http://www.granma.cu/ingles/cuba-i/25feb-disc-fidel.html
Havana. February 25, 2013
We do not struggle for glory or honors, we struggle for ideas we consider
just
DEAR compañeros,
I deeply appreciate the noble gesture of the people electing me as a
deputy to Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power.
The time I take for my comments today will not be long, nor will the
period in which I occupy this honorable seat as a deputy be long, and not
because of a lack of will, but rather as an imperative of nature.
I never thought my existence would be so prolonged, or that the enemy
would be so inept in its hateful task of eliminating adversaries committed to
the struggle.
In this unequal struggle, our people have demonstrated their amazing
capacity to persevere and win. Yes, because every year of resistance between
1959 and 2013 has been a victory which our small country has the right to
proclaim!
We do not struggle for glory or honors; we struggle for ideas we consider
just, those to which millions of Cubans have dedicated their youth and their
lives, as heirs to a long list of exemplary individuals. One figure expresses
everything: the number of Cubans who have completed self-sacrificing
internationalist missions is close to 800,000. Considering that at the time of
the triumph of the Revolution in 1959 we didn’t have seven million inhabitants,
one can appreciate the significance of such efforts.
However, this does not express it all. In October of 1962, the nation was
at the point of becoming a nuclear battlefield. A year and a half before, a
mercenary expedition trained and escorted by the United States Navy, came
ashore at the Bay of Pigs and was at the point of provoking a bloody war which
would have cost the U.S. invaders hundreds of thousands of lives – I say so
without exaggeration – and our country, truly incalculable destruction and
human losses.
We had, at the time, around 400,000 weapons and we knew how to use them.
In less than 72 hours, the powerful revolutionary counterattack prevented that
tragedy, both for Cuba and for the people of the United States.
We were victims of a "dirty war" for a long time, and 25 years after the
October Crisis, internationalist troops defended Angola from the racist South
African invaders, equipped in this period with several nuclear weapons based on
technology and parts supplied by Israel with U.S. approval. On that occasion,
the victory at Cuito Cuanavale and the subsequent resolute and audacious
advance of the Cuban-Angolan forces, equipped with aircraft, antiaircraft
weapons and adequate organization to liberate territory still occupied by the
invaders, convinced South Africa that it had no choice but to abandon its
nuclear ambitions and sit down at the negotiating table. The existence of the
hateful racist system was ended.
With the efforts of all, we have undertaken the work of a profound
Revolution, which, starting from zero, our people were able to carry out.
Others joined the first revolutionary cells. We were united by the desire to
struggle and the pain caused by the country’s tragic situation following the
brutal coup. While some had hope in a future they saw as still far removed,
others of us were already thinking of the need to make a historical leap.
Between the March 10, 1952 coup and January 1, 1959, only six years and
296 days transpired; for the first time in our homeland, power was totally in
the hands of the people.
The battle then began against political ignorance and the anti-socialist
ideas which the empire and bourgeoisie had sown in our country. The class
struggle unleashed just a few miles from the empire was the most efficient
political school any country has ever had. I’m talking about a school which
opened its doors more than 50 years ago. Men and women, from pioneros to much
older persons, we have been students within this school.
Nevertheless, according to what Raúl was telling me a few days ago, the
great battle which is imposing itself is the need for an energetic and
relentless struggle against the bad habits and errors which many citizens, and
even Party members, commit in the most diverse sectors, on a daily basis.
Humanity has entered a unique stage in its history. The last decades have
no relation to the thousands of centuries which preceded them.
In 2011, the world’s population reached seven billion inhabitants, an
alarming figure. In only two centuries, the world’s population has grown seven
times over, requiring a basic level of food supplies which science, technology
and the planet’s natural resources are far from being able to provide.
You can do dozens of estimates, talk about Malthus or Noah’s Ark, but it
is enough to know what a gram is, and what amount of any food can be produced
on one hectare of land, to draw your own conclusions.
Perhaps the British Prime Minister or President Obama know the answer
that could prolong human life a few days more, the multiplication of a few fish
and loaves, the magic words to persuade Africans, the inhabitants of India,
Latin America and all countries of the Third World, not to have children.
Two days ago, an international agency recalled that one U.S.
multi-millionaire, Dennis Tito, had spent 20 million dollars on his a trip to
the International Space Station, where he stayed several days in 2001.
Now Tito, who appears to be a veritable fanatic about space exploration,
was discussing the details of an expedition to Mars. The journey would take 501
days. This, yes, is enjoying surplus value! Meanwhile, the polar caps are
rapidly melting, sea levels are rising as a result of global warming, flooding
large areas in only a few decades – all that assuming that there are no wars
and that the sophisticated weapons being produced at an accelerating rate are
never used. Who can understand them?
I will conclude to fulfill my promise of being brief in my words greeting
our National Assembly.
On the 118th anniversary of the Grito de Baire and the 160th of the birth
of our national hero, it pleases me honor the revolutionary, the
anti-imperialist, the Bolivarian who planted the first seeds of duty in our
youth.
Thank you very much!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
