Document A: 1959 Interview (Original)
Question: Are the electoral laws going to be changed?
Ans: Of course, we will try to improve the system so that democracy will be here in politics. People used to buy votes, spend money, using power towin the election, we are not in that case. We want to improve ourelectoral system of election.
Question: You would like us to extradite these people that were your political enemies, but we have had a tradition of reverence for political refugees. How can you, as a lawyer, determine which are good political refugees and which are not.
Ans: It depends what happened in the first place that I have not a lot of faith in these things. In the first place, you can know who is a criminal, who is a robber, it is not difficult, because as you know it is a tradition for many governments to rob, kill, and they go away. Sometimes the U.S. when they don't like somebody they say "No, you cannot come," and when they want they say, "Yes, you can come." For example, the U.S. didn't accept Perez Jimenez and other dictators when they wanted to go to the U.S., the State Department said, "No." Why do you accept Masferrer, who is one of the worst criminals any country has every seen. Masferrer was not military, he had a personal group of several hundreds of criminals that he took from the prisons, those men killed children, they burned houses, they robbed the businessmen, everybody. Why the U.S. doesn't ask, "Well, you have the right of reaching him." Can we Cubans think this is a friendship action for Cuba? Would you like that a terrible criminal come here, some spy, well if you want we would be very helpful, and send him to the U.S. and this would be a way of helping this friendship between Cuba and the U.S. What we will do if a criminal comes here? We will take him and put him in prison and send him to the U.S. to be punished. Would you like to help us to catch Masferrer?
I want you to know that hundreds, thousands of Cubans, would gladly go to kill Masferrer or Batista, but we do not permit that. We want to be respectful of the law of the other countries. You know what Trujillo would do, he would send his men to kill people anyplace, but we will never permit that. If it is done, it is not because I would allow,and I would punish that person. I think the State Department is working in a legal procedure to expedite Masferrer, but I have not a lot of faith.
Question: What is your opinion of the U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba since you came?
Ans: I am not an American citizen, I have no right to speak about thepolitical situation. But if you ask me about Cuba, I think now it is not abad policy. This time I think the U.S. government sent a good Ambassador.Everybody says he is a good Ambassador and I feel the attitude is notagainst us politically. Really the official policies as I think now andobserve is of friendship. Also, we are waiting to see what happens to the price of sugar.
Question: I think we would like to take back some impressions of theprogress that you are making on organizing the new government, particularly-- are you finding any difficulties getting competent people in youradministration?
Ans: The government is not an easy job, this work, administration, many things happen. For example, new people, intelligent people, capacitated,what does matter is that they will learn in the process. If someone seeksemployment, everybody asks "who is he?" "Is it a Batista friend that comesafter the victory?" Sometimes there are some people that are intelligentpeople but not revolutionary history, and you have to be quiet and careful with public opinion, because public opinion is very sensible--to peoplethat are coming to win some position that were in business or friendshipwith Batista. Now we only have a small part to pay the men. It is sodifficult, and another difficulty is that there are many interests becausegovernment permitted many things. For example in the beach, you needbeaches for the people, there are a million inhabitants. The best beachesare taken, many houses are there. You try to find a beach for the people, you have to fight many interests. Many houses in the beaches, and otherthings are in the same way. These were created by the bad government, butwe are convincing the people that that is not right, that we have the dutyof helping the people, because if we don't carry this job forward all theCubans are going to lose.
Question: Does your government have any plans to restore sugar productionto level of European war?
Ans: Well, it depends on several things. What we want is to produce at a low price because in those years, during the Batista government, Batistastopped our production for a good price and what happened was thateverybody began to seek sugar cane and to produce sugar cane.[Indecipherable.] We will try to improve the sugar industry, to sell at the low price. Whydoesn't the U.S. citizen protest against the high price of sugar? Some ofyou belong to the South of the U.S. If we can produce sugar better thanyou, and you can produce another thing better than us, you produce thatthing and we produce sugar, and do business.
Question: Can you estimate when the Election will be held?
Ans: Yes, in about two years. People want this.
Question: Do you have a plan withEisenhower to solve any difficulties?
Ans:There are no difficulties. Because really I do not see any. As you know there are some interests[of a] few people, that are a small percentage of the U.S. That some revolutionary law can[Indecipherable]themand they can make propaganda against us in. But really,there are no serious difficulties, and I. . . there would be no difficulties in the future. I do say we are a small country and a smallpeople working here too much to solve our difficulties. The U.S. is a bigcountry and big people working to solve the difficulties. Then I am herein my place, working to solve the difficulties. Then I am here in my place, working in my small country and working for my small people, and wewant to be in friendship with all the countries of America. If PresidentEisenhower has time--and if I have time, too, I would gladly speak with himas I speak with you and as I speak the same with the most small citizen andthe most big citizen of the U.S. I would gladly salute and shake hands.
Source: Fidel Castro, Interview with U.S. Society of Editors, February 28, 1959.
Document B: 1961 Speech
Distinguished visitors from Latin American and the entire world,combatants of the armed forces of the people, workers: We have had 14 and ahalf hours of parading. I think that only a people imbued withinfinite enthusiasm is capable of enduring such tests. Nevertheless, I willtry to be as brief as possible.
We are very happy over this attitude by the people. I believe that today we should outline the course to follow, analyze a little what we have done upto now, and see at what point in our history we are, and what we haveahead. We have all had a chance to see the parade. Maybe we who are on thisplatform could appreciate it better than you in the square, maybe stillbetter than those who have paraded. This May Day tells a lot, it tells alot about what the revolution has been so far, what it has achieved so far;
but maybe it does not tell us as much as it tells our visitors. . . .
The Batista group took over through a coup sponsored by imperialism and the exploiting class; they needed such a man as Batista, so that the rural guard would serve the landowners against the peasants. [Applause.] It did not matter to them that the nation was being plundered. The landowners did not give anybody modern weapons to fight that regime; they gave arms to that bloody regime itself, not caring about how it violated the constitution. The Yankees did not give arms to anybody to fight Batista. None of the fine little gentlemen fought, because they still had their Cadillacs; they had a regime that guaranteed their frivolous life. They cared nothing about politics, for they had a very good life. Now that their privileges have ended, they found a Yankee government willing to give them arms to come here and shed the blood of workers and peasants.
Those gentlemen spoke of elections. What elections did they want? The ones of the corrupt politicians who bought votes? Those elections in which apoor person had to turn over his ballot in return for work? Those fakeelections that were just a means for the exploiting class to stay in power?Those elections which were not a military coup? There are manypseudo-democracies in Latin America; what laws have they passed for thepeasants? Where is nationalization of industry? Where is their agrarian
reform?
A revolution expressing the will of the people is an election everyday, not every four years; it is a constant meeting with the people, like thismeeting. The old politicians could never have gathered as many votes asthere are people here tonight to support the revolution. Revolution means athorough change.
What do they want? Elections with pictures on the posts. The revolution has changed the conception of pseudo-democracy for direct government by thepeople. . . .
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 theexistence of an imperialist-capitalist regime 90 miles from our coast as hefeels he has to protect over the existence of a socialist regime 90 milesfrom his coast. Now then, we would not think of protesting over that,because that is the business of the people of the United States. It wouldbe absurd for us to try to tell the people of the United States what systemof government they must have, for in that case we would be considering thatthe United States is not a sovereign nation and that we have rights overthe domestic life of the United States.
Rights do not come from size. Right does not come from one country being bigger than another. That does not matter. We have only limited territory,a small nation, but our right is as respectable as that of any country,regardless of its size. It does not occur to us to tell the people of theUnited States what system of government they must have. Therefore it isabsurd for Mr. Kennedy to take it into his head to tell us what kind ofgovernment he wants us to have here. That is absurd. It occurs to Mr.Kennedy to do that only because he does not have a clear concept ofinternational law or sovereignty. Who had those notions before Kennedy?Hitler and Mussolini!
They spoke the same language of force; it is the fascist language. We heard it in the years before Germany's attack on Czechoslovakia. Hitler split itup because it was governed by a reactionary government. The bourgeoisie,reactionary and pro-fascist, afraid of the advance of a socialist system,preferred even domination by Hitler. We heard that language on the eve ofthe invasion of Denmark, Belgium, Poland, and so forth. It is the right ofmight. This is the only right Kennedy advances in claiming the right tointerfere in our country.
This is a socialist regime, yes! Yes, this is a socialist regime. It is here, but the fault is not ours, the blame belongs to Columbus, the English colonizers, the Spanish colonizers. The people of the U.S. will someday gettired.
The U.S. Government says that a socialist regime here threatens U.S. security. But what threatens the security of the North American people isthe aggressive policy of the warmongers of the United States. Whatthreatens the security of the North American family and people is theviolence, that aggressive policy, that policy that ignores the sovereigntyand the rights of other peoples. The one who is threatening the security of
the United States is Kennedy, with that aggressive policy. That aggressivepolicy can give rise to a world war; and that world war can cost the lives of tens of millions of North Americans. Therefore, the one who threatensthe security of the United States is not the Cuban Revolutionary Governmentbut the aggressor and aggressive government of the United States.
We do not endanger the security of a single North American. We do not endanger the life or security of a single North American family. We, makingcooperatives, agrarian reform, people's ranches, houses, schools, literacycampaigns, and sending thousands and thousands of teachers to the interior,building hospitals, sending doctors, giving scholarships, buildingfactories, increasing the productive capacity of our country, creatingpublic beaches, converting fortresses into schools, and give the people theright to a better future--we do not endanger a single U.S. family or asingle U.S. citizen.
Source: Fidel Castro, Speech in Havana, Cuba, on May 1, 1961.