[NYTr] Raul Castro's July 26, 2007 Speech in Camaguey (English text)
 
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:46:44 -0500 (CDT)


Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 

                 Speech by the First Vice-President of the 
        Councils of State and Ministers, Army General RaC:l Castro Ruz, 
         at the main celebration of the 54th Anniversary of the attack
           on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de CC)spedes Garrisons

          Major General Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz Revolution Square
                              CamagC<ey, Cuba.

                July 26, 2007, "Year 49 of the Revolution."

Friends accompanying us here today;

People of CamagC<ey, good morning;

Compatriots:

Exactly one year ago, as we were listening to the speeches given by the
Commander in Chief in Bayamo and HolguC-n, we could hardly even suspect
what a hard blow was awaiting us.

Next July 31 will be the first anniversary of Fidel's Proclamation, and
to the delight of our people he is already taking on more and more
intense and highly valuable activities, as evidenced by his reflections
which are published in the press, even though, not even during the most
serious moments of his illness, did he fail to bring his wisdom and
experience to each problem and essential decision.

These have truly been very difficult months, although with a
diametrically different impact to that expected by our enemies, who
were wishing for chaos to entrench and for Cuban socialism to collapse.
Senior U.S. officials even made statements about taking advantage of
this scenario to destroy the Revolution.

Those who are amazed at our people?s capacity to rise to the level of
every challenge, no matter how great, do not know them very well, since
this is really the only behavior consistent with our history.

The battle waged by many generations of Cubans is well-known, from La
Demajagua and Moncada, right up to the present, always facing enormous
obstacles and powerful enemies. So much sacrifice and difficulties! How
many times did we have to recommence the struggle after each setback!

Suffice it to recall that in the years following that July 26, 1953, we
spent years in prison, the exile, the Granma, the guerrilla and the
clandestine struggles, until five years, five months and five days
after the attack on Moncada, victory was attained on the first day of
January, 1959.

In those days, much like what is happening today even within the very
United States, lies could not hide reality, although our people then
were much less educated and less politically aware than they are now.

The vast majority of Cubans joined the cause headed by a leader who
brandished the truth like his main weapon against the enemies of his
people, who instead of making demagogic promises warned them, from his
very first speech in Havana, that perhaps everything would be much more
difficult in the years ahead.

The conclusion of the U.S. government hierarchy at that time was also
consistent with its history: they had to destroy this people who dared
to dream of justice, dignity and sovereignty, and if not, make them
suffer to the utmost. The example set by Cuba was far too dangerous in
a poor, subdued and exploited continent.

But they were unable to bring us to our knees. Our response was to
massively transform ourselves into combatants; to stoically withstand
shortages and difficulties; to sweat in the fields, factories and
trenches; to wage countless victorious battles and to establish
landmarks in internationalist aid.

Before the mortal remains of each of the 3,478 victims of terrorist
acts directly organized, supported or allowed to happen by the United
States authorities; before the fallen in defense of the Homeland or in
the fulfillment of their internationalist duty, our people confirmed
their commitment to their heroes and martyrs, to their Mambi heritage
and to the examples of MartC-, CC)spedes, Maceo, GC3mez and Agramonte,
perpetuated by men such as Mella, MartC-nez Villena and Guiteras,
symbols of the ideas and actions of an infinite number of anonymous
patriots.

In essence, this has been the last half century of our history. There
has been not one minute of truce in the face of the policies of the
United States government, aimed at destroying the Revolution.

In this forge of effort and sacrifice, the morale and conscience of
this people has reached new heights; sons with the stature of Gerardo
HernC!ndez, Antonio Guerrero, RamC3n LabaC1ino, Fernando GonzC!lez and RenC)
GonzC!lez have been born, able to assume with serenity, valor and
dignity the duress of an unjust imprisonment, scattered in different
prisons of the United States.

They are examples, but they are not exceptions, since millions of Cuban
men and women are not intimidated by danger or hardship.

The exploit occurs daily in every corner of this land, as our brave
athletes are demonstrating at the Panamerican Games.

And so it has been during the more than 16 years of the Special Period,
of sustained effort by the entire country to overcome the difficulties
and press onwards ?and so it must still be, since we have not yet come
out of the Special Period.

Thus, it is twice as commendable that a province attains the status of
Outstanding, which as we all know is bestowed after evaluating the
results obtained in the main fields.

This year, the provinces of Ciudad de La Habana, Granma, Villa Clara
and CamagC<ey attained this distinction, and we congratulate them on
behalf of the Commander in Chief, of the Party and of all the people,
for having reached this important triumph. Also to Cienfuegos, Matanzas
and Sancti Spiritus for the acknowledgement received, and to Las Tunas
for displaying heartening advances.

In order to decide which of them would be the venue of this main
celebration, the Political Bureau especially considered the day-to-day
efforts, silent and heroic in the face of difficulties. And in this
way, the people of "El CamagC<ey", as the Mambi used to call it,
achieved these results.

The advances are the fruit of the efforts of hundreds of thousands of
comrades; of the laborers, peasants and the rest of the workers; of the
indispensable contributions of intellectuals, artists and workers in
the cultural sector; of the heroic housewives and retirees; of the
student members of the Middle-level Education Students Federation and
the Federation of University Students; of our children; of the Cuban
Women Federation, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the
Association of Combatants and the community Party cells who make such
an important contribution to society.

Without them, without the daily work, study and sacrifice of so many
men, women and children, the bugle of the Agramonte cavalry would not
be resounding anew on these great flatlands.

Well then, it should not happen as it does in baseball, where the
victories go only to the players and the defeats go to the team
manager. It would not be fair to fail to publicly acknowledge the
important role played by the leaders of the Party, the Government, the
UJC and the mass and social organizations at every level, as well as
the numerous administrative cadres to attain this success.

In particular, I should like to stress the good work of comrade
Salvador ValdC)s Mesa, the current Secretary General of the Workers
Union Central, who for a long time and up to 13 months ago, was the
First Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, and the excellent
relief provided until the present by comrade Julio CC)sar GarcC-a
RodrC-guez.

It is only fair and necessary to acknowledge what has been achieved in
recent years, in these provinces and in the rest of the country, but
with a clear conscience about our problems, our inefficiencies, our
errors and our bureaucratic and/or slack attitudes, some of which
gained ground in the circumstances deriving from the Special Period.

Pointing out the important results attained in these provinces does not
mean that we ignore that the rest of the country is working. In the
eastern provinces, for example, it has been necessary to do this under
very difficult conditions, with a shortage of resources resulting from
both objective and subjective reasons.

Nevertheless, efforts do not always bring the results hoped for.
Efficiency largely depends on perseverance and good organization,
especially of systematic controls and discipline, and in particular on
where we have succeeded in incorporating the masses to the struggle for
efficiency.

We need to bring everyone to the daily battle against the very errors
which aggravate objective difficulties derived from external causes,
especially those induced by the United States' economic blockade which
really constitutes a relentless war against our people, as the current
administration of that country is especially bent on finding even the
slightest of ways to harm us.

One could point to a myriad of examples. I shall limit myself to
mentioning the obstacles to the country?s commercial and financial
transactions abroad, often directed at the purchase of food, medicines
and other basic products for the people, and the denial of access to
banking services through coercion and the extra-territorial imposition
of its laws.

There are also the almost insurmountable obstacles imposed by that
government that goes to ridiculous lengths to prevent its people from
traveling to Cuba and also on the Cuban residents there coming to visit
their relatives; the denial of visas not just to our officials, but to
artists, athletes, scientists and, in general, to anyone who is not
willing to slander the Revolution.

As our Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently denounced, we can add to
all of this the obstacles to the fulfillment of what is established in
the migratory agreements with regards to the minimum number of visas to
be granted annually.

This policy encourages those who turn to illegal emigration and are
received there as heroes, often times after endangering the lives of
children, and in spite of the fact that such an irresponsible behavior
puts at risk not only the safety of Cubans, but also of Americans, the
ones who the government constantly claims to be protecting, since
whoever risks trafficking with human lives for money, would probably
not hesitate in doing so with drugs, arms or other such things.

Cuba, for her part, will continue to honor her commitments to the
migratory accords, as she has done until today.

The past twelve months have constituted a remarkable example of our
people?s maturity, steadfast principles, unity, trust in Fidel, in the
Party and above all in themselves.

Despite our deep sorrow, no task was left undone. There is order in the
country and a lot of work. The Party and the Government bodies are
functioning on a daily basis in the collective search for the most
effective response possible for every problem.

There is not one issue pertaining to the development of the country and
the people?s living conditions that has not been dealt with
responsibly, working to find a solution. There is no task in the Battle
of Ideas, the Energy Revolution and others promoted by the Commander in
Chief that is paralyzed.

As it is always the case in matters of such magnitude, we have had to
make adjustments and postponements, and others might be needed in the
future, due to material imperatives and the threats we are all aware of.

At the same time, our people have continued since then, with serenity,
discipline and modesty, to prepare themselves to face up to any enemy
military adventure.

Hundreds of thousands of militiamen and reservists of the Revolutionary
Armed Forces, together with officers, sergeants and soldiers in the
regular army have carried out Operation CaguairC!n, allowing for a
substantial increase in the country?s defense capability, attaining
levels of combat readiness that are superior to those of any other
period.

It is a great effort in moments when our resources are scarce, but it
is simply essential. It shall continue, as it has up till now, with the
greatest of rationality, both from the material point of view as well
as in the use of our people?s time.

We cannot fool around with defense! The Commander in Chief directed and
reaffirmed it yet once again just a few days ago. For us, as I have
said so many times, avoiding a war is tantamount to winning it, but to
win it by avoiding it, we must sweat a lot and invest quite a few
resources.

The resounding popular response to the Proclamation of the Commander in
Chief threw all the enemy plans into crisis mode; but the enemy, far
from evaluating the reality and correcting its errors, insists on
stubbornly crashing into the same rock. They speculate about an alleged
paralysis in the country and even about a "transition" in progress. But
no matter how hard they close their eyes, reality shall take care of
destroying those stale, old dreams.

As the press has reported, Operation CaguairC!n will carry on in the
next months. It will allow us to train about a million compatriots and
will have as its crowning glory the Bastion 2008 Strategic Exercise
which will take place at the end of the year.

By that date, therefore, we shall be better prepared to resist and win
on all fronts, including defense.

By that time the elections will also have taken place in the United
States and the mandate of the current president of that country will
have concluded along with his erratic and dangerous administration,
characterized by such a reactionary and fundamentalist philosophy that
it leaves no room for a rational analysis of any matter.

The new administration will have to decide whether it will maintain the
absurd, illegal and failed policy against Cuba or if it will accept the
olive branch that we offered on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of
the landing of the Granma. That is, when we reasserted our willingness
to discuss on equal footing the prolonged dispute with the government
of the United States, convinced that this is the only way to solve the
problems of this world, ever more complex and dangerous.

If the new United States authorities were to finally desist from their
arrogance and decide to talk in a civilized manner, it would be a
welcome change. Otherwise, we are ready to continue confronting their
policy of hostility, even for another 50 years, if need be.

Fifty years seem like a long time, but soon we will be celebrating the
50th anniversary of the Triumph of the Revolution and the 55th
anniversary of Moncada, and among so many tasks and challenges those
years have gone by and we have hardly noticed. Furthermore, practically
70% of our population was born after the blockade was imposed, and so
we are well trained to continue resisting it and finally defeating it.

Some who have been influenced by enemy propaganda or are simply
confused, do not perceive the real danger or the undeniable fact that
the blockade has a direct influence both on the major economic
decisions as well as on each Cuban's most basic needs.

Directly and on a daily basis, it weighs heavily on our food supply,
transportation, housing and even on the fact that we cannot rely on the
necessary raw materials and equipment to work with.

The enemy established it half a century ago for this reason, as we were
saying, and today it still dreams of forcing us to submit to its will.

President Bush himself insists on repeating that he will not allow the
Cuban Revolution to continue. It would be interesting to ask him just
how he intends to do that.

How little they have learned from history!

In his Manifesto published on June 18, Fidel said to them once again
what every revolutionary on this island is convinced of: "They shall
never have Cuba!"

Our people will never give an inch of ground under the attempt of any
country or group of countries to pressure us, nor will it make the
slightest unilateral concession to send any kind of signal to anybody.

With respect to the economic and social tasks ahead of us, we know the
tensions that Party cadres are subjected to, especially at the base,
where there's hardly ever a balance between accumulated needs and
available resources.

We are also aware that, because of the extreme objective difficulties
that we face, wages today are clearly insufficient to satisfy all needs
and have thus ceased to play a role in ensuring the socialist principle
that each should contribute according to their capacity and receive
according to their work. This has bred forms of social indiscipline and
tolerance which, having taken root, prove difficult to eradicate, even
after the objective causes behind them are eradicated.

I can responsibly assure you that the Party and government have been
studying these and other complex and difficult problems in depth,
problems which must be addressed comprehensibly and through a
differentiated approach in each concrete case.

All of us, from the leaders to the rank-and-file workers, are
duty-bound to accurately identify and analyze every problem in depth,
within our working areas, in order to combat the problem with the most
convenient methods.

This differs greatly from the attitude of those who use existing
difficulties to shield themselves from criticisms, leveled against them
for not acting with the necessary swiftness and efficiency, or for
lacking the political sensitivity and courage needed to explain why a
problem cannot be solved immediately.

I will limit myself to drawing your attention to these crucial issues.
A simple criticism or appeal will not solve these problems, even when
they are made at a ceremony like this. They demand, above all else,
organized work, control and dedication, day after day; systematic
rigor, order and discipline, from the national level down to the
thousands of places where something is produced or a service is offered.

This is where the country's efforts are headed, as they are in other
areas of similar importance and strategic significance. We are working
hastily but not desperately, avoiding unnecessary public statements so
as not to raise false hopes. And, again, speaking with the sincerity
which has always characterized the Revolution, I remind you that all
problems cannot be solved overnight.

I am not exaggerating when I say that we face a very trying
international economic situation, where, in addition to wars, lack of
political stability, the deterioration of the environment and the rise
in oil prices ?apparently an irreversible trend? we now face, like
comrade Fidel has recently denounced, the decision made primarily by
the United States, to transform corn, soy and other food products into
fuel. This move is bound to make the price of these products, and those
directly dependent upon these such as meats and milk prices, climb
dramatically as it has been the case in recent months.

I will just mention some figures. Today, the price of an oil barrel is
around 80 dollars, nearly three times what it was only 4 years ago,
when it was priced at 28 dollars. This has an impact on practically
everything, for, to produce anything or to offer any kind of service,
one requires a given quantity of fuel, directly or indirectly.

Another case in point is the price of powdered milk, which was 2,100
dollars the ton in 2004. This already placed great strains on our
ability to make this product available, as its import meant an
investment of 105 million dollars. A total of 160 million dollars were
spent to purchase the needed quantities in 2007, as prices shot up to
2,450 dollars the ton. In these four years, nearly 500 million dollars
have been spent in these purchases.

Currently, the price of powdered milk is over 5,200 dollars the ton.

Therefore, should domestic production not continue to increase, to meet
consumption needs in the next 2008, we would have to spend 340 million
dollars in milk alone, more than three times what was spent in 2004.
That is, if prices do not continue to rise.

In the case of milled rice, it was priced at 390 dollars a ton in 2006
and is sold today at 435 a ton. Some years ago, we were buying frozen
chicken at 500 dollars a ton. We made plans on the assumption its price
would go up to 800; in fact, it went up to its current price of 1,186
dollars.

This is the case with practically all products the country imports to
meet, essentially, the needs of the population, products which, as it
is known, the people purchase at prices which have practically remained
unchanged in spite of the circumstances.

And I am talking of products that I think can be grown here --it seems
to me that there is plenty of land-- and we have had good rains last
year and this. As I drove in here I could see that everything around is
green and pretty, but what drew my attention the most, what I found
prettier was the marabC: (a thorny bush) growing along the road.

Therefore, any increase in wages or decrease in prices, to be real, can
only stem from a greater and more efficient production and services
offer, which will increase the country's incomes.

No one, no individual or country, can afford to spend more than what
they have. It seems elementary, but we do not always think and act in
accordance with this inescapable reality.

To have more, we have to begin by producing more, with a sense of
rationality and efficiency, so that we may reduce imports, especially
of food products --that may be grown here-- whose domestic production
is still a long way away from meeting the needs of the population.

We face the imperative of making our land produce more; and the land is
there to be tilted either with tractors or with oxen, as it was done
before the tractor existed. We need to expeditiously apply the
experiences of producers whose work is outstanding, be they in the
state or farm sector, on a mass scale, but without improvising, and to
offer these producers adequate incentives for the work they carry out
in Cuba's suffocating heat.

To reach these goals, the needed structural and conceptual changes will
have to be introduced.

We are already working in this direction and a number of modest results
can already be appreciated. As demanded by the National Assembly of the
People's Power, all debts to farmers were settled; in addition to this,
there has been a discrete improvement in the delivery of inputs to some
productive sectors and a notable increase in the prices of various
products, that is to say, the price the state pays to the producer, not
the price the population pays, which remains unchanged. This measure
had an impact on important production items, such as meat and milk.

With respect to milk production and distribution, we are aware that the
material resources we have managed to secure for the livestock industry
are still very limited. However, in the last two years nature has been
on our side and everything indicates that we will reach the planned
figure of 384 million liters of milk, which is still far lower than the
900 million we were producing when we had all the fodder and other
required inputs.

In addition to this, since March, an experiment has been underway in
six municipalities ?Mantua and San CristC3bal in Pinar del Rio, Melena
del Sur in La Habana, Calimete in Matanzas, Aguada de Pasajeros in
Cienfuegos and Yaguajay in Sancti Spiritus?where 20 thousand liters of
milk have been directly and consistently delivered by the producer to
230 rationed stores and for social consumption in these localities
every day.

In this fashion, we have eliminated absurd procedures through which
this valuable food product traveled hundreds of miles before reaching a
consumer who, quite often, lived a few hundred meters away from the
livestock farm, and, with this, the product losses and fuel expenses
involved.

I will give you one example or maybe two in order to mention one from
Camaguey. Currently, in Mantua, one of the western most municipalities
in Pinar del Rio, 2,492 liters of milk, which meet established
consumption needs, are being distributed directly to the municipality's
40 rationed stores and 2,000 liters of fuel are being saved every month.

What was the situation until four months ago?

The closest pasteurizer is located in the Sandino municipality, 40
kilometers away from Mantua, the most important town in the area. Thus,
in order to deliver the milk to that plant, a truck had to travel a
minimum of 80 kilometers ?because distances are different-- each day to
make the round journey. I say "a minimum" because other areas of the
municipality are even farther away.

The milk that children and other consumers in Mantua receive on a
regulated basis, once pasteurized at the Sandino plant, returned,
shortly afterwards, on a vehicle which, as it is logical to assume, had
to return to its base of operations after delivering the product. In
total, it traveled 160 kilometers, a journey which, as I explained, was
in fact longer.

I don?t know if at the moment this is still the case but some time ago,
as I was touring the southeast of Camaguey and in a place known as Los
Raules ?my namesake-- I asked a few questions. It happened that all the
milk produced at Los Raules was brought to Camaguey for pasteurizing,
and the milk assigned to the children at Los Raules had to be taken
back there after that. Is that still the case?

On one occasion, not long ago, less than a year, I asked if that insane
and absurd crisscrossing had been eliminated. I assure you that I was
told it had, and now we are finding out this.

Try thinking about things like these and you?ll see the spending they
mean.

The commendable aim of all of this crisscrossing was, as we can see, to
pasteurize all milk. This measure makes sense and it is necessary in
the case of large urban centers ?even though it is customary in Cuba to
boil all milk at home, whether the milk is pasteurized or not? and all
milk needed to supply cities will thus continue to be stocked and
pasteurized, but it does not prove viable for a truck --or hundreds of
trucks-- to travel these long distances every day to deliver a few
liters of milk, to places which produce enough of it to be
self-sufficient.

As from the victory of the Revolution, the Cubans have learned to
travel from west to east, mostly from east to west really, but our
wishes to travel have led us to make the milk travel as well.

In addition to the municipalities participating in this experiment,
which I mentioned already, another 3,500 rationed stores in other
municipalities and provinces are also directly distributing milk, and
over 7 million liters of milk have already been distributed.

This procedure will gradually begin to be applied in more and more
places, as expediently as possible but without any rash attempts at
making it a general formula. In all cases, its application will be
preceded by a comprehensive study that demonstrates its viability in a
specific place and reveals the existence of the needed organizational
and material conditions.

We will continue to work in this direction until all of the country's
municipalities that produce the needed quantities of milk become
self-sufficient and can complete, within their jurisdiction, the cycle
which begins when a cow is milked and ends when a child or any other
person drinks the milk, to the extent that present conditions allow.

That is to say, the chief aim of these efforts is to produce as much
milk as possible, and I say this is possible in the overwhelming
majority of municipalities, except for those in the capital of the
country, that is, those which are not in the outskirts of the city,
because there they can produce milk too. There are already some capital
cities in various provinces that can produce enough in their main
municipalities; such is the case of Sancti Spiritus. And, we must
definitely produce more milk!

I mean, the main purpose is to produce more milk to first ensure what
we need for our children. We are talking about a basic food for
children, and for the ill people; we cannot fool around with that
either. But we should neither renounce the possibility that others may
also receive it in the future.

Additionally, this program intends to continue increasing fuel savings;
something very important, too.

This program responds to today?s existing situation, where dreams of
the vast imports of fodder and other inputs of decades past, when the
world was very different from what it is today, are just that: dreams.

This is but one example of the abundant resources that become available
when we organize ourselves better and analyze an issue as deeply as
required, mindful of all the involved factors.

I reiterate that our problems will not be solved spectacularly. We need
time and, most importantly, we need to work systematically and with
devotion to consolidate every achievement, no matter how small.

Another nearly endless source of resources ?if we consider how much we
squander?is to be found in saving, particularly, as we said, the saving
of fuel, whose price is increasingly prohibitive, and very unlikely to
decrease.

This is a task of strategic importance which is not always undertaken
with the necessary care, and wasteful practices have not yet been
halted. The example with the milk is enough.

Wherever it is rational to do so, we must also recover domestic
industrial production and begin producing new products that eliminate
the need for imports or create new possibilities for export.

In this connection, we are currently studying the possibility of
securing more foreign investment, of the kind that can provide us with
capital, technology or markets, to avail ourselves of its contribution
to the country's development, careful not to repeat the mistakes of the
past, owed to naivety or our ignorance about these partnerships, of
using the positive experiences we've had to work with serious
entrepreneurs, upon well-defined legal bases which preserve the role of
the State and the predominance of socialist property.

We shall step up our cooperative efforts with other nations more and
more, aware that only united, and on the basis of utter respect for the
path chosen by every country, will we prevail. Proof of this are the
steps we are taking forward next to our brothers in Venezuela, Bolivia
and Nicaragua, and our solid ties to China and Vietnam, to mention but
a few noteworthy examples of the growing number of countries in all
continents with which relations of all kinds are being re-established
and extended.

We will continue to make a priority of the Movement of Non-Aligned
Countries and the growing international movement of solidarity towards
the Revolution.

We will also continue to work with the United Nations Organization and
other multilateral organizations of which Cuba is a member, which
respect the norms of international law and contribute to the
development of nations and to peace.

Many are the battles we face simultaneously and which require us to
bring together our forces to maintain the unity of the people, the
Revolution's greatest weapon, and to take advantage of the potential of
a socialist society like ours. The coming People's Power elections will
be a new opportunity to demonstrate how extraordinarily strong our
democracy ?a true democracy?is.

It is the duty of each and every one of us, of Party cadres especially,
not to allow ourselves be overwhelmed by any difficulty, no matter how
great or insurmountable it may seem to us at a given moment.

We must remember how, despite the initial confusion and discouragement,
we managed to face up to the first, harsh years of the Special Period
early the last decade, and how we managed to move forward. What we said
then we can more justifiably repeat today: Yes, we can do it!

In response to bigger problems or challenges, more organization, more
systematic and effective work, more studies and predictions on the
basis of plans where our priorities are clearly established and no one
attempts to solve their problems at any cost or at the expense of
others.

We must also work with a critical and creative spirit, avoiding
stagnation and schematics. We must never fall prey to the idea that
what we do is perfect but rather examine it again. The one thing a
Cuban revolutionary will never question is our unwavering decision to
build socialism.

It was with the same profound conviction that, in this very place, on
July 26, 1989, exactly 18 years ago to this day, Fidel historically and
prophetically affirmed that, even in the hypothetical case that the
Soviet Union were to collapse, we would continue to move forward with
the Revolution, determined to pay the steep price of freedom and to act
on the basis of dignity and principles.

History has offered abundant proof that our people?s determination is
as hard as rock. To honor this determination, we are duty-bound to
question everything we do as we strive to materialize our will more and
more perfectly, to change concepts and methods which were appropriate
at one point but have been surpassed by life itself.

We must always remember ? and not to repeat it from memory like a
dogma, but rather to apply it creatively in our work every day?what
comrade Fidel affirmed on May 1st, 2000, with a definition which
embodies the quintessence of political and ideological work:

"Revolution means a sense of our moment in history, it means changing
all that ought to be changed; it is full equality and freedom; it is
being treated and treating others like human beings; it is emancipating
ourselves by ourselves, and through our own efforts; it is defying
powerful and ruling forces inside and outside of the social and
national spheres; it is defending values that are believed in at the
cost of any sacrifice; it is modesty, selflessness, altruism,
solidarity and heroism; it is fighting with audacity, intelligence and
realism; it is never lying or violating ethical principles; it is the
profound conviction that there is no force in the world capable of
crushing the strength of truth and ideas. Revolution is unity, it is
independence, it is fighting for our dreams for justice for Cuba and
for the world, it is the foundation of our patriotism, our socialism
and our internationalism."

The best tribute we can pay the Commander in Chief today, the greatest
contribution to his recovery we can make, is to ratify the decision to
make a guide of those principles and, most importantly, to act in
accordance with them every day, at whatever post has been assigned us.

True to the legacy of our glorious dead, we will work tirelessly to
wholly meet the directives of his Proclamation, the many he has given
us since then and as many as he gives us in the future.

There is no room for fear of difficulties or danger in our country,
which shall never lower its guard before its enemies. That is the
essential guarantee that, in our squares and, should it be necessary,
in our trenches too, these are the cries that shall always resound in
our land:

Long live the Revolution!

Long live Fidel!

Source: CubaNow Digital
http://www.cubanow.net

 
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