Speeches
We know there are a number of issues in the air; we know that many people have been waiting for a mass rally hoping to hear comments on various issues. It is true that in the early days of the Revolution public opinion in the capital – which was characterized, and I say this in all frankness, for always being somewhat fickle – required that we appeared frequently on television to explain all kinds of issues, both major and minor.
So we are cleansing up the environment, we are creating a people of workers really. We must understand that a lot of time has been lost, we must realize that this country was colonized for centuries. This year marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the start of the struggle for our independence. We were subjected to imperialism for almost 60 years of this century.
Nosotros decíamos, refiriéndonos al provecho que el país va a sacar de los jóvenes que regresan, cómo aparte del trabajo material en Camagüey, el valor en otros aspectos que ha tenido para la Revolución la Columna. Debemos señalar en adición a esto, en adición a las aptitudes desarrolladas, los conocimientos adquiridos, la superacción revolucionaria y política, lo que la Columna ha demostrado al país en el orden revolucionario, en el orden moral.
In sorrow, mourning, indignation, we meet today in this historic square to bid farewell, however symbolically, to the remains of our comrades assassinated in the brutal act of terrorism perpetrated against a civilian plane in flight with 73 persons aboard, 57 of them Cubans. Most of the remains lie in the unfathomable ocean depths, without the tragedy having left the relatives even the consolation of their bodies. It has been possible to retrieve the physical remains of only eight Cubans. They thus become the symbol of all those who died, the sole material remains we will bury in our land of…
I have not come to speak about Cuba. I do not come into the heart of this Assembly to air a denunciation about the aggressions our small but dignified country has suffered for 20 years. Nor do I come with unnecessary adjectives to wound our powerful neighbors here in their own house.We bring the mandate of the Sixth Conference of the Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement, to present to the United Nations the outcome of their deliberations and the positions derived from them.
Comrades:
We have wanted to commemorate this XXX anniversary of the physical death of Camilo Cienfuegos in a simple way, I would say in a way worthy of him. I know that if he were alive today, he, whose image of destroying the walls of a fortress to turn it into a school has been so rooted in all of us, would feel happy with his Revolution and with his people, and would do what we are all doing; what he would have wanted to do over those 30 years and build during those 30 years, together with his people, the work of the Revolution.
It is worthwhile indicating that the main responsibility for the brutal destruction of the environment lies with the consumer societies. They are the offspring of the old colonial metropolises and of imperialist policies that also begot the poverty and backwardness which are today the scourge of the overwhelming majority of humanity.
Pienso, realmente, que la historia tendrá que recordar siempre estos años, esta época; la historia tendrá que recordar las relaciones entre Angola y Cuba como un verdadero ejemplo, no solo en la etapa de la lucha después de la independencia, sino en la etapa anterior, ya que nuestra solidaridad con Angola se extendió a lo largo de muchos años —creo que alrededor de 15 años—, desde que comenzaron las acciones por la independencia, y después, en un momento decisivo, se prolongaron por otros 15 años.
The World Health Organization deserves honor because together with UNICEF it has assisted in saving the lives of hundreds of millions of children and millions of mothers, and it has relieved the suffering of, and saved from death, many more millions of human beings! These two agencies together with FAO, UNDP, UNCTAD, the WFP, the World Population Fund, UNESCO and others - so resisted by those who would like to obliterate from Earth the noble ideas that inspired the establishment of the United Nations - have decidedly contributed to the creation of a universal awareness on the grave problems…
Last March, the U.S. government made public the "1998 Trade Policy Agenda of the United States" where it was literally indicated that it is set to be "aggressive, directed globally and at all key regions of the world"; that "as the most important and successful economy in the global trading system, the United States is in a strong position to use its powers of persuasion and influence to pursue this Agenda"; and that "despite the substantial market openings that have been achieved in recent years, there remain too many barriers to U.S. goods and services exports throughout the world". Such…
We almost thought that the meeting was already over, when they reminded us that we had to close it. But that shouldn't be so difficult, should it?—if it wasn't for the fact that, in addition to those who took part here, around 500 directors of credit and service cooperatives and of agricultural production cooperatives were invited to the ceremony, as well as a select group of foreign guests. What a problem!
I know I have come a little late, because the Brazilians have already left us. You wanted me to say a few words the first day and I made you a signal. It wasn't meant as a farewell, but rather to let you know that I meant to return. But, besides, I'm the least indicated person to deliver these final remarks, because I haven't participated in the meetings, nor in the scientific conferences, nor in the debates that you have held.