-DATE-
19930222
-YEAR-
1993
-DOCUMENT TYPE-

-AUTHOR-

-HEADLINE-
Castro Speaks at Second Havana Elections Meeting
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Havana Tele Rebelde and Cuba Vision Networks
-REPORT NO.-
FBIS-LAT-93-035
-REPORT DATE-
19930224
-HEADER-
========================================================

Report Type:         Daily report             AFS Number:     FL2302135093
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-93-035          Report Date:    24 Feb 93
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     3
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       12
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       22 Feb 93
Report Volume:       Wednesday Vol VI No 035

Dissemination: 

City/Source of Document:   Havana Tele Rebelde and Cuba Vision Networks 

Report Name:   Latin America 

Headline:   Castro Speaks at Second Havana Elections Meeting 

Author(s):   President Fidel Castro at the second working meeting for the
elections , held at the Lazaro Pena Theater in Havana on 20 February-recorded] 

Source Line:   FL2302135093 Havana Tele Rebelde and Cuba Vision Networks in
Spanish 0127 GMT 22 Feb 93 

Subslug:   [Speech by President Fidel Castro at the second working meeting for
the elections, held at the Lazaro Pena Theater in Havana on 20
February-recorded] 

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE: 1.  [Speech by President Fidel Castro at the second
working meeting for the elections, held at the Lazaro Pena Theater in Havana on
20 February-recorded] 

2.  [Text] [Castro] Dear comrades: During this week, almost since the start of
the week, and because of the things we were seeing about how this contest, this
battle, this campaign was going, we reached the conclusion that it would be a
good idea to hold a second working meeting to analyze the experiences we had
been gaining and so that all of us would have the opportunity to hear the
views, opinions, and impressions of many of the comrades who were participating
in this struggle. 

3.  It is not the same for one to hear things in accumulation, one after
another, as if we all met to think about the problem together. To hold this
meeting, we needed to use the Karl Marx Theater, since we wanted to invite a
larger number of comrades who re participating and whom we have seen at the
base level. But the Karl Marx Theater was already booked for the jazz festival,
which is an activity that should not and could not be interfered with.
Therefore, we had to fit in here, in the Cuban Workers Federation [CTC]
theater, our CTC theater, with the same comrades who met the first time and
would have participated anyway, and a few hundred more people we had invited. I
do not know how they have found room, but I think there was still some room
last time; there were 200 or 300 empty seats. So we were able to invite a few
more comrades, and they are present here. 

4.  You have listened to the many comrades who have spoken. It is a shame we
cannot listen to more, but time is pressing. I do not have much to add, as far
as impressions, to what they have said. I was trying to remember a little, to
recall the last few years which have led us to this time we are experiencing.
Everything began with the Fourth Communist Party of Cuba [PCC] Congress, with
the basic document for the Fourth Congress.  The fact is that in a relatively
short lapse of time, we announced our congress and held our congress, on the
eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Events abroad were moving faster and
faster. When we were thinking about the Fourth Congress, the problems in the
socialist bloc had already begun. While the congress was being held,
circumstances were already difficult, and we could see very serious events
coming. 

5.  In spite of everything, we did not hesitate to hold the congress. We said:
Whatever the international circumstances may be, we will hold the congress. At
the time there was a great crisis in the USSR, although it had not yet
disappeared. It still had a few months to live, or a few weeks to live. We felt
there was no hesitation. That congress was very important. I am not going to
talk now about all the issues that were discussed. But one very important issue
concerned the elections. Rather, not the elections, but the people's
government, improving the people's government, as we called it, what we should
do to improve the people's government. 

6.  At the congress, we came up with very important definitions, but we also
had to modify the Constitution. We also completed the task of modifying the
Constitution.  We had to draw up the new electoral law. We completed the task
of drawing up the new electoral law. We were already in the special period, at
a very difficult time.  Even so, there was no hesitation in announcing the
elections. There were more than enough pretexts and reasons in the conditions
of our country, under a double embargo, in a situation which closely resembles
a war, and while we were involved in so many activities, so many urgent,
pressing, and vital tasks....[rephrases] We did not seek pretexts. We did not
accept, shall we say, reasons or even the idea that the elections should be
postponed indefinitely until the special period was over. 

7.  Anyone could understand how tremendously difficult an election process
would be in the midst of a special period. I think one of the most courageous
actions the Revolution has taken is holding these elections during the special
period. This is something that is also, in my opinion, the right thing to do.
Far from regretting having done this, today we are happy we have done it this
way.  Now we have held the first part of these elections, those of 20 December,
in which the district delegates were elected, and in three or four days, we
will be in the final phase of this election process, the final and most
difficult phase of this election process, which are the direct elections of the
provincial delegates and the deputies to the National Assembly of the People's
Government [ANPP]. These delegates and deputies have to do with state
government, on the middle and highest levels, since the ANPP in our country is
the highest state government body. Fortunately, when we drew up the first
Constitution, we did not copy. Rather, we worked out ideas about what elections
should be like in our country. It cannot be said that all the merit has come
from the Fourth Congress, since we drew up the Constitution....[pauses] in
which we copied things, e must say, but concerning the electoral issue-such a
key issue as the form in which the people exercise their rights, sovereignty,
and power-we developed entirely new forms which were not being applied in the
socialist countries. That is how the people's government bodies were formed. 

8.  But in the entire process of discussing the basic document of the congress,
this issue of the direct election of the ANPP deputies did not appear in the
debates.  Everyone understood our system was very democratic, in and of itself.
At least, it was more democratic than all the others being applied both under
socialism and under capitalism, because we had established a key principle that
was being expressed in concrete terms for the first time. This is the principle
that the people do the nominating and the electing. This took place from the
very start, when the people meeting in assemblies nominated the candidates for
district delegates and approved them. 

9.  During elections, they were elected by the same people, who chose between
several of them, because this selection at the base level could not be done any
other way. A minimum of two and a maximum of eight candidates was established.
Even then, we were oncerned that politicking not occur there at the base level.
It was even said that campaigns would not be conducted. Rather, they would be
known primarily through the candidates' resumes and the residents' knowledge of
the candidates, since these districts covered a limited space, a limited area,
of our populace. But it was to be the resumes that defined the voters' conduct.
Those delegates-elected directly, nominated by the people and elected by the
people-were the ones who in turn elected the provincial assemblies and the
ANPP, as I have said other times. 

10.  That seemed so reasonable and right that this system was not challenged,
and when we talked about improving the people's government system, we talked
about other issues. The idea of a direct and secret vote to elect the ANPP is a
PCC initiative. It was taken in the preparatory commission for the congress. It
was proposed at the congress. This was a courageous, daring, revolutionary step
to establish the principle that the people should nominate and elect not only
the district delegates but also the delegates to the provincial assemblies and
the deputies to the ANPP. 

11.  How to do this was an issue that had to be examined and studied, how to do
this within our system, how to do this within the concept of a single party,
within the ideas and concepts we must defend as one of our country's most
important accomplishments. We had to reconcile the concept of a single party
with this idea of the people doing the nominating and electing. We had to
reconcile it with practice, because what was known in the world when there was
not a single party was a multiplicity of parties. Those were the only known
procedures for holding elections. 

12.  So we had to create something new, and something more just, equitable,
democratic, and pure. Our major concern was to preserve the purity of our
election process and not to introduce politics. If we had made a mistake in
drawing up the methods for carrying out this electoral process, we could have
run into serious problems and really corrupted democracy, as it is corrupted
almost everywhere in the world. Because now this concept of democracy is
penetrating much deeper into our awareness and blood. e can see the abysmal
differences between our system and the system being applied in other countries.
We have had the opportunity today to hear some opinions about how beneficial
and extraordinarily useful and instructive this process has been. This is a
great incentive for us, because I think we are really handling in a fortunate
and revolutionary way issues that are fundamental to the life of any
revolutionary and truly progressive society. 

13.  I think these elections have taught our people a great deal about
democracy, something that is talked about so much in the world. In these days,
we ourselves have been gaining much greater knowledge of the ideas concerning
this issue, from what we have seen in the street. We ourselves have been
learning a great lesson in democracy. We who thought we knew what we were
doing, we who were striving to find the most just, perfect, democratic system
possible, have been learning great lessons in democracy. We have been able to
make many comparisons, since no one knew what this process was going to be
like. It was a new path, a path we had to open up, because ideas in theory are
one thing, and the practical application of ideas is another. Since we had
never experienced such a process-and it had been experienced nowhere-there was
no possible point of comparison. Many comrades have explained here honestly
that they did not know what this campaign was going to be like. I would say
none of us knew completely what this campaign was going to be like. 

14.  We were concerned about certain principles, which were above all that
politicking not be introduced into our electoral process, that war,
competition, the struggle for votes, demagogy, the corruption of our cadres,
our candidates, hypocrisy, and lies ot be introduced. How could we avoid this?
We thought we had managed this in the electoral law. That is what explains the
difference between the system for electing the district delegates and the
system for electing the provincial delegates and the ANPP deputies. To tell the
truth, for a long time our concern focused on the election of ANPP deputies. It
was precisely when the principle of their direct and secret election was
accepted that the decision was also made to apply the same system to the
delegates to the provincial assemblies. There were still questions about
whether the provincial delegates could be elected indirectly. But we reached
the conclusion that we should include them in the same concept as well. 

15.  But we did not think as much about that as we thought about the ANPP. That
is why these ideas were debated quite a bit at the ANPP meeting to discuss the
electoral law. What should we do? How should we do this, choosing between the
many alternatives that could arise?  How could we avoid division, war, and
politicking in our elections? That is how the formula we are applying arose. 
It was as simple as giving the citizens the right not to one vote but to as
many votes as there were candidates. We gave hem more votes. We did not give
them one vote.  They could use that vote however they thought best.  They could
vote for one, two, all or none of the candidates. 

16.  I have repeated this several times, and we must continue to repeat this,
and not only so that we will understand it.  The better we understand it, the
better. But we must also help others understand it. When all the citizens of
this country understand it, it will be useful to repeat it so that the citizens
of other countries, who are used to other systems, will understand it. It may
be difficult for them to understand our system. Their jaws may drop when we
talk to them about it. 

17.  Now, the citizens were given as many votes as there were candidates, but a
requirement must be established, a harsh, truly difficult requirement. They had
to get more than half the valid votes. That is, any of those provincial
delegates or deputies had to get more than half the valid votes. I think this
really capped, we could say, the democratic nature of our system, when we
established this requirement. So we established it. But it had to be tested in
practice. [Words indistinct] then, and we must ay we discovered new things. I
already talked about some of them at the first working meeting. We discovered
our populace was used to a different voting system, and abruptly, suddenly,
they had to understand the new voting concept, and the reasons for these new
concepts, and the values these new concepts were meant to preserve: the
cleanness, honesty, and purity of our elections. 

18.  How could we meet all these goals? We realized these goals were still not
understood. Concerns began to be voiced about the possibility that the voters
would vote as they do in the base-level elections, and as a result an enormous
number of votes would be wasted. As a result of this, plus the requirement for
more than half the votes, many candidates might not be elected. But there was
something even more painful. Although it might be painful that many candidate
would not be elected- because it would force us to hold further elections,
through the procedures established in the Constitution, which give the Council
of State more than one option, and anyone could understand that we could not
hold elections like these every day-there was something even more painful. 

19.  That was the fact that only the most well-known and popular....[pauses]
who are certainly the minority among the candidates for the ANPP. They are the
minority. I would say that the ones who are known nationally are about 20
percent, the ones we could call popular or very popular, or very well-known, if
we do not want to equate the word well-known with popularity. If I am not
mistaken, they would be a little more than 20 percent. But we realized many of
the extraordinarily talented people in our nation, who had been recognized and
nominated, ran the risk of not being elected. They would have to be replaced by
others who would surely be less well-known than they were. They might have the
same merits, but not more. 

20.  We were running the risk of committing a great injustice, which was the
impossibility of having wonderful, excellent citizens elected. But this was not
only an injustice.  There was also the danger that our ANPP would not be
representative, that the greatest number of talented people, and if possible
the most talented people in the country, would not be present in our ANPP. We
realized one of the characteristics of our democracy and our legislature, which
no other country has, could be thwarted. That s the fact that almost half the
deputies would be base-level delegates. Many things have become evident in this
process, and one of them is this, that we have many things in our system that
no other country has. The capitalist countries cannot even dream of this,
because a base-level man has no opportunity to be in the legislature, or the
senate if they have two chambers. The equivalent of a city councilman, as I
have said before, could not be in the legislature. He would have no chance. 
The mayor of a municipality, the equivalent of our municipal assembly
president, would have no opportunity to be in the legislature. 

21.  It became evident that in no legislature in the world are there so many
base-level people as in our legislature, people who are in direct contact with
the masses, direct contact with the people. They are not well-known.  Because a
district delegate-I epeat once again-is known there in the district. Now the
elections were not going to be decided by a few hundred votes. By establishing
the requirement of more than half, the elections were going to be decided by
thousands of votes, in spite of the fact that we created the districts. Because
imagine elections in Santiago de Cuba, with almost 500,000 inhabitants. What
would that be like if we had not created the districts? 

22.  We had to create districts in the major cities. How could we have held
elections in Havana, or Diez de Octubre Municipality with 240,000 or 250,000
inhabitants, if we did not divide it into several districts? But even divided
into districts, a candidate has to get a very high number of votes. I was
extremely worried about the risk that many of these base-level delegates would
not be elected, if that tendency to be selective, that habit of being
selective, or that tendency to vote for a person one knows well, or to vote for
a neighbor one deals with personally would mean that votes were divided,
scattered, and very few base-level delegates were elected. 

23.  Some would say: But the resumes are available. I have talked about this
before and I will talk about it again.  The resumes cannot solve everything,
even assuming they were all read and studied. The resumes could not be the
same, and when one compares the record of someone who has spent 45 or 50 years
with the Revolution with that of a comrade who has spent 3 or 4 years, is only
18 or 19 years old, who is a student who has been outstanding since he was a
Pioneer, whose comrades selected him from his merits, who has to be a good
student, among other things, because he could not be a cadre in our student
organizations if he were not, that young person cannot have the record of a
comrade with 30, 40, 50 years in the Revolution. His resume could ot be the
same. 

24.  Our ANPP has to have men with 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, and 5 years of
experience so that it can be representative.  How could there be an ANPP
without representatives of the students, of whom there are millions in this
country?  How could there be an ANPP ithout researchers, of whom there are tens
of thousands in this country, who are playing a decisive role in this battle,
and who have great talent, although they are not well-known? The innovators are
not well-known, and many other candidates for deputies are not well-known. How
could we have a truly representative ANPP without them? 

25.  How could we decide everything based only on the resumes, and also by
being excessively selective, super-demanding, in electing a candidate? I am not
going to talk-because I have done so many times-about the excellent selection
process. The candidacy ommissions are essential, and on the provincial and
national levels the candidacy commissions have played the role of the people in
the principle of the people doing the nominating and electing. It was not the
party. We had previously freed the party from the task of nominating the
district delegates and participating in the elections.  But the party chaired
the candidacy commissions. The principle had been established that the
candidacy commissions were made up of the mass organizations and chaired by the
party. 

26.  This time, we freed the party from that task, which clashed with the
principle of mass sovereignty, one of the most sacred principles the party has
to defend as society's vanguard. This is not a matter of reducing the party's
role at all. On the contrary; it elevates the party's role even more so that it
will be society's leader and strategist. But its mission could not be to
nominate the candidates. The candidacy commissions would carry out that
mission, but this time they would be chaired not by the party but by the CTC,
the organization of our workers in a socialist state. 

27.  It has become clear that this was a very correct solution.  It strengthens
the whole idea, the whole concept, of our system, and it facilitates its
defense. We can challenge other countries in the world to do what we are doing
and to have the mass organizations, chaired by the workers, do the nominating.
This cannot be done anywhere else.  It was demanded that those commissions do
almost perfect work. We have always said we cannot assert that it has been
perfect. It is very difficult to do perfect work.  They must try to make it
perfect. They may make mistakes. A person can even change, in exceptional
cases, and be one way today and a different way tomorrow. No one can prevent
that. 

28.  We did not claim that the work by the candidacy commissions was perfect,
but we do assert that they made the greatest effort to do perfect work. That
was essential, because it was necessary precisely to find a correct strategy to
forestall the dangers we were seeing. It was necessary to have faith in the
work of the candidacy commissions. This was essential. Without this, we could
not have worked out the correct strategy that we are applying right now. This
work will become more and more perfect, because now we have the experience. If
1.5 million consultations were held this time, the next time there may be 3 or
5 million. The next time they may have more time. They may do much better work
than they did now. 

29.  Problems will be overcome, because many candidates will be better known,
because cadres have arisen from that entire pool of candidates for the
provincial assemblies. People who will become outstanding will come from those
1,190 delegates to the provincial assemblies-I think that is the number, 1,190.
Great knowledge will come from these contacts of the delegates and deputies
with the people. Thousands of people will become known, not a few dozen or a
few hundred.  Because we have to draw the conclusion from this experience that
these contacts must be made systematic.  Not with the intensity they have
today, but we must continue to apply them as a political, revolutionary method
and as a practice of constant contact between the country's representatives and
the country. 

30.  All this will be easier in the future, and the work by the candidacy
commissions will be much simpler and easier.  The work of the elections will be
much simpler, much easier, because I think the millions and millions of
explanations we have had to give in these few days will not have to be given in
the future. Everyone will know them. 

31.  I have repeated ideas and concepts, but I do this for a reason: Because it
is very important we understand the strategy. We wanted a correct strategy, and
we found the correct strategy with the concept of the united vote. We found the
correct strategy when we said the vote should not be divided or scattered, and
that negative consequences and injustices could result from the scattering and
division of the vote. The need for a united vote....[pauses] Sometimes I say a
united and concentrated vote, but it is known as a united vote. That word
covers the concept we are referring to. This can be expressed in many different
ways, but I think that saying a united vote expresses the idea. 

32.  We already had the strategy. Very well. I was amazed in Santiago de Cuba
that 48 hours after our first working meeting, the majority of people in
Santiago de Cuba understood. I was amazed. However, I saw a certain danger. The
problem is not that people should vote this way. The problem is that people
should internalize, in their awareness, the raison d'etre, the cause, of this
strategy of a united vote. Because if they see it as a matter of discipline,
that is not what we wanted. If they see it as accepting a plea or request by
the Revolution, that is not what we wanted. We did not want them to do this
because they were being asked to in the name of the nation, in the name of the
Revolution, to do this because they were being asked to in the name of
socialism, to do this as a matter of the desire to win a great victory, or as a
simple tactic without meaning. 

33.  We wanted-and I think we are on the way to achieving this, and we have to
continue to struggle to achieve this, and what we are doing tonight is an
effort to achieve this-the idea of a united vote to be not a slogan but rather
a revolutionary strategy. We wanted the idea of a united vote not to be seen as
an act of discipline but as an act of awareness, that would be understood and
seen as being the most just thing in the world that we could do with our votes,
[applause] the most just thing in he world if we wanted a truly representative
ANPP, if we wanted the humble citizens of this country to be able to be elected
as ANPP deputies or delegates of the provincial assemblies, if we wanted
justice, if we wanted equality, and if we wanted our system to be better. 

34.  How could we achieve this? Teaching people to vote is one thing. As we
have said, it is a technical, juridical thing. You say to the citizens: You
have these rights, this many votes. You can do it this way, that way, or some
other way. You can vote for one, two, all, or none. That is your right. So
teaching people to vote is not a strategy.  A united vote is not a technical
matter. It is a political matter. It is a strategy. It is the strategy of
patriots. It is the strategy of revolutionaries. We needed a strategy, and this
began to be seen as a need. At the beginning, it was presented as something
dangerous, or it was accompanied by a certain fear. What is the fear, in my
opinion?  It is the fear that some comrades have that a slogan will be applied
as a slogan, [as heard] that something will be demanded as a matter of
discipline, the fear of the idea of a straitjacket, of saying to the citizens:
You have to vote this way. 

35.  This was giving rise to fear of talking about this, when the problem
really had to be discussed publicly and clearly, argued from solid foundations,
since we have very solid reasons for arguing the idea of a united vote as a
revolutionary strategy, as a political strategy, as something that is very
moral, as something that is very just, as something that is very legal. Because
this is the right we have as revolutionaries to demand or ask something of
ourselves, the right we have as patriots to demand or ask something of
ourselves, but for a reason, for a profound reason. We must do it this way, and
we would feel happier if we did it this way, if no one did this as an act of
discipline but rather if everyone who did this did it as an act of awareness.
We would be happier if everyone who did this did not do it to comply with a
slogan but to comply with a revolutionary strategy, knowing the reason for this
strategy, the reason for this awareness. 

36.  To illustrate things, I explained to many of the comrades with whom I
spoke in these past few days at the public meetings that they should calculate
the number of votes a deputy would have to get in a district with 45,000
voters. He would have to get ore than 20,000 votes, and getting 20,000 votes is
a truly titanic task. It would be a titanic task for the base-level delegates,
who are nominated and known in the districts or a somewhat larger area. They
are well- known there. Or a people's council president is better known. There
is no doubt that the creation of the people's councils was a great step forward
by the Revolution, an enormous step forward, a very important step in improving
the people's government bodies.  Because they are doing wonders, especially in
the rest of the country. They can do many more things there than they can in
the capital, and in the capital they are doing quite a lot, quite a lot.
[repeats himself] [applause] 

37.  If it was difficult for one of those base-level delegates, whom we are so
proud to have in our ANPP, how much more of a problem would it be for the
delegates to the provincial assemblies? Naturally, they are even less
well-known, and newer as a rule. ow could we demand that a district delegate
nominated to be a provincial delegate get 20,000 votes? If everyone puts
crosses all down the column, how many ballots would be annulled by mistake?
Because many ballots are annulled by mistake. How could we ensure the election
of the delegates to the provincial assemblies? 

38.  That problem was even more serious, and we realized it.  That is why we
have insisted more and more on this idea.  It is said 99 percent of the
citizens understand it, or know how to vote. They are familiar with the system.
But there is still 1 percent. We must make them understand.  We cannot resign
ourselves to having 1 percent that are not familiar with this. But what
interests us, with regard to the patriots and revolutionaries, who are the ones
who decide and who will decide, is that they should understand this very well,
be well aware of this, have internalized this. You know I do not use these
words a lot, but I think they are perfectly good for explaining what we mean.
They must become aware of how revolutionary, just, legal, moral, and eautiful
this idea is. [applause] 

39.  Because this is an act of awareness, and that is how we want it to be.
Because this is an intelligent strategy of the Revolution and the people. This
is a key issue. I think we must continue, and it is now easier to take this
concept to the masses. No one can impugn it. No one can challenge it. We have
enjoyed listening here to the ideas, the impressions of the comrades who have
been waging the battle here in the capital. The battle in the capital has
enormous importance, because it is the most difficult. 

40.  Conditions will always be the most difficult in the capital. The
imperialist enemy has always done his greatest work of undermining, his largest
amount of propaganda, in the capital. The enemy has concentrated his efforts
and subversive actions in the capital. All kinds of problems have accumulated
in the capital, in the capital of our country and in any capital, especially
when massive migration occurs. There have been countries that have legally
banned migration. We have never wanted to use those rocedures. We have
preferred the idea and concept of developing the rest of the country, as we
have done. 

41.  But in spite of this, the capital continues to be very attractive. It
continues to be very attractive, and the phenomena of migration continues now
in the special period. I am told by the comrades who are candidates for some of
those difficult districts that they have met some compatriots from the eastern
provinces who have arrived recently, in those districts, where they have put up
a roof or something, but they have arrived. They are from different provinces,
but especially from the eastern provinces. They come for many reasons. As you
know, at one time the inhabitants of the capital did not want to be
construction workers, and the city was filled with construction workers from
other provinces, mainly from the eastern provinces. Havana residents needed
migrants in order to build, because there were not enough construction workers
from Havana. They had many other opportunities. 

42.  That is one of the ways. I know about many of the ways that phenomenon has
taken place. Even though this occurred in our country to a lesser degree than
in any other country, in any case the fact is that a few hundreds of thousands
of people have increased the population of the capital, overburdened the
services, and worsened demand, especially the demand for housing. I do not say
the demand for jobs, because here the Revolution has had to [words indistinct]
citizens to ask them if they will do the favor of joining a construction force
or a factory.  There were job opportunities, but there were some jobs that
Havana residents no longer wanted to do. 

43.  There are different ways. The defense of our capital also had to be
stronger than that of other places in the country, and many compatriots had to
come from other provinces to serve in the armed forces. Many stayed here
afterwards, because coming to Havana, historically at least-and I say at least
because now we are in the special period-has been easy. Returning to one's
original province has been much more difficult. Naturally, this worsens our
housing problems, our water problems, and our problems with services in the
capital. This is the reality. 

44.  So there are objective factors and also the enemy's work, the work of
imperialism, which is primarily concentrated in the capital. It does this
throughout the country. You know they wanted to direct that radio station
primarily at the capital. They wanted to direct that television station
primarily at the capital. They have always directed their main subversive
actions at the capital, knowing the objective problems the capital has. That is
why the struggle is harder here, and what the comrades have said about their
visits to all those poorer areas in the city is admirable. The attitude with
which they were received, the fact that no one asked for anything or brought up
personal problems, is admirable, more than admirable, amazing, knowing the
needs they have, and we know them. 

45.  The comrades who have been in those difficult districts know. Naturally I
did not know what a comrade said here, that the counterrevolutionaries were
saying that the candidates were not going to go to the difficult districts.  I
did not know anything bout that, and I am happy I did not, because I might have
gone to more difficult districts.  [applause] I did not know that. It is a
matter of mentality, idiosyncrasy, and character, to go to places that are
complicated, complex, and difficult. I tried to see in Havana, since I could
not go everywhere, what districts had the most problems. I tried to go to those
districts, those places, those meetings. 

46.  But the comrades have seen much more than I have, and I have been in those
districts over the course of the years.  I know a lot of their problems. I have
visited houses. I have visited those places they call barracks, or what is the
other name? Tenement houses. I have visited tenement houses, and I was very
aware of the problem of the tenement houses. I know how they live in those
tenement houses. Now, the Revolution worked throughout the country. The
Revolution worked in all provinces. It transformed entire regions. The capitals
of the 14 provinces are not even recognizable today, many of them, with their
roads, their buildings, and their facilities. The face of those cities has
changed. 

47.  The Revolution worked a lot, and it was very right, to develop all the
provinces in the country. That was precisely the way to discourage migration.
It was not only a matter of justice, but a method to reduce the problems of
migration to the capital, hich occurs throughout Latin America. We are talking
about 2 million inhabitants. There are cities in Latin America that have 20
million inhabitants. An example is Mexico City; it has 20 million inhabitants.
Sao Paulo has 16 or 17 million inhabitants, I think. I think Rio de Janeiro has
around 10 million inhabitants. Caracas has between 4 and 5 million inhabitants.
Bogota has about that many.  Lima has about that many. It is a universal
phenomenon. 

48.  The fact is that in our country, we feel an obligation to give every
citizen, all citizens, a pension, a job, education, public health care,
recreation, culture, a certain material standard of living. We cannot resign
ourselves to the idea that there s a single person living in terrible
conditions. That is why the Revolution exists, to help all citizens. We cannot
forget anyone. You know how in the capitalist world, as a rule, they forget,
and horrifying things happen. We all know about this. There are even death
squads that kill children. They not only kill criminals, which is dreadful.
Forces are organized, paid by landowners, which have the task of killing
criminals, and they kill children 8, 9, and 10 years old, because many of those
children have become involved in crime. 

49.  So the phenomena that can occur in any capitalist society....[rephrases]
If there are people who sleep in doorways, we cannot resign ourselves to seeing
anyone sleeping in a doorway. We cannot resign ourselves to seeing anyone
homeless in the street, either in normal times nor in the special period.
[applause] We cannot resign ourselves to any of the many horrible things to
which the capitalist societies have resigned themselves, especially in the
Third World. Because we must not forget that the vast majority of humanity
lives in the Third World, and that only a few privileged people live in the
developed capitalist societies. They developed at the cost of looting the rest
of the world for centuries. 

50.  That is why these problems take on great importance for us. Our citizens
rightly feel that they should be helped and aided. If they come on their own
account, without consulting anyone, and stay, and start to live anywhere, they
feel that something should be done for them and that the problem should be
solved for them. The Revolution has tried to solve the problem. It does not
forget them. 

51.  Because if it is true that the Revolution has done a lot for the rest of
the country, the Revolution has never forgotten the capital. The numbers, the
figures, the facts, show this. The enormous social and economic development our
capital has undergone show this, especially social development, because it
already had a certain level of economic development. But our capital has
undergone considerable economic development and colossal social development. 

52.  Think, for example, of the childcare center before the special period. In
only two years, 114 were built in the capital, 114 or 112. I think that two
more were built later. There are 114 in the capital, with capacity for more
than 200 children, very modern institutions with everything that is needed. The
capacity for children in the childcare centers increased by more than 50
percent in only two years. In those years, on the eve of the special period, 20
new polyclinics were built, and all the polyclinics- polyclinics and dental
clinics-in the capital were put into suitable facilities. 

53.  In those years, 24 special schools were built. All the enrollment-that is,
all the demand-for special schools in our capital was covered. No other city in
the country has that. Dozens of hospital increased their numbers of beds or
were repaired or remodeled. Hundreds of small food markets were built in those
years before the special period. Dozens of supermarkets and minimarkets were
built. Fifty video halls for the populace's recreation were built. Eighteen
centers for physical fitness, or eighteen gymnasiums for physical fitness, were
built. More than 1,000 senior citizens' clubs were organized. More than 1,000
aerobics clubs, mainly for young people and students, were organized. Nine
completely new bus terminals were built in record time to improve everything to
do with urban transportation. Dozens and dozens of bakeries were built with the
idea of having bakeries close to the populace, as had been traditional, to
replace the large bread factories because of their drawbacks in distributing
the product, since people wanted to receive it very fresh. 

54.  It would take forever if we were to list the number of things of a social
nature that were done between 1986 and 1989 in our capital. I should not forget
facilities such as the pediatric cardiovascular surgery centers, completely new
pediatric hospitals, intensive care wards in all the pediatric hospitals-this
had been done shortly before-young people's computer clubs, the main computer
club center, the Expocuba permanent exhibit center, completion of the botanical
garden, great progress in building the new zoo. We were even working on the
design for the new aquarium. There were new highways; we were building roads of
all kinds. A great effort, a special effort, was being made, starting with the
creation of the Blas Roca Contingent. There were new sources of water for the
city, 30 entirely new brigades to repair roads, more than 60 brigades to repair
water lines, new technology for rebuilding the old pipelines that leaked so
much water, reservoirs built to supply water to the city. 

55.  In short, a lot of things were done throughout the years for the city. We
were thinking, we had drawn up the plans, for new secondary schools, also with
semi-boarding plans for working mothers. There were new designs for primary
schools in the cities. There was no longer a need for new buildings but rather
to improve the conditions in which all the children in the city were studying.
These designs were being drawn up. There were sports facilities, 2,420 family
doctor's offices, which now care for more than 80 percent of the population,
according to figures we received recently, 2,420 family doctor's offices in a
few years. 

56.  Was the capital being taken care of or not? But the most important thing
of all was that we had started to develop the program to solve the housing
problem in the capital.  In the capital and throughout the country, but we were
making a special effort in the capital. The minibrigades had been reborn, and
considerable investment was made in hard currency to build factories to make
bricks, blocks, tiles, and sanitary fixtures, to expand the cement factories,
to expand the steel rod factory at Antillana de Acero, which almost tripled its
capacity, to increase the production of sand and stone. But we were not just
investing in Havana and Havana City Provinces because, comrades, we had even
run out of stone in Havana and Havana City Provinces. It as already running
out, and we were putting equipment in the last, relatively small quarries. But
we were opening quarries in Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, even in Villa Clara, to
transport the stone and sand to Havana by train. 

57.  There are new sources of sand from the seashore in northern Pinar del Rio
Province, since we could not continue to take sand from the beaches in the
north of Havana Province, nor from Varadero. That would be a crime, a great
mistake. No responsible government could do that. That is what was done before.

58.  The conditions had been created to build not less than 20,000 new housing
units per year. That required electrical wires, aluminum fixtures, wood
fixtures, etc., etc., etc. You cannot even imagine what a program to produce
the materials needed for 20,000 housing units is like. Do not forget the
asbestos-cement, clay, iron, and plastic pipes. The industrial capacity had
been created not only to produce the materials for 20,000 housing units but
also to repair tens of thousands of housing units every ear. We knew that the
city needed repairs, above all, and we had the information about the tenement
houses and the houses that were falling down in the city. 

59.  How much effort was being made, over the course of the years but
especially in the years before the special period? Although the minibrigades,
as you know, were founded during the seventies, more than 20 years ago, and
they gave a great boost to construction, unfortunately, the movement lost
momentum later, for reasons we have explained. But now the social minibrigades
were created, and citizens were given jobs building, repairing, or maintaining
their houses. We had reached the extreme of saying o a housewife: Look, join
this minibrigade and we will pay you to work repairing your house and your
neighbors' houses. 

60.  Thousands and thousands of housewives joined that movement. We were
looking for the work force to build new housing projects and repair the
existing houses. We built paint factories, even a white cement factory in
Siguaney, so that we would have the cement needed to make the paint for the new
buildings, because paint is extremely expensive. We sought solutions of all
kinds.  But the contingents also arose as a new idea, with tremendous strength.
These contingents were initially for construction. The first industrial
contingent was created in San Miguel del Padron. It is there, and it has great
prestige. It tripled productivity. It is one of the best factories in our city.
So not only were investments made, but ideas and programs were worked out. 

61.  A group was formed for the strategic guidance of the city's development.
As you know very well, in our capital the Revolution did not spend its time
building offices and public buildings. The public buildings the Revolution uses
after 30 years were almost all built before the Revolution. The Revolution did
build many schools of all kinds in the city, and sports facilities, including
the sports facilities for the last Pan-American Games, in which for the first
time in the history of this hemisphere the feat of a Latin American country
winning against the United States was accomplished. [applause] 

62.  These facilities are being used. The Revolution did not forget the
capital, but it has always been aware of the complexity of the problems in the
capital. That is why we said that the battle was more difficult here. I really
think that the candidacy commission did an excellent job with the lists of
candidates from the capital. They are strong, and no one has shirked their
responsibilities. The party has not shirked its responsibilities. They
nominated eight Politburo members, and here they are in the apital, in the most
difficult place. [applause] 

63.  No one has shirked their responsibilities. They have been waging a
tremendous battle. At first, we did not know how many days the campaign would
last. It was clear to me from the first moments that this campaign would have
to last up until 24 February, and be intense.  Because of course, some comrades
who have important responsibilities had to travel to the eastern provinces or
Camaguey. It is not easy for them to spend two whole weeks. We must not forget
that this special period....[corrects himself] No, these elections are taking
place in the midst of the special period, the sugar harvest, the sugar harvest,
[repeats] the cold-season planting-potatoes, vegetables, tubers-the tobacco
planting, and many other agricultural activities, plus the tremendous work in
managing the country in the midst of the great tensions arising from the
special period. 

64.  But we were involved in this battle, and I have no doubt that all the
comrades have spent two, three, or four hours on their work every day, if they
could, but they spent the rest of the time in the electoral struggle, the
battle, especially here in Havana City. They have done the same throughout the
country, but I think the greatest effort has been made here. Here was where the
greatest effort had to be made. It was clear to me that the comrades were going
to be involved in this task up to 24 February. Since I had to be here, and I
had already been in Santiago de Cuba, I also wanted to participate in some way
in this great battle in the capital. Thus my modest-and I say this
sincerely-participation in this campaign. I went to two or three meetings.
Others went to five, six, seven, 10 meetings, to two or three meetings every
day, two or three different places. But I was aware that the hardest battle was
being waged here. 

65.  Now, if it is true that the objective and subjective conditions are more
difficult in the capital, we also have tremendous patriotic and revolutionary
forces in the capital. I do not forget how many Moncada combatants we recruited
in the capital of the Republic, in addition to the large group [applause] of
comrades from Artemisa. I do not forget that we organized the movement here,
and it came to have 1,200 combatants. At Moncada and in Bayamo we used about
160 because we did not have resources or guns. But we had mobilized, organized,
and trained 1,200 combatants. Then we did a selection, depending on the guns we
had. 

66.  I do not forget the workers of the capital, who unanimously responded to
the call for a general strike which consolidated our victory on 1 January.
[applause] I do not forget the National Revolutionary Militia, made up of tens
of thousands of workers rom the capital, [applause] and the hundreds of
artillery men. When artillery guns began to arrive here, surface guns and
anti-aircraft guns, we recruited young people and workers from the capital. I
do not forget the thousands of young people from the capital who participated
in the literacy campaign. I do not forget that at the Bay of Pigs, the highest
number of battalions was from the capital of the Republic. [applause] 

67.  I do not forget that before, the capital of the Republic had sent 40,000
armed workers to fight the gangs in the Escambray, 40,000. [applause] I
remember this very well, because I visited the place more than once, because I
met with almost all of them at ceremonies at which I explained the importance
of that task. They surrounded the Escambray everywhere. They divided it up,
they split it up, and they put a squadron in each house, at times, when they
wanted to clear an entire area of bandits. That appened before the Bay of Pigs,
because the enemy's plans, before the clearing of the Escambray, were to land
at Trinidad, near the Escambray. They changed their plans when the battalions
from the capital cleared the Escambray. 

68.  I do not forget the mobilizations of manual cane cutters, of the workers
from our capital. [applause] They mobilized even to Camaguey. I do not forget
those who are currently mobilized from here. I do not forget those from the
capital who joined the Territorial Troops Militia.  [applause] I do not forget
those from the capital who are building tunnels to defend the nation.
[applause] I cannot forget something I had not mentioned: the capital of the
October missile crisis. [applause] 

69.  I do not forget the capital that organized the first contingents. I do not
forget the capital of the mobilizations to agriculture, [applause] the capital
that organized dozens of contingents and mobilizations. I do not forget the
capital, hundreds of housands of whose children have participated, contributing
with their effort and sweat, in producing food for the city under the difficult
conditions of the special period. [applause] 

70.  I know there are great revolutionary and patriotic forces in the capital,
and that here, even though the conditions may be more difficult, the capital
will be equal to the time we are experiencing. [applause] The capital will give
the victory to the people's candidates, [applause] however difficult the
circumstances may be, and we know them. I spoke before about everything we were
doing when the collapse of the socialist bloc and the disappearance of the USSR
dealt us such a terrible blow. That blow is felt, it must be felt, and it is
felt with great force.  You can see how bus trips have been reduced to one
third of what they used to be every day, with buses for which we do not receive
parts. They also need tires and batteries. They use quite a bit of fuel. Of
course, fuel has dealt a terrible blow to many of the activities I spoke about.
It has dealt a blow to transportation in the capital and throughout the
country. 

71.  It has also dealt a blow to the supply of cooking fuel. It has dealt a
blow to transportation. The sugar harvest, the sugar harvest [repeats] has
suffered. Yes, it has been reported. Recently, I saw it on the television.
Different reasons were given but the sugar harvest has also suffered due to the
lack of fuel. On some occasions the mills and the combines have been stopped
due to the lack of diesel. This has forced us to make an even greater effort
and has caused greater difficulties. Fuel has dealt a blow to everything.
Likewise, the lack of resources has dealt a blow to the supply of raw materials
from abroad. It has also affected essential food staples. 

72.  When Cuba suddenly lost 75 percent of its imports, we were forced to
reconstruct the country on a new basis under different conditions. Naturally,
this is being felt and has to be felt. The whole country has felt it. The
capital has also felt it. 

73.  If these examples are not enough, I can point out that approximately
800,000 bicycles have been distributed in the capital of the Republic in order
to offset the problems with transportation. This figure is much higher than the
number distributed in the rest of the country, despite the fact that we have
built several bicycle factories in the rest of the country. Of course, the
distances are greater here. In a city with 10,000 inhabitants, or in a city
with 100,000 or 200,000 inhabitants, you do not have to walk far to reach
specific places. However, in a city with over 2 million inhabitants, when
sometimes you have to go from Habana del Este to La Lisa, or from Guanabacoa to
Playa or Marianao, or from Arroyo Naranjo to any other municipality, such as
Centro Habana, Habana Vieja or Plaza, it is natural that transportation would
make life much more complicated here. This is why I had no objections to giving
privileges to the capital in order to respond to the tremendous situation
brought on by the blow suffered by transportation in the special period as a
result of the collapse of the socialist bloc. 

74.  [Problems with] fuel halted many of our plans, in the same way that the
lack of raw materials halted or considerably reduced production in many
factories.  Likewise, imported food resources became less accessible and
everything-the freight charges, the shipping- became more expensive, as a
result of the strengthening of the embargo and the double embargo. What took
place following the disappearance of the socialist bloc and the USSR became the
equivalent of a double embargo which forced Cuba to seek ew markets for its
products and receive ridiculously low prices for its exports. 

75.  We do not have enough fuel, yet we allocate for fuel the value of almost
all the sugar we produce. I can give you one example: With what we spend on
fuel every day we could purchase 15,000 tons of grain. These 15,000 tons of
grain a day would allow us to distribute-pardon me, but did I say pounds? I
said tons?-15,000 tons of grain every day would allow us to distribute 40 kg of
grain to every Cuban citizen every month. 

76.  As I have mentioned on other occasions, today one ton of sugar buys 1.4
tons of oil. This was not the situation in 1959 or 1960; then we could buy
eight tons of oil.  However, today oil has a monopoly price. In trading with
the USSR we obtained at least seven tons. Today, we trade some sugar for a
small amount of oil from the USSR at these ridiculously low prices. Sugar is
sold at garbage dump prices, and oil is sold at monopoly prices.  These
circumstances did not exist when the USSR existed. I am iving you this
information to make you aware that, naturally, we are waging the battle in very
difficult conditions, but we have the courage to wage it. 

77.  I was very impressed by what a comrade said because I also believe this:
The masses are aware of what independence is, what the Revolution is, what
socialism is, and what the Revolution has done for them. To this we could add
so much more that the Revolution wanted to do for the people. Those programs we
were talking about were perfectly feasible and we were developing them when our
sugar was worth something, when we had enough fuel, when there was no shortage
of raw materials, when we received considerable quantities of food, not only
for direct human consumption but also for producing chicken, eggs, milk, beef,
etc. Those programs were feasible. They were the result of the desire to
struggle and work for the people. 

78.  We have worked not just for our people; we were capable not only of
receiving but of giving. We were capable not only of receiving help from others
but of giving our help to others. That is another Havana which cannot be
forgotten, the Havana which contributed so much to civilian and military
internationalist missions.  [applause] 

79.  How many teachers, doctors, nurses, technicians, construction workers, and
combatants? These people knew independence, liberty, dignity, equality, and
justice. The justice we are now defending so much in these elections.  The
justice that we apply when we fight so that any honest and honorable man or
woman of our people can become a deputy or a delegate. The justice we defend
when we see our candidates, who are ordinary people.  Our candidates are not
millionaires. They are not wealthy. They are not sugar mill owners. They are
not landlords. They are not big industrialists or businessmen. Our people can
see this when they see all these candidates. Our people cannot say that among
them there is an embezzler, a thief, or someone who has become wealthy with the
money of the people. What the people see in these candidates who are visiting
them is humble, simple, hard-working people. They see them supporting each
other as brothers do. This has to be admired. 

80.  They know that this is the Revolution. This is the result of the equality
of the Revolution, which some time ago brought about the disappearance of every
type of discrimination for reasons of race or sex, or poverty, as we have
mentioned many times before. The poor were terribly discriminated against in
this country. I believe that the comrades have mentioned this here to explain
the people's reaction. This is correct. I had reached the same conclusion. When
the people have had the privilege of knowing such values, they refuse to live
without them. When the people are no longer being exploited or enslaved, they
refuse to become slaves again. [applause] The people have understood the battle
being waged; they have understood what values are at stake; they have
understood the importance of making a show of strength and unity, in order to
wage the great struggle of the special period. 

81.  We need strength and unity. We have to send this message. What would we be
saying to imperialism, to the enemy? If we show ourselves to be weak and
divided, they would redouble their efforts to destroy us. We have to make them
see that they will not be able to destroy us or will have to physically destroy
us if they want to destroy the justice that the Revolution has brought to our
nation. [applause] 

82.  This has been perfectly understood by the people. This is what in my
opinion explains the reactions we have seen everywhere and that you have
reported today. As was said here, we have only three more days. We cannot lose
a single minute. We cannot lose a single second. We have three days of
campaigning, three days of battle-Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. We do not have a
right to rest as long as there is a single vote to be won, as long as there is
a single mind to be persuaded, as long as there is a oint that needs to be
clarified. We have to remain in the front lines to the last minute, to the last
second. 

83.  This has to be our method. This has to be our style in order to obtain not
simply a victory but an energetic and resounding victory, a ``Yes for Cuba'',
for the nation, and the Revolution which will reach every corner of the globe.
[applause] I congratulate you, comrades of Havana, for the work you have done.
In this meeting, I see in your faces the result of the battle you have waged. 
If two weeks ago you were what we could call inexperienced soldiers, today you
are veterans. [applause] 

84.  A united nation is priceless. A combative nation is priceless. A fighting
nation is priceless, capable of reaching mind after mind, house after house, as
we would have to do if, instead of being in a battle of ideas, we had to defend
the sacred soil of the fatherland with guns in hand [applause] to fulfill what
Marti...[corrects himself] what Maceo said, which is as important today as when
the fatherland was not even independent, when the things that we have to defend
today did not exist: the justice, dignity, honor, equality, and brotherhood
that we have to defend today. Without having lived the experience of a
revolution such as we have, he said very clearly: Whoever attempts to take over
Cuba will get only the dust of its bones [as heard] drenched in blood, if he
does not perish in the struggle. [applause] Let us say as Maceo did: No one
will ever be able to take over Cuba, certainly not this revolutionary Cuba,
which on 24 February will render the highest tribute to our national hero Jose
arti. [crowd shouts: Viva free Cuba! Viva!] [applause] 

85.  Once, while speaking about our Mambises, our predecessors, we said: Then,
we would have been like them.  Today, they would have been like us. Therefore,
all the generations, united in this beautiful, heroic, and honorable battle we
are waging, would say: Socialism or death, fatherland or death, we will win!
[applause] 

-END-