Chronology

Gives a speech at the closing ceremony for the Metallurgical Congress held at the CTC Theatre.

Appears at the Frente Independiente de Emisoras Libres (FIEL) (Independent Front for Free Broadcasting), the governing body for Cuban radio and television, in order to issue revolutionary laws.

Inaugurates the first school for children in the Sierra Maestra at Caney de las Mercedes.

Makes the closing speech at the First Latin American Youth Congress in Havana. He announces the nationalization of oil refineries, 36 sugar mills and the telephone and electrical companies as our nation’s response to the US government cuts in the sugar quota. Because of this measure, 800 millon pesos of US investments were passed on to the peoples’ power.

Gives a speech at the closing ceremony of the Sugar Cane Worker Coordinators Meeting organized by the National Institute for Agrarian Reform at the CTC Theatre. He states: “More than reform, this has been an Agrarian Revolution”.

Gives a speech at the graduation ceremony for 1500 peasant militia members at the Revolutionary Rural Police Base in San Julián, Guane, Pinar del Rio.

Chairs the ceremony for constituting the Federation of Cuban Women when Vilma Espín is elected to head the organization. He gives the key-note speech and emphasizes the role of women in the Revolution.

During the evening, he visits the School of Engineering of the University of Havana and the School of Law Alumni Association; he talks with students about housing for peasants, the university theatre, the degree program in diplomacy, the creation of 4,500 scholarships for students without resources and other topics. Here he stated: “The Revolution needs technicians in different fields, and the Revolutionary Government will be able to count on every one that is needed in a few short years.”

Gives a speech at the former Auditorium Theatre at the ceremony paying tribute to the 1400 volunteer teachers who took a training course in the Sierra Maestra. He refers to the Chancellors’ Conference, called by the OAS in Costa Rica, where Cuba would withdraw. He states: “We shall call together the people to speak about the Costa Rica Declaration. The world shall know that it is a people speaking, not a government. There we shall tell imperialism what kind of people it is faceing. To those who have betrayed the Americas, we are going to tell them what kind of people the Cuban people are.”

Gives a speech at the reception for the Cuban delegation that participated at the Seventh OAS Chancellors’ Conference in San José, Costa Rica. He states:” The future of the Americas is clear. Of course, the empire shall try to smother revolutions in the Americas.”

In front of a crowd gathered in Civic Square (today this is the José Martí Revolution Square), he gives a stirring speech at the General Assembly of the People of Cuba where the First Declaration of Havana is passed in order to reject the Costa Rica declaration made by the OAS Chancellors, to accept the solidarity and internationalist aid of the USSR and China, to break the military treaty with the United States, to establish relations with the Peoples’ Republic of China, to call on Latin American governments to summon their peoples and proclaim the rights of Latin Americans.