this before. But when the revolution emerged here and a few began to think about this: Let us see what can be done, let us relax a bit, there will not be any more revolutions, some reforms must be introduced, some aid must be given. After more than 20 years, (?what) do we have? Eighteen times 20 billion is owed, and the demand is being made that the industrialized countries, mostly the United States, should receive twice that sum every year. How can this be endured? We have been explaining this problem, and we have been telling this to every person we have talked to from the industrialized countries. For this reason, the time at which this congress is taking place, and the Latin A American representatives are visiting us, is a special moment, a different moment, in which the crisis is advancing in the hemisphere. Problems which might not be solved in 50 or 100 years, are resolved when there is a crisis, in one way or another. And in this case, they should either forget this debt and give up this extortion -- what they have taken through the mechanism of unequal trade alone is much more than the debt, and the exploitation of the natural resources and of the Latin American peoples' efforts is much more than the debt -- or they will have revolutions. Either they forget that debt, and not only that, but also injustice, exploitation, unequal trade, protectionism, and the brutal methods of exploitation of our peoples are finally overcome -- because I think that merely resolving the debt issue is not enough -- or they will have revolutions. When crises come, problems are finally resolved in one way or another. They cannot say we are preaching subversion. We are saying what will happen. These 26 years have not passed in vain. We have seen many things, but what we are seeing now, we have never seen before. And these phemomena are reflected in the delegations that visit Cuba. There is not only an enormous and monstrous crisis, there is also increasing awareness of the situation, and this awareness is reflected in all those who visit Cuba. Therefore the future years, the next 5 years of work by the Federation, will be interesting years. The next years will be interesting and decisive ones for the nations that these women represent. Our country has defined its course very clearly. We have reached maturity: 26 years and 2 months. [applause] We have accumulated abundant experience. The cadres, the organizations, and the parties have helped the revolution direct the process much more solidly and securely. Work has been carried out tirelessly in recent months to plan and program implementation of these idea. At these difficult moments, and amid this crisis, we are moving ahead at full speed, [applause] supported by our solid, fraternal, and indestructible relations with the socialist countries. [applause] These countries do not steal from us, they do not exploit us, they do not lower the prices of our exports and sell their products to us at higher prices. [applause] These countries do not harm us financially. They do not charge us increasingly higher interest rates. They charge us lower ones. Furthermore, when our debts accumulate -- as happens with developing countries due to the large investments with which we build our electronuclear projects, refineries, [word indistinct] and so on, for which we receive credit, thus building up debts -- instead of harming us, they give us facilities and they postpone payment for 5, 10, 15 years, without interest. [applause] We urge the developed capitalist countries, especially the United States, to follow the same policies [laughter] with their Latin American model countries. If they do not, they will lose their model countries. [applause] Thanks to the revolution, to these brotherly and solidarity relations, thanks to our ideas and our policies, to our revolution's seriousness and our firmness, and thanks to experience -- which we did not have when we began and which no one could give us -- our path is clear and certain. All of this has already been said and discussed and you have supported it with programs, savings, and our banners. We have to carry those banners. We want to build a future, an increasingly good future that will allow us to overcome even the objective conditions that block our goal of an even more just society. Shadows can emerge, but we are not afraid of these shadows. Dangers exist but they do not frighten us. We march onward, well guided toward our goals. We have arrived at all [word indistinct]. If madness, folly, stupidity, and the warmongers burn this planet, we will fall, but we will not hesitate. We will fall but we will never take one step backward. [applause] We will fall, but we will fall with our banners and our ideas. [applause] Fatherland or death, we will win! [applause] -END-