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Selected Statements: 1958-2003 Fidel Castro on the United States Edited by Hans de Salas-del Valle Foreword For the past four decades Fidel Castro and his regime have been the most vocal and active proponents of anti-Americanism throughout the developing world. The often-repeated view in many countries that the U.S. is an evil power, guilty for much of the problems and sufferings of the poor nations, is owed in great part to the propaganda efforts of Castro and his officials. The roots of Castro's anti-Americanism go back long before he rose to power. The son of Spanish immigrants, Castro was raised in a household where his father supported Spain against the U.S. during the Spanish American War (1898-1902). Castro grew up believing that the U.S. took advantage of a weak Spain and frustrated the Cubans' aspirations to real independence. As a student at the Jesuit Belén High School in Havana in the early 1940s, Castro fell under the particular influence of two of his teachers, the Spaniard Father Amando Llorente and Father Alberto de Castro. Admirers of Franco's Spain and the falangist (Spanish brand of Fascism) ideology, both transmitted to their young disciple their enthusiasm for their cause and for Hispanidad, a movement initiated by Ramiro de Maetzu, then much in vogue in Spain. In his course on the history of Latin America, de Castro expounded on some of the ideas of Hispanidad. He explained that the independence of Latin America had been frustrated because of lack of social reforms and lamented that Anglo-Saxon values had supplanted Spanish cultural domination. He called for unity among the Latin American nations and with Spain and emphasized that the new Spain had been liberated from both Marxism-Leninism and Anglo-Saxon materialism. He, furthermore, criticized liberal democracy as "decadent," and proclaimed the supremacy of spiritual over material values. Castro seemed to have been captivated by the teachings of his professors. He read the works of José Antonio Primo de Rivera who, in 1933, founded the Spanish Falange. He was fascinated by Primo de Rivera's speeches and by the idea of a rich man who left everything and went to fight for what he believed in. This is not to say that Castro was a fascist or that he admired the fascist powers by the time he left Belén. But his stay at the school and the ideas of his teachers left an impact on his young mind. Castro had thus been exposed to a variety of ideologies and had become acquainted at a young age with an anti-American, totalitarian ideology. Once he left Belén and entered the university, Castro fell under the spell of Eduardo Chibás, a charismatic, highly nationalistic leader of the Ortodoxo Party. Chibás' firebrand of nationalism combined criticism of the U.S. and of Communism. Castro was impressed by the rhetoric of Chibás and the use of radio to communicate his message to the Cuban masses. While studying law at the University of Havana in the late 1940s, Castro participated in the activities of student gangs and associated closely with violent student leaders. He soon acquired a reputation for personal ambition, forcefulness, and fine oratory. Yet, he never became a prominent student leader. On several occasions he was defeated in student elections or prevented from winning by the nature of student politics. In 1947 Castro enrolled in an aborted expedition against the Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo. The expeditionary force was allegedly financed by the Grau government and supported by Dominican exiles, backed by Dominican leader Juan Bosch. Training was held at Cayo Confites in eastern Cuba. Soon the Cuban government, pressured by several Latin American nations and the United States, called off the expedition. Castro returned to Havana and his university studies. One of the most controversial episodes of Castro's student life was his participation in the "Bogotazo" - the riots in Bogotá, Colombia following the assassination of Liberal party leader Jorge Eliéer Gaitán in April 1948. Castro and a group of students had been organizing a Latin American Union of Students, financed by the Argentinean dictator Juan D. Perón. Perón favored the establishment of an anticolonialist, anti-imperialist Latin American Student group under his control. Opposing the Ninth Inter-American Conference scheduled to meet in Bogotá, Perón suggested that the Cuban students hold a preliminary meeting in Bogotá to coincide with the conference. Castro and several students traveled to Colombia. Not only Perón, but also the Communists were bent on disrupting the Inter-American Conference. When Gaitán was assassinated in Bogotá riots and chaos followed. Castro was caught up in the violence that rocked Colombian society. Picking up a rifle from a police station, he joined the mobs and roamed through the streets distributing anti-United States propaganda and inciting the populace to revolt. Pursued by the Colombian government for his participation in the riots, Castro sought asylum in the Cuban Embassy and was later flown back to Havana. During his struggle against the Batista dictatorship in the 1950s, Castro showed once more his hatred of the United States and his willingness to confront the Americans. To his closest allies he confided that his real revolution, the one against the U.S., would commence once he reached power. His statements and actions after 1959 left no doubt that the U.S. faced an enemy bent on totally transforming Cuban society, remaining in power indefinitely and defying the U.S. Castro saw himself not only as the leader of the Cuban revolution, but of a continental movement against "the Yankees." The Soviets provided the protective umbrella for Castro's ambitions. Since becoming the leader of Cuba, one of Castro's main objectives has been to undermine U.S. power and prestige in the world. His support of anti-American guerrillas and terrorists in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s, his military involvement with and support for anti-American regimes and groups in Africa and the Middle East in the 1970s and 1980s, and his constant denunciations of "U.S. imperialism," "capitalism," and "neo-liberalism" in international organizations and forums attest to his determination and consistency. Castro sees anti-Americanism, as well as his commitment to violence, as the main contributions of his revolution and leadership. Little does he care that his beliefs and actions remain a Communist project undertaken in stark isolation from and opposition to the course of history in the Americas - and for that matter, the rest of the contemporary world. The following selected statements by Castro over the last four decades clearly show his consistent anti-Americanism and his belief in the eventual success of Communism over capitalism even after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Communist camp. History reveals instances when strong and even autocratic leaders have mellowed with age and softened their positions, but there is scant evidence that this is the case with Castro. On the contrary, as the Cuban leader has aged he has become more intransigent and difficult. At the 1997 Communist Party Congress in Havana, he reaffirmed his staunch opposition to the U.S. and his unwillingness to relinquish power. After the congress he gathered international friends and allies to exhort them to prepare for the eventual failure of capitalism and the rise of communism. Jaime Suchlicki Director Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies February 2003 ------------- Fidel Castro on the United States, 1958-2003 Year 1958 When this war is over a much wider and bigger war will commence for me: the war I am going to wage against them [the United States]. I am aware that this is my true destiny. 1 ·We accuse the U.S. government...of selling to the Batista dictatorship the planes and bombs that have killed so many defenseless Cuban civilians. If the U.S. violates our sovereignty we will defend it with dignity...We are ready to die in defense of our people. 2 1959 ·If the Americans don't like what is happening in Cuba, they can land the Marines and then there will be 200,000 gringos dead. 3 1960 ·If Kennedy were not an illiterate and ignorant millionaire, he would understand that it is not possible to carry out a [counter-] revolution supported by landowners against the peasants in the mountains, and that every time imperialism has tried to encourage counterrevolutionary groups, the peasant militia has captured them...Let no one think, however, that these opinions as regards Kennedy's statements indicate that we feel any sympathy toward the other one, Mr. Nixon, who has made similar statements. As far as we are concerned, both [Kennedy and Nixon] lack political brains. 4 1961 ·The invaders [at the Bay of Pigs] came to fight for free enterprise! Imagine, at this time for some idiot to come here to say that he fought for free enterprise! A revolution expressing the will of the people is an election every day, not every four years; it is a constant meeting with the people. The people know that the Revolution expressed their will; the Revolution does not come to power with Yankee arms. It comes to power through the will of the people fighting against Yankee arms. If Mr. Kennedy does not like socialism, well, we do not like imperialism! We do not like capitalism! We have as much right to protest over the existence of an imperialist-capitalist regime ninety miles away from our coast as he feels he has to protest over the existence of a socialist regime ninety miles from his coast. Mr. Kennedy...does not have a clear concept of international law or sovereignty. Who had such notions before Kennedy? Hitler and Mussolini! 5 ·I am a Marxist-Leninist and I shall be a Marxist-Leninist to the end of my life. 6 1962 ·The duty of every revolutionary is to make the revolution. It is known that the revolution will triumph in America and throughout the world, but it is not for revolutionaries to sit in the doorways of their houses waiting for the corpse of imperialism to pass by. The role of Job doesn't suit a revolutionary. Each year that the liberation of America is speeded up will mean the lives of millions of children saved, millions of intelligences saved for culture, an infinite quantity of pain spared the people. Even if the Yankee imperialists prepare a bloody drama for America, they will not succeed in crushing the peoples' struggles, they will only arouse universal hatred against themselves. And such a drama will also mark the death of their greedy and carnivorous system. At [the] Punta del Este [inter-American conference in Uruguay in 1961] a great ideological battle unfolded between the Cuban Revolution and Yankee imperialism. Who did they represent there, for whom did each speak? Cuba represented the people; the United States represented the monopolies. Cuba spoke for America's exploited masses; the United States for the exploiting, oligarchical, and imperialist interests; Cuba for sovereignty; the United States for intervention; Cuba for the nationalization of foreign enterprises; the United States for new investments of foreign capital. Cuba for culture; the United States for ignorance. Cuba for agrarian reform; the United States for great landed estates. Cuba for the industrialization of America; the United States for underdevelopment...Cuba for peace among peoples; the United States for aggression and war. Cuba for socialism; the United States for capitalism... 7 ·[The Soviet Union] could have installed a thousand [nuclear] missiles [in Cuba in 1962]! That's what I said to Biriouzov [the Soviet field marshal in charge of nuclear forces in Cuba]: a thousand missiles. I said to him: "Look, if it is in the interest and the defense of the entire socialist camp, we are prepared to install a thousand [nuclear] missiles here." Imagine my reaction when they told me that they would [only] install [40] missiles... We defended these [nuclear] missiles with affection, with an incredible love. We were fighting for the first time almost on equal terms with an enemy [the United States] that had threatened and provoked us unceasingly. I wrote a letter [on October 26, 1962] to Khrushchev to give him courage. It was my opinion that, in case of an invasion, it was necessary to launch a massive and total nuclear strike [against the United States]...If they invade...one should not waste time...nor give the enemy the time to launch the first strike. 8 · [Nikita Khrushchev, on Fidel Castro during the Cuban Missile Crisis:] Castro suggested that in order to prevent [the Soviet] nuclear missiles [in Cuba] from being destroyed, we [the Soviet Union] should launch a preemptive strike against the United States. He concluded that an attack was unavoidable and that this attack had to be preempted. In other words, we [the Soviet Union] needed to immediately deliver a nuclear missile strike against the United States. At one point, Castro ordered our [Soviet] antiaircraft officers to shoot down a U-2 reconnaissance plane. I [Nikita Khrushchev] talked with him [years] later too, after he had already been to the Soviet Union twice and was in a different frame of mind...We discussed the past from hindsight and conducted an analysis of the events in a calm atmosphere. I saw that he still did not understand. I told Castro, "There is another aspect to this business. You wanted to start a war with the United States. If the war had begun we would somehow have survived, but Cuba no doubt would have ceased to exist. It would have been crushed into powder. Yet you suggested a nuclear strike!" 9 1963 ·With my ideas and my temperament, even in my school and university days, I could not be a capitalist, a democrat, a liberal. I always had it in me to be a radical, a revolutionary, a reformer, and through instinctive preparation it was easy for me to move into Marxism-Leninism. Of course we engage in subversion, the training of guerrillas, propaganda! Why not? This is exactly what you [Americans] do to us. 10 1964 ·Some people pay higher prices than others. Such is the case with Vietnam. The enormous sacrifices having to be paid directly in the face of Yankee imperialism, which, virtually defeated there, still talks like a blackmailer and an aggressor of extending the war--playing with fire there, in its unjustifiable and undesirable plan to maintain its colonialist and imperialist domination over peoples, just as they tried to do over us. However, the struggle of the people against imperialism is growing. It grows, it spreads. It is a historical law that this law will be fulfilled. It is necessary for the enemy to realize the price it must pay for its evils, for each of its actions of banditry. That is why we must always be prepared to defend ourselves. 11 1965 ·Our enemies, our only enemies, are the Yankee imperialists. Our only insuperable contradiction is with Yankee imperialism. The only enemy against whom we are ready to break our lances is imperialism. We are in favor of giving Vietnam all the aid that may be necessary, we are in favor of the socialist camp running the risks that may be necessary for Vietnam. We are quite aware of the fact that in case of any serious international complication we will be one of the first targets of imperialism, but this does not worry us and has never worried us. And we don't keep quiet or act like simpletons in order that our lives be spared. 12 ·It's true, everything that we say about the United States here [in Cuba] refers essentially to the worst aspects of the United States, and it is very rare that things in any way favorable to the United States will be published here...We always try to create the worst opinion of everything there is in the United States, as a response to what they have always done with us. We emphasize the worst things [and] we omit things that could be viewed as positive. 13 1966 ·Between 1970 and 1980 Yankee imperialism will not have one square inch of imperialist property left in Latin America. We are absolutely certain of this. Mr. Johnson, that big ignorant Texas cowboy, said recently that...revolutions are retreating, and he cited such cases as Indonesia and Ghana, and he mentioned several other countries. [Yet] Vietnam is the place where Yankee imperialism, with all its criminal, reactionary, and savage spirit, is being disrobed. The U.S. attack on Vietnam cannot be compared with any other deed in contemporary history. It is compared with Hitler's attacks on Poland and other small nations. However, the comparison cannot be made, because the crimes of the Yankees in Vietnam are worse than those of the German Nazis and the Italian Fascists, because of its [the United States] war resources, because of its destruction potential which is greater than that of the Germans and Italians, because of a similar lack of scruples. The Fascists never used toxic gases in the war. The United States uses not only conventional weapons in Vietnam, but also outlawed weapons like toxic gases, including bacteriological warfare. The only thing the United States has not used in Vietnam is the atomic weapon. The hate which the imperialists have stirred up is such, the indignation which they have provoked throughout the world and in this part of the world--in our country--is such that we feel sure that there will not be a single combat unit of our armed forces which is not ready to be among the first ones to go fight the imperialist Yankees there [in Vietnam]. We know the imperialists. They love their skin too much. The imperialists are so cowardly--how many blackmailers! As long as they can wage a war without the least possible casualties, industrial losses, as long as they can pick the mangos from the low branches, as long as they can use their big power in increasing degree against a small country, they gain courage from it. But we know the imperialists very well--Johnson and his herd of outlaws: the Rusks, the McNamaras and their gang--who have been trapped in a dead end street. 14 1967 ·The problems of Yankee imperialism do not consist simply of finding ways to crush the Cuban revolution, but rather how to prevent the revolutionary throughout the continent from crushing Yankee imperialism. 15 ·To those who believe that peaceful transition [to communism] is possible in some countries of this continent, we say to them that we cannot understand what kind of peaceful transition they refer to, unless it is a peaceful transition in agreement with imperialism. And those who believe that they are going to win against the imperialists in elections are just plain naïve; and those who believe that the day will come when they will take over through elections are super-naïve. They'll never see...the Revolution hesitating, the Revolution giving up; they'll never see the Revolution yielding one iota of its principles! For Patria o Muerte [homeland or death] has many meanings. It means being revolutionaries until death, it means being a proud people until death! And the fact that we speak about Patria o Muerte does not mean that we have a sense of fatalism. It is an expression of determination. When we say "death," we mean that not only we would be dead, but many of our enemies would be dead, as well. 16 1968 ·The Yankee imperialist policy reminds us today of Hitler's policy. It reminds us of the acts of barbarity of Nazism save for one difference: imperialism has been able to collect technical resources, hence military resources; it has been able to accumulate a force of destruction and death that is incomparably greater than any which the Nazi-fascists could ever have imagined. If there ever was in the history of humanity an enemy who was truly universal, an enemy whose acts and moves trouble the entire world, threaten the entire world, attack the entire world in any way or another, that real and really universal enemy is precisely Yankee imperialism. 17 ·We did not make a Revolution here to establish the right to trade! [...] When will they finally understand that this is a revolution of socialists, a revolution of Communists? When will they finally understand that nobody shed his blood here...in order to establish the right for somebody to make two hundred pesos selling rum, or fifty pesos selling fried eggs or omelets... A whole plague of businessmen remains...Capitalism has to be dug out by the roots; parasitism has to be dug out by the roots; the exploitation of man has to be dug out by the roots. Anyway, it must be said very clearly that...private trade, self-employment, private industry, or anything like it will not have any future in this country. 18 1969 ·While a country like the United States approaches the moon and flies thousands and hundreds of thousands of kilometers through space by virtue of its industrial and technological development, it also maintains the most iniquitous exploitation of a 100 million human beings [throughout the world]. 19 1971 ·The Chileans may be assured that if there should be an aggression from abroad, planned by imperialism, millions of Cubans will be ready to go to fight for Chile. Consider all revolutionary Cubans enlisted as of now for action against a foreign attack. It may be said, therefore, that we are revolutionary soldiers of America. Cuban fighters have shed their blood helping peoples of other continents, helping African peoples. They have shed their blood helping Latin American peoples. This is part of the best tradition of our fatherland and of our revolution. 20 ·The policy of the Cuban revolution is well established; it will accept relations only with governments which are independent, with governments capable of opposing Yankee dictates... And there is no way to convince, there are no words in the dictionary to explain to the imperialist "gentlemen" that we are not nor will we be "good guys." [...] So, imperialist gentlemen...we do not agree to your painting us as "good guys." For we wish to [be], and are determined to continue being, the "bad guys" in the eyes of the reactionaries and imperialists. Our position concerning the imperialist government of the United States is very clear: we have nothing to negotiate with them! [...] The day that they want to remove their blockade and cease all measures against Cuba, they must do it unconditionally and without discussing one single word with us. 21 1974 ·The United States will have to face the fact that, in the future, Cuba will not be the only revolutionary country in this hemisphere...In the future, the United States will have to deal with one, two, ten socialist countries in this hemisphere, and maybe even with a union of these peoples. That we sympathize with revolutionaries. Yes, we do. That we have aided revolutionaries as much as we have been able to do so, yes, this is true. That the influence of the Cuban revolution can be felt in the revolution of another country. Yes. For us to support revolutionaries it is essential that they be fighting. When they do fight, we help them...morally and materially, because we [have] had no commitments of any sort to abide by...We were not going to remain with our hands tied, tied to an international norm. We, therefore, felt that we had the right to help fighting revolutionaries who were trying to carry out a revolution in their countries... 22 1975 ·The starting point of Cuba's foreign policy, according to our Programmatic Platform, is the subordination of Cuban positions to the international needs of the struggle for socialism and for the national liberation of peoples. 23 1976 ·The United States has established around the world a system of military pacts, bases of aggression, centers of corruption, bribery, subversive propaganda and espionage, overt or covert actions, terror, and threats, which imperialism, because of its rapacious and exploitative nature, cannot do without. The victory in Angola was the twin sister of the victory at Girón [Bay of Pigs]. For the Yankee imperialists, Angola represents an African Girón. Ford and Kissinger are irritated by the defeat. And like two little thundering Jupiters, they have made terrible threats against Cuba. 24 1977 ·We do not have your same perceptions. Our concept of freedom of the press is not yours. If you ask if a newspaper can appear against socialism, I can say very honestly, no, it cannot. In that sense, we do not have the freedom of the press that you possess in the United States, and we are very satisfied about that. 25 1978 ·Even though we don't like to be the ones to speak of the irreproachable way in which the Cuban revolution has fulfilled its internationalist duty, it should be recalled that our military cooperation with Angola and Ethiopia was not something new. Cuban soldiers went to the sister republic of Algeria in 1963 to support it against foreign aggression when, in the months following the victory of it heroic struggle for independence, attempts were made to a grab a part of its territory. Cuban soldiers went to Syria in 1973 when that country requested our help right after the last war waged against the Zionist aggressors. Cuban fighters fought and died to help free Guinea-Bissau and Angola from Portuguese colonialism. It is no secret that worthy comrades from our guerrilla struggle in the Sierra Maestra died with Che in Bolivia. 26
1979 ·If we were to help the revolutionaries [in Central America] we would have the right to do so, but I'm not going to say here that we are doing so. That is our affair and not a matter to be discussed on television. I neither confirm it nor deny it. I proclaim it as a right; furthermore, as a duty. We have no nuclear weapons...It's not that that we don't have the right to; we don't relinquish that right. We'll relinquish that right when all countries of the world renounce nuclear weapons. 27 1980 ·The Guatemalan experience, the Salvadoran experience, the Chilean experience, the Bolivian experience, what have they taught us? That there is only one path: revolution! That there is only one way: revolutionary armed struggle! That is the thesis Cuba defended when it said to the people: they're deceiving you. [...] And the peoples learned their lessons and saw that there was only one road to liberation: that of Cuba, that of Grenada, that of Nicaragua. There is no other formula. Now then, the imperialists are threatening us with intervention. Should we lose our sleep over that? ...The peoples already know that there are possibilities for fighting not only in the mountains, not only in the rural areas, but also in the cities. They know how to dig tunnels, tear down walls, connect some houses with others on the same block, and turn rebellious cities into fortresses. 28
1983 ·We have...drawn up plans to resist any naval blockade, no matter how long it lasts, and we have prepared ourselves to face any kind of aggression the imperialists may contrive. Our people will be prepared to fiercely resist not just naval and airborne landing operations and defend the cities and positions to the last inch and the last man, but also to go on fighting even when the country has been invaded and occupied. Every cadre of the [Communist] Party, the state, the armed forces; every officer, every combatant, every citizen and even every teenager will know what to do under any circumstances. In Lebanon, the Zionist aggressors are shaken by their losses caused almost daily by the growing Palestinian and Lebanese resistance. I hail all the peoples who in other continents are fighting in similar ways against the same imperialism: [...] our very dear friends the Palestinians [and] the Arab countries, which are constant victims of imperialist Zionist aggression... 29 ·I don't have nuclear bombs, but I can produce a nuclear explosion...I want to do something that they will remember for the rest of their lives and then, when we are gone, history will remind them [Americans] that we were the only ones who made them pay dearly for their imperialistic arrogance around the world. 30
1985 · If the creditors insist on collecting the debt, if they implement the IMF measures against the people, and if a solution isn't found for the economic crisis, there will be widespread revolutionary outbreaks throughout Latin America. I believe the United States has fewer and fewer things to offer Cuba. We export sugar, but the U.S. is reducing its sugar imports... We might purchase certain medical equipment in the United States, some recent pharmaceutical products-things of that sort. But it wouldn't be anything out of this world, because it would be inconceivable for us to start buying Cadillacs and other luxury items from the United States if our relations were normalized someday. We haven't the slightest intention of spending a single cent on luxury items. My view is that the United States...[is] responsible for the survival of apartheid. I wonder: Is there any fascist regime in the last forty years that has not been an ally of the United States? 31 1989 ·In the past few days the United States has made a big uproar over an alleged chemical weapons factory in Libya and the president of the United States openly mentioned the possibility of an air attack on that factory...The Libyans have said there is no such chemical weapons factory nor plan to build any; they are building a medicine plant; but I think even that explanation was unnecessary...What's at stake here is the right of the United States to determine who may or may not manufacture chemical weapons, to decide that if a country manufactures chemical weapons it will be attacked and bombed. Even if Libya were in fact manufacturing chemical weapons, what right does the United States have to bomb that country? What right does it have to bomb that factory? 32 ·I even said...on July 26 [1989] in Camagüey that...if the socialist camp should disappear from the world, we will continue building socialism in our country...I said, if the USSR separated, if the USSR crumbled, if the USSR disappeared, we would continue building socialism in our country. 33 1992 ·We are building hundreds of tunnels. This represents expenditures in the form of fuel, cement, and rods. Can we forget about the enemy? Now, when it is more conceited than ever, more aggressive than ever? When it believes itself master of the world? It is the master of most of the world, but of course, not of us. Of us, at least, imperialism is not master. Nor are we more afraid of that imperialism, despite its being the only superpower left in this unipolar world. We were not afraid of it while the USSR existed. We are even less afraid of it now that the USSR does not exist. Capitalist society and imperialism, I repeat, are indefensible...Private ownership of the means of production is indefensible. There may be jineteras [prostitutes] here, but one would have to add that they are strictly voluntary ones. No woman in this country is forced to prostitute herself. Well, what can capitalism bring? What can it promise? For Cuban women, prostitution with a high educational level. The most ill-informed population in the world is the population of the United States. That is why we too feel we have the right to inform the population of the United States, and we are indeed going to inform them, employing that same right with which they wish to inform us, through certain radio stations that can reach U.S. territory perfectly well. 34 1995 ·In Cuba, we can do what our country sovereignly decides to do. Our position is that we do not accept any types of conditioning that may affect the country's sovereignty and independence to solve economic problems between the United States and Cuba or political problems between the United States and Cuba. This is an old position. I can assure you categorically that we would not accept political conditioning. I do not see how my resignation could improve the country's economy...I have already said that we would not be willing to accept any sort of political conditions. If I accepted this idea I would be admitting that in Cuba political changes could be made, including the resignation of the revolution's leaders, in exchange for solutions to economic problems. We are willing to give our lives for the country, but we are not willing to sacrifice its independence, the country's sovereignty. We are not willing to sacrifice the principles. 35 1997 ·We will do what is necessary without renouncing our principles. We don't like capitalism and we will not abandon our socialist system. Neo-liberalism and globalization create consumer societies like the U.S. throughout the world and this is not a model for anyone. 36 1998 ·In our view the United States was guilty of the sabotage of the Cuban airline over Barbados [on October 6, 1976], which cost the lives of 73 persons. The United States is guilty of the bombs that exploded in the capital's [Havana] hotels [in 1997] in order to sabotage tourism, to damage our economy. It would seem they weren't satisfied with the cruel and despicable blockade which it is applying against our country. The United States is guilty of the numerous attempts on my life, in this case, or against any other leader of the Revolution, carried out by these gentlemen, this mafia, these mercenary gangsters, actively or by omission in the pay of the Cuban-American National Foundation. And, evidently, in terms of all the facts that we have, it is actively guilty of many of those crimes and terrorist acts committed against our country. 37 ·Yes, we have sometimes dispatched Cuban citizens to the United States to infiltrate counterrevolutionary organizations, to inform us about activities that are of interest to us. 38 1999 ·In a great number of Latin American countries there were better objective conditions for a revolution than there had been in Cuba. And we gave them our support... [Chilean President Salvador] Allende was...a very good friend of the Cuban revolution, and a leftist, [...] so we supported the political line he was pursuing. We trained some people to look after his personal security, something in which we had experience...And we conveyed our experience to [Allende] because we felt that he had some enemies...We trained some of his people to look after his personal security and we provided his bodyguards with some light arms. What happened later [in Chile] proved that a profound revolution can really only be made in the kinds of conditions which prevailed in Cuba. The Sandinista movement emerged after the triumph of our Revolution, and the Cuban Revolution had a great influence on it. [...] And when the Cuban Revolution came, it had a great influence on the young, and the Sandinista movement was organized. And we supported them...out of revolutionary principle. [...] Anyway, the Sandinistas had all our support and cooperation over the course of many years. We also struggled to achieve unity among the Sandinistas, who unfortunately were divided. In Central America, we really did help the Nicaraguans, the Salvadorans and the Guatemalans. And the first kind of assistance we provided was to work for the unity of the revolutionary forces, because those three countries were divided into four or five groups. So that was our first contribution. Apart from that, we also helped in the training of cadres and personnel, and towards the end we sent as many weapons as we could to the Nicaraguans. [...] Yes, we did want a revolution, and what's more, we believed that such a revolution was possible-we were absolutely convinced that it was possible in Latin America. And that would probably have changed the course of history. [...] Just like the Vietnam War, which had an influence on American thinking, a radical revolution in Latin America would have had a tremendous influence on U.S. policy. That's what I believed then, and I still do. However, the course of history will change in the future; it will change because this globalized world is untenable within the framework of capitalism and neo-liberalism. This is my belief. But with respect to Latin America [...] the first thing we did in any country was to try to unite the [leftist] forces, and perhaps that was the greatest service we did to those countries. [With Cuba's support] revolutionaries in small countries like El Salvador brought their government to the point of collapse, and it was only saved by the torrent of arms, technology and money that the United States sent them. Otherwise, the Salvadoran government would have been unable to sustain itself. In countries as small as those in Central America...the revolution triumphed in one of them [Nicaragua], and almost triumphed in others, and the United States had to resort to all its power to prevent it. Now imagine if there had been a revolution in other South American countries with better geographical conditions and a larger population-it would have been much more difficult for the United States to deal with than the Vietnam War, and that's without the use of nuclear weapons. That's why I said earlier, and I affirm that I think...that the course of history could have been different, because a revolution similar to the Cuban one might have taken place in Latin America. 39 · The United States of America...is involved [in Serbia] in what can be described, whether they like it or not, as genocide. [Cuba] cannot be conquered by anyone; no one can conquer a country that is willing to fight. It is wrong to try to conquer it. It already happened in Vietnam where the Americans understood it only when they had lost over 50 thousand lives and killed 4 million Vietnamese. Well, now, they are in a similar situation there, and one that can become more complicated if the Serbians everywhere give their support to the Serbians inside Serbia. 40 2000 ·We are not ready for reconciliation with the United States, and I will not reconcile myself with the imperialist system. But if the American people and their government are ready to respect the rights of others, we are ready, in this case, to work so that peace prevails. Otherwise, there will be no reconciliation. For the past 40 years I have been struggling against the world's most powerful and dangerous force, and against the continuous embargo. Communist rule is still valid for the future because it is the most equitable system. We are defending our culture better than any other country because other countries are being subjected to a Western cultural invasion. 41 2001 ·A new administration has just assumed power in the United States, in a rather irregular fashion. Everything known about the background and thinking of the main figures in this administration, the public statements made by many of them, before and after the highly unusual electoral process in which the Cuban-American terrorist mob played a decisive role in the questionable victory of the current president, has created an atmosphere of doubt, distrust and fear reaching practically all of the world public opinion. 42 ·Forty years have passed [since the Bay of Pigs invasion]. Nevertheless, the methods of lies and deception used by the empire and its mercenary allies remain unchanged. When we see that south of the Rio Grande there is a whole collection of balkanized countries...about to be devoured by the mighty, expansionist and insatiable superpower of the turbulent and brutal north that scorns us, we Cubans can cry to the top of our voices: Bless the day, a thousand times over, that we proclaimed our revolution to be socialist! Without socialism, Cuba would not be the only country in the world today that does not need to trade with the United States in order to survive, and even to advance, both economically and socially. Without socialism, Cuba would not have been able to endure the hostility of nine U.S. presidents...I would have to add the one [George W. Bush] who has just assumed the presidential throne, since judging from his first steps in the international arena and the language of his advisors and allies in the Miami terrorist mob, there are signs that we could be facing a particularly aggressive and utterly unethical administration. At this very moment in history, the nations of Latin America are about to be devoured by the United States, the hegemonic superpower of today's world. 43 ·The people and the governments of Cuba and Iran can bring the United States to its knees. The U.S. regime is very weak, and we are witnessing this weakness from close up. 44 ·Women are accorded better treatment in some Islamic nations than in the West. In the West, women are regarded as a commodity and an object of business. I think of Western women as those who have been asphyxiated because of the way they're treated. 45 ·On Thursday [September 20, 2001], before the United States Congress, the idea was designed of a world military dictatorship under the exclusive rule of force, irrespective of any international laws or institutions. The United Nations, simply ignored in the present crisis, would fail to have any authority or prerogative whatsoever. There would be only one boss, only one judge, and only one law. We have all been ordered to ally either with the United States government or with terrorism. [Americans'] capacity to destroy and kill is enormous, but their traits of equanimity, serenity, reflection and caution are, on the other hand, minimal. 46 2002 ·Our heroes [five Cuban spies tried, convicted, and sentenced in 2001 for espionage against U.S. military installations] will have to be freed. The enormous injustice committed against them will be known by the whole world... The U.S. government will never have the moral authority to combat terrorism while it continues to use such practices against nations like Cuba and to support massive, repugnant, and brutal massacres like those carried out by its ally Israel against the Palestinian people. With unparalleled arrogance and prepotency, it has threatened over 80 countries and taken the liberty of deciding which is a terrorist nation and which is not. It has even been so cynical as to include Cuba among the so-called terrorist nations, when thousands of Cubans have died as victims of terrorism perpetrated from the United States, while not a single American has ever suffered so much as a scratch, nor has the least of damage ever been caused by any such actions on the part of Cuba. 47 · The power and prerogative of that country's [the U.S.] President are so extensive, and the economic, technological, and military power network in that nation is so pervasive that due to circumstances that fully escape the American people, the world is coming under the rule of Nazi concepts and methods. Last September 20, 2001, when Mr. [George] W. Bush proclaimed [his war against terrorism]...at the same time, based on his military power he was assuming the role of world master and policeman. Long before the terrorist attacks of September 11, Bush had promoted enormous budgets for the research and production of more deadly and sophisticated weapons, although the Cold War was over... [Bush perceives us as] the miserable insects that live in 60 or more countries of the world (chosen by him and his closest assistants)--and in the case of Cuba by his Miami friends--[which] are completely irrelevant. [We] are the "dark corners of the world" that may become targets of their unannounced and "preemptive" attacks. What is the difference between that philosophy and methods and those of the Nazis? Why is it that so many governments are trembling with fear and keeping silent? 48 ·Arrogance, demagogy and lies are usually an inseparable part of [the U.S. President]. Mr. President, you are losing authority. In theory, you are empowered to bring death to a large part of the world, but you can't do it alone. You need many other people to help you obliterate the rest of the world and among the military and civilian leaders who operate in your country's power structures there are many learned and talented people...[who] will be less and less willing to be persuaded as they see that your political advisors lacking in capacity and military experience make one mistake after another. Dreadful and opportunistic lies do not suffice to launch preemptive and surprise attacks against any of the 60 or more countries [where terror cells are present, in reference to President Bush's speech at West Point on June 1, 2002], or against several of them, or against them all. 49 · Hardly twelve years ago, many in the world expected to see Cuba, the last socialist state in the West, crumble. Not much time has gone by and today, instead, quite a number of us on this earth are waiting to see how the developed capitalist world led by the United States disengages from the colossal and chaotic economic mess in which it is enmeshed. Those who yesterday talked so much about the end of history might be wondering if this profound crisis is not the beginning of the end of the political, economic and social system it represents. Perhaps, of the evils brought about by developed capitalism none is so nefarious as the way of life and the consumerist habits. The set of problems that are piling up in the world point objectively to a disaster for neoliberal globalization and for that unsustainable economic order. The smallest municipality in Cuba is stronger than all the scum that met with [President George W.] Bush in the James L. Knight Center in Miami. 50 2003 ·[Americans] say the world is moving towards democracy because the Chinese introduced some reforms. The Chinese have a political system very similar to Cuba's. They admit capitalists into the [Communist] Party. Our Party admits farmers earning a lot of money and religious people...Bush could just as well say that, based on what we've done here in Cuba, that we're moving towards democracy. We don't want to become a consumer society...We have implemented a number of reforms but we're not headed towards capitalism...We are not marching towards capitalism. [We will not] change [Cuba's] constitution...[Cuba's] political system...[or Cuba's] economic system...in order to improve relations with the U.S. We need to be cautious [about importing agricultural products from the U.S.] because we cannot be tied to only one source of supplies. It would be too risky so we continue purchasing commodities from our traditional suppliers. Yes, my brother [Raúl Castro, the designated successor] has seniority but we should talk about the next generation. Even my brother is not that young...I am thinking about the younger generation and how they are prepared to preserve the future... 51 ____ Notes 1 Fidel Castro, Letter to Celia Sánchez, June 1958, in Rolando E. Bonachea and Nelson P. Valdés, eds., Revolutionary Struggle, 1947-1958: Volume 1 of the Selected Works of Fidel Castro (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1972), p. 379. Originally translated and published in Cuba by the English-language edition of Granma, the Cuban government's official newspaper (Granma Weekly Review, August 27, 1967). 2 Fidel Castro, statement on October 26, 1958, "Acusación a los Estados Unidos," in Gregorio Selser, ed., La revolución cubana (Buenos Aires: Editorial Palestra, 1960), p. 174. English translation by Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies staff, University of Miami. 3 Remarks by Fidel Castro to Havana Post reporter Bob Pérez, January 15, 1959. See R. Hart Phillips, The Cuban Dilemma (New York: Ivan Obolensky, 1962), p. 28 and Time, January 19, 1959. 4 Fidel Castro, "Address to the United Nations General Assembly," New York, September 26, 1960 in Martin Kenner and James Petras, eds., Fidel Castro Speaks (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1969), p. 33. See also http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1960/19600926 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1960/19600926> in the University of Texas at Austin's on-line Castro Speech Data Base: Speeches, Interviews, Articles: 1959-1996 http://lanic.utexas.edu/ la/cb/cuba/castro.html <http://lanic.utexas.edu/%20la/cb/cuba/castro.html> which contains the most comprehensive (though not complete) and accessible collection of Fidel Castro's public discourse in English translation. For Castro's speeches, including authorized English versions, since 1998, see the Cuban government's "Discursos e intervenciones del Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz, Presidente del Consejo de Estado de la República de Cuba" on-line at: http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/ <http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/> and http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/index.html <http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/index.html> 5 Fidel Castro, May Day Speech, delivered in Havana, May 1, 1961, in Kenner and Petras, eds., Fidel Castro Speaks, pp. 84-87. See also Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/ 1961/19610502 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/%201961/19610502> 6 Fidel Castro, radio broadcast speech on the "Formation of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution," Havana, December 2, 1961, in Richard Gibson et al., ed. and trans., Fidel Castro Speaks on Marxism-Leninism (New York: Fair Play for Cuba Committee, 1961), p. 64. 7 Fidel Castro, "The Duty of a Revolutionary Is to Make the Revolution: The Second Declaration of Havana," speech delivered in Havana, February 4, 1962, in Kenner and Petras, eds., Fidel Castro Speaks, pp. 104, 115. 8 Fidel Castro, "Report to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba" on the October 1962 Missile Crisis, January 25-26, 1968. Originally a secret briefing to the island's senior leadership, the Cuban government declassified the document in 1997. Extensive excerpts were first published in France by historian Vincent Touze in Le Monde, August 15, 1997. English translation by Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies staff, University of Miami. For text in French, see http://perso.wanadoo.fr/c.archon/Terminal/tstth3EO/CubaFide.htm <http://perso.wanadoo.fr/c.archon/Terminal/tstth3EO/CubaFide.htm> For a Spanish version, see "Las amargas confesiones de Fidel Castro," Clarín (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 14 September 1997 http://old.clarin.com.ar/diario/1997/09/14/suplementos/i-00602e.htm <http://old.clarin.com.ar/diario/1997/09/14/suplementos/i-00602e.htm> 9 Nikita Khrushchev on Fidel Castro during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, in Nikita Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers: The Glasnost Tapes, J. L. Schecter and V. V. Luchkov, eds. and trans., (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1990), pp. 177-183. 10 Fidel Castro, Interview with Herbert Matthews, October 29, 1963, in Herbert L. Matthews, Return to Cuba (Palo Alto, CA: Institute of Hispanic American and Luso-Brazilian Studies, Stanford University, 1964), pp. 11-12, 15. 11 Fidel Castro, "Inauguration of José Antonio Echevarría University," speech delivered at University City, Havana, February 2, 1964. See Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/ 1964/19640202 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/%201964/19640202> 12 Fidel Castro, "Division in the Face of the Enemy Was Never a Revolutionary or Intelligent Strategy," speech delivered at the University of Havana, March 13, 1965 in Fidel Castro Speaks, pp. 123-124. See also Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1965/19650314 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1965/19650314> 13 Fidel Castro, Interviews with Lee Lockwood during 1965-1966, in Lee Lockwood, Castro's Cuba, Cuba's Fidel (New York: Vintage Books, 1969), p. 113. 14 Fidel Castro, "On the 13th Anniversary of the Attack on the Moncada Barracks," speech delivered at the Plaza de la Revolución, Havana, July 26, 1966, in Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/ la/cb/cuba/castro/1966/19660726 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/%20la/cb/cuba/castro/1966/19660726> 15 Fidel Castro, "Speech on the Sixth Anniversary of the Victory at Playa Girón [Bay of Pigs]," delivered at the Chaplin Theater, Havana, on April 20, 1967. See Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/ la/cb/cuba/castro/1967/19670420 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/%20la/cb/cuba/castro/1967/19670420> 16 Fidel Castro, "Speech at the Closing of the First OLAS Conference" delivered at the Chaplin Theatre, Havana, August 10, 1967 in Fidel Castro Speaks, pp. 161-175. See also Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1967/19670811 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1967/19670811> 17 Fidel Castro, "Speech at the Havana International Cultural Conference," delivered at the Chaplin Theater, Havana, on January 13, 1968. See Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/ la/cb/cuba/castro/1968/19680113 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/%20la/cb/cuba/castro/1968/19680113> 18 Fidel Castro, "We Did Not Make a Revolution to Establish the Right to Trade," speech delivered at the University of Havana, "On the Eleventh Anniversary of the Attack on the Presidential Palace," March 13, 1968, in Fidel Castro Speaks, pp. 307-308. See also Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/ la/cb/cuba/castro/1968/19680314 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/%20la/cb/cuba/castro/1968/19680314> 19 Fidel Castro, speech at a school dedication ceremony, delivered in El Cangre, Havana province, on January 5, 1969. See Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1969/19690105 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1969/19690105> 20 Fidel Castro, "Speech on the Tenth Anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Victory," delivered in Havana on April 20, 1971. See Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1971/19710420 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1971/19710420> 21 Fidel Castro, speech delivered at the University of Havana, August 5, 1971. See Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1971/19710805 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1971/19710805> 22 Fidel Castro, Interview with Mankiewick and Jones, July-October 1974, Frank Mankiewick and Kirby Jones, With Fidel: A Portrait of Castro and Cuba (Chicago: Playboy Press, 1975), pp. 136, 141-143. 23 Fidel Castro, "Report to the First Congress of the Cuban Communist Party," December 1975, in Granma Weekly Review, January 4, 1976. 24 Fidel Castro, "Angola: African Girón [Bay of Pigs]," speech delivered at the Karl Marx Theater, Havana, on the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Victory at Playa Girón [Bay of Pigs]," April 19, 1976. See Michael Taber, ed., Fidel Castro Speeches Vol. I: Cuba's Internationalist Foreign Policy 1975-1980 (New York: Pathfinder Press, 1981), pp. 86-97. 25 Fidel Castro, Interview with Barbara Walters, "Fidel Speaks," an ABC Special Report, June 9, 1977. 26 Fidel Castro, speech "On the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of Moncada," delivered in Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1978. In Michael Taber, ed., Fidel Castro Speeches Vol. I: Cuba's Internationalist Foreign Policy 1975-1980, p. 53. 27 Fidel Castro, Interview with Dan Rather, CBS-TV "Sixty Minutes," September 30, 1979. In Michael Taber, ed., Fidel Castro Speeches Vol. I, pp. 268-269. See also Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1979/19791001 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1979/19791001> 28 Fidel Castro, "There Is Only One Road to Liberation," speech delivered in Ciego de Avila, Cuba, on July 26, 1980. See Taber, Fidel Castro Speeches Vol. I, p. 326. Also in Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1980/19800726 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1980/19800726> 29 Fidel Castro, speech "On the 30th Anniversary of the Attack on the Moncada Garrison," delivered in Santiago de Cuba, July 26, 1983, pamphlet, (Havana: Editora Política, 1983). See also Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1983/19830726 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1983/19830726> 30 Fidel Castro, remarks to Cuban air force General Rafael del Pino Díaz during the U.S. operation against Cuban forces in Grenada in 1983, from Del Pino's unpublished memoirs, Inside Castro's Bunker. According to Del Pino, Castro planned a retaliatory air strike against the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant south of Miami. Del Pino subsequently defected to the United States in 1987. 31 Fidel Castro, Interview with Elliot and Dymally, March 1985, in Jeffrey M. Elliot and Mervyn M. Dymally, Fidel Castro: Nothing Can Stop the Course of History (New York: Pathfinder Press, 1986), pp. 79-80, 165, 171-172. 32 Fidel Castro, speech delivered at EXPOCUBA, Havana, on January 4, 1989, in Fidel Castro, Loyalty to Principles (Havana: Editora Política, 1989), p. 63. See also Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1989/19890104.2 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1989/19890104.2> 33 Fidel Castro, speech "On the 37th Anniversary of the Attack on the Moncada Barracks," delivered at Plaza de la Revolución, Havana, on July 26, 1990. See Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/ la/cb/cuba/castro/1990/19900726 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/%20la/cb/cuba/castro/1990/19900726> 34 Fidel Castro, "Address to the Congress of the UJC (Union of Young Communists)," delivered in Havana on April 4, 1992. See Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1992/19920404 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1992/19920404> 35 Fidel Castro, Interview with Bernard Shaw, CNN, October 22, 1995. Transcript in Castro Speech Data Base: http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1995/19951023 <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1995/19951023> 36 Fidel Castro, "Main Report to the Fifth Party Congress of the Cuban Communist Party," October 8-10 1997, (Havana: Editora Política, 1998). 37 Fidel Castro, "On the 45th Anniversary of the Attack on the Moncada Garrison," speech delivered in Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1998. See: http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1998/ing/f260798i.html <http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1998/ing/f260798i.html> 38 Fidel Castro, Interview with CNN, October 20, 1998. Quoted in Lucia Newman, "In rare admission, Castro says Cuba has dispatched spies across U.S.," CNN.com, October 20, 1998, http://www.cnn.com/US/ 9810/20/cuban.espionage <http://www.cnn.com/US/9810/20/cuban.espionage> 39 Fidel Castro, Interview for CNN Cold War, Episode 18 ("Backyard"), aired February 21, 1999. Transcript available on-line at: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/18/interviews/castro/ <http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/18/interviews/castro/> 40 Fidel Castro, "Speech at a Mass Rally on the War in Yugoslavia," delivered at the University of Havana, May 4, 1999. See: http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1999/ing/e040599i.html <http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1999/ing/e040599i.html> 41 Fidel Castro, Interview with Al-Jazeera Television, September 18, 2000. Associated Press excerpts on-line at: http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/09/18/mideast.castro.us.ap/ <http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/09/18/mideast.castro.us.ap/> 42 Fidel Castro, "Speech by Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba, presented at the public forum held in San José de las Lajas, Havana Province, on January 27, 2001." See: http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2001/ing/f270101i.html <http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2001/ing/f270101i.html> 43 Fidel Castro, "Speech delivered by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba, on the 40th Anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution, in Havana City, April 16, 2001. See: http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2001/ing/f160401i.html <http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2001/ing/f160401i.html> 44 Fidel Castro, speaking at Tehran University, Iran, May 9, 2001. Quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), "Iran and Cuba bolster ties, strengthen anti-US solidarity," Tehran, May 10, 2001. 45 Fidel Castro, speaking in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during official visit in May 2001. Quoted by Sim Leoi Leoi, "Study of Religion Interests Castro," The Star (Kuala Lumpur), May 15, 2001. 46 Fidel Castro, "Speech by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba, Havana, September 22, 2001," on-line at http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2001/ing/f220901i.html <http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2001/ing/f220901i.html> 47 Fidel Castro, "Speech given by Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba, at the decoration ceremony for the mothers and wives of the five Heroes of the Republic of Cuba Prisoners of the Empire," Karl Marx Theater, Havana, March 8, 2002. On-line at: http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2002/ ing/f080302i.html <http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2002/%20ing/f080302i.html> 48 Fidel Castro, "The World Is Coming Under the Rule of Nazi Concepts and Methods," speech delivered in Santiago de Cuba, June 8, 2002. See: http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2002/ing/f080602i.html <http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2002/ing/f080602i.html> 49 Fidel Castro, address to the National Assembly, Havana, June 26, 2002. See: http://espana.cuba.cu/ gobierno/discursos/2002/ing/f260602i.html <http://espana.cuba.cu/%20gobierno/discursos/2002/ing/f260602i.html> 50 Fidel Castro, "Speech given by Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba, at the public rally held at the "Abel Santamaría Cuadrado" Revolution Square in Ciego de Avila, Cuba, on the occasion of the 49th anniversary of the attacks on the Moncada Barracks," July 26, 2002. On-line at: http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2002/ing/f260702i.html <http://espana.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2002/ing/f260702i.html> 51 Fidel Castro, Interview with Andrea Mitchell, NBC, January 23, 2003. Transcript on-line at: http://www.msnbc.com/news/862648.asp <http://www.msnbc.com/news/862648.asp> Hans de Salas-del Valle is a researcher at the Cuba Transition Project, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami. He is the editor of Focus on Cuba, a newsletter, published electronically and in hard copy, that reports issues of importance in Cuba. Jaime Suchlicki is Emilio Bacardi Moreau Professor of History and International Studies and Director, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami. He was the founding Executive Director of the North-South Center. For the past decade he was also the editor of the prestigious Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs. He is the author of Cuba: From Columbus to Castro (2002), now in its fifth edition, and editor with Irving L. Horowitz of Cuban Communism (2001). He is also the author of Mexico: From Montezuma to NAFTA (2001).
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