Vol. 72/No. 30      July 28, 2008

BY FIDEL CASTRO  
There’s been a great deal of talk, the imperialists talk a lot about the Cuban cooperation workers in Nicaragua. Of course they have the habit of inflating the figures. We never gave out any figures. We don’t have to account to the imperialists for the number of cooperation workers we have in any country. [Applause] Nor do we ask them how many they have, how many soldiers, officers, military personnel, CIA agents, even the Peace Corps, as they call it. But we have noticed their custom of interfering in the affairs of other countries, and the habit, the method of conjuring up, of falsifying with political motives in order to justify you-know-what crimes.

On occasion, in talking with journalists, even with U.S. visitors, I’ve spoken to them more than once about our teachers and their merits. It’s unbelievable that our teachers should arouse fear, but the fear is not totally unfounded. Is it the number of teachers and civilian cooperation workers or even a number of military cooperation personnel that incites fear? No, it’s not the number, nor could it be, but rather the strength they reflect, the strength of our ideas that these teachers and cooperation workers can generate.

Yes, and this is much more powerful than all the tanks, all the battleships, aircraft carriers, bombers, strategic missiles, and deadly weapons that the enemies of human progress can create. Much more powerful! First of all, because the men and women who uphold these ideas do not experience any fear at all in the face of sophisticated technology, military might, battleships, aircraft carriers, and the threats of extermination and death. [Applause] Who are more courageous? Those who manufacture these weapons with which they assume the privilege of threatening revolutionaries and all the world’s progressive people, the peoples and the patriots, or those who feel absolutely no fear, but instead contempt for all that might, for all those weapons, and for all those threats? [Applause] …

I think that it is this spirit that really frightens the reactionaries and the imperialists, because this spirit is simply invincible. [Applause] And it’s not the spirit of a handful of men and women; it’s the spirit of an entire people. [Applause] And that’s why we have asked, why didn’t others send teachers to live in those conditions in the most remote places, together with the families, eating what the families ate, sleeping where the families slept, under circumstances such that in many cases the family, the entire family, the domesticated animals, and the teacher all lived in one hut? There were even circumstances when the Ministry of Education, concerned for the health of these teachers, decided to send them some foodstuffs, powdered milk, chocolate, etc. But that didn’t solve anything nor could it, because none of our teachers were capable of drinking a little milk in the morning when there were children with no milk at all. [Applause] Those items they were sent didn’t last at all because they shared them immediately.

I’ve spoken about this to visitors and journalists as irrefutable proof of the strength of our ideas, of the triumphs of our revolution, not only material but also moral. I’ve mentioned in passing some of the countries that the imperialists hold up as models in this hemisphere, some, even, with many resources that have been recklessly squandered, and I’ve asked: Could 2,000 teachers leave from these model countries to go to Nicaragua and work under those conditions? No. Could they send 1,000 under those conditions? No. Could they send 500 under those conditions? No. Could they send 100? No. But if they do not have enough teachers to send a few kilometers away from the capital of the republic, how are they going to send them thousands of kilometers away, far from their homeland, to work under those conditions? …

Nicaragua was criticized and Cuba was criticized for having teachers in Nicaragua, but those teachers didn’t go there to teach Marxism-Leninism. We met with them more than once and told them to be completely respectful of the feelings of each family, to limit themselves strictly and give classes using Nicaraguan programs and texts, not to interfere in the least in the people’s political convictions and religious beliefs, to have complete respect, and to preach by their example. That’s what they did and that’s how they won the affection and respect of everyone. Thus I’ve told people, we not only had 2,000 teachers in Nicaragua, but when we requested volunteers for that mission, 30,000 volunteered and when they killed two or three teachers, 100,000 more volunteered. [Applause]

So you can see the comparison and whether or not the values our revolution and our ideas represent are frightening. And when our party can speak about these values, and this strength, it is truly admirable to be able to state that half are women and in many cases, mothers who are capable of separating themselves from their children and families for a year or two years. [Applause] This is the work of the revolution. I cited one example, although I can cite many others in many other places, but I wanted to cite this one alone in the framework of our solidarity with a sister people and in the framework of our hemisphere. The imperialists are right to harbor fears about our teachers, our cooperation workers, our men and our women, because of their example and banners, because of the invincible ideas they symbolize. [Applause]  
 
 
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