-DATE-
19890404
-YEAR-
1989
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F.CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
GORBACHEV SPEAKS TO ANPP
-PLACE-
HAVANA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC RADIO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19890406
-TEXT-
Gorbachev Speaks to ANPP

FL0504202789 Havana Domestic Radio and Television Services in Spanish 2052
GMT 4 Apr 89

[Speech by President Mikhail Gorbachev to the National Assembly in Havana:
Gorbachev speaks in Russian with simultaneous English translation by
commentator Boris Belitskiy--live]

[Text] Dear Comrade Fidel, esteemed members of the National Assembly.

In addressing the supreme governing body of the Republic of Cuba, I would
like first of all on behalf of the Soviet people to convey warm fraternal
greetings and best wishes to the heroic Cuban people.  I heartily
appreciate the cordial welcome accorded to me and my comrades wherever we
have been able to go here.  Many thanks to everyone who has contributed his
bit of warmth to this unforgettable demonstration of the solidarity and
friendship between our parties, between our countries, and between our
peoples.

My visit to this country had to be put off because of the earthquake in
Armenia.  The terrible tragedy that fell to the lot of the Armenian people
gave rise to an unprecedented wave of solidarity: a helping hand was
extended to us one might say by the whole world, and among the first to
respond to our tragedy were our Cuban friends, who sent the victims of the
earthquake what is most precious of all, their own blood.  Please accept
our gratitude for this manifestation of solidarity.

This is the first time the roads of life have brought me to Cuba.  All the
greater, therefore, is the impression I have of everything.  I have seen
and heard here, my impressions of the people of Havana--openhearted and
friendly; my impressions of various aspects of your life--industrial,
political, social.  In the Soviet Union we know why the Cuban people rose
to make their Revolution, what enabled them to repulse the armed
intervention, survive the economic blockade, cope with the persistent and
exhausting pressure of their imperialist neighbor.  The island of freedom
was able to stand its ground thanks to its proud and courageous people,
determined to fight for their independence, for their right to live as they
see fit.  They were able to do so because the Revolution brought to the
country's helm a party committed to achieving lofty humanist ideals, ideals
of socialism, of serving the people.  And, finally, they were able to do
this because history had placed at their head one of the outstanding
revolutionaries of the 20th century, the legendary Comrade Fidel Castro.
[applause]

This year, the communists and all the working people of Cuba, and with them
their friends throughout the world, celebrated the 30th anniversary of the
day when festively attired Havana welcomed the young heroes who had
descended from the mountains and brought their people the freedom they had
yearned for.

Thirty years is a significant landmark, a milestone, an occasion to reflect
on the path crossed and the significance of the Cuban Revolution.

The Cuban Revolution exerted a tremendous moral influence on world's social
thinking in the depressing environment of the 1960's, when force, when the
winds of the cold war, raged in the world and when reactionary forces were
doing everything to halt social progress and stifle the national liberation
movement, to preserve dictatorial regimes.  Your Revolution showed that it
is impossible to stifle people's dedication to freedom and justice.

Granma, Moncada, Sierra Maestra, these were words on everyone's lips.
Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos become idols of the youth and
the battlecry of the Cuban revolutionaries:  Patria o Muerte--Vence remos
[Fatherland or Death--We Will Win] became the subject of poems and songs
that were echoed by freedom fighters in other countries.  Cuba by its
example enabled the national liberation wave to surge to an unprecedented
height and its tidal wave shattered the bulwarks of national oppression and
humiliation.  The Cubans won the reputation of a generous and responsive
people, possessing a sense of high internationalist duty in great measure.
Your road was not strewn with roses--you had to operate in the most
difficult conditions, holding in one hand the implements of work and in the
other your weapons.  But in these conditions, too, the Revolution displayed
its humanitarian aspirations.  Everything it had it turned over first of
all to children, to the youth, to the health and education of people, and
these and other features of the Cuban experience make it original and
important as part of the global experience gained in building socialism.

Everyone knows how great were the funds and resources spent by the enemies
of Cuba in attempts to reenslave the country, and how may threats, insults,
and slanders were hurled at it--and all this in vain.  The slogans and
accomplishments of the Cuban Revolution which, at the road of revolutionary
change, will forever remain in history as a bright page in the struggle of
the peoples for a brighter future.

On the side of Cuba were the sympathies and support of millions of her
friends all over the world.  Cuba relied on the unflagging support of the
socialist community and all these years the Soviet Union and Cuba have
stood together, and we are proud of this.

The cooperation between our countries, Soviet-Cuban links, have a stable
character:  they cover practically all the areas of social development;
they rely on the principles of equality; are marked by respect for
independence, and understanding of mutual responsibility, and of the need
for internationalist assistance.  The record shows that the fundamental
importance of these principles is in no way belittled by the differences
of approach to this or that problem, by differences arising from
distinctive roads to development and national cultures or by the
distinctive nature of the tasks facing the two peoples or their
international standing.  Yes, we have plenty to be proud of.  We have
accomplished a great deal and above all our peoples are united by a sincere
friendship, a deep sympathy, and by a keen interest in each other's affairs
and concerns.

From the platform of this National Assembly, I want to state the Soviet
Union treasures its friendship with socialist Cuba.  Our solidarity, dear
comrades, is no subject to fluctuations caused by considerations of the
moment.  We are prepared to continue developing Soviet-Cuban relations and
we believe we have every facility for doing so.  We trust that this will
serve, that this will be served well by the Treaty of Friendship and
Cooperation which we signed today. [applause]

[Text] Our treaty gives enactment to what has already stood the test of
time.  It opens up new horizons, before Soviet-Cuban cooperation in the
political, economic, and cultural fields.  And this is a good thing.  Life
does not mark time.  Time presents us with new requirements and this
applies in particular to economic links.  They must be made more dynamic,
more effective, they must do more for both our countries, our peoples.

As for today, it is absolutely essential that there be more strictness and
discipline so that undertakings assumed can be carried out in good time and
with proper standards.  We have a common understanding that our joint
efforts must be directed in greater measure to satisfy the needs of the
people in everything that relates to the social sphere.  Natural conditions
and the economic complexes built up in both countries make it possible to
supplement each other better in several important areas, to realize the
enormous potential of Soviet-Cuban relations in every field.  That is our
common interest and that is worth working for.  For example, joint
enterprises, firms, research and designing groups, can all be highly
effective.  We regard as especially promising cooperation in the
engineering industry, above all in the production of up to date
instruments, radio and television equipment, and household appliances.
This could help Cuba take an active part in the division of labor within
the framework of the Council for Mutual (Economic) Assistance and in world
economic exchanges, Latin America included.

Comrades, we have spoken a great deal in the past few days with Fidel about
the specific problems of the situation today.  World civilization is at a
crossroads.  It is so to speak, crossing over from one stage into another.
For the present, it is still impossible to predict what its changed image
will be like.  But one thing is clear.  Today only those who are marching
in step with the times, who are drawing the necessary conclusions from the
changes resulting from the fact that the world had entered an era of high
technology, of intellectual labor, of a decisive role of science, can count
on success.  We are convinced that the potentials which are inherent in
socialism are enormous but they are not realized of their own accord.  At
every historical stage there is a need for a creative assessment of the
situation, the framing of a policy meeting the imperatives of the day, and
in this we are convinced as a result of own experience.  Our great country,
its industrious people, who have had to pioneer the socialist path, have
had a great influence on world developments in the 20th century.  We have
built up powerful industries, our science and technology have an enormous
potential, the country has such a precious treasure as a high level of
education and the people's professional skill.

At the same time much that has arisen in our society requires serious
change.  And when we consider this, when we compare our past and the
present with Lenin's guidelines, we have realized that our difficulties are
due to deformations of the principles of socialism which may be traced back
to the distant 1930's.  They are due to underestimating people's direct
interests, their initiatives--in other words, an inability to make use of
the main power of our system, its humanitarian potential.  Indeed, why is
it that in outer space we perform miracles and in everyday life we are
unable to meet the most pressing demands?

Why is it that our progress has grown slower, and how has it happened that
in our society there are phenomena alien to socialism:  social corrosion,
apathy, selfishness?  Lenin liked to say that whoever is not able to
understand general principles is bound to make mistakes in specifics and
wander in the dark.

Life has confronted us with the problem: Either we remain in the old sorrow
and run into a blind alley economically and socially--our country would
then be pushed aside into the sidestreets of progress--or we must take the
road of rejuvenation, give socialism a new quality meeting, the loftiest
criteria of humanism and progress.  In this is the crux of the course
chosen by our party and people, the course of perestroyka.

One of its most important aspects is a radical economic reform whose
purpose is to turn the economy to face the people, to change its role in
social production.  But this relies on the implementation of the socialist
principle of distribution according to work, the elimination of social
dependence, the transfer of industrial enterprises to cost-accounting, the
development of leasing, cooperation, and other economic forms that
stimulate people's creative activity.

Among our major strategic problems is the problem of meeting people's
current needs.  Recently, we had a plenary meeting of the party's Central
Committee which discussed the development of our agriculture.  We think
that we were able to formulate an agrarian policy that should make it
possible quickly to ensure stable supplies of food for our population.  We
are changing our structural policy regrouping our means in favor of our
light industries, in favor of production of consumer goods, and lately
there has been a noticeable increase in the pace of housing construction,
although quite a number of years will be needed to satisfy the needs of all
in housing.

As we embark on our economic reform, we realize that progress depends on
the need to reorganize political institutions; first and foremost we must,
in accordance with Lenin's concept, have the party fully serve as a
socialist vanguard in society.  This is a question also of reviving the
soviets as bodies of self-government by the people, establishing a
socialist state committed to the rule of law, democratizing all aspects of
social life.  Finally there must be a greater responsibility of
administrative bodies for policy implementation and fulfilling decisions.
We are now completing the first stage of our political reform involving a
reorganization of our central bodies of government.

We have just had elections which took place in an atmosphere of vigorous
discussion, of competition between candidates and their self-criticism;
self-criticism of everything that we have done and failed to accomplish.
We are now moving toward the first Congress of People's Deputies of the
USSR, which will determine the main policy trends at home and abroad and
will elect a new Supreme Soviet.  In short, we have big changes taking
place in our country and whoever follows developments in the Soviet Union
or visited the Soviet Union knows how the very climate of social life has
changed, how much freer the people, themselves, feel.  Our workers,
farmers, intellectuals are taking an increasingly active part in political
life; they want to take a direct part in solving all the pressing problems
of life.  This is an encouraging phenomenon, for the main purpose of all
our work of rejuvenating society is to enable a person to feel that he is a
complete master in production and in the state.

Of course, the political reform in the country is only gathering momentum.
Ahead, we have a great deal of work associated with another important trend
of our reform harmonizing interethnic relations, enhancing the powers of
the soviet republics, carrying out a judicial reform, and increasing the
powers of local governing bodies.  But even the present stage of the reform
has shown how great a positive charge is inherent in these changes.  This
is most important of all.

Of course we are not prone to make unambiguous conclusions at this stage.
There is maximalism among some people and among valuable proposals, there
are some that are controversial, others that are unacceptable.  This is
understandable.  It is due to our lack of experience and political culture,
but all that will come.

We see how people are straightening out their shoulders, how their social
stature is growing, how they are learning to solve problems in the
conditions of democratization and glasnost.  This in a nutshell is what we
are working on.  We do not regard our approaches and solutions as some
universal prescription for all.  On the contrary, problems may be similar
but each party solves them in its own way, guided by its own notions and
the specific features of its country.

From these diverse, unstereotyped approaches there emerges the
international experience of socialism, which is helping us all to move
forward more rapidly, and agree entirely with what Comrade Fidel said here
from this platform on this very important issue, and a subject on which
there is much speculation abroad.  As far as the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union is concerned, it is carefully studying the experience in our
work and of course we highly appreciate the interest and support everywhere
for the changes taking place in our country.  We fully realize also our
international responsibility for the fate of perestroyka.  We fully realize
that how things proceed in our country will go a long way toward
determining the international authority of socialism and its impact on
world developments.  I would say that we are doomed to succeed in
perestroyka.  We have no other road and we have to cope the the enormous
tasks facing us and assure profound changes in our society in all its
spheres in the course of perestroyka.

Dear comrades, in our day more than ever before, the development of
individual countries depends on the international situation.  Of course,
the influence of this factor is felt by different people differently.  Of
course, one can name states that are less affected by the changes in the
international atmosphere.  The Soviet Union and Cuba do not rank among such
countries.  Whether this is good or bad is a different matter, but that is
our lot.  Both our states are actively involved in international events and
are of course vitally interested in having the international situation be
conducive to the solution of our domestic problems which we set before
ourselves.  Fidel and I have had a profound exchange of opinions on a wide
range of problems of an international nature.  As in the past, the Soviet
Union and Cuba have a common approach to the key problems of international
affairs. We are united in our desire for a stable peace, to avert the
nuclear threat, to assert the unconditional right of the nations to
choosing their destiny, to changing on a fair basis international economic
relations.  The question of how these aims can be achieved, whether the
necessary conditions for this exist without which vigorous efforts and
goodwill cannot achieve results--that is the question.

We believe there are such objective conditions in the world.  Moreover, in
the past 2 years, there has been a break toward making the situation
healthier.  The skies have cleared somewhat, although clouds continue to
overshadow major areas of the international political ground.  Forces that
are clinging to outdated stereotypes are still evident, and so perhaps for
the first time since World War II, we have a managed within a comparatively
short period of time to make progress in resolving acute problems that for
decades poisoned international affairs.

Impressive achievements have been reached in lessening the nuclear danger,
in settling political-military conflicts and in expanding and strengthening
trust between countries belonging to different social systems and political
alliances.  The meetings we've had with many state leaders of Western
countries have shown the possibility of further progress in that direction
toward alleviating international tensions.  It is all the more necessary
that the dynamics of the international process are not in line with the
spirit of the times.  Threats to humanity, to the very conditions of its
existence, persist and have even been growing worse in some respect, that
means we have to double and redouble collective efforts to remove the
looming tragedy.  It means we have to overcome the alienation and
concentrate our efforts on tackling vital global problems.

In search of a way out of the current dangerous situation, we have arrived
at what has now come to be known everywhere as new political thinking.
This concept has developed as a result of a continuously more profound
analysis of the international situation, and the generalization of our
foreign policy experience and this experience has not been uniform.  On one
hand we see how difficult it is to secure concerted action with the
extraordinary diversity of forces acting in the international arena.  Each
of them, if we talk about social systems or states, about public movements
or political parties, pursues its own ends.  They partially coincide and
partially they can also clash.

No one, ever, can put a stop to the ideological and political struggle
which is a manifestation of a pluralism of interests and convictions.  On
the other hand, the experience of later years shows that despite the
existing contradictions and differences in the world, we have managed to
take the hand of the barometer several points to the clear, to an
improvement of the international atmosphere.  That means that the zone of
common coinciding interests is fairly great and can serve as a basis for
concerted action on the world scale.

We're convinced that relying on this real interdependence of interests we
can and should move further restructuring the entire system of
international relations step by step.  For that is needed the political
will of all its participants based on a certain philosophy of global human
solidarity.  The matter is first of all a priority of global human
interests.  Its recognition of the indisputable fact that on the threshold
of the 21st century, the security of each state, in all its
aspects--political, economic, ecological, and military--can only be
reliably ensured within a system of international security as a whole.
That is first.

Second, it's the freedom of choice, it's the inadmissability of diktat and
interference in international affairs, recognition by each member of the
world community of the legitimate interests of all other countries and the
need of settling problems that may crop up as these interests clash through
peaceful political means.

Third, it's facilitating development, recognition of the need for common
concern for the needy and assistance in bridging the gap between the
developed and developing countries, and establishing a new and fair
economic order and help to the needy.

Fourth, it's shared responsibility for preserving nature and civilization.
It is resolve to do everything to prevent the nuclear catastrophe, to erect
a barrier before moral degradation and to ensure the progress of the entire
human family.

All these ideas inspired the Soviet plan for a nuclear-free world, secure
for all.  The plan was put forward in greatest detail in my address in the
UN General Assembly in December last year.  Those same ideas underlie the
many proposals--multilateral or unilateral--by socialist countries of
Europe and Asia.  These ideas are also consistent with the program advanced
by developing countries with Cuba's active participation of a new economic
order, disarmament for development, and the initiative of nonaligned and
neutral countries of the West and of the socialist international.  Of
course, the assertion of new thinking in the minds of the world is a
complicated and complex matter.  Too old, too strong are the traditions and
stereotypes and habits of the past.  We see how hard it is to digest for
some of the Western leaders who time and again slip from recognition of
security to recurrences of the policy of strength, to attempts to force
their will on others.

Our approach is different.  Let every people pursue its own sovereign path,
and life itself will show which of these paths is preferable.  We believe
in the vast potential of socialism.  Advocates of capitalism remain
committed to their own system, but that didn't serve as a barrier to
resolving all the international problems on the basis of common fundamental
values regardless of their social system.  The most immediate task now is
to settle socalled regional conflicts.  Analyzing their causes, it's easy
to come to a conclusion that they often emerge due to interference from the
outside, and attempts to prevent other people from independently making
their own choice.  These actions are argued as being taken for security
reasons, as allusions to political or ideological principles in the form of
doctrines.  Very well.  I would like to state without beating around the
bush: We are resolutely against any theories and doctrines justifying the
export of revolution or counterrevolution and all forms of foreign
interference in the affairs of sovereign nations.

It's only on this basis that the existing regional conflicts can be settled
and can be ruled out in the future.

(?Allied) by precisely this approach, the Soviet Union has withdrawn its
troops from Afghanistan.  Scrupulously to the day, we have complied with
our commitments undertaken at the talks in Geneva and we are justified in
demanding that a similar approach be displayed by the other participants to
the accords.  Regretfully, Pakistan--contrary to its commitments--is
engaged in direct military interference in the affairs of Afghanistan,
depriving the Afghan people of a chance to decide on their own future.

The United States, too, has been inclined to continue meddling in the
Afghan affairs.  True, those who believed that the Republic of Afghanistan
would be dismembered the next day after the Soviet troops were withdrawn
have begun to recognize that they failed to take a realistic view of the
strengths and possibilities of the Afghan regime.  But if they draw a
conclusion contrary to that which logically proceeds from the situation at
hand, if they step up supplies of arms to the opposition groupings and if
Pakistan steps up its interference in order to break the Kabul regime, that
could have innumerable negative consequences for both Afghanistan and
Pakistan, and for the entire development of the international situation.
We're firmly convinced that in this instance the international community
can and should display a responsible attitude to the political settlement.
The idea of international assistance to the peaceful settlement of the
conflict, on the basis of the accords between the sides directly involved
in the conflict, is an idea that is currently gaining importance.

We in the Soviet Union believe that the Afghan conflict and way of settling
it is a touchstone for all states, for the entire world community.  There
are other regional conflicts, other regional knots that have to be
untangled, and it is very important to display responsibility and a
constructive approach will take the upper hand.  There has emerged hope for
putting an end to another regional conflict in the southwest of Africa.
The Soviet Union has been helping the patriots of Angola in their struggle
against colonizers and it has not been leaving them defenseless in the face
of aggression.  And should we not rejoice that the long suffering country
should at last gain peace and security?  I would like to make special
mention of the heroism of Cuban internationalists who for many years have
been involved, have been taking part, in defending the independence and
territorial integrity of Angola.  Now this noble historical mission is
drawing to an end.  It is of basic importance that not only Angola's
independence has been defended.  There have also appeared feasible
prospects of writing an end to the infamous legacy of the colonial period,
the enslavement of Namibia, whose people will now be able to set up an
independent state of their own and join the equal family of African
nations.  This is going to be a major victory for justice and common sense
in international affairs.

Together with Cuba and other countries and members of the United Nations,
the Soviet Union is ready to make its own contribution to effect this, to
implementing the agreements on Namibia, and on a broader scale to
facilitate a final elimination of colonialism and racism on the African
continent.

One of the most dangerous regional conflicts is related to Israel's
occupation of the Arab lands and the deprivation of the Arab people of
Palestine of their right to independence.  That region, which is a
crossroads of economic political, and military interests of a number of
states has been turned into a storage place of much inflammable material,
but not only in the figurative sense.  The flames have already begun to
spread from there.  I mean primarily the disquieting situation in Lebanon.
It would be unpardonable, lightmindedness to believe that such a state of
affairs could persist indefinitely in the future.  Getting the Middle East
knot untangled is in the vital interests of not only direct parties to the
conflict--the Arab nations and Israel--but also Europe (?aligned) quite
closely to the region, the United States, and of course the Soviet Union
and other socialist countries.  That is why we believed, and still believe
that it is necessary to step up efforts in the interests of a Middle East
settlement.

Finally, in the context of recent events, there has emerged the prospect of
a peaceful settlement of the conflict situation involving Nicaragua.  The
agreements reached at a recent meeting of the region's presidents lays a
good basis for settling the conflict in Central America.  Of special
importance were the decisions adopted there to disband the Contra
formations and Nicaragua's commitment to democratize life in the country.

The leadership of the Sandinist National Liberation Front has already
embarked on many of these measures.  They announced elections in the
country under international supervision, the dialogue with the opposition
has been resumed, political rights of citizens have been expanded, the
amnesty decree has gone into effect, and the reduction of Armed Forces and
of military spending is being considered.  Of course, the normalization of
the situation in that country should in many respects depend on the
position of the United States and other nations in Central America.

We believe that Washington still clings to its position of strength in
assessing the situation, in tackling the situation, in Central America.  In
this sense, the decision to continue aid to the contras causes concern.  We
also cannot agree with Washington's statements that give a wrong picture of
our relations with Cuba and Nicaragua.  Our approach to the solutions of
the problems in Central America remains unchangeable.  We are for a Latin
American settlement of the conflict.  We support the efforts of the
American states to settle the conflict.  We cannot agree with the statement
by Vice President Quayle, which tends to view the situation in Central
America as in the backyard of the United States.  Special importance now
goes to restraint and to strengthening mutual trust between states.

Fidel Castro and I have discussed the issue, and we are convinced that it
can only be solved through political means.  Now we have a real chance of
ensuring peace and security in the region.  One of the most important
conditions of that is a stop to military shipments to Central America from
any region.  Supporting the fair cause of the Nicaraguan people, we wish
them peace, independence and success in settling the problems that face
them.

For me, a meeting with fraternal Cuba is at the same time a meeting with
Latin America, an exciting and inimitable continent.  The old hasn't yet
been wiped off its face, and seats of acute social discomfort, poverty, and
economic dependence put brakes on its progress.  At the same time
industrial giants emerge, democratic processes develop.  The voice of
Latin American nations sounds ever more clear and strong in world affairs.
The contribution of Latin American nations to world (?culture) is growing.
Their influence on the formation of the international climate as a whole is
expanding.

Lately, the relations between the Soviet Union and many countries of Latin
America have been expanding and growing more diverse.  I am pleased to
recall my meetings in Moscow with the leaders of Argentina, Brazil,
Uruguay, and many other political leaders of the continent, and a
conversation with the great writer of modern times.  Gabriel Garcia
Marquez.  Our contacts with representatives of business circles, the
public, scientific, and artistic professionals are growing.

Favoring greater cooperation with countries of Latin America, the Soviet
Union is not looking for any political or military and strategic benefits
in the Western Hemisphere.  We believe that that continent, just as all the
others, should not be an arena of confrontation between East and West.  We
see in Latin America a weighty factor of contemporary world development,
able of making a tangible contribution to progress toward a better world.
Such is our general approach.  To pursue it further, I would like to say
just this:  The Soviet Union is for strengthening the nonnuclear status of
Latin America, on the basis of the Tlatelolco Treaty in support of setting
up a zone of peace and cooperation in South Atlantic, [as heard] and
similar zones in Central America and the Caribbean, and the Pacific Coast
of South America.

Should Latin American countries come up with an initiative to convene an
international conference to work out concerted measures ensuring the
observance of the status of such zones, and invite permanent members of the
Security Council or other countries outside the region, we are ready to
take part.

The Soviet Union has no, and does not intend to have, naval, air force or
missile bases in Latin America or deploy nuclear or other weapons of mass
destruction there.  We call on other countries to be guided by a similar
approach to facilitate turning Latin America into an area of dependable,
stable, peace and cooperation.  We wish to build our trade and economic
relations with countries of Latin America on the basis of justice and
mutual benefit.  For that we can use both traditional and new forms of
partnership, including contracts with existing regional economic
organizations.  Alternatives of social development should not be in the way
of removing alienation between states, both on the regional plane and on a
global scale.

Humanity will soon be marking 500 years since Columbus discovered America.
As is known, the [word indistinct] of the great Genoan first cast anchor at
the shores of Haiti and Cuba, and his journey lasted 3 months.  The
progress of communications cut this time down to a few hours, and news of
events in the Western Hemisphere get to other parts of the world with the
speed of lightning.  But perhaps even more important is the fact that
victory over distance is doing away with alienation, affecting an intensive
exchange of material and spiritual values, and the association of peoples
divided by cultures.

The world community is increasingly less like a vessel divided into
separate compartments.  In this connection I would like to share another
idea with you.  There is a growing gap between a group of economically
developed and developing countries.  Among them there are the so-called new
industrial giants and various...[corrects himself] and some of the poorest
nations of the world.  There are countries in the grip of debts and others
relatively prosperous thanks to revenues from oil and tourism.  These
differences are substantial, but now I would like to dwell on another
point.  It's that the gap between the developing countries as a whole
and--that is four-fifths of the entire humanity--and a small group of
nations possessing modern technology continues to expand.  One cannot say
that nothing is being done to remedy the situation.

The Soviet Union and economically developed countries of the socialist
community have for many years been actively supporting developing countries
in creating their own industries, in preparing national personnel, and
resolving other (?current) problems.  In New York, at the General Assembly,
we tabled a far-reaching proposal on the issue of debts, whose adoption
would ease the burden of the debtors and somewhat open up the blood vessels
of the world economic and financial system.  We believe that the
understanding of the need to resolve this problem is going to increase in
the developed countries of the world, in the developed countries of the
West.  A great role is to be played in this matter by the Nonaligned
Movement--which encompasses countries of the world that are so different by
their economic performance and by their social and political
characteristics.  The United Nations has also been taking energetic
measures in the framework of its (?decades) of development.  The issue of
coordinating separate efforts rendering them systematic and purposeful
(?now seems) the practical plane.  In other words, instead of conducting
dialogues between North and South, or between East and South, we suggest
that representatives of all parts of the world get together in the name of
this noble aim.  Let North, South, East and West together give a thought to
the strategy and development. [as heard] taking into account that
additional resources for assistance can be tapped if the process of
disarmament is further pursued and made more profound.

Dear Comrades, these days we have been convinced yet again that the
affection of Soviet people and Cubins are mutual.  Meeting blue and white
collar workers, researchers, meeting people at official talks and in the
streets of Havana, we have always felt we are amid real friends.  Let
Soviet-Cuban friendship grow stronger:  let the cooperation between our
parties, countries and peoples grow more profound.  We wish you success in
action on your policy of rectification, on your plans of economic and
social development and improving the title of the peoples.  We wish
happiness and prosperity to the brotherly people of Cuba. [applause]
-END-