Let us validate the morals of the Revolution with our conduct Speech by comrade Carlos Lage Dávila, member of Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party, and vice president of the Council of State, at the political ceremony and commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the birth of Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna June 14, 2008 00:02:48 GMT General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, President of the Councils of State and of Ministers Comrades of the Party and Government leadership Comrades Foto: Roberto Meriño The world marks the 80th birthday of a universal man. A life, a character, who has become an example and guide, icon and myth, for people from one and other continents. His passage was as brief as it was intense; life that begins in Argentina, would be uncertain to affirm that it concludes in Bolivia. Since then, Ernesto Guevara, Che, occupies hearts and places, has inspired fighters and poets, has continued his work through indispensable texts and an ethical legacy of increasing validity. His exceptional service to the Cuban Revolution confers upon us a special place in this commemoration. It is not possible to isolate el Che from Cuba, as his presence in all latitudes demonstrates that, they share his image and our flag as symbols of peoples' struggles and hopes. For our children, in each collective and Cuban home, the date of June 14th is familiar, and the anniversary of el Che joins the birthday of General Antonio Maceo, a synthesis of the most original Cubaness. That day in 1845, Antonio Maceo y Grajales came into the world in Santiago de Cuba. As the Apostle would say, he was son of the lion and the lioness, Marcos and Mariana who bore nineteen fighters for independence. Antonio was a young muleteer who, at the age of 23, joined the Yara Revolution as a simple soldier. After one year, for merits in the war, he achieved the grade of lieutenant colonel. Under orders from Máximo Gómez, amidst bullets buzzing in his ears, he saved his gravely injured brother, José. His legend as the invincible titan grew after each battle. When the Ten Years' War faltered and the Pact of Zanjón had been signed, Maceo did not put down his sword. In an exceptional example of revolutionary intransigence, he protests at Mangos de Baraguá marking forever the lives of all Cubans. By leading his troops up to the border of Pinar del Río, during the War of 95, Antonio Maceo's name traveled the world, as the protagonist of one of the greatest military epics of the nineteenth century. He had as much strength of mind as arm, said Martí. Antonio Maceo was of shrewd pen, self-taught, refined culture and profound thought. In 1890, a young man in his presence noted that Cuba, by geographical misfortune, would someday have to be one more star in the constellation of the United States; Maceo, like lightning, retorted: "I believe, young man, although it seems to me impossible, that that would be the only case in which I might be on the side of the Spaniards". From Antonio Maceo are these phrases which reveal him and marshal us: "When Cuba is independent, I will seek from the Government which is established, permission to obtain freedom for Puerto Rico, because I would not like to surrender the sword leaving enslaved that portion of America." "I will always be for the salvation of my Homeland over the triumph of my individual interests." "Why would we want life without the honor of knowing dying for the Homeland?" "Induce in us the idea of making our people owners of their destiny, for whose goal we need to be united and compact." On June 14, in another century and in other lands of the world, another giant of thought and action was born: Ernesto Guevara, Argentinean and also son of Cuba. That young person was Che, who suffering from cruel asthma, aroused admiration by his unyielding will, and his enterprising and impetuous spirit. At age 23, he accomplishes a long journey through Latin America, graduates as a doctor and, in passing through Mexico, joins Raúl, and was first selected by Fidel to join the Granma expedition. One of those intense and palpable days in July 1955, brought all three together. After his joining the Cuban cause, Che distinguished himself by his loyalty and bravery in desperate moments. The Sierra, the Invasion, the Battle of Santa Clara, were scenes of his exploits. An extraordinary human sensitivity and a steel character always accompanied him. He himself would say: "the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love. It is impossible to think about an authentic revolutionary without this quality. Perhaps it is one of the great dramas of a leader; one must unite a passionate spirit to a cold mind and take on painful decisions without contracting a muscle." He left us innumerable lessons during his tenure as President of the National Bank of Cuba and as Minister of Industries. Intransigent with regard to indiscipline and things just for show, he stood out as a devoted and creative Marxist-Leninist, pulverizer of dogmatisms and bureaucracies, incapable of making the slightest concession to the enemy and a harsh critic of everything that could affect the Revolution. Before the eyes of the generations of Cubans who no longer knew him, there are images of Che erecting a wall, cutting cane, driving a combine, without a shirt at voluntary work, playing chess, an elevated example of the leader who will never separate himself from the masses which he represents and guides. Heroic Guerrilla, brilliant statesman, exemplary family father, Che was truly a man always prepared to strive, until victory. Cuban fighters who fought alongside him were witnesses to this. When, in October of 1965, Che met with the militants of the Cuban Communist Party, in the Congo, and asked who still believed in the possibility of success, only four raised their hands, but when he asked who were willing to follow him to death, everyone raised them. He profoundly moved [others by] his impeccable personal example, his moral authority and his unshakable faith in victory. In front of those who could consider him an adventurer, he anticipated them and said that he was one, but of a different type, one of those that gives his hide in order to demonstrate his truths. Assassinated in La Higuera, in the very heart of Our America, he seemed to grow over time, expanding his legacy and confirming his truths. In the lives and thoughts of Maceo and Che, we encounter the most sacred values for which we fight today, the most admirable virtues which are the reason and aspiration of our Socialist Revolution. Almost 50 years of blockade, wars, terrorism, media slander campaigns and all that has been possible to imagine, has not been sufficient to subdue the Cuban Revolution. Our morality today is that of our five brothers in United States' prisons, five Guevaras standing proud in the belly of the beast, irrefutable proof of the hatred and cruelty of which the empire is capable and of the courage and valor of Cuban revolutionaries. Ten long years of unjust and cruel imprisonment, subjected to inhumane punishment, deprived of regular visits from their families have not been able to break their principles nor their smiles. With regard to the most recent vile trick of the judicial system and government of the United States, we will continue denouncing the crime and fighting for their liberation until they return to the Homeland. The tenth administration of the United States is leaving without completing the promise of breaking us. In the latest weeks new candidates repeat, with some words or others, similar promises. It is common -- and lately even with more frequency -- that the United States Government and their own President talk about Cuba. They do not refer to the mafia relationship among their own North American government, terrorists and internal mercenaries; by the way, the world's most expensive counterrevolution in consumption of dollars per mercenary and the least efficient, if one considers the invalidity of their acts. It is a great luck in any case that they have an opinion, because it serves to guide us. The day that the imperialistic, hegemonic and terroristic government of the current administration of the United States, recognizes something of the Cuban Revolution or pronounces a word that can seem to us amiable, or simply decent, we should revise ourselves and rectify our course. We have lived the hard years of the special period; and a profound battle of ideas, which was initiated at a crucial stage of the Revolution, has left great teachings. We know our errors and insufficiencies, and we count on unity and experience to confront them and to work until their eradication. We wage our battle in a "neoliberally" globalized and convulsed world, threatened by wars, climatic changes and fossil fuel depletion. The prices of food and oil are already inaccessible. The irrational international order, uncontrolled and unsustainable, which has touched our way of life, imposes on underdeveloped countries increasing obstacles. Despite the empire's aggressions, the hypocrisy and egoism of the powerful, faced with the siren song of capitalism, in a world of exclusion and humiliating inequalities, Cuban revolutionaries, martianos y fidelistas [followers of José Martí and Fidel Castro], we will not renounce our dreams. We will continue the work without hesitation or rest, not only for the future of our Homeland, but also Latin America and the Caribbean and all people of the world. Ours is an alternative to the society that promotes egoism, greed, the superfluous and irresponsibility. The road which we have traveled in this half century, has been accompanied by solidarity and the hope of millions of men and women who around the world trust that we will never fail them, that the Revolution of Fidel, Raúl and el Che, the First Free Territory of America, will irreversibly construct Socialism. We have the ability, strength and courage to overcome, and we know that to achieve it, unity of the people, commitment to work and the example of the leaders are indispensable. We take care of the unity of Cuban revolutionaries like the eyes of a little girl. Our history has taught us unequivocally, on more than one occasion, that if unity is lost, independence is lost and our own Cuban nationality is endangered. Let us validate the morals of the Revolution with our conduct, we contribute, every Cuban, to the solution of our own problems and to the development of our society; we employ our energy, our knowledge, in advancing the Revolution. Those who take up responsibilities, whatever they are, we assume additional duties. In a Revolution like ours, an error by one of us, a failing of one part in the most secluded corner of the country, often is perceived by the people as an error of the State. The authoritarian boss, he who does not participate in volunteer work, or in defense tasks, he who passes and does not pick up anyone, he who does not know how to listen, he who watches and lives distant from the people, that can not be a part of this revolution, he who has not learned, or simply is not capable of filling himself with the example of el Che, he can not be a part of this Revolution. We will not renounce our ideals. We know about the infinite capacity of sacrifice, of the moral reserves, of the noble feelings which human beings possess, and we trust in them in order to construct a better society. The reasons are more than enough for optimism, confidence, faith in victory and in the future of our people. It is not about ignoring the enemy, failing to recognize ideological challenges, closing our eyes to the inevitable challenge of the generation that made the Revolution and leads it courageously, it is about the most profound conviction in the justice of ideas which we defend and of the invincible force of a united people. We follow el Che who is present in our people, in Indians, in humble men and women of the Earth, with whom our doctors and teachers share days of light in distant places of Our America and the world. Forever until victory! Homeland or death! We shall overcome! |
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Hagamos valer la moral
de la Revolución
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