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