-DATE-
19940225
-YEAR-
1994
-DOCUMENT TYPE-

-AUTHOR-

-HEADLINE-
Castro Receives War Correspondent Diploma From Rebelde
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Havana Cuba Vision Network
-REPORT NO.-
FBIS-LAT-94-038
-REPORT DATE-
19940225
-HEADER-
=================================

Report Type:         Daily report             AFS Number:     FL2502030994
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-94-038          Report Date:    25 Feb 94
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     2
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       3
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       25 Feb 94
Report Volume:       Friday Vol IV No 038

Dissemination:  

City/Source of Document:   Havana Cuba Vision Network

Headline:   Castro Receives War Correspondent Diploma From Rebelde 

Author(s):   Cuban President Fidel Castro during a ceremony marking Radio
Rebelde's 36th anniversary at station's Studio 2 on 25 Feb-recorded] 

Source Line:   FL2502030994 Havana Cuba Vision Network in Spanish 0100 GMT 25
Feb 94 

Subslug:   [Comments by Cuban President Fidel Castro during a ceremony marking
Radio Rebelde's 36th anniversary at station's Studio 2 on 25 Feb-recorded] 

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE: 1.  [Comments by Cuban President Fidel Castro during a
ceremony marking Radio Rebelde's 36th anniversary at station's Studio 2 on 25
Feb-recorded] 

2.  [Text] Invited by its workers, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro today
visited Radio Rebelde on the occasion of its 36th anniversary. The topic of the
dialogue was the rich history of this radio station. Furthermore, (Duval Paez),
president of the Union f Journalists of Cuba, presented Fidel with a diploma
acknowledging him as a war correspondent. 

3.  [Paez] Every war correspondent has this diploma in his home. 

4.  [Castro] Thank you, Tubal. I did not think I would receive so many honors
tonight. I came here to celebrate the 36th anniversary, and you have given me a
great surprise. Did you know I had complained? [crowd chuckles] I complain and
always will complain [chuckles], first of all because they were speaking of all
the collaborators in Radio Rebelde. I believe it was at the meeting of the
Union of Cuban Journalists [UPEC]. I asked [name indistinct] why was I not
mentioned?  [crowd laughs] I worked for Radio Rebelde and I had worked as a
collaborator. Then they forgot about it and I protested, but I did it jokingly.
I was not serious; it was only a joke. 

5.  Today, I can see that I was given two diplomas-one for being a collaborator
and the other for being a war correspondent. I had no other option than to be a
war correspondent. I had to provide information and news each day. That role of
providing information on the most important events was very important. I
believe we will continue talking about what Radio Rebelde is. Very little has
been said of what Radio Rebelde represented. I would suggest we talk about its
history: how it was organized, when e received the equipment, how much power
the station had, how it was repaired and maintained. I believe that some
comrades, such as Eduardo [not further identified], can tell us how the station
was established because the station became much more than we imagined when it
was first established. 

6.  [Announcer] After acknowledging all of the station's founders, its current
workers, and the station's beginnings, history, and the role it played as a
political instrument of the rebel army in the battle against the forces of the
dictatorship, they spoke about the present: The radio's role in these difficult
circumstances. 

7.  [Castro] I can see the decisive role radio plays in these times. I could
compare this special period, the political moment the country is living, with
those days of struggle in the Sierra Maestra, those days in 1958 that we have
been talking about here, except that this is a more prolonged period of time. I
would even say that these are more difficult times than those, requiring
greater effort, more talent and dedication, work carried out under complex
situations, especially when the economy of the ountry has received such
tremendously hard blows, and when only a miracle of determination can explain
how the country has been able to resist. 

8.  Today, I see radio in general, not only Radio Rebelde, as great in a moment
similar to those times-in a difficult moment, a decisive period. I hope the
workers, the journalists who work in radio are aware of this and are at the
level of Radio Rebelde in those times. Someday the new generations will meet
here with the older ones who may live that long to meet again. They will have
to meet to remember what radio represented during these difficult times of the
special period. [applause] 

-END-