Speeches
This U.S. Food and Agribusiness Exhibition in Cuba has been possible thanks to the determination, constructive spirit and initiative of farmers and businesspeople in the United States and the modest but sincere and friendly cooperation of the food importing, producing and distributing companies in Cuba.
Given the special circumstances of that moment, and the transcendental importance of the Victoria de Girón Institute of Basic Medical Sciences in the subsequent evolution of Cuban medicine, I felt it would be fitting to recall some of the ideas I put forward on that day, using the same words that I used then. They will comprise a large part of my speech today, given their continued relevance.
Without culture, freedom is not possible. The accuracy of this claim is what inspires our efforts today. And for us, culture is not limited to artistic pursuits, but rather, it encompasses a concept of comprehensive general culture that includes professional training and basic knowledge of a wide range of disciplines in the sciences, arts and humanities.
Today will surely go down in history. As was said here, the concept of creating employment¾and certainly one of the most important kinds of employment ¾ out of studying is being put into practice for the first time. But that’s not the only thing happening here today; at the same time a contingent of several thousand workers who have been made redundant as a result of the restructuring of the sugar industry is initiating an ambitious and grandiose program to retrain workers in that industry.
After a year of tenacious efforts in preparation and training, for reasons totally beyond our control we found ourselves compelled to cancel our athletes’ participation in a sports event in which our country has always participated, over several decades, right from its inception. Even in the days when the Cuban delegation was a mere handful of athletes who, with courage and patriotism, won a few medals as the glorious forerunners of the sporting power our nation has now become, the product of the justice of a great revolutionary endeavor and the incomparable heroism of our people.
I remember that at the very beginning of the Cuban Revolution, in the midst of all the turmoil, a man with indigenous features and a determined and inquisitive look, who was already famous and admired by many of our intellectuals, proposed to paint my portrait.
On a day like today, exactly 30 years ago, four small countries of the English-speaking Caribbean, having recently achieved their long desired independence, decided to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba. Prior to this, from the very dawn of the Cuban Revolution, they had shown their sympathy and respect for the process we were undertaking. As early as January 1959, the local government of what was still the British colony of Guyana, led by Dr. Cheddi Jagan, leader of the People’s Progressive Party, had declared its solidarity with the Cuban Revolution.
It is with great optimism and confidence in the shinning economic future of the country that we are inaugurating this hotel and this tourism area today, for peaceful, safe and healthy tourism that can be enjoyed by children and families, young people, adults and senior citizens; for tourism aimed at wholesome recreation, culture and leisure; for tourism without casinos and gambling; for tourism without unemployed people and beggars; for tourism without drugs and crime, in the country that is advancing with giant steps, unstoppable, towards the highest possible degree of comprehensive general…
What does Martí mean to Cubans?When he was barely 18 years old, Martí wrote a document entitled "Political Prison in Cuba", after his own experience of being cruelly imprisoned, with his feet shackled, at the age of 16. In it, he declares, "God exists, however, in the idea of good, which watches over the birth of every being, and leaves in the soul that embodies it a pure tear. The good is God. The tear is the source of eternal feeling."
I must state resolutely and with no hesitation whatsoever, as a revolutionary and a fighter who truly believes that a better world is possible, that in my opinion, the privatization of the wealth and natural resources of a country in exchange for foreign investment constitutes a major crime. It is tantamount to handing over cheaply, practically for free, all of the means of survival of the peoples in the Third World. And it will lead to a new form of recolonization, more convenient and self-serving, in which the natives will now cover the costs for public order and other essentials, which…
On behalf of the Government and the people of Cuba, I would like to express my appreciation to the participants in this gathering for the confidence showed in naming my country to host the next Summit Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement. It is a great honor, for greater than our modest contribution to the common cause, and we will not fail you.
After the latest world carnage in the l940s, we were promised a world of peace, the reduction of the gap between the rich and the poor and the assistance of the highly developed to the less developed countries. It was all a huge lie. We were imposed an unsustainable and unbearable world order. The world is being driven to a dead road and within hardly 150 years, the oil and gas it took the planet 300 million years to accumulate will have been depleted.