Latin American Network Information Center - LANIC

-DATE-
19880617
-YEAR-
1988
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
MEETING
-AUTHOR-
F.CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
MEETING WITH STUDENTS FROM MANUELITO AGUILAR
-PLACE-
CUBA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA TELE-REBELDE
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19880623
-TEXT-
Further on Meeting

FL1706163088 Havana Tele-Rebelde Network in Spanish 1160 GMT 17 Jun 88

[All speakers unidentified]

[Text] A group of 46 youths from the Manuelito Aguilar pre-university
institute in marianao municipality enjoyed a wonderful day which is now
recorded in their hearts and memories.  Their meeting with our Commander in
Chief Fidel Castro Ruz was probably one of the most beautiful lessons which
they have received, especially in the past 6 months.

[Begin Castro recording] I was especially interested in hearing about your
experiences on the construction of this project, which is not small.  What
you have built looks like an apartment building; it's rather large.  It
looks like it's pretty well built, although I only saw it from the outside.
And there was a dog there taking care of it; I don't even know the name of
the dog [laughter], or where it came from.  What?  [audience shouts out
indistinct name of dog] There it was, by itself.  Who is going to take care
of that dog now?  Are you going to abandon that dog?  There it was on the
second floor, taking care of all that, [laughter] walking back and forth
like a man.  It may not get involved with anyone, but it looked like it was
the guard for the facility.  And it's going to have be taken care of.  When
is the facility going to be occupied?  Who is going to take care of it?

[Speaker] In September, and (?by) the Ministry of Public Health.

[Castro] Not until September, so it's going to be empty at least for 2 and
1/2 months.

So what I was really interested in was hearing about your experiences, and
your ideas with regard to this project you have completed.  Which one of
you talks the most?  First the students, right?  The teachers will also say
something.  I was told that the grades were even higher when you were
working on this.  There are 45 in the brigade, but the rest also helped,
right?  Well, tell me something.

[Speaker] The youths who went there were surprised because the place didn't
look very nice.  Well, we got started right away.  We didn't have much
training.  We actually went to the place [words indistinct].  Right there,
we borrowed machetes and hoes from the neighbors.  And we gradually leveled
the land.  We needed a lot of help.

[Castro] You didn't have a bulldozer?  Did you call (?someone)

[Speaker] Yes, we did.  Well, we started moving it.  And nearby
minibrigades, which were also working on projects around there, lent us a
bulldozer.  They helped us with that.  But the bulk of it was done with
pick and shovel.

[Castro] Who was the bricklayer, and who [words indistinct]

[Speaker] Well, Commander, we learned a lot here.  We learned to plaster,
to smooth out the walls, to lay bricks, to mix cement, because we didn't
know how to do this.  Some of us--not all, because we can't all of it--even
learned to do electrical work and plumbing.  We all learned many things and
they are all very useful.  This is good experience which we can use in
future construction and thus help the country.

[Castro] Do you think that this experience is very helpful?

[Speaker] We contributed with the labor.  It's one thing to walk by a
project and say how well it was done, which brigade built it, how good it
looks, and how well painted it is.  But is is another very different thing
for me to go by a project with a group of my comrades, who chatted with me
and helped me, and taught me because I didn't know anything, and to say:
We built that project.

[Castro] You will be able to appreciate many more projects.  The extra
hours you had you dedicated to work.  You dedicated to creation and work
the hours that you would have otherwise dedicated to relaxation and
recreation.  Not that we have anything against recreation, as healthy as it
may be.  But the human soul... [changes thought] Man has a trait that
allows him to remember more the hours he unselfishly and nobly dedicates to
creating something, to doing something for his people, country, then the
hours he dedicates to doing something for himself.  That is why, in
addition to congratulating you, I want to thank you on behalf of all the
comrades.  I want to thank you for your motivating example, for the
motivation which shows that the revolution puts seeds in fertile land and
that the example of the Che continues to go forth.  Thank you very much.
[applause]

[Speaker] I am standing before you not because [words indistinct].  I
wanted to tell a story.  Recently, I volunteered to be in charge of (?a)
mural.  I wanted to put something relevant in it, something that would
stand out as you viewed the mural.  So I went to a library near my house
and I asked the librarian where I could find a beautiful phrase with a
meaning that I would like.  Then she told me:  Well, look over there.
There is a card file in which there are quotes by a lot of well-known
people like Jose Marti and Maceo.  Look there, we have very beautiful
phrases.  But no, I didn't go looking either for Marti or Maceo.  I looked
right away for Fidel, Fidel, Fidel [laughter].  I looked through many of
his phrases and I found a little one which read:  Work is and will be the
teacher of Cuban youth.  I don't know if you remember it.  Imagine how
happy I was to find it.  I learned it by heart and I put it on the mural.

[Castro] I accept responsibility for that phrase.  [laughter] [applause]
[end recording]
-END-


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