Speeches
Many of us who had the privilege of witnessing that exciting day are still alive; many others are deceased. On January 1, 1959 the overwhelming majority of those here tonight were less than 10 years old or had not been born or there were still many years to go before they would be born.
The Revolution is following its triumphal course with more strength and success than ever. We have had proof of this recently: the Geneva meetings on April 15 and 22 will go down in the history of revolutionary diplomacy. They mark the moment when a crushing blow was dealt to the enormous hypocrisy, permanent falsehood and cynicism the masters of the world use to try to preserve the rotten system of political and economic domination they have imposed on the world.
Since you have decided that the die is cast, I have the pleasure of saying farewell like the Roman gladiators who were about to fight in the arena: Hail Cesar, those who are about to die salute you!
My only regret is that I would not even see your face because in that case you would be thousands of miles away while I shall be in the frontline to die fighting in defense of my homeland.
First: the European Union’s complicity with U.S. crimes against and aggressions on Cuba as shown by its disgraceful, hypocritical behaviour in Geneva and its shameful understanding and connivance with the Helms-Burton Act, whose unacceptable, ignominious extraterritorial nature render it unworthy of being taken seriously by our people.
I must be calm but sincere. I have absolutely no intent to insult you or to launch personal attacks. But, it is cynical to include Cuba in a list of countries involved in the illegal trafficking of persons. And what is even more outrageous and abhorrent in this arrogant report that the State Department feels obliged to issue every year is the claim that Cuba promotes sex tourism, even with children.
Two new infamies by the US government —that of including Cuba on another of those high-handed lists drawn up by the self proclaimed masters of the world and introduced in a State Department…
Many people in the world who know very little about the Cuban Revolution might fall victim to the lies and tricks the US government spreads through the huge media available to it.
But there are many others, especially in poor countries who are aware of what the Cuban revolution is about, of its marked dedication, from the very beginning, to provide education and healthcare services to all its children and the whole population; its spirit of solidarity that has led it to cooperate selflessly with dozens of Third World countries; its strict adherence to the highest moral values, its…
A call was put out to grassroots cadres of the YCL and the José Martí Pioneers Organization to look on the schools as the most important Pioneers’ Palaces, because they are a new kind of school. Previously, computers, VCRs, TV sets and many art workshops were to be found in the Pioneers’ Palaces and camps. Today, they are in the schools themselves.
Some of the concepts I will touch upon today have already been discussed and published; some have been developed in the heat of the struggle; others refer to goals we have attained; others are just reflections.
Today, when you have invited me to address you, I shall try to explain how and why this day is very special for all of us.
"When I had the enormous but pleasant surprise of being met at the José Martí International Airport by Fidel himself, I said to him, "I don’t deserve this honour, I hope that I shall deserve it one day in the months and years to come". I say the same thing to you, dear fellow Cubano-Latin Americans: One day we hope to come to Cuba to offer our help, to offer each other mutual support in a Latin American revolutionary project, steeped as we have been for centuries in the idea of a Hispanic-American, Latin-American, Caribbean continent integrated into the single nation that we are.
I refer to all the guests coming from other countries and from Cuba. I must confess to you that I do not like the word “foreigners”, because it is as if I were addressing you as “Dear Strangers”.
So that is the program I suggest, in addition to congratulating comrade Alarcón for his brilliant remarks. I knew that he would leave no doubt about the fact that the US government knows the whole truth and it is the one government in the world that knows most about the truth.
One of the objectives of this meeting is to inform the people about what is going on and to provide a better understanding of problems, so that our people can look at each thing, and analyze each thing that happens. That is to say, each of these battles will enrich our people’s political knowledge.