|
|
|
July
26 1959
|
|
|
|
Fidel
Castro announces to return to premiership
Live speech by
Fidel Castro at Havana July 26 celebrations, Summary
(Havana
Radio Progresso, July 27, 1959, records
of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), USA)
Warning:
this text is translated by the USA-administration and from USA
databases, recording Cuban radio broadcasts!
|
 Comrades, at the most touching moment of my life I can today, as
President of the Republic, announce to all that comrade Fidel Castro,
because of your mandate, has agreed to return to the post of Premier of
the Republic. (Long applause and shouting) distinguished revolutionary leaders of Latin America, who are honoring
us with a visit; heroic peasants of Cuba; fellow countrymen, all: On a day
like this so full of memories for all of us it would be hard not to feel
overcome by the deepest emotion. As I speak to you now, the first question
which came to my mind was why a man who is just a citizen like you all
should have such a great debt of gratitude to the people, for all the
signs of affection given. All we did was try to do our duty. All the
credit is due the people, not one man. I also wondered why there was such
rejoicing at the announcement that I was obeying the people's will and
resuming my post. The only explanation possible is that the people know I
am not interested in public office and that I will not sacrifice one iota
of the national interests of my sense of duty for all the premierships in
the world. The people would never demand the return of a man who was
ambitious only for his post, for if our country is tired of anything it is
tired of ambitious men, men incapable of sacrificing themselves for the
national interests. A people never supports a government without reason; a
people never supports leaders without a reason. For those abroad who
defame us, to those who speak of democracy and slander us, we could offer
no better argument than the million and more Cubans who have gathered here
today. To those who speak in the name of democracy or who hypocritically
invoke the word democracy to slander us we can say that this is democracy.
Democracy is the fulfillment of the will of the people. Democracy is, as
Lincoln said, a government of the people, by the people, and for the
people. A government not of the people is not a democracy; a government
not for the people is not a democracy. And what has the government of the
Cuban revolution been since Jan. 1, 1959 but a government of the people,
by the people, and for the people? A government of the people, not for a
privileged group of people; a government of the people, not of an
oligarchy; a government for the people, not for a group of politicians or
military people we have as always had in Cuba. A government of the people,
by the people, and for the people means a government for the farmers, in
particular, because no one can deny the fact that the farmers used to be
the most forgotten and suffering sector of our population. To those who do
not understand or who do not wish to understand, we say that this is the
secret of the tremendous power of the Cuban revolution. Could we have
overthrown the tyranny simply to have a change of men in government? Could
we have overthrown tyranny to continue small politics? We overthrew the
tyranny to make the revolution triumph. We overthrew the tyranny to free
the people from murder, torture, and oppression and from misery. This is
the secret of our revolution, of the power of our revolution, which turned
its eyes to the most humble to help them. This is the only crime that we
have committed. We no longer sell ourselves to the large domestic and
foreign vested interests as we are a government of the people, by the
people, and for the people. This, in the eyes of our detractors and of our
enemies is the crime we have committed. We have turned our eyes to the
forgotten ones, the ones who need us; the ones who really needed a
revolution to free themselves of so much suffering. How have we done this?
The revolution did not come into power after a coup d'etat--after all the
coup d'etat almost never is revolution. We did not come to power through
fraid or small politics. We have deprived no one of his right to think
freely, to write freely, and to express his views freely. We did not come
to power by means of treason, strikes, and riots. We deceived no one. Once
we came to power, we deprived no one of his rights. We came to power by
fighting the most ferocious tyranny ever seen in this continent and we
paid for it highly in blood. It was with the help of the people that we
overthrew the tyranny. We are ruling with the people and for the people
and for this reason the people support us and will continue to support us.
Those who wish to find out what a real democracy is should come to Cuba.
Those who wish to find out what a ruling people are like should come to
Cuba. Those who wish to find out what a ruling people are like should come
to Cuba. Those who want to find out what the real word democracy means
should come to Cuba. Our democracy is so pure that we can compare it to
the first that existed in the world, such as the Greek democracy, where
the people discussed and decided their fate in the public square. However,
there is a difference: In Greece everything was discussed democratically
by the owners of slaves; in Cuba the people in general discuss everything
freely. The pilots of our country are the farmers, while the people who
ruled in Greece were well-to-do. Our leaders come from among the farmers,
who have been mistreated for such a long time. The peasant was not only
denied land; he was denied education; the peasant was even denied a chance
to learn to read and write. The peasant was denied even the right to live,
for it should be known that the peasants' children often died from lack of
medical care. The peasant's wife died, because he often had no medicine or
doctor for her. There are cases in which the peasants' children have died
of starvation. In redeeming the peasantry, the revolution is taking the
first step toward establishing a real democracy, a democracy without
slaves, without helots, and which today presents the rare case of a
nonrepresentative democracy, one that is pure, a democracy that lives
through the direct participation of the people in its public problems. In
our country only the will and interests of the people are effective. If
the people had willed otherwise, I would not have returned to the post of
premier. The decision was up to the people. The people could have said not
to come back, or they could, and did, say that I should come back. And so
it was not the will of one man or a group of ;men but the will of the
people which was done. Now let our enemies say and write what they will.
What our people think is really what matters and what our people think
will be what the peoples of America will think. After all, I can again
repeat with certainty to detractors of our revolution: "Condemn me;
it does not matter. History will clear me." And so we are returning
to the job of carrying the revolutionary laws forward. We return to our
work of making our people's aspirations come true. We return more
convinced than ever of the future that awaits our country, and that our
people deserve all the faith we had in them and all the sacrifices we made
for them. We return convinced that people are grateful. We return to
continue forward, along a difficult road, but we have what it takes for a
difficult job: A people capable of marching forward. Our people cannot be
easily deceived. They cannot be kept from their historic destiny. We said
that if the campaigns against the agrarian reform continued we would have
a half million peasants gather in Havana, and somewhat more than half a
million gathered with their machetes. We did not say to bring their wives, for we could not expose the women to the discomforts and
inconveniences; and so we did not say that half a million peasant women
should come too. But if we had, a million peasants would have come, and
the people of Havana would have opened their doors and found a way to
lodge them all. We know more peasants would have liked to come, but those
who did get here as representatives of our peasantry are more than enough.
If there are half a million here with their machetes, representing half a
million soldiers of the revolution, then back in the interior, in fields
and towns, there are a million and a half men more who are also another
million and a half soldiers of the revolution. If in the capital right now
there are half a million peasants, there are another half a million
workers, young men, and men of all classes all ready to defend our
revolution, for the workers too are prepared to buy themselves machetes,
the students too, and the professional men, and practically, except for a
handful of parasites and people who resent the very just revolutionary
laws, except for a few who have no country or sentiment or ideal beyond
their own vile interests, there is no Cuban man or woman not ready to take
up a machete to defend the revolution and the fatherland." For this
reason our revolution is strong; for this reason our revolution is
invincible; for this reason--because we have a people ready to die to
defend it and when we realize that the people are ready to die to defend
it--you can see why we said with certainty that half a million peasants
would come to Havana. When we speak about the power of our revolution, we
do not do so to make anyone afraid of it because no one has reason--unless
it be egostical and base reasons--to fear our revolution. When we say we
are strong we do not say so because we want to attack anyone. We only
aspire to live on our wealth and not on that of other people. We only want
to live on the sweat and toil of our people and not on the sweat and toil
of other people. When I say that our revolution is strong, I do not do so
to frighten other people because our revolution is aimed against no one
and no people of the world have anything to fear from our revolution.
Those who lie to the people; those who unashamedly and cynically wish to
deceive other people awakening fears of our revolution in them; those
vested and egotistic interests that wish to deceive other people--these
people are only watching out for their base and egotistic interests. No
one has anything to fear from our revolution. So when I say that our
revolution is strong, we do not display an aggressive fortress against
anyone. We would not be strong in attacking other people because our
strength lies in the justice of our cause and it is not just to attack any
other either politically or economically. When I say that our revolution
is strong I mean to say that it is strong to defend itself. For this
reason I say that no force in the world is capable of beating our
revolution. When I say that our revolution is strong, I mean to say that
we know what we want--we know what we are doing. Because our country is
sovereign and independent, because we are not a protectorate or a colony
or a stronghold of any other nation, I say we are (only exercising?) the
legitimate right of a nation to have happiness and freedom, and we are
doing it in the only legitimate way, for a minority is not being imposed
on the majority by force. And if it is not legitimate to aspire to
happiness, (recognizing the right to sovereignty?) that all peoples have,
and doing it with the majority support of the nation, because the majority
of the nation rules, then what would be legitimate? We Cubans are
exercising these legitimate rights that only madmen dare deny. Only those
who are blinded by ignorance or selfishness dare deny them; only those who
speak for selfish, colonialist, exploiting principles, contrary to
self-determination and democratic majority government, would dare deny
them. Those foreign political figures must be considered selfish,
ignorant, madmen who do a disservice to the nation to which they
belong--for we are not the enemies of any nation, and what we want are the
best possible relations with all nations. Only blind politicians, only
mercenary writers, only men who are moved to defend base interests, are
capable of denying this fact, that we are a sovereign nation aspiring to
happiness, by the palpable, undeniable will of 95 percent of the citizens.
Those who act in such a manner are acting not only as enemies of the Cuban
people, but of their own people. What they are doing is arousing dislike
in the Cubans, arousing a resentment all the more understandable and
justifiable in the Cuban people, because peoples can react in no other way
when they are offended. We will not be forced into friendship with
anybody. We cannot be friends of those who offend us. We cannot be friends
to those who insult and slander us. We cannot be friends with those who
attack us. We cannot be friends with those who exploit us. We Cubans will
aspire to the best of relations with other nations. We Cubans are not the
enemies of any nation. We Cubans do not look with hatred on the citizens
of any nation because of the insults we receive from bad politicians and
defenders of base interests, who can do so as much harm to the other
nation as to us. We proclaim that we are not the enemy of any nation, we
are not the enemy of the citizens of any country, provided they respect
the laws of our country, provided they respect the sentiments of our
country, and provided they want to be our friends. We know how to stand up
with all necessary dignity to those who, instead of extending their hand,
try to stab us; those who, instead of giving us their hand, try to force
us back to the hated past and the hopeless life in which our people were
sunk. Because as I said, we do not want to make a living from the wealth
of other countries, but from the wealth of our country. We do not want to
make a living from the efforts of other countries but from the efforts and
sweat of our country. We, who aspire to make a living from and enjoy our
own wealth, to receive the fruits of our efforts and of our sweat, cannot
have any reason for having conflicts with other countries. A country that
sets for itself a goal as just as the one set by the Cuban people can
proclaim its desire to be friends with all countries, because we do not
desire, and we cannot harm anyone. We will never harm anyone. Harm has
been done to us. We have had to suffer harm, but we Cubans have harmed no
one, and we will not harm anyone. I am sure that if, like some of the
illustrious foreign guests today, the citizens of any other country of the
world, in whom an attempt has been made to instill all sorts of prejudices
and lies against our revolution, could see what this revolution is, could
have been in this capital this week, could have seen the spectacle in this
city. I am sure that no citizen in any other country could but sympathize
with us. Unfortunately, we do not have the means of communication to
inform the world of our truths. We cannot even count on the impartiality
of the usual organs of communication. We are the victims of clever reports
made against our revolution. We are not the owners of these agencies which
divulge all the imaginable calamnies against Cuba. We cannot even count on
the impartiality of these organs which attack us from abroad; these same
organs which have attacked all just causes, these same organs which, in
their own countries, have attacked the most honest and capable governors
they have had. We cannot even count on the impartiality of those organs
and must be the victim of all calamnics. We have some friends who write in
our favor, but spontaneous writers do not do systematic work. On the other
hand, the interested organs, which respond to mercenary interests, those
organs do systematic and tireless work against the revolution, even though
it is just. Even though our revolution is just, we are the victims of all
the campaigns that are made against it. These campaigns go on all over the
world. These campaigns are taking place among our Latin American sister
nations. Unfortunately, the countries of Latin America have been up to the
present, in part, countries of controlled opinions, countries of
prefabricated opinions, because these countries have been receiving
reports from interested organs; clever reports that result in controlled
opinions. When a country does not have the opportunity to consider the
truth, of receiving a just and correct report, and does not receive, does
not read, or hear other than false reports, these circumstances make for
countries of controlled opinions. I cannot understand how democracy can be
spoken of when a system of controlled opinion is being practiced. We speak
to the people. The right of speaking to the people belong to all. Even the
enemies of the agrarian reform have a right to give their reasons to the
people, if they have them. Even the enemies of revolutionary laws can do
it because they have the means and take complete liberty to do so. We are
enemies of controlled opinions. I cannot understand how one can speak of
democracy while trying to control the opinions of other countries.
Although our revolution is just--so just that if people from other
countries could know it, they would support it--it is impossible for us to
count on the impartiality of these organs of communication. The
aggressions committed against us and the treason committed against our
revolution have perhaps made our revolution even stronger. What have they
achieved with their action? They have made our revolution stronger. They
cannot overcome the great weight of public opinion supporting the
revolutionary government. Why is this so? It is because our people are not
intimidated; because this government is not frightened. We are not at the
mercy of what is said or thought about us in the Senate of other
countries; our Senate is our people. Of course, we care about what our
Senate thinks; we worry about what our compatriots think because they are
holding us to account. Our government heeds the opinion of the country. We
do not care at all about the opinion of certain political sectors or
certain public agencies in other countries. We do not care about it at all
because we only care about what is said here. We finally are beginning to
understand our apostle. We are finally practicing the ideas of the apostle
of our independence. We have thus learned to stand up and we have finally
understood that it is better to die starving than to live kneeling. We do
not want to be an impotent people; we do not want to be a people kneeling
down. We want to be free of foreign protection and we want to be free of
domestic tyrannies. We want to be free of oppression, humiliation, and
dependence. Every Cuban today has the satisfaction of being a human being
with rights. Every Cuban today has the satisfaction of knowing that he is
a human being and not a beast. Under the tyranny the Cuban was treated
like a beast; he underwent torture, grief, pain, and atrocities such as no
beast does. No one can take this satisfaction away from our people. Those
who think that Cuban can return to the past and that the war criminals and
murderers can return here are very mistaken. How mistaken are those who
think that today's security and freedom, today's honor, today's
sovereignty, today's prestige will be given up by the people of Cuba to go
back to the odious past. How mistaken are those who think that they can
return here to resume their business, their profits, their office
buildings, their estates, and their bank accounts. They are mistaken,
these criminals who fled like cowards on Jan. 1 and who are now helping
the enemies of our country. They are in a base alliance with the worst
enemies of Cuba with only one aim: To return here. They will never come
back here to retrieve their land. All those caballerias of land will be
turned over to our peasants. Nor can they come back to get their bank
accounts. Those millions of pesos go directly to the peasants in the form
of equipping, loans, seed, and housing. The agrarian reform is doing even
better now, as we have 20 million pesos more which we have recovered from
the bank accounts of the misusers of public funds. These 20 million pesos
were drained from our nation, and today under agrarian reform they are
being given back to the peasants. Besides all the land, and bank accounts
recovered, the agrarian reform institute has recovered 17.5 million pesos.
To these sums must be added a list of buildings and other assets which
totals more than 100 million pesos which have been recovered for the
republic by the Ministry for the Recovery of Assets. On the land, we are
going to place peasants, who will be inseparable from it. They are very
sadly mistaken, those who think they will come back to reclaim their
estates. We have never seen such a spectacle as all these machetes. It is
perhaps the most imposing spectacle ever seen anywhere in the world. These
half million machetes make the machete the symbol of our revolution from
today on. If the war criminals who are plotting to return could
contemplate these machetes for half a minute, and particularly if they
could see the arms that are brandishing them, if they could see the faces
of our peasants, and remember that our army comes mostly from the
peasantry, and that our army has modern weapons at its disposal now, even
though it won a war with inferior weapons, they might very well drop their
plans. We are speaking of these things to show our people how stupid our
enemies are in thinking they have even the slightest chance of coming
back. We have no interest in bloodshed. We especially do not want any
Cuban mother to have to mourn a son lost defending his country. Fighting
criminals has already cost enough blood. The war criminals want to recover
their privileges and their wealth here. They are fools because they do not
understand that they are not up against Cuban opinion alone but the
opinion of all Latin America. They are fools because they do not seem to
understand that Cuba cannot be assailed because assailing Cuba would mean
assailing all of Latin America. What stupid persons are those who do not
understand that our people are determined to defend themselves and that no
power in the world can help them return to our land because we shall know
how to defend it to the last man? The murderers who could do nothing else
but murder still believe that they can regain their power by committing
more murders. They are mistaken if they think that they are going to
murder the revolution by killing its leaders. Cuba has an abundance of men
and leaders. At the present time, and considering the majority of our
people, no one here is indispensable. This proved by facts. For example, a
man deserted the air force and we now find that the air force is 50 times
better than when the traitor was its leader. This is also shown by the
recent crisis in the presidency. The revolution has gained, because a firm
revolutionary, a young man, absolutely identified with those who were his
companions, a man who will dignify the presidency, a man with whom we are
wholly identified and with whom the cabinet can never have any
differences, has taken the place of the other, who unjustifiably created
such differences and provoked the crisis. No man is indispensable. The
only thing indispensable here is the people. It is comforting to think
that a man can be killed but the people cannot. The only indispensable
thing is the people, and the revolution is guaranteed. The work we have to
do is not easy, but our people are able to conquer big obstacles. Our
republic has found itself with almost no monetary reserves and a huge
debt; the tyranny's policy has brought sugar prices low. Yet our people
have great faith, and the government has great faith in the revolution.
Under no circumstances will the people suffer from hunger, because when we
have the last inch of soil planted all the necessary foods will be
available for the people. If it came about that economic measures were
taken, with which certain foreign politicians want to threaten us, what
does it matter? What is important is for the soil to produce, and our soil
produces more than enough. What is important is for the plants to spring
from our fertile soil worked by the generous hands of our peasants, and
for the peasants to produce not only for themselves, but that they be
capable of producing food to feed all our people, if possible, like the
workers of our cities are capable of producing industrial articles such as
clothes, shoes, and other goods essential to life; enough to dress all our
peasants. The revolution will continue with its work. It will go ahead
with its agrarian reform its housing program will continue. Its beaches
for the people will go forward; its tourist plans; its construction of
schools, of hospitals, its programs based on the agrarian reform and on
the industrial development of the country will continue. The revolution
will continue with its program of social service. It will continue with
its aspiration to raise the standard of living of our people. We will
continue to progress if you are ready to face all the obstacles and
inconveniences which may be placed in our path. We will continue achieving
the future, the spiritual and moral liberation of our country. We will
continue filling the cities and countryside with happiness. We will
continue at the rate which our energy and our resources permit. We will
continue without hesitation because we have complete faith and confidence
in our people. Therefore, all that needs to be said is forward, forward
fellow citizens of the countryside, forward workers, forward students,
forward professionals, forward worthy Cubans, forward, conscientious
Cubans. Forward soldiers of the revolutionary army. Forward. Today we are
gathered in the capital. The call for this July 26 was for "half a
million peasants to the capital." The call for July 26 next year will
be for "half a million citizens to the Sierra Maestra." There
the citizens will bring friendship to the peasants. They will go to share
their lives with the peasants. The peasants will have their pots and pans
ready to cook for the Cubans who are going to visit them, and they will
have more next year with which to welcome their guests. The peasant still
have something coming, for he has nothing other than his magnificent and
noble spirit. We will help them meet the expenses. We will bring toys for
their children, and clothes for their wives. So next year it will not be a
concentration. Next year it will be dispersed throughout the mountains so
the city man can see where the revolution was born and why. He will
discover the reason for the peasant's spirit of sacrifice, why they
sharpen their machetes; for as Maceo said: The revolution will be on the
march as long as there exists injustice. Those machetes are not sharpened
in vain. Everything here has been smiles and happiness. But here, too,
these are necessities to be met. Cubans shed their blood here, too. There
was injustice here, too, and the ones that remain will be abolished. There
are sorrows here, too. The music and dancing and the happiness is in honor
of the peasants. Here you have met the happy part of Havana, just as next
year the men of Havana will know of the happiness of the peasants.
However, the revolution has to direct its efforts first to those who need
it most. This is a basic principle of justice. We will continue to help
those who need it most. Since our peasant brothers are the most needy, we
must help them in the first stage. The agrarian reform is not only the
liberation of the peasant but also the liberation of all the people. Today
we must help them, and the people will continue to help them. We must
direct our efforts toward the education of the sons of peasant families,
because illiteracy was widespread in the country due to the lack of
teachers or schools. The death rate of children was high because there was
no medical assistance for the peasants. As I said yesterday, all youths
should be students. All youths of school age should be able to go to
school. We are not devoting our efforts only to the satisfaction of
material needs, we must satisfy spiritual needs. The peasant of today is
the hero of the country. The peasant of today is no longer the man of
yesterday who was exploited by the vested interests which tried to keep
him ignorant. He is the soldier of the revolution, whose weapon is his
work. The peasant is the symbol of the revolution and the weapon through
which it will succeed. On this anniversary of July 26 I am thinking of the
glories of Cuba. I think of our country's prestige. I think of the
friendship felt by thinking men of Latin America, because the friendship
of the good men of America matches the hatred of the evil men of America.
Tell me who your enemies are and I will tell you who you are. Our enemies
are Somoza, Trujillo, Senator Eastland, who is a racist and a colonialist.
Our enemies are the big interests, the big vested interests of the
international scene. Our friends are Lazaro Cardenas, Senator Allende, the
daughter and the wife of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, illustrious leader, who was
a Colombian national hero and whose memory is still inspiring that
country's aspiration for progress, and every one of the other
distinguished guests who have visited us in large numbers and who will
visit us in the future in ever growing numbers, because they know we need
their encouragement, their presence, their attestations. They know that
helping the Cuban revolution and Cuba's liberation means helping in the
liberation of every sister nation of Latin America. Never have we felt so
proud to be Cubans. Seeing how high we have placed our flag I felt
rewarded for all sacrifices made and still to be made.
|
|
Republic of Cuba
