Titles selected for the Books of the Month are newly reissued by Pathfinder with improved typography and graphics. The selection below is Copyright © 1992 by Pathfinder Press, reprinted by permission. Subheadings are by the Militant.

BY FIDEL CASTRO
The case of Cuba is not an isolated one. It would be an error to think of it only as the case of Cuba. The case of Cuba is that of all underdeveloped nations. It is the case of the Congo; it is the case of Egypt; it is the case of Algeria; it is the case of Iran. [Applause] It is the case of Panama, which wants its canal. It is the case of Puerto Rico, whose national spirit is being suppressed. It is the case of Honduras, a portion of whose territory has been seized. In short, although we have not made reference to other countries specifically, the case of Cuba is the case of all the underdeveloped and colonized countries.

The problems we were describing concerning Cuba apply to all Latin America. Latin America's economic resources are controlled by the monopolies. If they do not directly own these resources, they exercise control in other ways. For example, they may control the mining and extraction of natural resources, as with copper in Chile, Peru, and Mexico; as with zinc in Peru and Mexico; and as with oil in Venezuela. Or they may be the owners of the public utility companies, as with the electricity companies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia; or as with the telephone companies in Chile, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Or they may control the commercial sale of our products, as with coffee in Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala; or as with the exploitation, marketing, and transportation of bananas by the United Fruit Company in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Honduras; or as with cotton in Mexico and Brazil. In all these cases, the monopolies exercise economic control over the most important industries of the country. These economies are completely dependent on the monopolies.

Woe to these countries on the day when they too should wish to carry out an agrarian reform! They will be asked for "speedy, efficient, and just payment." And if, in spite of everything, they do carry out an agrarian reform, the representative from this sister nation who comes to the United Nations will be confined to Manhattan; hotels will not rent to him; insults will be showered upon him; and he may even be mistreated by the police themselves.¹

The problem of Cuba is merely an example of the condition of Latin America. How long must Latin America wait for its development? As far as the monopolies are concerned, it will have to wait until the Greek calends.² Who is going to industrialize Latin America--the monopolies? Certainly not.

There is a report of the United Nations Economic Commission that explains how even private investment capital, rather than going to the countries needing it most to help them set up basic industries and contribute to their development, is channeled to the more industrialized countries because there private capital finds--so it says, or believes--greater security. Naturally even the Economic Commission of the United Nations has to recognize that there is no possibility of development through investment of private capital--that is, through the monopolies.  
 
'Assistance without political conditions'
Latin America's development will have to come through public investment, planned out and granted unconditionally, without political conditions. Obviously we would all like to represent free countries. No one likes to represent a country that does not feel itself free. No one wants the independence of his country to be subject to any interest other than its own. Therefore the assistance must be without political conditions.

The fact that Cuba was denied assistance is of no importance. We did not ask for it. However, on behalf of the peoples of Latin America we feel it our duty, out of a sense of solidarity, to state that assistance must be given without political conditions. Public investment must be for economic development, not for "social development"--which is the latest invention to hide the genuine need for economic development.

The problems of Latin America are like the problems of the rest of the underdeveloped world in Africa and Asia. The world is divided up among the monopolies. The same monopolies we see in Latin America are also seen in the Middle East. There the oil is in the hands of monopoly companies that are controlled by the financial interests of the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, and France. This is the case in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and all corners of the world. The same thing happens in the Philippines. The same thing happens in Africa.

The world has been divided up among the monopolistic interests. Who would dare deny this historic truth? And the monopolistic interests do not want to see these nations develop. What they want is to exploit these nations' natural resources and to exploit their people. And the sooner these interests amortize their investments or get them back, so much the better.

The problems that the Cuban people have had with the imperialist government of the United States are the same problems that Saudi Arabia would have if it decided to nationalize its oil fields, or if Iran or Iraq decided to do so. These are the same problems that Egypt had when it quite justifiably nationalized the Suez Canal; these are the same problems that Indonesia had when it wanted to become independent.³ They would face the same surprise attack that was made against Egypt; the same type of surprise attack made against the Congo.

Have the colonialists or the imperialists ever lacked pretexts to invade a country? Never! They have always managed to find some pretext. Which are the colonialist countries? Which are the imperialist countries? There are not four or five countries but four or five groups of monopolies that possess the world's wealth.

Let us imagine that a person from outer space were to come to this assembly, someone who had read neither the Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx nor UPI or AP dispatches or any other monopoly-controlled publication. If he were to ask how the world was divided up and he saw on a map that the wealth was divided among the monopolies of four or five countries, he would say, "The world has been badly divided up, the world has been exploited." Here in this assembly, where the underdeveloped countries make up the big majority, he could say, "The great majority of the peoples, who you represent, have been exploited for a long time. The forms of exploitation may have changed, but they continue to be exploited." That would be the verdict.

In his speech Premier Khrushchev made a statement that very much attracted our attention because of the value it holds. He said that the Soviet Union had neither colonies nor investments in any country. How great would our world be today--our world today threatened with catastrophe--if the representatives of all nations could make the same statement: Our country has neither colonies nor investments in any foreign country! [Applause]

Why go around and around? This is the crux of the matter. This is the crux of the question of war and peace. This is the crux of the arms race and disarmament. Since the beginning of humanity, wars have arisen for one reason and one reason alone: the desire of some to plunder the wealth of others.

End the philosophy of plunder and the philosophy of war will be ended as well. [Applause] End the existence of colonies and the exploitation of countries by monopolies, and humanity will have achieved a true era of progress.  
 

1. This is a reference to an incident that occurred at the airport shortly after Castro's arrival. At one point the motorcade carrying the Cuban delegation stopped and Castro began waving to a crowd of several thousands supporters there to greet him. A New York City cop then shoved Castro's arm back into the car in rough fashion.

2. The Greek calends is a time that will never arrive. In the calendar of ancient Rome, calends were the first day of the month, from which the remaining days were counted. The ancient Greeks did not use the Roman calendar.

3. Following Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956, the country was invaded by British, French, and Israeli troops.  
 
 
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