-DATE- 19900325 -YEAR- 1990 -DOCUMENT_TYPE- -AUTHOR- -HEADLINE- Castro Speech in Sao Paulo on 17 March -PLACE- CARIBBEAN / Cuba -SOURCE- Havana Cubavision Television -REPORT_NBR- FBIS-LAT-90-061 -REPORT_DATE- 19900329 -HEADER- BRS Assigned Document Number: 000005656 Report Type: Daily Report AFS Number: PA2703145590 Report Number: FBIS-LAT-90-061 Report Date: 29 Mar 90 Report Series: Daily Report Start Page: 7 Report Division: CARIBBEAN End Page: 11 Report Subdivision: Cuba AG File Flag: Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Language: Spanish Document Date: 25 Mar 90 Report Volume: Thursday Vol VI No 061 Dissemination: City/Source of Document: Havana Cubavision Television Report Name: Latin America Headline: Castro Speech in Sao Paulo on 17 March Author(s): President Fidel Castro in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 17 March--recorded] Source Line: PA2703145590 Havana Cubavision Television in Spanish 0330 GMT 25 Mar 90 Subslug: [Speech by President Fidel Castro in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 17 March--recorded] -TEXT- FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE: 1. [Speech by President Fidel Castro in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 17 March--recorded] 2. [Text] Dear friends of the Presidency, dear guests, dear friends of Sao Paulo. Many subjects could be approached here, but time is short. For this reason, I will try to be brief, although I do not always succeed. [Audience laughs] This morning, I recalled the first news I had of the Latin American Memorial Building. It was on the occasion of Governor Cuarcia's first visit to our country. He and I met and talked a number of times and established good communication, which has withstood the test of time, regardless of political ideas of one kind or another. We did not talk much on economic and social concepts. We discovered, however, that Brazil and Cuba; Sao Paulo and Cuba; the people of Latin America, Brazil, and Cuba have many things in common. We talked of many subjects. There are government tasks that go beyond the narrow framework of political or philosophical concepts, such as the phenomena of development and problems like those mentioned by Daniel [Ortega], the huge foreign debt --in Brazil this is to be added to its large internal debt--the various ways in which our countries are looted, things are imposed on us, and others try to control and indoctrinate us. 3. These are real problems that Latin American and Third World countries have to deal with regardless of political ideologies. For instance, education is a need of every country and a topic which Latin American leaders can talk about at length and share experiences. Then there is also health, so vital for our people, about which we can talk, reach a consensus, exchange experiences, and do many things. And on and on. There are many tasks and activities that the Sao Paulo governor and I discussed in our country. I pointed out to him some of my recent experiences, such as a new health institution recently created in Cuba, the family doctor. From my viewpoint, this is one of the greatest innovations in the field of health. Our country had the privilege of taking the initiative. Some time later I had the pleasure of learning that this method was being tried out in Sao Paulo. A number of consulting rooms had been built around the family doctor concept in a way very similar to that used in our country. On my way to the airport, or at any other time, I would like to visit one of these family doctors' consulting rooms. 4. I think Sao Paulo's heat is tremendous. It can dry even one's tongue. Anyhow, this is a good example of how one country's experience can be useful to others. I am very interested in knowing how that experiment has worked here. In our country we started with ten doctors five years, six years, ago. Now we have 10,000 doctors in that program. 5. This shows that there are infinite ways in which our countries can cooperate with each other. 6. He told me much about the monument that is being built. He hold me about its general characteristics, who is working on it, and that architectural work is being done by [Brazilian architect Oscar] Niemeyer. I do not know how you pronounce his name, or how he would like to hear it pronounced. I heard somebody call him Niemeyer a while ago. Is that right? Yes? All my life I called him Niemeyer. I do not know why. Maybe I have been mispronouncing the `e' or the `a.' 7. He spoke to me quite a bit. Not only that, he honored me by inviting me to the dedication of the memorial. The invitation pleased me very much. Diplomatic relations had been reestablished, but relations were not at a level such that the governor of Sao Paulo and myself could arrange for a trip to Sao Paulo. I simply could not travel to Sao Paulo without traveling to Brasilia, not Brasilia, to Brazil. [applause] We were unable to put everything together for me to be able to go to the dedication. 8. He had another good idea, an idea that I encouraged-- that as many Latin American leaders as possible would be invited to the dedication and that the dedication would be turned into a meeting, all in connection with what this work symbolizes and with the objectives of rapprochement, interchanges, unity, and Latin American integration of this work. Everyone shares this idea, everyone agrees, in general terms, with this idea, although some of us support this idea with more conviction and intensity than others. 9. I have attended several meeting in connection with presidential inaugurations over the past two years. I have always found it strange that the chiefs of state of Latin America never meet. I have often wondered: Why do they not meet? As a result of our relations with Africa, we have gained some experience and we have seen that the African states, the African leaders, meet at least twice a year. The leaders of Europe meet almost every month. The only ones who never meet are the Latin American leaders. [applause] 10. Latin Americans, unfortunately--and this is a historical fact--have only met when we are convened in Washington or are convened by the United States. That is the historic reality. It is enough that a U.S. President beckons with a finger and everyone leaves for Washington, even if it is an impromptu meeting. Latin Americans do not know about meeting. I have told this to many presidents: Why do we not meet if we have many serious problems and common problems to resolve? Why do we not meet to discuss the debt? Not even the debt, which is a veritable disaster, has been worthy of promoting a meeting of Latin American presidents. 11. Not even the need for a new international economic order, the need to put an end to the looting of our countries, has been worthy of making us meet. Meetings are held in groups of five or six, and the rest are excluded. The Cartagena Group, the Group of Eight, meet yet no one dares to say: All of you come, let us all meet just as we meet at the United Nations or as we meet at the Nonaligned Movement. We have always struggled for that and I have raised these problems. I know that we do not meet because, unfortunately for decades, despite being almost neighbors, we have had the habit of submission and obedience. [applause] The one who does not want us ever to meet is the United States. We have not been able to evade that complex. We have not known how to be daring; despite the fact that we dare to do more each time, we still have not dared even to meet. In the past we have seen our faces at these government inauguration ceremonies. It has been useful, but in none of the cases, not even for two hours, has there been a meeting among all. Yet we speak of integration; we speak of unity. We are far from reaching those objectives if we do not even start by meeting. I saw that intention, that objective; I even saw that possibility, that perhaps the inauguration of this institution, this memorial which is so symbolic, could be the reason to have a meeting of this kind so we could begin to speak in collective terms, in economic terms, and in political terms. 12. These are the things that I remember of those talks. This project elicited great interest. Following a line that is independent of political conceptions and stemming from these common interests, we made the trip to Brazil. The governor more than once reminded us, spoke of the invitation, and expressed his desire that we visit Sao Paulo. In Rio de Janeiro they also expressed the desire that we go there to take advantage of our trip. I had something of a doubt as to whether it was reasonable or prudent to spend three more days to honor those invitations. I maintain the criterion that one must always leave one minute before and not one minute after. 13. It is always better to leave early and not to tire, not to bore, and not to give the impression that we are planning an endless trip. This kind of trip always creates work, trouble, and concern. However, we assessed the situation and asked the opinion of Cubans, Brazilians, and friends, who told me this is normal. It is considered normal that whoever makes this kind of visit also visits these two states, which are the most important and are very representative of the country. Therefore, extending the visit to attend the invitations would not be seen at all as abnormal. This is why we have had the privilege of visiting Sao Paulo. 14. This is not the first time we have visited Sao Paulo; a long time ago, when I was a newborn, in 1959 [crowd laughs] and the Revolution was not even three months old, and even though we believed we were very revolutionary--we were like raw material, knew absolutely nothing--and the worse part is that we thought we knew so much about everything. However, during a lightning trip we made through various countries, we visited the United States and Canada. Later we came to Brasilia which was then being built, it was almost finished. I became familiar with the outstanding works by Niemeyer. At that time, the city was very small, it is not what exists now. Later, we made a brief stopover here. We continued our trip to Brazil, we had to attend a meeting, and we stayed for a few days. Later, we came back and made a stopover in Rio de Janeiro before returning to Cuba. 15. Now, 31 years later, I am here again. I think I can appreciate everything better, reflect more, take advantage of every minute of my stay here in this country. It is said that experience is something that you lack when you need it and that you have when you do not need it. I will take this opportunity when experience may perhaps be useful. I must say that I am very impressed with the memorial, it is an extraordinary work, and I can also see that it is gaining more prestige in Brazil and around world. We also had the opportunity to see the library, the historical room, I do not know what specific name you give to it--it is like a cathedral--and the creations room. In a very brief period of time and surrounded by friendly journalists, we have been able to see some things, sign some books, and also feel committed to helping with the festival. I was told that they acquired some of the books in Mexico and in various other places, and that they are interested in a good collection on Cuba, with material that can be used for research on Cuba. I told them that there is no need to buy them, because it is our duty, a pleasure, and an honor for us to donate to the library the section that corresponds with Cuba. [applause] 16. In addition, we intend to donate all of the Cuban music you want. We will always be willing to cooperate in this wonderful cultural work. We will send groups of artists, such as the National Ballet, whenever you make the request. We sincerely feel part of this institution and feel our duty to cooperate with it. On this occasion, it so happens that the change of government and our visit to the country coincides with the first anniversary and the very kind honor you bestowed upon a man who has spent nearly all his life doing one of the most humane things that can be done at the present time. This award and recognition was given to this personality known not only in Brazil but throughout the world, [Orlando] Villaboa [Brazilian expert on Indian affairs]. 17. I pondered all this but I could not understand what was going on, perhaps because of the microphone and the position of the loudspeakers. I hope to be able to read the speech later because I think he was saying some magnificent things. I thought about the humanity of his work. Why has his work become something so humane? Because he fought all his life to save what was left from annihilation. This extermination began nearly 500 years ago when they discovered us--as if we were objects to be discovered; as if someone really discovered us; as if we had been discovered by injustice, the spirit of conquest, the spirit of looting, the spirit of oppression our peoples have experienced for nearly 500 years. 18. Abuses, crimes, looting occurred for centuries. Indians were enslaved. They were exterminated in many places. They were exploited for centuries. Why am I so deeply concerned about the apology some people want to make for the conquest, enslavement, and colonialism? Because such an apology is not accompanied by a historical self-criticism of all that happened. There cannot be an apology and a commemoration of the fifth centennial without profound self-criticism, not only for historic, but even practical reasons related to our lives. There are some people today who look at us in the same manner that the conquerors looked at the Indians. And these people want to conquer and colonize us again. In fact they have been colonizing us. 19. I have sometimes wondered, if new conquerors came again, conquered us, enslaved us, exterminated a number of those who today live here in this hemisphere, raped the women, and committed all of the horrors that the old conquerors perpetrated, would our descendants in 500 years commemorate the half millenium of the new conquest. 20. I cannot conceive of this in my mind. This has been our position on this subject. I have said this stand of ours has cost us more than one headache in our international relations because of the effect our views have on those who are extremely sensitive to a critical opinion on the significance of the conquest. 21. Not only the Brazilian Indians need protection and a Villaboa capable of understanding and protecting them. The Indians of today need to be understood and helped. We do not want to be the Indians of today, but if we do not unite, if we do not cooperate with each other, if we do not integrate, if we do not reach political unity in the future, we will be the Indians of today's world. 22. This can be demonstrated mathematically. Our nations have no future without integration. Even a big country like Brazil, with a territory of 8.5 million sq km and significant industrial development, needs the support and the integration of the rest of Latin America. 23. We need each other, without exception. [applause] Small countries, of course, need integration more than the large ones. I ask you: What will be the fate of a balkanized continent in the world today and in the near future? What chance of survival will it have? What will its economic chances be if the countries are isolated and each country depends only on its own strength? 24. Daniel [Ortega] explained how they [the industrialized countries] discuss the debt issue with each country. They get together at the IMF, at the World Bank, at the Paris Club, but when it comes down to us, they demand to speak with each of us separately. They have formed a powerful consortium to discuss economic problems with each of our countries. They force our people to accept conditions, the worst kind of conditions. 25. This is the strategy they have implemented and are implementing. Their economies continue improving. Why? Because when the value of the dollar drops, the yen, the lira, the Spanish peseta, the British pound, the Deutsch Mark, and the franc, everybody rushes to support the dollar. 26. The developed and powerful economies sustain and help each other. However, when the value of the cruzado, or the austral, or the boliviano, or the Colombian peso drops, no one helps. No bank from any other country deposits millions to save a country from inflation. 27. What is at the end of this kind of road? We have become exporters of capital. At this point, we are just as we were at the time of the conquest, when our gold and silver mines were exploited and the gold and the silver that made possible the development of the industrialized world was taken away. Who are the industrialized countries? The former colonial metropolises. From where did they obtain the resources? From our countries. 28. The resources were in the form of minerals or plantations. We made them rich and now they are very rich. 29. They continue to exploit us in a thousand different ways. If a mathematician begins to figure out what they are stealing from us today in various ways, through profiteering or unfair trade, by virtue of which they buy our products at lower and lower prices and sell us their knicknacks at increasingly higher prices [applause] with the protectionist measures, the duties, quotas, in thousands of ways --the Brazilians know it, the Latin Americans know it very well--they take our money. They take it in such a way that the capital flight is invisible. It is a situation of chronic inflation in each of the economies of Latin America. The lowest annual inflation rate is 18 to 20 percent and the highest is 3,500 percent annually. Many economies have a 500, 700, 1,000, 1,500-percent annual inflation rate. How can there be economic stability? How can capital be retained? Whoever has money in his country runs desperately to convert it to dollars to protect it, because the dollar is protected. Money escapes from the country. If measures are taken to keep that money, by paying high interest, then the money is not invested in factories. The money that escapes is not invested in factories but in speculative ventures, not in production. [applause] 30. So, when one speaks of unity and integration, one is speaking of questions that are vital for the future of our countries. I said that if a mathematician figures out what was taken from here during the time of the conquest, from the colony, for a century, it could be demonstrated today that each year the former metropolises take from us as much as they used to in an entire century. One only has to figure it out. Before they took tons of gold, tons of gold [repeats himself], when they took 10 or 20 tons of gold and crossed the seas pursued by pirates, organized in fleets, they took 10 million [denomination not given] in gold. That is a fabulous sum. Nevertheless, that is more or less what the price of gold is. It fluctuates, but, explained briefly, it is around 10 million. I do not know whether it amounts to 10 million dollars at this time. So, when they take 1 billion, they are taking 100 tons of gold. When they take 10 billion, they are taking 1,000 tons of gold. 31. When we have a net loss of $30 billion as the result of our exports, this means that they are taking away from us, depriving us of the equivalent of 3,000 tons of gold every year, the result of our effort, work, and sweat; the sweat of hundreds of millions of Latin Americans. I do not think all the gold produced in the world, including that produced by South Africa, the Soviet Union, and Brazil, amounts to 1,000 tons. The entire production amounts to only several hundred tons. We have a net extraction-- I am not including the capital flight--of 3,000 tons of gold every year. This looting is much bigger than it was in the times of the colonies. We are again financing the development of the rich developed countries. In the future, they will be super rich to the same extent that we become poorer and poorer. I am not uttering slogans. If you care to look up the reports and statistics published by international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, the IMF, and other UN institutions, the management of which we understand. If you read the WHO or UNICEF reports, you will see horrific figures. I will not give many figures, but here is an example: A total of 700,000 children die every year in our hemisphere, all of whom could have been saved. But there are no medicines or doctors to save them or vaccines to protect them. [applause] 32. This was explained to me personally with these words: If the other Latin American countries had Cuba's health care, 700,000 children would be saved every year--every year. [Applause] If nutrition, housing, and general health indices are examined--after all, we are speaking of those who die--we would find a dreadful figure. Approximately 85 of every 1,000 children born alive die between birth and five years of age. To those who do not die during the first year, we have to add those who die in the second, third, fourth year, etc. We also would have to add the terrible consequences of malnutrition in many instances. Under what conditions will they grow up and what kind of intelligence will they develop if they do not receive the necessary nourishment? This figure, far from improving, worsens. The sad thing is that this figure is worsening. 33. This is the world that they want to give us Latin Americans. I think we should become aware. I debated with journalists at one time and told them: Why do we not think of the essence of the problems. We are terribly exploited and disinformed. I am appalled by the prevailing ignorance about many problems. Because of the questions we are asked about Cuba, I realize there is a tremendous ignorance. I see this in the journalists' questions. I am forced to speak and explain. I often encourage them to go deeper into the real problems. I tell them not to let themselves be carried away by the propaganda of the empire, of those who loot us. I tell them not to let themselves be deceived, not to let themselves be confused, not to play along with them. 34. Many friends have told us: You must give more information about what is happening in Cuba. I tell them: Yes, we want to do that, but how? There are very powerful news agencies, the mass media. They control billions of dollars annually. They are the ones who inform the world. Meanwhile, the world does not know what is happening in our countries. It hurts to see how they disinform and lie in this era of communication. It is so because the mass media is in their [the United States'] hands. [applause] It is difficult to know the truth. 35. These are facts. They also try to separate us, to divide us. This is the best way for them to subjugate and exploit us. They are trying to turn us into the tribes that the conquistadores found here. It is easier to dominate our people that way. These are facts. I would like to talk to you about Cuba, but it is not necessary. I have talked with many journalists. I do not know how many questions I have answered. Please forgive me if I have failed to tell you more about Cuba. Please allow me to tell you that Cuba stands firm, that Cuba will not bend as easily as the United States, encouraged by events in East Europe, believes. The United States ignores that there is a true revolution in our country, a revolution we did not import, but that we created ourselves. The same way we created it, we have been defending it for 30 years, close to the world's most powerful country, a country that has imposed a blockade on us and has harassed us. This is a revolution that has produced profound patriotic awareness; a firm revolutionary spirit; a fighting and aware people; a united, organized, trained, and armed people who will not be easily grabbed with just one hand, like one cannot grab a beehive with one hand. [applause] 36. Our revolution is not built with cards and held together with meringue. It is made of steel. Therefore they will have to forget the illusions they have come to feed us because some countries have become allies of the empire as a result of difficulties of one nature or another, as a result of economic difficulties. 37. We are preparing our country to resist under any circumstances, any. Even if special peacetime situations emerge. The effort our nation is making is designed for that. 38. This is what I wanted to tell you about Cuba. I also want to tell you: Trust in Cuba. Cuba is defending not just its own sovereignty. In that trench we are defending, as we see it, the interests of the other people of Latin America. [applause] 39. A few days before dying in combat, Jose Marti wrote a letter to a friend of his. The letter contained an extraordinary thought. The letter said: Everything had to be done quietly. The following is not his exact words, but the essence of the idea: Everything I have done up to now, and everything I will do, has been designed to secure the independence of Cuba--the Cuba that the yankees wanted to grab--to keep the United States from acquiring this additional strength, therefore preventing it from jumping on the nations of America. 40. We know we are defending a just idea, a just cause. We know we are defending our Latin American brothers. If they were to smash the Cuban trench, they would be emboldened without limits. 41. They have waged a dirty war against Nicaragua. That war produced thousands of Nicaraguan dead. They imposed terrible conditions on Nicaragua to prevent its revolutionary process. They ruined Nicaragua's economy and imposed all kinds of sacrifices on the Nicaraguan people. The Nicaraguans had to accept the challenge of the election process. 42. Since they are capable of doing this today, of invading Panama, of establishing a blockade against Colombia, of sending soldiers everywhere to establish domestic order, we can realize that a defeat of our country would be terribly harmful to the other nations of Latin America and the Third World. 43. We have intense relations with the Third World. As they [the United States] have isolated us, even from Latin America, we have developed relations with other nations from other continents, those of Africa, for example. 44. There, hundreds of thousands of our fellow countrymen served internationalist missions. They struggled against foreign invasions, against the South African troops who represented apartheid. We struggled at the side of our Angolan brothers, people who speak the same language as Brazil, people who love Brazil very much. We were there almost 15 years, without hesitation. We were there until our objectives were achieved. The independence of Angola was secured, the independence of Namibia was guaranteed, and an irreversible process, that in our opinion will lead to the elimination of apartheid in South Africa, began. [applause] 45. I can tell you, comrades and friends, that I am sure that you are concerned about our country. Recently, the president of Venezuela and the prime minister of Spain told me they are concerned. They even said so publicly. We have said fatherland or death. They have said that Cuba's strategy must not be resistance. They speak of Sagunto and Numancia, of holocaust. A Spaniard asked me a question about this and I asked him where was he from. Then I asked him how many people had died defending Zaragoza as a result of an invasion of Spain. I asked him: How many people died in your war of independence? I told him: At that time, you did not think about Sagunto or Numancia. You prepared to defend your fatherland at all costs and this is why you were able to defeat the Napoleonic invasion. 46. They cannot come to talk about Sagunto or Numantia to us. First, because we would rather die than to be slaves, than to be dominated by the United States again. [applause] And second, because we are not going to cease to exist. If they attack us, we are so prepared that we will make the attackers pay such a high price that we will be able not only to resist, but also to win. [applause] 47. Thank you, Governor Cuarcia, Niemeyer--Niemeyer once and for all. Thank you, (Maure Garcirive). Thank you Professor Villaboa. Thank you all. Thank you, guests, not only for this pleasant moment filled with emotion that you allowed us to enjoy today, but also for your patience in listening to me. [lengthy applause, shouts of ``Fidel''] -END-