Cuban president denounces Washington's threats against revolution
Dear Comrades:
I did not want this ceremony to end without offering some brief reflections. I believe this a historical day, in the real sense of the word. Because today we are doing exactly the same thing that our mambís did 119 years ago.(1) It is not a formal protest, it is a real protest, because we see ourselves exactly as we did in those days, when we were offered peace without independence, peace without honor, peace without dignity, without equity, without justice, when we were asked to renounce 100 years of bloodshed and sacrifices.
We must profoundly meditate on these events. Forty years ago today, 12 men marched through the mountains. We were in search of some comrades, who were eventually found in different locations, waiting for reinforcements sent by Frank País from Santiago de Cuba.(2)
Who were those 12 men? What would become of us, a small handful of men? At that time we were not concerned about the number of our enemies. For each one of us there were 6,000 or 7,000 enemies to defeat. All their weapons were supplied by the United States, including the most efficient conventional weapons of that time: combat rifles, semiautomatic and automatic weapons, machine guns of all calibers, mortars, cannons, war ships, airplanes. In addition, we had to fight under very difficult conditions: almost barefoot, with shoes that were falling apart, worn out clothes, hungry, cold, without medicine, and without life's most basic necessities. We had to climb steep hills, cross mountains and difficult terrain, constantly climbing and descending. We never doubted for one moment, however, that we would be victorious.
Today we are facing a very powerful enemy. We know that. But we are millions of armed men and women who know very well the cause we are defending, who know what we are defending, because we have learned it well, much better than we understood things then. We know the enemy much better than we knew him then.
We are an armed people, with rigorously trained leaders. How many of us had graduated from a military academy then? None of us. How many officers on active duty and in the reserves do we have today? Over 250,000 officers. The day we numbered 100 combatants in the Sierra Maestra, it was equivalent to one for each 2,500 officers today.
`We are an armed people'
Today, we are incomparably stronger. Our country's
prestige is immense. We are truly - and these are not just
words - the hope of hundreds of millions, perhaps billions
of people around the world, who hate and increasingly
repudiate this unipolar world in which the powerful empire
makes less and less effort to conceal its pretensions to be
master of the world.
We are defending today a greater, even more noble cause. It used to be a patriotic cause. Today however, as is stated in the declaration, we defend a world cause. Today we have a more sacred commitment. Today, much more is at stake. In the past, they had scorn for us; today they detest us. They can no longer afford to look down upon us. Instead, the imperialists hate us with all their might.
Defeat then would have meant the death of hundreds or thousands of combatants; defeat today would mean the death and suffering of millions of men and women in our country. It would be the tragedy of an entire people, the destiny of a nation, of this country that we have built, that we have created, after almost 40 years of struggle, of aggression and hostilities, and of a criminal economic blockade intended to suffocate us, strangle us. We have not only fulfilled an obligation to defend the revolution. We proved capable of being generous enough to help the cause of the international revolutionary movement and of the independence and liberty of other peoples.
Why did we not achieve our independence in 1898?(3) The declaration here explains what happened: They disarmed the Liberation Army. This is the first thing they did after they asked for its support during their opportunistic war against Spain. After they had made them shed their blood in the battle of Santiago de Cuba, they refused to give people who had been fighting for 30 years permission to enter Santiago de Cuba. What an affront! What a humiliation!
This is why on that January 1 [1959] we said: This time the mambís will enter Santiago de Cuba. On that occasion there was also an effort to prevent us from entering. It was attempted in a different way, with a last-minute coup d'état with which they tried to continue to dominate the country. They believed they could fool the people again but they did not fool a single Cuban. We entered Santiago de Cuba and all the other barracks in the country. What they would have given then to be facing a disarmed people, a disarmed army!
Our predecessors, fooled by the idea that this neighbor could have good intentions -many believed this although the most insightful were able to see the true situation -surrendered their weapons. The invaders were so miserable that they gave them a sum of money for each rifle.
Our revolution not only kept the Rebel Army equipped with weapons, but also delivered weapons to the people. We armed the people with as many weapons as we had. We bought weapons. We did it in a western country, so that they would not start spouting the anticommunism story. We remember very well that we were in the building that housed the Agrarian Reform Institute, which is the building where the Revolutionary Armed Forces Ministry now has its headquarters, when we heard a tremendous explosion in the port area. A tall, dense column of smoke went up.
We knew a ship was unloading weapons from Belgium, and we immediately realized that there had been an explosion on the ship. We imagined how many victims had to be there, but it was even worse than we had thought. This was definitely organized abroad, at the time the ship was loaded. Twenty minutes or so later, as we were headed toward the area, there was another explosion. The aim was not only to kill the workers and soldiers unloading the ship; but also, with a second explosion, those who came later. This was so terrible that it will never be forgotten.(4)
Then we began purchasing weapons in socialist countries and more and more ships began to arrive. Thousands of ships arrived with weapons for this country, and no other ship exploded.
Someday history will have the documents, which must be in some CIA file, on how they blew up La Coubre, although this will take time because they decide which documents are to be made known and which not.
History of U.S. aggression toward Cuba
As time went by and we better understood that our
country's defense was going to be in no hands other than
our own - exclusively, since we had some experience by then
and had reached the logical and very rational conclusion
that we had to assure our defense using our own forces - we
set ourselves the task of purchasing millions of additional
weapons and we developed the concept of war of the entire
people, a concept rooted in our history. How right we were
in doing this! Especially considering what came later.
Our weapons are there - well cared for, zealously maintained - and there are millions of men and women trained and organized for war. This is why I say they cannot simply scorn us. The concept of an armed people has been decisive for the survival of the revolution, which they tried to destroy as early as the days of Girón, through the armed bands in Escambray, and in all the provinces, because they implanted their dirty war in all provinces of the country, including Havana province.(5) Then came the mercenary invasion, with airplanes disguised as Cuban planes. They are so "decent," so "scrupulous," that the planes came bearing our own country's insignia! At the United Nations, right there, they said this was the Cuban Air Force that had revolted!
This was not the only factor that contributed to the consolidation of the revolution. Other factors included the unity of all the revolutionary forces and the people; the armed and united people; a true revolution and promises that were carried out; years of constant contact between the party and the people, the government and the people, between state institutions and the people, the armed forces and the Interior Ministry and the people; loyalty to principles; and the unsullied honesty of revolutionaries, examples that very seldom are seen in the world.
What are they inventing now to destroy us? What do they want to do now? They want us to disarm ourselves, to get rid of the Interior Ministry, to use our armed forces, after they have been reduced and dissolved, on mercenary missions in the criminal wars sparked by imperialism. This is really an insult. This is an affront to the dignity of the men and women of this country, who are represented not only in our officer corps, but also by our entire armed people, which is what gives our armed forces their enormous numbers and invincible strength. There is not a single case in which a combative and honorable people have been defeated.
They are seeking two fundamental weapons to force us to return to the past: to disarm and divide the people. They offend and insult us, but in doing so they only make us stronger. Today we can see everywhere a more fervent revolutionary spirit. Revolutionary consciousness is much stronger. We see it in our students, workers, women, Pioneers, and the people as a whole.(6)
A tremendous ideological battle is being waged today to teach our enemies not to misunderstand our people, not to underestimate our revolutionary consciousness and spirit.
It is not a question of individuals. Because of the posts and the historical responsibilities I have held, I am the one who has received your signatures. But I have received them in your name, and in the name of the people. This is the people's declaration, a declaration the people want. Men are ephemeral. I am not concerned with death, whether a natural death or death in combat. I can still fire a weapon and fight as a leader or a common soldier.
The last honor that Raúl and I request - me more than Raúl, because I am a bit older - is to have a modest place in combat in our glorious Revolutionary Armed Forces. I don't believe anything will prevent that. I hope that when my death comes it will be generous, that I will still be able to squeeze a trigger, launch a grenade, or press a button and make a large bomb explode - the kind they want to eliminate, while they keep their nuclear weapons.
Cuba is not for sale
It is not a matter of individuals. Many of us have been
privileged to share in the revolution for many years. The
imperialists do us an honor when they want to expel us from
the revolution, the homeland, and our responsibilities,
because they know that with us there won't be any
underhanded arrangements.(7) But they are making a big
mistake! Regardless of how many of you are here, others
like you will come. They will be like us, or even better.
The imperialists can perhaps make us disappear, one by one,
but they will have to keep going until they get to the last
of us, fighting at the last stump, with the last rifle, as
Martí used to say.(8)
I repeat, individuals are unimportant. We have tremendous confidence in this generation and in those that will come after it, in its extraordinary quality, its capacity to advance the revolution.
They have a lot of nerve to publish this garbage. Those "certifiers" and "decertifiers" of the entire planet meddle in everything, condemning countries and governments as if they themselves were a paradigm, an example of moral values. They have absolutely no perspective. They are truly mistaken in their haughtiness and arrogance when they dare put forward such things.
In [Havana's] Central Park, when I read the first news report on this, I said that the mere idea that this people could be bought was outrageous. No! It is not even a purchase, although with their market philosophy they think everything can be bought and sold. It is not even a purchase. It is an attempted swindle. "What will they give?" Give for what? And how much will they give? Just think of what must be given to them to start repaying them.
Clinton himself, when he opposed the [Helms-Burton] law, said it was so absurd that it would cost Cuba $100 billion. Later, he sought pretexts to support the law. He even gave away little pens - like those that had been used to sign the law. True pens are those used to sign the truth and dignity of a country. Hypocritical pens were distributed among those who raised funds for the most repugnant and corrupt elections that can be conceived.
They reserved for our people what everybody knows: taking everything away from us. Not one stone would be left standing on another in this country, first, because they would have to destroy us, and second, because they are offering unusual things, like taking away schools, day-care centers, and Pioneer camps from children; taking away from the people their educational system, which is one of the best in the world. They want to take from the people their health system, which is one of the best in the world, their hospitals, their clinics, their family doctors, their teachers.
What capitalism would offer Cuba
What crude capitalism could maintain 250,000 to 300,000
teachers in this country? What rotten capitalism could
maintain 62,000 doctors here, plus the future doctors
studying in the universities? What capitalism could
maintain the sense of dignity and justice that exists in
this country, the equality in this country, the struggle
against discrimination, ownership of the land by the
peasants, who also own the products of the land and the
machinery? What would they leave for our workers, for our
retired people? Into what would they turn this capital, if
it could exist under such conditions? Perhaps they are
dreaming of turning it into a major prostitution center
with drugs and gambling.
What would happen to the houses that the revolution gave the people, if they were to remain standing following an imperialist aggression? Nothing of what the people have created for such a long time would remain.
And what would happen to our independence? We would be something worse than Puerto Rico, about to observe 100 years as a Yankee colony, where they even want to erase the Spanish language. What would remain of the independence dreams of so many patriots for so many years if the empire, with its load of terrible hatred, could seize this island?
How can they imagine that we do not understand this, that we do not see this truth, this situation? What kind of transition can they offer this country? We need just take a look at the transition they offered to others. We see what has happened in other countries, things we do not publish every day for reasons we could call diplomatic, out of tactfulness and respect. But we know what is happening, we read what they publish, and we know what terrible things have happened in agriculture, in industry, in services, in retirement benefits, in everything. What terrible things have happened in their armed forces.
What is happening right now in Albania, just to cite an example? The barracks have been dismantled, the weapons have been taken by an angered people, who still have no leadership, since no one knows who is leading all this. The situation has simply exploded.
Not far from there is Bulgaria, and the terrible news arriving from there about what remains of the agriculture, of the industry, of all the social achievements that had been secured in that country. And we all know, in general terms, what has happened in our sister Russia, in addition to the tragic situation that the countries that once formed part of the Soviet Union endure.
`How could revolution surrender?'
How could it be possible to surrender weapons, to
surrender the revolution, to surrender socialism? We spoke
about this the day we had the honor to pay homage to the
internationalist fighters whose bodies were returned to the
homeland. The weapons of the revolution and of socialism
are not surrendered without a fight! And we are prepared to
give them to the United States if they come here and take
them from us, one by one, fighting face to face, by any
means, including bayonets. We would see then if bullet-
proof vests can also resist bayonets and if they can resist
other things, other weapons, other caliber weapons of the
many we have.
This nation will never surrender the revolution or socialism! This people will never surrender their weapons! This people will never surrender its unity!
How could we resign ourselves to seeing our country broken up in pieces as they broke up all the others, an ideal situation for stepping on them?
Those who initiated our independence in 1868 were not fools, nor were Maceo, Máximo Gómez, Martí, or any of our great and countless patriots.(9) They were able to envision the future. We will not be fools either. We are not lacking in tradition, nor in the courage they bequeathed to us to struggle and to defend our most sacred possessions.
This is why we have resisted. It is now 1997, and we are making progress. No matter how many laws - criminal laws - they impose on us, without a doubt creating great difficulties, our spirit to resist and prevail is much greater. We will continue overcoming these difficulties, and our love for and commitment to the homeland will be greater. Our willingness to work and our sense of responsibility will be greater.
This is the meaning of these signatures that you have given to me today, a list that the rest of our comrades hope to augment by signing the declaration themselves. This is the glorious content of this ceremony of the mambís of the 20th century, and of the mambís of the 21st century, because we have to ensure that those who follow us are better than us, and I can see that those who follow are better than us.
Maceo bequeathed us this glorious treasure, this unique example. Here, you are also bequeathing a great treasure, another great example, to which the future generations will be loyal. If the first Baraguá protest - because this is the second Baraguá protest - was signed under the shade of mango trees in that historical place, today we all sign and present this declaration to the people under the shadow of our glorious apostle [Martí]. To him, to Maceo, and to all those who were killed in combat, we promise we will never betray the blood they shed. This nation will move forward, will become more revolutionary, and will attain infinite heights of honor, patriotism, and glory!
Socialism or death!
Patria o muerte! [Homeland or death!]
Venceremos! [We will win!]
1. Mambí is a Cuban term referring to the 19th century independence fighters against Spanish colonial rule. In March 1878, independence fighter Antonio Maceo issued the Baraguá protest, condemning the terms that ended the first war for Cuban independence and vowing to continue the struggle.
2. Frank País (1934-1957), the central leader of the revolutionary movement in eastern Cuba, headed the urban militias of the July 26 Movement. He was murdered by forces of the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in July 1957.
3. In 1898, following a four-year war for independence, Cuba ended Spanish colonial rule. Victory was immediately followed, however, by U.S. military occupation.
4. Eighty-one people were killed when La Coubre, a French ship carrying Belgian arms, exploded in Havana harbor in March 1960.
5. In April 1961 1,500 Cuban-born mercenaries organized by the U.S. government invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. Decisively defeated by the response of militia members and regular troops, the last invaders surrendered less than three days later at Playa Girón (Girón Beach), the name used for the battle in Cuba. In the Escambray mountains in central Cuba, the CIA organized armed counterrevolutionary bands for several years in the early 1960s.
6. The Pioneers is Cuba's children's organization.
7. On January 28, the White House released a report approved by U.S. president William Clinton as part of the cynically named Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, better known as the Helms-Burton law. The report suggested that Havana could receive up to $8 billion in loans and aid if a "transition government" were established that did not include Fidel and Raúl Castro, and that was willing to bow to other dictates from Washington.
8. José Martí, Cuba's national hero, launched the 1895- 98 war for independence. He was killed in combat in 1895.
9. Cuba's war of independence from Spain began with the
ten-year's war of 1868-78 and concluded with the conflict
of 1895-98. Máximo Gómez was a prominent military leader
in these wars along with Maceo.
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