Ernesto 'Che' Guevara: 'That cry is: Patria o muerte!', Speech to the United Nations - 1964

11 December 1964, General Assembly of the United Nations, New York, USA

Mr. President;
Distinguished delegates:

The delegation of Cuba to this Assembly, first of all, is pleased to fulfill the agreeable duty of welcoming the addition of three new nations to the important number of those that discuss the problems of the world here. We therefore greet, in the persons of their presidents and prime ministers, the peoples of Zambia, Malawi and Malta, and express the hope that from the outset these countries will be added to the group of Nonaligned countries that struggle against imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism.

We also wish to convey our congratulations to the president of this Assembly [Alex Quaison-Sackey of Ghana], whose elevation to so high a post is of special significance since it reflects this new historic stage of resounding triumphs for the peoples of Africa, who up until recently were subject to the colonial system of imperialism. Today, in their immense majority these peoples have become sovereign states through the legitimate exercise of their self-determination. The final hour of colonialism has struck, and millions of inhabitants of Africa, Asia and Latin America rise to meet a new life and demand their unrestricted right to self-determination and to the independent development of their nations.

We wish you, Mr. President, the greatest success in the tasks entrusted to you by the member states.

Cuba comes here to state its position on the most important points of controversy and will do so with the full sense of responsibility that the use of this rostrum implies, while at the same time fulfilling the unavoidable duty of speaking clearly and frankly.

We would like to see this Assembly shake itself out of complacency and move forward. We would like to see the committees begin their work and not stop at the first confrontation. Imperialism wants to turn this meeting into a pointless oratorical tournament, instead of solving the serious problems of the world. We must prevent it from doing so. This session of the Assembly should not be remembered in the future solely by the number 19 that identifies it. Our efforts are directed to that end.

We feel that we have the right and the obligation to do so, because our country is one of the most constant points of friction. It is one of the places where the principles upholding the right of small countries to sovereignty are put to the test day by day, minute by minute. At the same time our country is one of the trenches of freedom in the world, situated a few steps away from U.S. imperialism, showing by its actions, its daily example, that in the present conditions of humanity the peoples can liberate themselves and can keep themselves free.

Of course, there now exists a socialist camp that becomes stronger day by day and has more powerful weapons of struggle. But additional conditions are required for survival: the maintenance of internal unity, faith in one's own destiny, and the irrevocable decision to fight to the death for the defense of one's country and revolution. These conditions, distinguished delegates, exist in Cuba.

Of all the burning problems to be dealt with by this Assembly, one of special significance for us, and one whose solution we feel must be found first — so as to leave no doubt in the minds of anyone — is that of peaceful coexistence among states with different economic and social systems. Much progress has been made in the world in this field. But imperialism, particularly U.S. imperialism, has attempted to make the world believe that peaceful coexistence is the exclusive right of the earth's great powers. We say here what our president said in Cairo, and what later was expressed in the declaration of the Second Conference of Heads of State or Government of Nonaligned Countries: that peaceful coexistence cannot be limited to the powerful countries if we want to ensure world peace. Peaceful coexistence must be exercised among all states, regardless of size, regardless of the previous historical relations that linked them, and regardless of the problems that may arise among some of them at a given moment.

At present, the type of peaceful coexistence to which we aspire is often violated. Merely because the Kingdom of Cambodia maintained a neutral attitude and did not bow to the machinations of U.S. imperialism, it has been subjected to all kinds of treacherous and brutal attacks from the Yankee bases in South Vietnam.

Laos, a divided country, has also been the object of imperialist aggression of every kind. Its people have been massacred from the air. The conventions concluded at Geneva have been violated, and part of its territory is in constant danger of cowardly attacks by imperialist forces.

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam knows all these histories of aggression as do few nations on earth. It has once again seen its frontier violated, has seen enemy bombers and fighter planes attack its installations and U.S. warships, violating territorial waters, attack its naval posts. At this time, the threat hangs over the Democratic Republic of Vietnam that the U.S. war makers may openly extend into its territory the war that for many years they have been waging against the people of South Vietnam. The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China have given serious warnings to the United States. We are faced with a case in which world peace is in danger and, moreover, the lives of millions of human beings in this part of Asia are constantly threatened and subjected to the whim of the U.S. invader.

Peaceful coexistence has also been brutally put to the test in Cyprus, due to pressures from the Turkish Government and NATO, compelling the people and the government of Cyprus to make a heroic and firm stand in defense of their sovereignty.

In all these parts of the world, imperialism attempts to impose its version of what coexistence should be. It is the oppressed peoples in alliance with the socialist camp that must show them what true coexistence is, and it is the obligation of the United Nations to support them.

We must also state that it is not only in relations among sovereign states that the concept of peaceful coexistence needs to be precisely defined. As Marxists we have maintained that peaceful coexistence among nations does not encompass coexistence between the exploiters and the exploited, between the oppressors and the oppressed. Furthermore, the right to full independence from all forms of colonial oppression is a fundamental principle of this organization. That is why we express our solidarity with the colonial peoples of so-called Portuguese Guinea, Angola and Mozambique, who have been massacred for the crime of demanding their freedom. And we are prepared to help them to the extent of our ability in accordance with the Cairo declaration.

We express our solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico and their great leader, Pedro Albizu Campos, who, in another act of hypocrisy, has been set free at the age of 72, almost unable to speak, paralyzed, after spending a lifetime in jail. Albizu Campos is a symbol of the as yet unfree but indomitable Latin America. Years and years of prison, almost unbearable pressures in jail, mental torture, solitude, total isolation from his people and his family, the insolence of the conqueror and its lackeys in the land of his birth — nothing broke his will. The delegation of Cuba, on behalf of its people, pays a tribute of admiration and gratitude to a patriot who confers honor upon our America.

The United States for many years has tried to convert Puerto Rico into a model of hybrid culture: the Spanish language with English inflections, the Spanish language with hinges on its backbone — the better to bow down before the Yankee soldier. Puerto Rican soldiers have been used as cannon fodder in imperialist wars, as in Korea, and have even been made to fire at their own brothers, as in the massacre perpetrated by the U.S. Army a few months ago against the unarmed people of Panama — one of the most recent crimes carried out by Yankee imperialism. And yet, despite this assault on their will and their historical destiny, the people of Puerto Rico have preserved their culture, their Latin character, their national feelings, which in themselves give proof of the implacable desire for independence lying within the masses on that Latin American island. We must also warn that the principle of peaceful coexistence does not encompass the right to mock the will of the peoples, as is happening in the case of so-called British Guiana. There the government of Prime Minister Cheddi Jagan has been the victim of every kind of pressure and maneuver, and independence has been delayed to gain time to find ways to flout the people's will and guarantee the docility of a new government, placed in power by covert means, in order to grant a castrated freedom to this country of the Americas. Whatever roads Guiana may be compelled to follow to obtain independence, the moral and militant support of Cuba goes to its people.[15]

Furthermore, we must point out that the islands of Guadaloupe and Martinique have been fighting for a long time for self-government without obtaining it. This state of affairs must not continue. Once again we speak out to put the world on guard against what is happening in South Africa. The brutal policy of apartheid is applied before the eyes of the nations of the world. The peoples of Africa are compelled to endure the fact that on the African continent the superiority of one race over another remains official policy, and that in the name of this racial superiority murder is committed with impunity. Can the United Nations do nothing to stop this?

I would like to refer specifically to the painful case of the Congo, unique in the history of the modern world, which shows how, with absolute impunity, with the most insolent cynicism, the rights of peoples can be flouted. The direct reason for all this is the enormous wealth of the Congo, which the imperialist countries want to keep under their control. In the speech he made during his first visit to the United Nations, compañero Fidel Castro observed that the whole problem of coexistence among peoples boils down to the wrongful appropriation of other peoples' wealth. He made the following statement: “End the philosophy of plunder and the philosophy of war will be ended as well.”

But the philosophy of plunder has not only not been ended, it is stronger than ever. And that is why those who used the name of the United Nations to commit the murder of Lumumba are today, in the name of the defense of the white race, murdering thousands of Congolese. How can we forget the betrayal of the hope that Patrice Lumumba placed in the United Nations? How can we forget the machinations and maneuvers that followed in the wake of the occupation of that country by UN troops, under whose auspices the assassins of this great African patriot acted with impunity? How can we forget, distinguished delegates, that the one who flouted the authority of the UN in the Congo — and not exactly for patriotic reasons, but rather by virtue of conflicts between imperialists — was Moise Tshombe, who initiated the secession of Katanga with Belgian support? And how can one justify, how can one explain, that at the end of all the United Nations' activities there, Tshombe, dislodged from Katanga, should return as lord and master of the Congo? Who can deny the sad role that the imperialists compelled the United Nations to play?[16]

To sum up: dramatic mobilizations were carried out to avoid the secession of Katanga, but today Tshombe is in power, the wealth of the Congo is in imperialist hands — and the expenses have to be paid by the honorable nations. The merchants of war certainly do good business! That is why the government of Cuba supports the just stance of the Soviet Union in refusing to pay the expenses for this crime.

And as if this were not enough, we now have flung in our faces these latest acts that have filled the world with indignation. Who are the perpetrators? Belgian paratroopers, carried by U.S. planes, who took off from British bases. We remember as if it were yesterday that we saw a small country in Europe, a civilized and industrious country, the Kingdom of Belgium, invaded by Hitler's hordes. We were embittered by the knowledge that this small nation was massacred by German imperialism, and we felt affection for its people. But this other side of the imperialist coin was the one that many of us did not see. Perhaps the sons of Belgian patriots who died defending their country's liberty are now murdering in cold blood thousands of Congolese in the name of the white race, just as they suffered under the German heel because their blood was not sufficiently Aryan. Our free eyes open now on new horizons and can see what yesterday, in our condition as colonial slaves, we could not observe: that “Western Civilization” disguises behind its showy facade a picture of hyenas and jackals. That is the only name that can be applied to those who have gone to fulfill such “humanitarian” tasks in the Congo. A carnivorous animal that feeds on unarmed peoples. That is what imperialism does to men. That is what distinguishes the imperial “white man.”

All free men of the world must be prepared to avenge the crime of the Congo. Perhaps many of those soldiers, who were turned into sub-humans by imperialist machinery, believe in good faith that they are defending the rights of a superior race. In this Assembly, however, those peoples whose skins are darkened by a different sun, colored by different pigments, constitute the majority. And they fully and clearly understand that the difference between men does not lie in the color of their skin, but in the forms of ownership of the means of production, in the relations of production. The Cuban delegation extends greetings to the peoples of Southern Rhodesia and South-West Africa, oppressed by white colonialist minorities; to the peoples of Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Swaziland, French Somaliland, the Arabs of Palestine, Aden and the Protectorates, Oman; and to all peoples in conflict with imperialism and colonialism. We reaffirm our support to them.

I express also the hope that there will be a just solution to the conflict facing our sister republic of Indonesia in its relations with Malaysia. Mr. President: One of the fundamental themes of this conference is general and complete disarmament. We express our support for general and complete disarmament. Furthermore, we advocate the complete destruction of all thermonuclear devices and we support the holding of a conference of all the nations of the world to make this aspiration of all people a reality. In his statement before this assembly, our prime minister warned that arms races have always led to war. There are new nuclear powers in the world, and the possibilities of a confrontation are growing. We believe that such a conference is necessary to obtain the total destruction of thermonuclear weapons and, as a first step, the total prohibition of tests. At the same time, we have to establish clearly the duty of all countries to respect the present borders of other states and to refrain from engaging in any aggression, even with conventional weapons.

In adding our voice to that of all the peoples of the world who ask for general and complete disarmament, the destruction of all nuclear arsenals, the complete halt to the building of new thermonuclear devices and of nuclear tests of any kind, we believe it necessary to also stress that the territorial integrity of nations must be respected and the armed hand of imperialism held back, for it is no less dangerous when it uses only conventional weapons. Those who murdered thousands of defenseless citizens of the Congo did not use the atomic bomb. They used conventional weapons. Conventional weapons have also been used by imperialism, causing so many deaths.

Even if the measures advocated here were to become effective and make it unnecessary to mention it, we must point out that we cannot adhere to any regional pact for denuclearization so long as the United States maintains aggressive bases on our own territory, in Puerto Rico, Panama and in other Latin American states where it feels it has the right to place both conventional and nuclear weapons without any restrictions. We feel that we must be able to provide for our own defense in the light of the recent resolution of the Organization of American States against Cuba, on the basis of which an attack may be carried out invoking the Rio Treaty.[17] If the conference to which we have just referred were to achieve all these objectives — which, unfortunately, would be difficult — we believe it would be the most important one in the history of humanity. To ensure this it would be necessary for the People's Republic of China to be represented, and that is why a conference of this type must be held. But it would be much simpler for the peoples of the world to recognize the undeniable truth of the existence of the People's Republic of China, whose government is the sole representative of its people, and to give it the seat it deserves, which is, at present, usurped by the gang that controls the province of Taiwan, with U.S. support.

The problem of the representation of China in the United Nations cannot in any way be considered as a case of a new admission to the organization, but rather as the restoration of the legitimate rights of the People's Republic of China.

We must repudiate energetically the “two Chinas” plot. The Chiang Kai-shek gang of Taiwan cannot remain in the United Nations. What we are dealing with, we repeat, is the expulsion of the usurper and the installation of the legitimate representative of the Chinese people.

We also warn against the U.S. Government's insistence on presenting the problem of the legitimate representation of China in the UN as an “important question,” in order to impose a requirement of a two-thirds majority of members present and voting. The admission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations is, in fact, an important question for the entire world, but not for the machinery of the United Nations, where it must constitute a mere question of procedure. In this way justice will be done. Almost as important as attaining justice, however, would be the demonstration, once and for all, that this august Assembly has eyes to see, ears to hear, tongues to speak with and sound criteria for making its decisions. The proliferation of nuclear weapons among the member states of NATO, and especially the possession of these devices of mass destruction by the Federal Republic of Germany, would make the possibility of an agreement on disarmament even more remote, and linked to such an agreement is the problem of the peaceful reunification of Germany. So long as there is no clear understanding, the existence of two Germanys must be recognized: that of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic. The German problem can be solved only with the direct participation in negotiations of the German Democratic Republic with full rights. We shall only touch on the questions of economic development and international trade that are broadly represented in the agenda. In this very year of 1964 the Geneva conference was held at which a multitude of matters related to these aspects of international relations were dealt with. The warnings and forecasts of our delegation were fully confirmed, to the misfortune of the economically dependent countries.

We wish only to point out that insofar as Cuba is concerned, the United States of America has not implemented the explicit recommendations of that conference, and recently the U.S. Government also prohibited the sale of medicines to Cuba. By doing so it divested itself, once and for all, of the mask of humanitarianism with which it attempted to disguise the aggressive nature of its blockade against the people of Cuba.

Furthermore, we state once more that the scars left by colonialism that impede the development of the peoples are expressed not only in political relations. The so-called deterioration of the terms of trade is nothing but the result of the unequal exchange between countries producing raw materials and industrial countries, which dominate markets and impose the illusory justice of equal exchange of values.

So long as the economically dependent peoples do not free themselves from the capitalist markets and, in a firm bloc with the socialist countries, impose new relations between the exploited and the exploiters, there will be no solid economic development. In certain cases there will be retrogression, in which the weak countries will fall under the political domination of the imperialists and colonialists.

Finally, distinguished delegates, it must be made clear that in the area of the Caribbean, maneuvers and preparations for aggression against Cuba are taking place, on the coasts of Nicaragua above all, in Costa Rica aswell, in the Panama Canal Zone, on Vieques Island in Puerto Rico, in Florida and possibly in other parts of U.S. territory and perhaps also in Honduras. In these places Cuban mercenaries are training, as well as mercenaries of other nationalities, with a purpose that cannot be the most peaceful one. After a big scandal, the government of Costa Rica — it is said — has ordered the elimination of all training camps of Cuban exiles in that country.

No-one knows whether this position is sincere, or whether it is a simple alibi because the mercenaries training there were about to commit some misdeed. We hope that full cognizance will be taken of the real existence of bases for aggression, which we denounced long ago, and that the world will ponder the international responsibility of the government of a country that authorizes and facilitates the training of mercenaries to attack Cuba. We should note that news of the training of mercenaries in different parts in the Caribbean and the participation of the U.S. Government in such acts is presented as completely natural in the newspapers in the United States. We know of no Latin American voice that has officially protested this. This shows the cynicism with which the U.S. Government moves its pawns.

The sharp foreign ministers of the OAS had eyes to see Cuban emblems and to find “irrefutable” proof in the weapons that the Yankees exhibited in Venezuela, but they do not see the preparations for aggression in the United States, just as they did not hear the voice of President Kennedy, who explicitly declared himself the aggressor against Cuba at Playa Girón [Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961]. In some cases, it is a blindness provoked by the hatred against our revolution by the ruling classes of the Latin American countries. In others — and these are sadder and more deplorable — it is the product of the dazzling glitter of mammon.

As is well known, after the tremendous commotion of the so-called Caribbean crisis, the United States undertook certain commitments with the Soviet Union. These culminated in the withdrawal of certain types of weapons that the continued acts of aggression of the United States — such as the mercenary attack at Playa Girón and threats of invasion against our homeland — had compelled us to install in Cuba as an act of legitimate and essential defense.

The United States, furthermore, tried to get the UN to inspect our territory. But we emphatically refuse, since Cuba does not recognize the right of the United States, or of anyone else in the world, to determine the type of weapons Cuba may have within its borders.

In this connection, we would abide only by multilateral agreements, with equal obligations for all the parties concerned. As Fidel Castro has said: “So long as the concept of sovereignty exists as the prerogative of nations and of independent peoples, as a right of all peoples, we will not accept the exclusion of our people from that right. So long as the world is governed by these principles, so long as the world is governed by those concepts that have universal validity because they are universally accepted and recognized by the peoples, we will not accept the attempt to deprive us of any of those rights, and we will renounce none of those rights.” The Secretary-General of the United Nations, U Thant, understood our reasons. Nevertheless, the United States attempted to establish a new prerogative, an arbitrary and illegal one: that of violating the airspace of a small country. Thus, we see flying over our country U-2 aircraft and other types of spy planes that, with complete impunity, fly over our airspace. We have made all the necessary warnings for the violations of our airspace to cease, as well as for a halt to the provocations of the U.S. Navy against our sentry posts in the zone of Guantánamo, the buzzing by aircraft of our ships or the ships of other nationalities in international waters, the pirate attacks against ships sailing under different flags, and the infiltration of spies, saboteurs and weapons onto our island.

We want to build socialism. We have declared that we are supporters of those who strive for peace. We have declared ourselves to be within the group of Nonaligned countries, although we are Marxist-Leninists, because the Nonaligned countries, like ourselves, fight imperialism. We want peace. We want to build a better life for our people. That is why we avoid, insofar as possible, falling into the provocations manufactured by the Yankees. But we know the mentality of those who govern them. They want to make us pay a very high price for that peace. We reply that the price cannot go beyond the bounds of dignity.

And Cuba reaffirms once again the right to maintain on its territory the weapons it deems appropriate, and its refusal to recognize the right of any power on earth — no matter how powerful — to violate our soil, our territorial waters, or our airspace.

If in any assembly Cuba assumes obligations of a collective nature, it will fulfill them to the letter. So long as this does not happen, Cuba maintains all its rights, just as any other nation. In the face of the demands of imperialism, our prime minister laid out the five points necessary for the existence of a secure peace in the Caribbean. They are:

1. A halt to the economic blockade and all economic and trade pressures by the United States, in all parts of the world, against our country.

2. A halt to all subversive activities, launching and landing of weap- ons and explosives by air and sea, organization of mercenary invasions, infiltration of spies and saboteurs, acts all carried out from the territory of the United States and some accomplice countries.

3. A halt to pirate attacks carried out from existing bases in the United States and Puerto Rico.

4. A halt to all the violations of our airspace and our territorial waters by U.S. aircraft and warships.

5. Withdrawal from the Guantánamo naval base and return of the Cuban territory occupied by the United States.”

None of these elementary demands has been met, and our forces are still being provoked from the naval base at Guantánamo. That base has become a nest of thieves and a launching pad for them into our territory. We would tire this Assembly were we to give a detailed account of the large number of provocations of all kinds. Suffice it to say that including the first days of December, the number amounts to 1,323 in 1964 alone. The list covers minor provocations such as violation of the boundary line, launching of objects from the territory controlled by the United States, the commission of acts of sexual exhibitionism by U.S. personnel of both sexes, and verbal insults. It includes others that are more serious, such as shooting off small caliber weapons, aiming weapons at our territory, and offenses against our national flag. Extremely serious provocations include those of crossing the boundary line and starting fires in installations on the Cuban side, as well as rifle fire. There have been 78 rifle shots this year, with the sorrowful toll of one death: that of Ramón López Peña, a soldier, killed by two shots fired from the U.S. post three and a half kilometers from the coast on the northern boundary. This extremely grave provocation took place at 7:07 p.m. on July 19, 1964, and the prime minister of our government publicly stated on July 26 that if the event were to recur he would give orders for our troops to repel the aggression. At the same time orders were given for the withdrawal of the forward line of Cuban forces to positions farther away from the boundary line and construction of the necessary fortified positions. One thousand three hundred and twenty-three provocations in 340 days amount to approximately four per day. Only a perfectly disciplined army with a morale such as ours could resist so many hostile acts without losing its self-control.

Forty-seven countries meeting at the Second Conference of Heads of State or Government of Nonaligned Countries in Cairo unanimously agreed:

Noting with concern that foreign military bases are in practice a means of bringing pressure on nations and retarding their emancipation and development, based on their own ideological, political, economic and cultural ideas, the conference declares its unreserved support to the countries that are seeking to secure the elimination of foreign bases from their territory and calls upon all states maintaining troops and bases in other countries to remove them immediately. The conference considers that the maintenance at Guantánamo (Cuba) of a military base of the United States of America, in defiance of the will of the government and people of Cuba and in defiance of the provisions embodied in the declaration of the Belgrade conference, constitutes a violation of Cuba's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Noting that the Cuban Government expresses its readiness to settle its dispute over the base at Guantánamo with the United States of America on an equal footing, the conference urges the U.S. Government to open negotiations with the Cuban Government to evacuate their base.

The government of the United States has not responded to this request of the Cairo conference and is attempting to maintain indefinitely by force its occupation of a piece of our territory, from which it carries out acts of aggression such as those detailed earlier.

The Organization of American States — which the people also call the U.S. Ministry of Colonies — condemned us “energetically,” even though it had just excluded us from its midst, ordering its members to break off diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba. The OAS authorized aggression against our country at any time and under any pretext, violating the most fundamental international laws, completely disregarding the United Nations. Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile and Mexico opposed that measure, and the government of the United States of Mexico refused to comply with the sanctions that had been approved. Since then we have had no relations with any Latin American countries except Mexico, and this fulfills one of the necessary conditions for direct aggression by imperialism.

We want to make clear once again that our concern for Latin America is based on the ties that unite us: the language we speak, the culture we maintain, and the common master we had. We have no other reason for desiring the liberation of Latin America from the U.S. colonial yoke. If any of the Latin American countries here decide to reestablish relations with Cuba, we would be willing to do so on the basis of equality, and without viewing that recognition of Cuba as a free country in the world to be a gift to our government. We won that recognition with our blood in the days of the liberation struggle. We acquired it with our blood in the defense of our shores against the Yankee invasion.

Although we reject any accusations against us of interference in the internal affairs of other countries, we cannot deny that we sympathize with those people who strive for their freedom. We must fulfill the obligation of our government and people to state clearly and categorically to the world that we morally support and stand in solidarity with peoples who struggle anywhere in the world to make a reality of the rights of full sovereignty proclaimed in the UN Charter.

It is the United States that intervenes. It has done so historically in Latin America. Since the end of the last century Cuba has experienced this truth; but it has been experienced, too, by Venezuela, Nicaragua, Central America in general, Mexico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In recent years, apart from our people, Panama has experienced direct aggression, where the marines in the Canal Zone opened fire in cold blood against the defenseless people; the Dominican Republic, whose coast was violated by the Yankee fleet to avoid an outbreak of the just fury of the people after the death of Trujillo; and Colombia, whose capital was taken by assault as a result of a rebellion provoked by the assassination of Gaitán.[18] Covert interventions are carried out through military missions that participate in internal repression, organizing forces designed for that purpose in many countries, and also in coups d'état, which have been repeated so frequently on the Latin American continent during recent years. Concretely, U.S. forces intervened in the repression of the peoples of Venezuela, Colombia and Guatemala, who fought with weapons for their freedom. In Venezuela, not only do U.S. forces advise the army and the police, but they also direct acts of genocide carried out from the air against the peasant population in vast insurgent areas. And the Yankee companies operating there exert pressures of every kind to increase direct interference. The imperialists are preparing to repress the peoples of the Americas and are establishing an International of Crime.

The United States intervenes in Latin America invoking the defense of free institutions. The time will come when this Assembly will acquire greater maturity and demand of the U.S. Government guarantees for the life of the blacks and Latin Americans who live in that country, most of them U.S. citizens by origin or adoption.

Those who kill their own children and discriminate daily against them because of the color of their skin; those who let the murderers of blacks remain free, protecting them, and furthermore punishing the black population because they demand their legitimate rights as free men — how can those who do this consider themselves guardians of freedom? We understand that today the Assembly is not in a position to ask for explanations of these acts. It must be clearly established, however, that the government of the United States is not the champion of freedom, but rather the perpetrator of exploitation and oppression against the peoples of the world and against a large part of its own population.

To the ambiguous language with which some delegates have described the case of Cuba and the OAS, we reply with clear-cut words and we proclaim that the peoples of Latin America will make those servile, sell-out governments pay for their treason.

Cuba, distinguished delegates, a free and sovereign state with no chains binding it to anyone, with no foreign investments on its territory, with no proconsuls directing its policy, can speak with its head held high in this Assembly and can demonstrate the justice of the phrase by which it has been baptized: “Free Territory of the Americas.” Our example will bear fruit in the continent, as it is already doing to a certain extent in Guatemala, Colombia and Venezuela.

There is no small enemy nor insignificant force, because no longer are there isolated peoples. As the Second Declaration of Havana states:

No nation in Latin America is weak — because each forms part of a family of 200 million brothers, who suffer the same miseries, who harbor the same sentiments, who have the same enemy, who dream about the same better future, and who count upon the solidarity of all honest men and women throughout the world...

This epic before us is going to be written by the hungry Indian masses, the peasants without land, the exploited workers. It is going to be written by the progressive masses, the honest and brilliant intellectuals, who so greatly abound in our suffering Latin American lands. Struggles of masses and ideas. An epic that will be carried forward by our peoples, mistreated and scorned by imperialism; our people, unreckoned with until today, who are now beginning to shake off their slumber. Imperialism considered us a weak and submissive flock; and now it begins to be terrified of that flock; a gigantic flock of 200 million Latin Americans in whom Yankee monopoly capitalism now sees its gravediggers...

But now from one end of the continent to the other they are signaling with clarity that the hour has come — the hour of their vindication. Now this anonymous mass, this America of color, somber, taciturn America, which all over the continent sings with the same sadness and disillusionment, now this mass is beginning to enter definitively into its own history, is beginning to write it with its own blood, is beginning to suffer and die for it.

Because now in the mountains and fields of America, on its flatlands and in its jungles, in the wilderness or in the traffic of cities, on the banks of its great oceans or rivers, this world is beginning to tremble. Anxious hands are stretched forth, ready to die for what is theirs, to win those rights that were laughed at by one and all for 500 years. Yes, now history will have to take the poor of America into account, the exploited and spurned of America, who have decided to begin writing their history for themselves for all time. Already they can be seen on the roads, on foot, day after day, in endless march of hundreds of kilometers to the governmental “eminences,” there to obtain their rights.

Already they can be seen armed with stones, sticks, machetes, in one direction and another, each day, occupying lands, sinking hooks into the land that belongs to them and defending it with their lives. They can be seen carrying signs, slogans, flags; letting them flap in the mountain or prairie winds. And the wave of anger, of demands for justice, of claims for rights trampled underfoot, which is beginning to sweep the lands of Latin America, will not stop. That wave will swell with every passing day. For that wave is composed of the greatest number, the majorities in every respect, those whose labor amasses the wealth and turns the wheels of history. Now they are awakening from the long, brutalizing sleep to which they had been subjected.

For this great mass of humanity has said, “Enough!” and has begun to march. And their march of giants will not be halted until they conquer true independence — for which they have vainly died more than once. Today, however, those who die will die like the Cubans at Playa Girón. They will die for their own true and never-to-be-surrendered independence.

All this, distinguished delegates, this new will of a whole continent, of Latin America, is made manifest in the cry proclaimed daily by our masses as the irrefutable expression of their decision to fight and to paralyze the armed hand of the invader. It is a cry that has the understanding and support of all the peoples of the world and especially of the socialist camp, headed by the Soviet Union.

That cry is: Patria o muerte! [Homeland or death]

Fidel Castro: 'The enemy that threatens Cuba is the same enemy that threatens everyone else', Tricontienntal Conference - 1966

15 January, 1966, Chaplin Theater, Havana, Cuba

The short excerpt contained in YouTube clip:

We revolutionary Cubans understand our international obligations. Our people understand their obligation because they understand that we face a common enemy. The enemy that threatens Cuba is the same enemy that threatens everyone else. That is why we say and we proclaim that Cuban fighters will lend support to any revolutionary movement in any corner of the earth.

The full tex delivered at the closing of the Tricontinental Conference of Revolutionary Leaders is as folows:

Honored delegates, Cuban comrades: The importance of this event which has come to a climax tonight does not escape us. Contrary to all the auguries of imperialism, contrary to all its forecasts which revealed the great hope that this conference would not result in anything, that this conference involving the problems of the international communist movement was bound to be divided, that it was bound to be a great failure — what has happened is something that they least or perhaps never expected: that the conference has been a success; that this conference has created an organ tricontinental in nature; that it has arrived at accords which include the most heartfelt yearnings of the peoples who fight for their liberation; that a committee to aid the liberation movements has been created.

And that's not all: Something which unquestionably hurts the imperialists greatly is that Cuba has been chosen as the headquarters of the executive secretariat of the organization until the next Tricontinental conference is held. (Applause)

It is not that we are expressing here a feeling of national pride. Because of the peculiar circumstances surrounding the country, its geographic location, the efforts exerted by the imperialists to isolate it from the world, the measures adopted so that practically no one can visit us makes the fact that this conference has been held with such success in our country and defying all obstacles, defying all difficulties, that it has been considered an adequate location for the temporary operation of the headquarters, is something which doubtless must hurt the Yankee imperialists considerably.

Therefore, this has been a great victory for the revolutionary movement. Never has there been a gathering of such dimensions and of such magnitude, a gathering in which the revolutionary representations of 82 peoples have met to discuss problems of common interest. Never has there been such a large meeting, because the peoples of three continents have been here; the revolutionary movements of the peoples of three continents who have a common anti-imperialist stance; who represent the struggle of their peoples with differing philosophical ideas or positions, or with differing religious beliefs; who on many occasions represent differing ideologies. But they have something in common. What the peoples have most in common to unite the people of three continents and of all the world today is the struggle against imperialism (applause); the struggle against colonialism and neocolonialism, the struggle against racism and, in short, all the phenomena which are the contemporary expression we call imperialism, whose center, axis, and principal support of Yankee imperialism.

The meeting, agreements, and conclusions of this conference were all accomplished because the nations in this era have something in common. This was not an easy task; it may seem easy, but it was not and could not be an easy task. This is only natural, because when representatives from different nations and different movements, with special problems which express almost all current problems of the world, it was not easy...

The work on theses, on agreements acceptable to all could not be achieved without hard work. During these past few days we remember how different problems were discussed. When the final statement was being discussed, we remembered how Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had worked and written the Communist Manifesto for several months, and how afterward they revised, retouched, and perfected it several times before it was finally issued. Naturally, in our conference which took two weeks — less than two weeks — a few days were needed to work on a document which would cover the different opinions and would be issued in a manner that would fully satisfy every one of the delegations. Despite these circumstances, a document was achieved which undoubtedly is the most profound, most complete, and most radical of many which have been worked on and agreed upon at a conference of this type.

For the first time the Latin American representatives participated with the African and Asian nations. Of course, in the case of Latin America, the majority or all the representatives came from the movements and nations which are fighting or will fight to free themselves. Our nation in this case represented the only nation free from Yankee domination and constituted in revolutionary power.

We believe that this conference will unquestionably occupy a place in the history of the nations that struggle for their freedom in the revolutionary movement. We also believe that the contacts which have been established, the ties which have been created between the world movements fighting against imperialism, and the organizations which have been created, will play an unquestionable role in the revolutionary struggle.

We have had the opportunity to become more familiar with the thinking and the concrete situation of each one of the movements which fight for their liberation at this hour. We have had the opportunity to know the concrete situation of each one of the peoples who struggle, and, above all, we have had the opportunity of seeing how the solidarity of the peoples has been growing; how the strength of the revolutionary movement grows on a world scale, and how the mutual assistance of the peoples grows and can grow in times to come; the assistance of all the peoples for each one of the peoples who struggle — the mutual assistance of the peoples on a scale and on a level which mankind has never before seen.

[Vietnam]

(We have had the opportunity to see) how, despite the military and technical power of the imperialists, the united strength of the revolutionary peoples will be much more powerful. (Applause) Imperialism will inevitably be defeated. Who has taught us this lesson? It has been taught to us by the peoples. Who among the peoples has given us in these times the most extraordinary lesson? The people of Vietnam. (Applause)

Vietnam is a small nation. The imperialists have split it in two, into North and South Vietnam. For revolutionaries, for us, there is but a single Vietnam. (Applause) Against the people of South Vietnam the Yankee imperialists have deployed a large part of their might — hundreds of thousands of regular soldiers of the imperialist armed forces, as well as hundreds of thousands of soldiers drafted by the puppet government; hundreds of planes; thousands of helicopters. Yet the Yankee imperialists have been unable to crush the people in this part of Vietnam.

Trying to intimidate their brothers in the other part of Vietnam, they began bombing with hundreds of planes every day to demand their surrender, to try to bring the Vietnamese to their knees. Yet, as the imperialists themselves admit, instead of gaining ground they have lost ground. Against the ever increasingly steadfast and heroic resistance, they used more and more planes and more and more bombs. To the amazement of the world, the people of Vietnam are furnishing the most extraordinary example of heroism the history of any liberation movement has ever seen, because a liberation movement has never had to face more powerful forces. The people of Vietnam are reversing these forces and defeating the might of the Yankee imperialists.

They not only bomb Vietnam but they also incessantly bomb the patriots of Laos. (Applause) They threaten to bomb and commit aggression against Cambodia. These attitudes and threats of the Yankee imperialists reveal their impotence; they reveal their despair. This is the result of a situation which is becoming more critical in that part of the world. This is due to the defeats they are suffering in that area of Asia, where a decisive battle is being waged by the people against imperialism — and not only against Yankee imperialism but against Yankee imperialism and its allies, Yankee imperialism and its daring associates in Asia — which is expressed by the formations of South Korean, Australian, and Thai soldiers — and which threatens to further involve either military or support forces of the greatest number of world governments.

That struggle against the Vietnamese people and Laos and the threats to Cambodia demonstrate a need to render maximum solidarity and help to those nations.

The Yankee imperialists have the support of Thailand, where there are many troops and bases and from where they carry out threats against Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. This does not mean that this situation will continue indefinitely. We are sure that for the peoples of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia the hour will come when the Thai people will demand an accounting from the Yankee imperialists. (Applause) The hour will also come when that suppressed and exploited people, inspired by its neighboring nations, will also join the struggle against the imperialists.

Meanwhile, the imperialists not only have carried out the war against Vietnam — all of Vietnam — and Laos, but also threaten Cambodia.

[Cuban Assistance to Vietnam]

Cambodia is a small nation which has not yet been attacked but is seriously threatened by Yankee imperialism. Therefore, it is necessary that the revolutionary states assist in the strengthening of the defenses of the small nation of Cambodia. (Applause)

Talking with that country's representative, who was participating in the Tricontinental Conference, hearing from his lips about the situation in his country and the dangers that threaten it, we expressed that view to him; and we told him further that we Cubans, although we are a small nation and at an enormous distance from Cambodia, are prepared to contribute to the extent of our power to strengthening its defenses, and that all we need is to be advised, all we need is to be asked in any circumstance when it is considered advisable, for we are prepared to make our contribution.

And that is also our position on Laos, and North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. (Applause) We are a small nation, not too far from the shores of the imperialist homeland. Our arms are eminently defensive. But our men, wholeheartedly, our revolutionary militants, our fighters, are prepared to fight the imperialists in any part of the world. (Applause) Our country is a small one; our territory could even be partially occupied by the enemy; but that would never mean a cessation of our resistance.

But the world is big, and the imperialists are everywhere, and for the Cuban revolutionaries the field of battle against imperialism takes in the whole world. (Applause) Without boasting, without any kind of immodesty, that is how we Cuban revolutionaries understand our internationalist duty. That is the way our people understand their duty, because they realize that the enemy is one and indivisible; the one who attacks us along our shoes and on our land is the same who attacks the others. Hence we say and we declare that Cuban fighters can be counted on by the revolutionary movement in any corner of the earth. (Applause)

Thousands and thousands of Cubans have expressed the desire and readiness to go anywhere in the world where they may be needed to help the revolutionary movement and this is logical. If the Yankee imperialist feel free to bomb anywhere they please and send their mercenary troops to put down the revolutionary movement anywhere in the world, then the revolutionary peoples feel they have the right, even with their physical presence, to help the peoples who are fighting the Yankee imperialists. And so, if each helps to the extent of his power, if each helps insofar as he can, the Yankee imperialists will be defeated, that place is Southeast Asia, for there it is impossible to establish a correlation of forces. It is possible to establish a correlation of forces incomparably superior to that of the Yankee imperialists.

Thus, we have not the slightest doubt that they will be defeated, crushed, by the peoples of that region, and — if they increase their forces and the forces of their reactionary allies — by the camp and the other peoples. (Applause)

This is why the Yankee imperialists launch their hypocritical peace offensives, in an attempt to confuse, to deceive. And that is why the peoples of Vietnam have said — and very rightly — that is the only peace, true peace, will be achieved only when the Yankee imperialists stop attacking, and when the Yankee imperialists stop occupying part of the territory of Vietnam, and when the Yankee imperialists take their mercenary troops and military bases out of Vietnamese territory. That is, the imperialists have been told the only thing that was proper to tell them under the circumstances: that true peace since they are the only disturbers of the peace will be achieved when they get out of Vietnam. (Applause)

It is evident that the imperialists are there fighting a hopeless fight; the imperialists are there fighting a fight in which they are doomed to inevitable defeat, and as a result, they want to swap defeat for a false peace. And it is logical for the people of Vietnam to refuse; it is logical for the people of Vietnam to be unwilling to exchange their victory for that kind of false peace. If we were in a similar situation, I am fully convinced that we would say exactly the same thing, and that we would refuse to negotiate under bombs, and we would refuse to negotiate under attack, and we would refuse to negotiate while our country was occupied. And therefore our people and the conference unanimously supported the positions and points upheld by the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the South Vietnam liberation movement. (Applause)

On this question, on this topic, the most burning one currently, there were practically unanimous views. And it is very well for the Yankee imperialists to know the degree of solidarity with Vietnam felt by all peoples of the world. It is well for the Yankee imperialists to understand the degree of support enjoyed by the people of Vietnam throughout the world. Hence we consider that this solidarity conference of the peoples of the three continents has acted and spoken in such a way that the support and feelings of solidarity for Vietnam has become evident, and in addition will grow. And as in the case of Vietnam, so it is for Laos and Cambodia, which are the nations being attacked or running the risk of being attacked.

[Conference Unity]

On all problems of Asia, Africa, and Latin America the conference took a similar stand. The peoples and the liberation movements of Africa — and in order to avoid an oversight I wish to say that a small country, too, there in that area of Asia, is fighting for its liberation, although it is not very well known, a people fighting courageously, the people of North Kalimantan — received the warm support of the conference, as did the people of Yemen and the people of Palestine. (Applause)

The African ones, I was saying, the liberation movements that were so worthily represented at this conference: the people of Portuguese-occupied Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands, represented here by one of the most serious revolutionary movements in Africa and by one of the most lucid and brilliant leaders in Africa, Comrade Amílcar Cabral, who instilled in us tremendous confidence in the future and the success of his struggle for liberation; the liberation movement of Angola and Mozambique, two more Portuguese colonies that are an armed conflict for their liberation; the Zimbabwe people, oppressed by the racist minority in Rhodesia; the people of the Congo Leopoldville; the oppressed people of South Africa; the protectorates of Swaziland, Bechuanaland, and Basutoland, whose nomenclature reveals the imperial profile of the country that colonized them; and in sum, all the African liberation movements were worthily represented at this conference and received warm support and solidarity from all the delegates.

In Africa the imperialists attempt to penetrate and divide and subjugate is increasingly manifest. During the past few weeks they have made coups fashionable. Coups in the Congo, coups in the Central African Republic, coups in Nigeria, as reported by dispatches, reveal imperialism's desperate efforts to strengthen its dominion in that part of the world. In Africa, too, a decisive battle is being fought, and the role of the revolutionary movements and the role of the new states that have not today been infected with the disease of neocolonialism will be of extraordinary importance in resisting this imperialist drive and penetration.

For there, aid to the revolutionary movement, determined aid to the liberation movements, determined aid to the majorities that are oppressed by the racists will be a decisive factor.

Equally decisive will be the sense of responsibility, seriousness, and union among the African revolutionary leaders. Some movements have sustained blows, some setbacks; but those setbacks must not discourage them. Those setbacks must serve as experience; those setbacks must serve as lessons, so that pertinent steps and measures may be adopted to overcome present difficulties, to overcome shortcomings and weaknesses of the revolutionary movement.

The solidarity movement, which began in Africa and Asia and has now extended to the third continent of the world that is oppressed and exploited by imperialism, will by a decision of the conference have its next event in Cairo, thereby accepting the invitation extended by President Nasser, who offered the UAR capital for the next Tricontinental Conference in 1968. And we are sure — and we must bend every effort to that end — that by that date, among the peoples that have freed themselves from imperialism or colonialism we will be able to greet a few more fraternal peoples of Africa. (Applause)

The problems of Latin America, beginning with the most burning and critical problem, the problem of the military occupation of Santo Domingo by regular troops of Yankee imperialism, earned the attention of this conference and the full support of the delegates representing their peoples. On the Dominican stage in the years ahead, Latin America faces one of the most serious battles of the next few years. The Dominican Republic, a small country occupied by tens of thousands of Yankee troops, faces a long, hard fight. The Dominican Republic, the Dominican people, must not be alone against the Yankee imperialists. (Applause)

In many other American nations every condition exists for revolutionary armed battle. This battle has already been going on for some time too in Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Guatemala (Applause). In Latin America there must not be even one, or two, or three peoples fighting alone against imperialism.

The imperialists' correlation of forces on this continent, the nearness of their home territory, the zeal with which they will try to defend their dominions in this part of the world require, on this continent more than anywhere else, a common strategy, a joint, simultaneous struggle. (Applause) If the imperialists have to face not just the people of the Dominican Republic, or the people of Guatemala, or the people of Venezuela, or the people of Colombia, or the people of Peru, but have the fight, at the same time as in all these countries, against the other oppressed peoples, as in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Argentina and other peoples in Central America; if the struggle is waged on a broad scale, if every revolutionary of this continent does his duty — and as the Havana Declaration says, the duty of every revolutionary is to effect the revolution, and effect it in deed not in word; not be a revolutionary in theory alone, but a revolutionary in practice — if revolutionaries spend less energy and time on theorizing and devote more energy and time to practical work; and if there is less of revolutions and possibilities and dilemmas and it is understood once and for all that sooner or later all or almost all peoples will have to take up arms to liberate themselves, then the hour of liberation for this continent will be advanced. What with the ones who theorize and the ones who criticize those who theorize while beginning to theorize themselves, much energy and time is unfortunately lost.

We believe that on this continent, in the case of all or almost all peoples, the battle will take on the most violent forms. And when this is realized, the only proper thing is to prepare for the time when the battle comes. Prepare! (Applause) Of course, that battle will break out first where — as the Havana Declaration says — conditions of imperialist oppression are the most naked, where every course is absolutely closed, as is the case in most countries of this continent. And even where the bourgeoisie and imperialist exercise their class rule through constitutionalist means, as is the case in Uruguay, the force of the mass movement and the people's revolutionary spirit are more and more evident. (Applause)

And we must express our people's great liking for Uruguay, because the latter is a tiny, tiny country that has no mountains and is surrounded by two reactionary colossi, and invariably, always, without exception, under every circumstance, its people have been on a par with the people of Venezuela in solidarity and support for the Cuban revolution. (Applause) We still remember how, because of the break in diplomatic relations with Cuba due to an OAS decision imposed by the United States as a penalty against Cuba, the people of Uruguay, led by their revolutionary organizations, took to the streets with incomparable vigor in protest against that servile, traitorous act against a nation of this continent.

Well, gentlemen, in this problem of Latin America you delegates will allow me to extend myself in a few observations, since we are situated on this continent, and since against us not only have the Yankee imperialists established the economic blockade, made use of armed aggression, threatened us mortally on certain occasions, committed every kind of sabotage, infiltrated spies, and launched piratical attacks, but also Yankee imperialism has used more subtle weapons against our country, such as the weapons of propaganda and slander. And not that alone — Yankee imperialism and its agents have sought to destroy the prestige of the Cuban revolution; they have tried to depict the Cuban revolution as being apart from the revolutionary struggles on this continent; they have tried in the basest and most slanderous way to discredit the revolution; and they have had recourse to every method, every fact, every weapon.

Of course, the imperialists would be interested in a concrete discussion of these problems. Any irresponsible person, any charlatan, any puppet cares nothing about making an irresponsible statement, a slanderous statement. It is well known that only the enemy would be interested in the manner of putting into practice the term “solidarity” with revolutionary peoples of the whole world as well as on this continent. (Applause) But what has happened?

[Guevara's depature]

There is a fact which I will take as an example to demonstrate how imperialism and its agents work. It is a very interesting fact. I refer to the campaign carried out by Yankee imperialism and its agents regarding the departure of our Comrade Ernesto Guevara. (Applause) I believe we must take this matter by the horns to clarify some things.

Comrade Ernesto Guevara and a few revolutionaries from this country and a few revolutionaries outside this country know when he left and what he has been doing during this period. The imperialists are, of course, very interested in learning all the details as to his whereabouts, what he is doing and how. Apparently they do not know, and if they do, they disguise it very well.

These are things, of course, that time, when circumstances so permit, will clarify. However, we revolutionaries do not need any clarifications. The enemy seizes upon these circumstances to try to conspire and to confound and to slander.

Comrade Guevara joined us when we were in exile in Mexico. From the very first day he always had the idea, clearly expressed, that when the struggle ended in Cuba he would still have other duties to fulfill elsewhere. We always gave him our word that no state or national interest, no circumstances, would make us request him to remain in our country, would make us obstruct the fulfillment of this wish or this vocation. And we fulfilled thoroughly and faithfully that promise which we made to Comrade Guevara. (Applause)

Naturally, if Comrade Guevara was to leave the country, it would be logical for him to do this clandestinely. It would be logical for him to move clandestinely. It is logical that he is not calling newsmen. It is logical that he has not been granting press conferences. It is logical that he would carry out the tasks he had planned in the way he did.

However, how much capital have the imperialists tried to make from this situation, and how they have done it!

That is why I brought some papers. Do not be afraid that I am going to read all the papers here. I am only going to read some things. Because here we have what all the imperialists and bourgeois newspapers have written with respect to the case of Major Guevara, what the U.S. newspapers, their magazines, and their wire agencies have written, the Latin American bourgeois newspapers and (newspapers) of the entire world, and we are going to see who exactly have been the main spokesmen of the imperialist campaign of intrigue and calumnies against Cuba with respect to the case of Comrade Guevara.

[Trotskyist Distortions of Guevara's Disappearance]

In the first place there were certain elements who during the past decades have been used constantly against the revolutionary movement. And if you will give me a little time, I am going to look among all these papers for some very interesting ones. Ah, I found it; it is a UPI dispatch dated 6 December 1965: “Ernesto Guevara was murdered by Cuban Premier Fidel Castro on orders from the USSR, declared Felipe Albaguante, chief of the Mexican Trotskyists, in statements to El Universal.” He adds that Che was liquidated for insisting on placing Cuba on the Chinese line.

This, naturally, came at the same time as a campaign which the Trotskyist elements began in all places simultaneously. Likewise, dated 22 October 1965, in the weekly Marcha, an article is published in which a well-known Trotskyist theoretician, Adolfo Gilly, declares that Che left Cuba due to differences with Fidel on the Sino-Soviet conflict and that Che could not impose his opinion on the leadership. He says that Che in a confused manner proposed the extension of the revolution to the rest of Latin America in opposition to the Soviet line.

He says that the Cuban leadership is divided into a conservative wing which includes former leaders of the pact, the followers of Che, and Fidel and his team in a position of swinging back and forth between conciliation and opposition. He says that Che left Cuba because he lacked means of expressing himself, and that Fidel feared to face the masses to explain the case of Che.

This same Trotskyist theoretician on 31 October 1965, as a reporter for Nuovo Mondo, an Italian paper, writes an article calling the Cuban leadership “philo-Soviet” and accusing Fidel of not having politically explained what happened to Che. He says that Major Guevara was defeated by the pact and the Castro team. He criticizes Che for not having taken the struggle to impose his point of view to the masses, and he concludes that the Cuban state, paralyzed by its own policy, did not openly support the Dominican revolution. I am going to refer to this a little more extensively a little further on.

In its October 1965 number, the Spanish Trotskyist newspaper Batalla declares: “The mystery which surrounds the case of Che Guevara must be cleared up. Friends of Che suppose that the letter read by Castro is false, and it is asked whether the Cuban leadership is orienting itself toward submission to the bureaucracy of the Kremlin."

Around the same date, the official Trotskyist organ of Argentina publishes an article in which it avers that Che is dead or a prisoner in Cuba. It says: “He entered into conflict with Fidel Castro over the operation of the unions and the organization of the militia.” It adds that Che opposed the formation of the Central Committee with Castro's favorites, particularly army officers supporting the Moscow rightwing.

However, one of the filthiest articles, the most gross, the most indecent, is that written by the leader of the Latin American political bureau of the Fourth International, in the newspaper Lutta Operaria of Italy. Of this article, a long one for sure, I am only going to read three paragraphs. It begins by saying:

“One aspect of the worsening of the world crisis of bureaucracy is the expulsion of Guevara. Guevara was expelled now, not eight months ago. The discussion with Guevara has lasted eight months. These were not eight months spent drinking coffee. They have fought hard, and perhaps there have been deaths, perhaps they have argued with pistols. We cannot say whether or not they killed Guevara, but there exists the right to suppose that they killed him.

“Why does Guevara not appear? They have not presented him in Havana for fear of the consequences, the reaction of the population; but after all, by hiding him they cause the same effect. The people say, 'Why does Guevara not come out, why does he not appear?' It is not a political accusation. There are political praises for him. Why have they not presented Guevara? Why has he not spoken? How can it be possible that one of the founders of the Cuban worker state, who up until a short time ago toured the world in the name of the worker state, unexpectedly says: 'I am fed up with the Cuban Revolution. I am going to make revolution somewhere else.' Somewhere else, and they do not say where he has gone, and he does not appear. If there are no differences, why does he not appear? All the Cuban people understand that there is an enormous struggle and that this struggle had not ended.

“Guevara was not alone and is not alone. If they take these measures against Guevara, it is because there is great support, great support for him, and in addition to this great support the people are enormously preoccupied. A short while ago the Cuban government published a decree, very severe, saying that it was necessary to return all weapons to the state. At that time the situation was a bit confused. Now it is clear why this resolution was issued. It was against the Guevara partisans. They are afraid of an uprising.”

Here is another paragraph:

“Why have they silenced Guevara? The Fourth International must carry out a public campaign in this respect, demanding the appearance of Guevara, the right of Guevara to defend himself and to debate, to make an appeal to the masses not to trust the measures the Cuban state has taken because they are bureaucratic measures and perhaps those of murderers. They have eliminated Guevara to stop his struggle. They have silenced Guevara regardless of the fact that their position was not compatible with a revolutionary point of view, because it tended toward the harmonizing of their positions in the revolutionary tendency.”

Further on it says:

“This demonstrates not the power of Guevara, or of a Guevara group in Cuba, but the maturity of the conditions in the rest of the workers' states for the fructification of these positions within a short time. Bureaucracy is not deceived by maneuvers and measures of this type. The elimination of Guevara means for bureaucracy the attempt at the liquidation of a base for possible regrouping of revolutionary tendencies which continue to develop world revolution. This is the basis for the liquidation of Guevara. And not only is it a danger for Cuba, but it exerts influence on the rest of the Latin American revolution. Guatemala is at the side of Cuba; Guatemala is at the side of Cuba with the program of the socialist revolution. Despite its force and the speeches of its highest leader, Fidel Castro, it has not been able to prevent the 13 November Movement from turning into a socialist revolutionary movement fighting directly for socialism.”

It is not by coincidence that this gentleman, a leader of the Fourth International, mentions here very haughtily the case of Guatemala and of the 13 November Movement. Because, precisely in relation to this movement, Yankee imperialism has used one of the most subtle tactics to liquidate a revolutionary movement, which consisted of infiltrating the agents of the Fourth International who, by ignorance — political ignorance — made the main political leader of that movement adopt no less than that discredited thing, that anti-historic thing, that fraudulent thing which emanated from elements who without doubt serve imperialism, as did the program of the Fourth International.

How did this happen? Yon Sosa was undoubtedly a patriotic officer. Yon Sosa led the movement of a group of armed officers in the crushing of whom the mercenaries who later invaded Playa Girón participated. Through a businessman who took charge of the movement's political aspects, the Fourth International fixed it up so that that leader, who was ignorant of the profound problems of politics and of the history of revolutionary thought, would permit that agents of Trotskyism, about whom we do not have the slightest doubt that he is an agent of imperialism, to publish a newspaper which copies outright the program of the Fourth International. By doing this, the Fourth International committed a real crime against the revolutionary movement to isolate it from the rest of the people, to isolate it from the masses, when it contaminated it with the stupidities, the discredit, and the repugnant thing which Trotskyism today is in the field of politics. (Applause).

Even though at one time Trotskyism represented an erroneous position, but a position in the field of political ideas, Trotskyism became during the following years a vulgar instrument of imperialism and reaction. This is the way these gentlemen think. For example, in relation to South Vietnam, where a broad revolutionary front has united the overwhelming majority of the people and various sectors of the population, has united them closely around the liberation movement in the struggle against imperialism. For the Trotskyists that is absurd; that is counterrevolutionary. Yet these gentlemen who serve imperialism have the gall to do such an unusual thing in the face of the facts and realities of history and against the revolutionary movement and to express themselves in this manner.

Fortunately, in Guatemala the revolutionary movement is being saved, and it is being saved thanks to the clear vision of one of the officers who along with Sosa began the revolutionary movement and who, understanding that blunder, that stupidity, divorced himself from the 13 November Movement and with other progressive and revolutionary sectors organized the Guatemalan Rebel Armed Forces. (Applause) That officer, that young officer who had such a clear vision, who represented the Guatemalan revolutionary movement at this conference, is Major Turcios. (Applause)

Major Turcios has to his credit not only having been one of the standard bearers of the armed struggle for the liberation of his oppressed nation, but also having saved the Guatemalan revolutionary movement from one of the most subtle and perfidious stratagems of Yankee imperialism. He also raised the revolutionary banners of Guatemala and of his anti-imperialist movement by snatching them from the dirty hands of these mercenaries at the service of Yankee imperialism.

We hope that Yon Sosa, whose patriotic intentions were questioned by no one when the struggle began and whose honesty is not questioned by anyone, even though we have strong reasons to doubt his attitudes as a revolutionary leader, will not delay in divorcing himself from these elements and will return to the Guatemalan revolutionary movement, but this time under a different leader, a different guide who demonstrated in such moments a clarity of vision and an attitude becoming a revolutionary leader. (Applause)

This position of the Trotskyists is the same which all newspapers and publicity agencies of Yankee imperialism adopted in relation to the cause of Comrade Ernesto Guevara. All the imperialist press of the United States, its news agencies, the Cuban counter-revolutionaries' press, the bourgeois press throughout the continent and the rest of the world — in other words, this campaign of slanders and intrigues against revolutionary Cuba in connection with the case of Comrade Guevara — coincided with precision with all imperialist bourgeois sectors, all the slanderers and all the conspirators against the Cuban revolution, for there is no doubt that only reaction and imperialism is interested in discrediting the Cuban revolution and in destroying the confidence of the revolutionary movements in the Cuban revolution, in destroying the confidence of the Latin American peoples in the Cuban revolution, in destroying their faith. Therefore, they have not hesitated to use the dirtiest and most indecent weapons.

This same man (Gilly), who once in a while poses among other North American intellectuals in the U.S. magazine (Monthly Review), had the villainy to write the following paragraph with regard to the Santo Domingo crisis which is worthy of analysis.

He said:

“A high point of this crisis had to be the Dominican revolution, where the Cuban worker state was left paralyzed by its own policy, without openly supporting the revolution, while in Cuba there was tremendous internal pressure for a policy of active support. If the crisis took place long before the Santo Domingo incident, then the Santo Domingo incident undoubtedly precipitated the revolution.”

This man has the villainy to accuse the Cuban revolution of not having actively supported the Dominican Revolution. While the imperialists accused Cuba, while the imperialists were trying to justify their intervention, saying that leftist and communist elements trained in Cuba were there leading the uprising, while imperialism was accusing Cuba and presenting the Dominican revolution not as an internal problem, but as an external problem, this man accuses the revolution of not having actively supported the Dominican revolution. What is the interpretation of active support? Could they perhaps think that Cuba, whose forces and resources are known, could prevent and had to prevent the landing of North American troops in Santo Domingo?

Cuba has weapons to defend itself in a relation infinitely inferior to the imperialists. Cuba has defensive arms. And these gentlemen are so miserable and shameless that they attempt to blame Cuba for not having prevented the landing, because, what else is the meaning of active support, because everything that Cuba could do under those circumstances, everything that Cuba could do and had to do was done. To ask Cuba to prevent the landing is tantamount to asking Cambodia in Southeast Asia to prevent the bombing of North Vietnam and to prevent the occupation of South Vietnam by the Yankee Marine Corps. (Applause) Unfortunately, Cuba's forces are limited, but to the measure of its strength and in the best manner possible, in the most determined manner and according to the circumstances, Cuba lends and will lend its maximum support to the revolution. Those who think that this country fears the imperialists, those who think with a spirit of superiority and with their insolent delirium of superiority that this country fears the imperialists, should have lived a few hours here during the October crisis, when for the first time such a small nation as ours was threatened with a massive rain of nuclear missiles over its territory, to see the attitude assumed by this nation and the revolutionary government. (Applause)

Many stupid lies and blunders are written, and above all are written by irresponsible persons when certain documents cannot be released to the public. However, one day mankind will know. One day mankind will know all the facts. That day the miserable ones will find out that Comrade Guevara was not murdered, when each of his steps will be known in full detail, and when the position assumed by Cuba during those difficult days — and how calm our people were — will also be known. When that is understood there will be no one, regardless of how insolent he is, regardless of how provocative he is, who will dare question the feeling of solidarity of this nation and the worth of this nation, worth demonstrated by its conduct even though this country is located 90 miles from the imperialist metropolis.

In the coming years enormous dangers will weigh on our people's heads to see the same degree that the revolutionary movement grows, a revolutionary movement that grows above all because of the example of the Cuban revolution, a revolutionary movement that grows and becomes gigantic because of Cuba's example, because of Cuba's victories, because of Cuba's position against the enemy. It must be taken into account that when this nation defies that danger, this nation does not have millions of men under arms, this nation does not possess thermonuclear arms, because here we possess moral rockets and here.(Applause) millions do not represent the infinite, the number of men is not infinite, but the dignity and the decorum of this nation is infinite.

The coming years will speak for us, and the coming years will take care of crushing the slanderers, not those who are known agents of the imperialists, but the confused, the conspirators, who allow themselves to be involved in intrigues and serve as instruments for the lies against our revolution.

[Successful Conference]

A fact that was demonstrated in this conference is highly gratifying, because many things were demonstrated in this conference: it was demonstrated, in the first place, how discussions can be carried on beyond everything and around the things which basically interest us, above all, around those things that interest the people who are struggling. All peoples, regardless of their strength, of their resources, of their stature have a voice and an opinion. The people are capable of having their own opinions and independent voices. This was demonstrated in this conference. We Cubans and the revolutionary movements were always in identical positions, irrespective of continents. How a united force, how the revolutionary outlook, how the most honorable positions prevailed! And in this conference, as a compensation in the face of the conspirators and slanderers, the peoples and the revolutionary liberation movements always demonstrated a great and immense trust in Cuba and in its revolutionary party, and how this country, therefore, was given the honor of carrying the office of secretary general and the temporary headquarters of the organization!

And considering the task carried out by the Cuban delegation, by the Cuban Committee of Solidarity — working in favor of the conference, struggling ceaselessly to overcome all obstacles, maintaining at all times a position of principle, objective, just — which has even jeopardized Cuban relations with some countries, as was the case with Indonesia, due to the fact that it was up to the Cuban delegation to decide, and the Cuban delegation rejected the official delegation from Indonesia. Cuba risked its relations with a state which is important in that part of the world. And although for us all states are equally important and all peoples have equal rights, may this fact serve to show to what point Cuba was — or tried to be — fair, and tried to be objective, and tried to maintain a position of principle. We know how hard all of the delegations worked, because according to those who have been in several international conferences, this is one of the conferences for which more serious work was done more indefatigably.

That is why, when Cuba was assigned to be its temporary headquarters — and with the headquarters, the office of the secretary general of the organization — the Political Bureau of our party agreed to appoint Comrade Osmani Cienfuegos as secretary general of the organization. (Loud applause) All delegations have had an opportunity to learn about the efforts and the sincerity with which Comrade Osmani worked in the preliminary tasks and the development of the conference.

We must say that everyone cooperated, and that all contributed in one way or another to unite opinions and for the success of this conference. For as I said previously, opinions were not always in agreement, but all, in the final analysis, in a genuinely dispassionate interest, helped bring about its successes.

I do not want to close without mentioning two things.

One is a concern which affects us all in the face of the events in Indonesia, confronted with the reports reaching us from Indonesia that more than 100,000 revolutionary militant individuals have been savagely assassinated, with the report that Aidit and some other Communist Party leaders in Indonesia have been assassinated. We would like to register our reproach, our protest, and our solidarity with the Indonesian revolutionaries, today persecuted by militarist reaction, frightened by Yankee imperialism. Simultaneously, (we do this) as a tribute to those who had a great deal to do with the success of this conference.

We would like to acknowledge that Ben Barka was a decisive factor, with his constancy, his personal work, in the organization of this first Tricontinental Conference. His effort and his work were the cause of the problem which occurred. There is a general consensus that Ben Barka has been assassinated, cruelly and cowardly. If this conference of solidarity is duty bound to take a step forward precisely in loyalty and elementary obligation toward him, who so devotedly worked for its success, then it should demand that Ben Barka's assassination be investigated and Ben Barka's assassins be penalized.

Every indication points to the direct responsibility of the Moroccan minister of the interior, General Oufkir, upon whom all suspicion and all evidence rests. This conference should not rest until the facts are known clearly as to who planned and carried out Ben Barka's assassination — the assassination of the person who was the president of the preparatory committee for this Tricontinental Conference. This is a repugnant deed, monstrous! It demonstrated from the outset imperialism's interest in obstructing the conference and causing the conference to fail. However, the results of this conference demonstrate that Ben Barka's blood will not shed in vain, and that the Ben Barka crime — his assassination, like Lumumba's assassination, like Aidit's murder, like Sandino's assassination — that with none of its barbarous acts can imperialism contain the victorious march, the final liberation of the peoples!

It is but fair for us to dedicate our memories to those who have fallen as victims of imperialism in all continents. May we propose always to be loyal to that cause, always loyal in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to the cause for which some died and gave their blood for the liberation of the peoples.

Our country, which, as you have been able, to see is made up of various ethnical groups, a result of the intermingling of people from the various continents — deeply linked to Latin America because of this fact, deeply linked with Africa, deeply linked to all of the people from all continents — has done its utmost to make pleasant the stay of the delegations here. It had displayed all of its enthusiasm and hospitality and all the warmth of which it is capable. Thousands of Cubans, incessantly, without rest or vacations, have worked for the success of this conference. They have worked to wait upon the representatives of the sister nations. Our entire people have lived during these days through a big feast of international solidarity. Our people have felt as their own each and every one of the problems of other people. Our people, as I said on 2 January, received them with open arms, and they bid them farewell with an embrace, as a symbol of a bond that will never break, and as a symbol of their sentiments of fraternity and solidarity toward the other people who struggle, and for whom they are ready, also, to offer their blood. Fatherland or death, we will win!