1 JANUARY 1999 / SANTIAGO DE CUBA
FIDEL CASTRO: "People of Santiago de Cuba. My fellow compatriots.
In attempting to recall the night of January 1st 1959, I find
that I am once again re-living the impressions and details of
everything that occurred that night. It seems unreal that destiny
has given us the rare privilege of returning to speak to the people
of Santiago de Cuba from the very same spot, 40 years later."
In his January 1st speech which he gave in the eastern city of
Santiago de Cuba celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Cuban
Revolution, President Fidel Castro addressed the nation from the
balony where he spoke to the Cuban people for the first time
after the departure of dictator Fulgencio Batista. At that time,
he called for a general strike to foil a coup that was brewing
in Havana. Orders had been given to rebel Commanders Camilo Cienfuegos
and Ernesto Che Guevara to proceed to Havana and seize the county's
largest military fortresses of Columbia and the Cabana. He recalled
those euphoric days when they realised they had been successful.
FIDEL CASTRO: "Before dawn of that day, when we heard that
the tyrant had fled the country along with the principal leaders
of his odious regime, before the unstoppable advance of our forces,
for a few seconds I felt a strange sensation of emptiness. How
was it possible that we had achieved this incredible victory in
a little more than 24 months from the time we had collected together
seven
rifles on the 18th December 1956, and after a difficult reversal
that practically annihilated our forces but which we rebuilt to
fight against a total military force of 80,000 men who were well-armed,
with high morale, a myth of unquestioned invincibility and with
ample advisors and supplies from the United States?"
The ideals of the revolutionaries worked a political and military
victory, vanquishing Batista's army in remarkable time. Fidel
Castro recalled how extraordinary the marches of Che and Camilo
were, crossing the country from the rebel's headquarters in the
Sierra Maestra mountains in extremely adverse climatic conditions
with lack of food and guides.
FIDEL CASTRO: "It was in the development of these operations
that Che and Camilo -- with approximately 140 and 100 combatants,
respectively -- carried out one of the greatest feats in the
annals of history: advancing more than 400 kilometers from the
Sierra Maestra to the Escambray, in the wake of a hurricane,
in low-lying country, through swamps infested with mosquitoes
and enemy soldiers, under constant aerial vigilance, without
guides, food and logistical support from
our underground movement which was very weak along their very
long route."
After reminiscing further on the first days of the victory, the
Cuban president remembered those who had fought and fallen, both
guerillas and civilians, young and old:
FIDEL CASTRO: "Honor and eternal glory, infinite admiration
and affection for those who fell to make total independence of
the nation possible. To those who wrote history in the mountains,
countryside and cities, guerillas or underground fighters. To
those who after the victory, died in other glorious missions or
loyally surrendered their youth and energy to the cause of justice,
sovereignty and
redemption of their people, to those who died and to those who
lived."
Fidel Castro then went on to describe the achievements of the
Revolution, commenting that for the new generation, the Revolution
has hardly begun. At the triumph, some 30 percent of the population
of Cuba could not read or write. He then spoke of the advances
in education that the island of 11,142,700 inhabitants has undergone.
FIDEL CASTRO: "Today, there are more than 250,000 highly-trained
teachers and professors; there are 64,000 doctors and 600,000
university graduates. Illiteracy does not exist and it is rare
to find someone who hasn't at least completed the sixth grade.
Education through the ninth grade is obligatory and all those
that graduate can go on to higher education at no cost."
Cuba has the best public health care system in the Third World
-- elements of which are on a par with industrialized countries.
The island's very low infant mortality rate which, at 7.2 per
1000 live births, is in fact lower than that of the United States,
together with its equally low maternal mortality rate, are good
indicators of the huge advances made by the Revolution. And this
in spite of
Washington's devastating 37-year-old blockade. The ratio of doctors
to inhabitants is among the top three on the planet.
President Castro stressed that the Cuban people have resisted
years of political, economic and ideological war by the richest
and most powerful nation on earth. The historical greatness of
the island's people has enabled them to overcome and resist this
type of aggression with the ideals that give them strength to
defend the
just nature of their cause.
However, he said, in today's globalized community, the issue is
no longer one of defending a national cause so much as maintaining
dignity and humanity in the face of the ruthless laws of free-market
economics.
FIDEL CASTRO: "The economic order that prevails on our
planet today will inevitably fall. Even a high school student
with basic mathematical knowledge can understand this. The current
system is unsustainable because it is held up by blind laws that
are chaotic, and destructive to society and nature. The actual
theories of global neo-liberalization -- its best academics, promoters
and defenders of
the system -- have proven to be indecisive, vacillating and contradictory.
There are thousands of questions that cannot be answered. It is
hypocritical to affirm that individual freedoms and an absolute
free market system are inseparable -- as if the wild West, where
the most selfish, unequal, merciless social systems known
to humanity have come from, are compatible with the freedom of
the human race in a system converted to a simple market."
The Cuban president went on to discuss the free market-driven
financial crisis that brought so many economies to the brink of
disaster in 1998.
FIDEL CASTRO: "In August of last year, the financial crisis
in Russia, which produces only two percent of the GDP of the
world, brought the Dow Jones index of New York down by 512 points
in one day. This spread panic from Southeast Asia to Latin America
and threatened the U.S. economy. For now, the worst catastrophe
has been prevented. In the stocks and shares that make up the
market, 50
percent are made up of the savings and pension funds of U.S. residents.
In the 1929 crisis, it was only five percent and many people
committed suicide.
"In the globalized world, what happens in one part of the
planet has immediate repercussions on the rest. The world was
really frightened. The resources of the richest nations on earth
were mobilized to put out the fire. Nevertheless, Russia remains
on the edge of an abyss and they have demanded unnecessarily difficult
conditions from Brazil. The IMF did not pull back one iota from
its fundamental
principles and the World Bank broke ranks, denouncing the IMF
relief package to Brazil.
"The world needs to take strong measures to confront today's
reality. We are six billion inhabitants on this planet. It is
almost certain that in only 50 years, we will be more than nine
billion. To guarantee food, health, education, employment, clothing,
shelter, drinkable water, electricity and transportation for such
an extraordinary number of people -- most of whom will live in
poor countries -- will be a colossal challenge.
"There must be world-wide development. This task cannot
be put into the hands of the transnationals and the blind, chaotic
laws of the market. The United Nations constitutes a good base
on which to begin as it contains a great deal of information and
experience. The organization has to be democratized, however,
putting an end to the dictatorship of the Security Council and
the dictatorship that exists within the Council. There should
at least be an increase in the number of permanent member nations,
in which the Third World is fully represented."
The Cuban president commented that Europe had presented the world
with a good example of working together rationally, stressing
that the new Euro currency will thus have the strength to challenge
the dollar.
FIDEL CASTRO: "The franc, the peseta and the lira were also
pounded by speculation. The dollar and the Euro can keep an eye
on each other. An adversary has risen to challenge the privileged
U.S. currency. Washington is anxiously betting that the Euro
will not succeed. We should follow events closely."
Ending by once again calling to mind the memory of Che and Camilo,
and the legacy of many other fighters, Fidel Castro called on
everyone, especially Cuba's youth, to work not only for Cuba but
for the entire human race. He finished his speech with a direct
appeal to the young people of the island.
FIDEL CASTRO: "Deepen your conscience; strengthen your character;
learn in the hard school of life to sow solid ideas using arguments
that are irrefutable; practice what you preach; trust in the honor
of humanity, so that for every ten, there are nine that will stand
by your side to defend the Revolution."