Speeches
We have just come back from traveling around the world, on a trip without a moment’s rest or respite. It had to be done. On February 24 and 25, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, an important summit meeting would be held, in the midst of the almost certain threat of war in Iraq and the aggravation of the international economic crisis. It was also necessary to make visits to very close friends like Viet Nam and China, scheduled for the days before and after the Summit, and to make an inevitable stopover in Japan, from where I had received invitations from important and valued friends.
The year was 1956. We were in Mexico. We had boldly declared that by the end of that year, we would either be free or we would be martyrs.
That was almost 47 years ago. And that was when the story of Mother Tekla began.
And not everything has been said. Ours centers, which research and produce new medicines, will give a special support to this program. Our firm unity and the nature of our social, economic and political system will make it possible to reach the goal we have set ourselves. This is the socialism that we are willing to defend to our last drop of blood from the threats of a world fascist tyranny!
The arrest of several dozens of mercenaries who betrayed their homeland in exchange for the privileges and money they receive from the government of the United States, and the death penalty for common criminals who hijacked a passengers ferry in Havana Bay with a gun and five knives, were the result of a conspiracy concocted by the government of that country and the Miami terrorist mob. This should be obvious to anyone.
Our heroic people have struggled for 44 years from this small Caribbean island just a few miles away from the most formidable imperial power ever known by mankind. In so doing, they have written an unprecedented chapter in history. Never has the world witnessed such an unequal fight.
Some may have believed that the rise of the empire to the status of the sole superpower, with a military and technological might with no balancing pole anywhere in the world, would frighten or dishearten the Cuban people. Yet, today they have no choice but to watch in amazement the enhanced courage of this valiant people. On a day like today, this glorious international workers’ day, which commemorates the death of the five martyrs of Chicago, I declare, on behalf of the one million Cubans gathered here, that we will face up to any threats, we will not yield to any pressures, and that we are…
We do not regret in the slightest what we have done in our country and the way in which we have organized our society. (Applause) We have had the opportunity to learn a great deal about our potential, and we have an idea of our priorities, because it is very important for those of us who want a better world to have an idea of priorities, possibilities, and realities.
It seems almost unreal to be here in this same place 50 years after the events we are commemorating today, which took place that morning of July 26, 1953. I was 26 years old back then; today, 50 more years of struggle have been added to my life.
Hardly 30 years ago humanity was not in the least aware of this huge tragedy. Back then people thought that the only danger of extinction lay in the colossal number of nuclear weapons waiting to be fired at a moment’s notice. Although threats of that nature have by no means disappeared, an additional terrifying, Dantesque danger lies in wait for us. I do not hesitate to use this strong, seemingly melodramatic language. The real drama lies in ignoring the kind of risks we have lived with for so long.
The name of Cuba will go down in history for ever because of what it has done and is still doing for humanity in the fields of education, culture and health in the most difficult period that our species has known. Our country is blockaded by the only superpower and almost blockaded by Europe, but these together will not be able to defeat the Cuban revolution, among other things because together they do not have and will never have either the human capital or the moral values to do what socialist Cuba has been able to do.
This is the country that that monstrous empire wants to destroy, wants to wipe off the map, because this country, these people, all of you, have become an example for the rest of the countries of Latin America that face ever greater poverty, greater problems, and fewer resources for education and health care. And they, who do not want life to change in all of our sister countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, and do not want the governments of those countries to be able to say no to any of the empire’s demands, do not want Cuba to continue to exist as a beacon of hope, as a star.
The different civilizations which arose in the most distant regions of the world: China, India, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Central and South America obviously were, to a greater or lesser extent, ignorant of the others’ existence, were independent, although many things attest to the extraordinary range of their knowledge. Some are amazing like, for example, the Greek civilization with its art, philosophy, literature, its knowledge of history, physics, mathematics, astronomy and other subjects.