-DATE- -DOCUMENT_TYPE- SPEECH -AUTHOR- F. CASTRO -HEADLINE- CASTRO'S SPEECH ON THE NORTH TERRACE -PLACE- HAVANA -SOURCE- -REPORT_NBR- FBIS -REPORT_DATE- -TEXT- Castro's Speech on the North Terrace Mr. President, and Comrades: We have asked a number of times on this North Terrace of what is today the true Palace of the people (applause). We cannot fail to recall those earlier occasions: the first was on the day of our arrival in the capital. Since there have been various other occasions, and now this today. The first was characterized by that happiness created by the triumph of the people over the tyranny (applause). This was wild happiness on the part of the people. Later we protested energetically, we expressed our bitter complaints both against the slander being employed against our revolution and against aggression. Today there is a different kind of happiness. It is not the insane joy of that first day, nor the indignation of the other occasions. Today we are experiencing the happiness of another great triumph, the result of acting properly, the celebration of a triumph which has been won under circumstances which seemed impossible, more difficult perhaps than the military victories, because they were not decided solely by right and morality, but by strength as well. This has not been a military triumph. It has been a great moral victory, determined not by the strength accompanying right and morality, but a triumph of reason, a victory of truth, a triumph of our people throughout a vast continent, where the brotherly peoples of Latin America live (applause). And this victory has been won exclusively by right, morality and truth. It has been won despite all the campaigns, despite all the efforts to isolate us. And despite all the efforts to slander and discredit our revolution among the brotherly peoples of America, in which efforts every means imaginable have been used to confuse the peoples, all propaganda vehicles have been used, despite the distance, despite the deceit, despite the effort to isolate us, the brotherly peoples of America have responded (applause). The brotherly peoples of America not only have shown their solidarity, their sympathy, the warmth with which they feel the struggle of the Cuban people, but they have also shown something which has extraordinary significance. They have shown that the peoples can no longer be readily deceived (applause)! The peoples have shown that they are not the ready victims any longer of the great lies of the oligarchy and the powerful international interests (applause)! And this, in our view, is the most important lesson to be drawn from the triumphant tour our President has made (applause). And for us it is a reason for encouragement, a true hope, not only in the future of our fatherland, but in the future of the brotherly peoples of our continent -- knowing that the peoples will no longer let themselves be deceived (applause). It is a source of confidence for our revolution to know that the peoples will no longer let themselves be deceived (applause)! Because we can tell these peoples, after a year and a half of hostile campaigns against our revolution, these peoples, from whose hearts no one can banish this profound sympathy for the brotherly people heroically struggling, we can tell these peoples whom no one can confuse, these peoples whose faith and hope, quite rightly placed in the Cuban revolution, no one can kill, these peoples who have learned to say the name of Cuba with respect and love (applause), these peoples who know that our fatherland is a small nation but that it has stood up bravely to the powerful forces which have exploited the wealth of our continent, these peoples who know what Cuba means, who know what the defeat of our revolution would mean (applause), as they know what their triumph would mean (shouts of "we will triumph, we will triumph!"), as they know that it is thanks to the determination and the heroism of our people that we can say to them that we will triumph (applause). These peoples who from Argentina to Mexico shouted "Cuba, yes, Yankees, no!" (shouts of "Cuba, yes, Yankees, no"), the spontaneous slogan we heard from the lips of all our suffering brothers, the slogan which lies and false propaganda cannot take from them, the slogan which means much, the slogan which is the expression of the rebellion of the millions and millions of human beings who have lived humiliated and exploited, the slogan which means (shouts of "Cuba, yes, Yankees, no") much and which should be a source of discouragement for those who are trying to bury us in a flood of slander, a flood of lies and a sea of discredit, because they have been unable to make our brotherly peoples shout "Yankees, yes, Cuba, no" (applause), despite all their influence, despite all the newspapers in their service, despite the millions of tons of paper used, despite the millions and millions of dollars which have been invested in combating and discrediting us, despite these 18 months of incessant and hostile campaigning. It means much, a great deal, this slogan which can no longer be banished from the hearts of our brotherly peoples, because it has its roots in all of the injustices which have been committed against them, in all of the blood and the pain and the tears they have been made to shed, in the hunger and the misery they have had to suffer, too deeply routed in the hearts of these human beings like you, such that it can never be banished (applause). This means that Cuba will not be alone. This means that the effort made has not been in vain, the blood shed has not been in vain, the sacrifice of our people was not wasted, the magnificent example of Cuba has borne fruit. And this is what the triumphal tour of our President has shown (applause and shouts of Dorticos, Dorticos) -- the profound sympathy toward Cuba, our Cuba, yes, ours for the first time and ours forever (applause). Infinite pride for those of us who fight for it, for those of us who work for it, for those of us who are ready to die for it (applause and shouts of "we will triumph, we will triumph"), and eternal shame to those who are battling against it (shouts of "to the firing wall, to the firing wall"), those who want to destroy it, those who want to take from it the place of honor it has won, those who yesterday were not ashamed to see it humiliated, those who yesterday were not indignant at seeing it oppressed, those who yesterday were not prepared to shed a single drop of blood to save it, and who suffer today, seeing it victorious, triumphant, strong, admired and taken as an example, yes, because our country is an example today (applause) for the peoples who have suffered and who suffer from the same evils as we did. But there can be no worse penalty for the traitors (shouts of "to the firing wall!") -- no, a punishment worse still than the firing wall -- the penalty of being unable ever to feel this pride and dignity (applause), this feeling of generosity and unselfishness, this feeling of infinite love and hope with which the fatherland rewards those who know how to be its true sons (applause)! And being deprived of this happiness, of this satisfaction and this pride, being deprived of this feeling, having to live in envy and ruin, having to weep when the people laugh, having to laugh when the people weep, this is a worse punishment than the firing wall (applause)! Having to live with the eternal shame of having no fatherland, having to live in the dreadful coldness of those who do not have the warmth of the people and their land is a worse penalty, because it is the moral firing wall for traitors (applause)! Thus this day of happiness is the joy of the peoples, it is the holiday of the true patriots, the emotion of the true revolutionaries, the happiness of the vast majority of our people, this people which despite the rain -- because rain is a petty thing for a people like this (applause) -- this delirious crowd which threw flowers and whose faces reflected indescribable happiness, this joy is the most moving joy of the peoples, which, during our travels, has made us reflect that proper work bears its extraordinary fruits, just actions bear their extraordinary fruits, fighting for a great ideal bears its extraordinary fruits, creating awareness, creating dignity, creating justice bears its extraordinary fruits (applause)! And after 18 months of constant and hard struggle, the fruits are these: a strong people, a determined people (shouts of "we will triumph!"), a people ready for the greatest sacrifices, a people prepared to die rather than abandon their happiness and their smiles. This is the fruit of effort, this is the fruit of dignity and the formidable awareness of the Cubans (applause)! And not only we, but many generations of Cubans have created them, those who fought and these who felt created them. For them, for all those who have struggled and fallen over more than a century to achieve what this generation has achieved, for all of those who made a sacrifice, our feeling and our gratitude, too, goes out on a day such as this (applause), with the certainty that what we have won we will not lose, that what remains to be won we will not fail to win, and that whatever the sacrifices required, however great the effort asked of all of us, the result can only be victory! (Shouts of "we will triumph, we will triumph!" and "Cuba, yes, Yankees, no!"). And I must also add that this trip by our President (applause and shouts of "Dorticos, Dorticos!") has demonstrated what his closer associates already knew, what the people knew, and what America now knows: that Cuba has a great President, to whom I now yield the floor! (Ovation.) -END-