-DATE-
19881006
-YEAR-
1988
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
REMARKS
-AUTHOR-
F.CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CEREMONY-TO DEDICATE STATUE OF SALVADOR ALLENDE
-PLACE-
CUBA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA TELEVISION
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19881006
-TEXT-
Remarks on Plebiscite

FL0610032788 Havana Television Service in Spanish 0000 GMT 6 Oct 88

[Text] Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, first secretary of the PCC
Central Committee and president of the Councils of State and Ministers, has
attended an act expressing solidarity with the Chilean people.  During the
event, a statue of the heroic Salvador Allende was unveiled.

The ceremony was attended by delegates participating in the third
continental women's meeting, students, and workers of the hospital that
bears the name of the constitutional president of Chile.

[Begin recording] [Castro] [Video shows Castro speaking from podium at an
outdoor ceremony] In this fashion, so sincere, so beloved, our people pay
tribute to Salvador Allende.  The Latin American women, whom you represent,
also pay a worthy tribute to him.

We listened with admiration to two of your representatives here.  One was
the Chilean comrade.  When she spoke, it reminded me of the Chilean women's
fight for their liberty.  It reminded me of the repression they have
suffered, and I said, these are truly combative women, combative fighters.

[Ana Lobo, Chilean delegate, identified by caption] We want to say that we
haven't forgotten Salvador Allende's figure, his socialist democratic
ideals, or his human, moral, and ethical commitments to the people of
Chile.  The Chilean women will clearly not forget those who are missing,
the political prisoners, or the exiles.  This commitment is being and has
been transformed into a massive, multitudinous, millinary "no" to Pinochet.

[Castro] She can speak here with so much morale, with great authority.

I also listened to the Salvadoran comrade.  She told us her struggle is
also a contribution to the struggle of all Latin American women and to the
liberty of Chile.

[Commander Luisa, Salvadoran delegate, identified by caption] A decisive
moment for the fight has opened in the continent.  In several areas--in the
political, guerrilla, and revolutionary struggles--there are a large number
of women and peoples who no longer want to see hunger in the continent, who
do not want our peoples, our countries, to further submit to the United
States.  They no longer want military dictatorships.  They do not want
dictatorships like the ones that had been imposed in our country as a
Christian Democratic Government.  They no longer want civilian facades,
governments manufactured by the United States that appear as better
alternatives to military dictatorships but that are so bloody and subject
our people to as much hunger as Pinochet's regime in Chile.

[Castro] What was said here is beautiful--that the people have taken to the
streets.  I think that as of today, [words indistinct] again in Chile.  It
is possible that Pinochet, or it is certain that Pinochet, has fallen into
his own trap.  Pinochet has been the spoiled child in imperialism in this
hemisphere.

In Chile the use of tear gas, water cannons, and beatings against women,
students, workers, the people, is constant.  How is possible to think that
a people will forget this.  How is it possible to pretend that one can vote
against [corrects himself] in favor of such a regime.  That is why I think
that he has fallen into his own trap because the Chilean people will not
vote in favor of the persistence of that monstrous regime.  It is certain
that the immense majority of the people will be in favor of the elimination
of that shameful system.

Now what will Pinochet do?  That is the unknown.  There are many theories.
People say a fraudulent plan has been prepared, but a fraud would be
difficult to carry out.  Others say he is going to unleash a fierce
repression.  There were even accusations that the regime itself was
preparing provocations, and there have been further accusations that
certain events in recent days were the work of the regime, provocations of
the regime.

We know that all the Chileans, all the honest politicians of Chile, and all
Chilean revolutionaries were aware of the need to give the plebiscite a
chance and to not carry out any activity that could ignite the maneuvers
and provocations of the regime.

The unknown will begin today.  What will happen this afternoon; that is,
what will happen tonight?  What will the first news reports, the first
official statements on the results of that plebiscite, say?  [end
recording]
-END-