The following was scanned from a pamphlet published by the Cuban
government giving its position on the events leading up to the Mariel
boatlift in 1980. Edited slightly to correct some spelling errors.

Walter Lippmann, July 4, 2007
==================================================

STATEMENT BY THE REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT OF CUBA

For the past few months, common criminals and lumpen and antisocial elements who are not granted permits by foreign governments to travel legally to the countries where they wish to go, have resorted to forcing their way into embassies in our country. For not-altogether-clear reasons, these elements have shown a preference for the embassies of Venezuela and Peru. Instead of opposing such practices, which jeopardize the security of all diplomatic officials, the governments of those countries have chosen to harbor in their embassies these violators of diplomatic immunity.

This attitude serves to encourage acts of violence against the embassies accredited in our country. As a matter of courtesy and consideration toward the Governments of Venezuela and Peru, the Revolutionary Government of Cuba has tried to find solutions and has solved a number of cases of this type by granting permission to these elements to leave the country, warning those governments, however, on each occasion, of the fact that their attitude encourages the use of force, acts of terrorism and the illegal entry into diplomatic missions. As was to be expected, the success of such incidents has encouraged these elements and has led to their repetition by others. In none of these cases were the elements who entered the embassies through the use of force involved in political problems and, therefore, had no need for diplomatic asylum.

Cuban embassies abroad have never tolerated such practices. Neither does Cuba have any objection to letting those who wish to depart for Venezuela and Peru leave the country through legal means, regardless of their criminal record.

On Tuesday, April 1 of this year, several of these individuals forced their way into the embassy of Peru, causing the death of a dedicated compatriot, a member of the Ministry of the Interior, who was on duty at the embassy.

Moreover, there is a suspicious coincidence between these actions and the stepping up of the United States hostility and threats of aggression against our country.

The Revolutionary Government of Cuba, which has always maintained a dignified attitude in the face of attacks from outside and imperialist threats and has been considerate and respectful toward Latin American countries — in spite of the traitorous, abetting and cowardly attitude of many of those governments in the past -- is not willing to tolerate violations of its sovereignty and its laws, whatever the cost. Therefore, it categorically declares that no person who forces his way into an embassy in Cuba will be granted a safe-conduct to leave the country.

In view of the regrettable death of a guard at the Peruvian embassy and the Peruvian Government's tolerant attitude toward such criminals, the Revolutionary Government of Cuba has decided to withdraw the guards from the Peruvian diplomatic mission. From now on, the embassy's officials will be entirely responsible for what occurs in their embassy. We cannot protect embassies that do not cooperate with the measures taken to protect them.

Cuba is also ready to withdraw its guards from any other embassy that so requests.

In the past, traitorous Latin American governments, allies of imperialism, harassed Cuba, imposed the blockade, robbed it of its international sugar markets and committed all sorts of crimes against our country. The oligarchic and reactionary governments then in existence in Latin America followed suit, the sole, honorable exception being Mexico. Cuba is not afraid to face such a situation again.

We will not tolerate any violation of our laws and our sovereignty, no matter what pretext is used for such an action. Should an attempt be made to take advantage of diplomatic immunity in order to legalize crime, protect criminals, break our laws and create a climate of insecurity for foreign representatives in our country, we will adopt whatever measures we deem pertinent, whatever the cost, to put an end to the situation.

CUBA'S POSITION

As was expected, a few hours after the Cuban guards were withdrawn, hundreds of people the vast majority of them criminals, lumpen and antisocial elements and parasites, had gathered in the grounds of the Peruvian embassy. After 48 hours, there were more than 3 000, chiefly from Havana City and the western provinces of the country. Some of them have unfortunately taken with them relatives, including children.

To judge by their dress, manners and language, seldom has such a "select" group gathered anywhere.

None of them were subject to political persecution nor were they in need of the sacred right of diplomatic asylum.

But they as always took the Revolutionary Government at its word and felt that this was perhaps the opportunity to emigrate to other more propitious places. As always, Cuba gladly opened the doors for them, as it had before with all the rabble that opposed socialism and the Revolution, granting countless permits for legal departures from the country; and then after the October Crisis, when the Yankees closed the doors, by way of Camarioca and the famous "Freedom Flights"; and finally with the permission granted to all former counterrevolutionary prisoners to leave with their families.

As Fidel said at the closing session of the Congress of the Federation of Cuban Women, the historic task of making a revolution and building socialism is absolutely voluntary and free.

Even though in our country homosexuals are not persecuted or harassed, there are quite a few of them in the Peruvian embassy, aside from all those involved in gambling and drugs who find it difficult to satisfy their vices here.

A demanding attitude, discipline and rigor are in contradiction to complacency, crime and parasitism. Our working people expressed themselves unanimously:

Good riddance to the parasites!' Good riddance to the antisocial elements! Good riddance to the lumpen! Good riddance to the criminals! Good riddance to the scum!

People don't get up before daybreak and work hard for long hours in the fields, the factories and the services to keep and feed parasites. People do not undertake a noble and heroic internationalist mission, our blood was not shed in Cuba and other parts of the world, to defend, honor and lend prestige with our flag to this sort of "Cuban."

This is not a battle against crime and lumpen elements, however. It is a battle for the dignity and sovereignty of the country and basically in defense of diplomatic security and immunity.

It is a battle to defend dignity and sovereignty, because nobody is allowed to violate our sovereign laws and blackmail our country. Allowing common criminals to force their way into an embassy, causing material damage and jeopardizing the life of the guards to then be received as heroes by the same embassies for which those guards risk their lives, and protecting such people in the name of the right to asylum, an institution that was conceived for and dedicated to saving those fighting for our suffering and exploited peoples' freedom from persecution and death: both constitute an affront to our people and an affront to the glory and honor of the heroes of our America. It's like putting Al Capone on the level of Bolívar, Juárez and Martí. Diplomatic asylum was created for more noble purposes, which Cuba fully shares, though in this day and age revolutionaries seldom take asylum.

It is a battle to defend diplomatic security and immunity, because to take in and give asylum to common criminals who force their way into an embassy is to encourage terrorism against the security and immunity of all embassies.

Following the incidents which took place at the Venezuelan and Peruvian embassies, gangster elements began plotting to kidnap the Spanish Ambassador and there were even plans to enter by force and take over the U.S. Interests Section.

Diplomatic immunity is now confronted with a serious world crisis. As a revolutionary country, Cuba is duty-bound to firmly combat any situation which could lead to the introduction in our country of practices engendered in other parts of the world by the political tyranny, exploitation and social injustice that reign in societies with exploiting and exploited classes and by the neocolonialist oligarchic and bourgeois regimes — practices that, on occasion, have even been used by revolutionaries. We neither want nor need captured embassies or kidnapped ambassadors. If, unfortunately, this were to happen, we would not give in to any demand. That is why we have taken strict protection measures. That is why we guard the embassies, and that is why the brave soldier Pedro Ortiz Cabrera lost his life on April 1 killed in the line of duty while protecting the Peruvian embassy. Havana is undoubtedly one of the safest capitals of the world for diplomats. The imperialists would like to change this image but we are not going to let them.

When the Cuban guards were withdrawn, the Peruvian diplomats showed they were incapable of controlling the situation in the embassy. This is the bitter fruits of the policy of protecting common criminals.

Ambassador Edgardo de Hasbish, an honorable, serious man who until recently represented Peru in Cuba, tried to prevent these happenings. When a group of antisocial elements tried to force their way into his embassy, he asked them to return to their homes and they did so. The Cuban Government had given him prior assurance that they would not be bothered in any way. This position cost him to be recalled after 33 years in the diplomatic service, The Peruvian Foreign Ministry ordered that the group be taken back to the embassy. The whole situation escalated, culminating in the death of Cuban soldier Ortiz Cabrera.

Why this absurd policy of giving visas to those who force their way in, with no justification whatsoever, while refusing them to those who peacefully request them?

On the afternoon of April 5, the Cuban Government reiterated its position to all diplomatic representations accredited in our country:

1. Cuba is not opposed to having all those who so desire travel legally to Venezuela and Peru as long as they obtain authorization from those countries.

2. Nor does it oppose having them travel to other countries with the authorization of the corresponding government.

3. Those who forced their way into the embassies will not be allowed to leave.

4. Those who entered the Peruvian embassy after the guards were removed are not considered guilty of forced entry and are, therefore, absolutely free to return to their homes and go in and out of the embassy as often as they want. The Cuban authorities will not take measures against them. They can go to Peru or any country which gives them a visa. That is up to them and the country that wants to receive them.

Of course, if minors are involved the consent of both parents is required.

On the morning of April 6, the Cuban authorities set up temporary check points in the area around the embassy to prevent overcrowding. Conditions there were already far from pleasant.

Given the inability of the Peruvian representatives to tend to and feed the people gathered there the Cuban Government decided:

1. To set up a fully staffed Cuban Red Cross station in the area to provide medical services and to outfit a nearby polyclinic for the same purpose.

2. To create sanitary facilities near the embassy to meet basic needs and prevent epidemics.

3. To provide drinking water.

4. To provide food.

5. To provide milk for the children.

6. To authorize all those who request permission to go home and spend the night there and return when they so desire, assuring them permission to travel abroad by way of the Peruvian embassy as soon as they have the consent of the receiving country.

At the time this was written, a total of 1 730 had requested and been given permission to go home. Great is indeed their faith in the word of the Revolution!

As may be seen, it is impossible to provide more facilities or freedom of emigration.

Diplomatic immunity has been scrupulously respected.

Now it remains to be seen what the Peruvian Government will do with its distinguished guests.

If the Peruvian Government wants to receive all the antisocial and lumpen elements in Cuba, we will gladly let them go, along with all those who are ideologically opposed to the Revolution and socialism. The dividing line between common criminals and counterrevolutionaries is becoming less and less clear.

If serious, sincere and respectful relations with Cuba are desired, we are also willing.

It is not that we are refusing to offer protection, but rather, we are unwilling to sacrifice the lives of our soldiers to defend the impunity of common criminals.

We respect the right of Peru, Venezuela and any other country to give asylum to whoever they see fit and to decide who should or should not be given asylum. But this cannot mean spilling the blood of Cuban soldiers. If there are special circumstances with certain governments with which these problems may arise, because they are unwilling or unable due to domestic pressures to return a common criminal, we are willing to provide facilities so that their security forces and even soldiers of the country in question can protect their embassies and our security forces will limit themselves to helping out when asked to do so.

We gave Peru 100 000 blood donations at the time of the 1970 earthquake, but we are unwilling to offer the blood of a single Cuban soldier to protect infamous criminals.

This is Cuba's position.

Published on 4/7/80

 

MENACING YANKEE MILITARY MANEUVERS AROUND CUBA:

Coincide with events at the Peruvian and Venezuelan embassies and the evasive Andean pact meeting

International news agencies have reported that U.S. air, naval and land forces will be engaged in maneuvers for three weeks in the Caribbean next month.

It was reported that more than 20 000 men, 42 12 ships and some 350 planes will be taking part in the Solid Shield-80 maneuvers.

Even though the announcement did not link the maneuvers to the United States' concern over instability in the area, it was noted that the operation would be led by an emergency task force set up by President Carter last year and based at Key West, off the southern tip of Florida.

The maneuvers, scheduled to begin on May 8, will include the landing of 2 000 marines at the naval base in Guantánamo, Cuba, and the transportation of a 1 200 -man U.S. Army batallion to that base.

Moreover, news agencies also reported that observers in Washington stated on April 10 that the large-scale maneuvers to be carried out by U.S. forces in the Caribbean next month represent a warning to the Soviet Union and Cuba that the United States will not tolerate any "adventurism" in that strategic zone.

The news agencies went on to report that the crews of the huge B-52 bombers would be responsible for observing the area where the maneuvers will be carried out and also of studying the technique of mining the sea from the air.

A U.S. radio station confirmed the official announcement that the United States would engage in large-scale general military maneuvers in the Caribbean area in May as one more step in demonstrating Washington's power in that turbulent region. According to the same radio station, tanks and war planes of two as yet unidentified 13 Latin American countries will also be taking part in the maneuvers.

In October of last year the United States carried out provocative maneuvers in the naval base at Guantánamo and, shorly before that, in May, they carried out the Solid Shield-79 maneuvers in U.S. territory.

This time, both maneuvers coincide in time and place, in the area of the Caribbean and particularly in the naval base in Guantánamo. Furthermore, the military maneuvers to be held in May represent, as compared with the preceding one, a considerable increase in the number of forces — planes, ships and troops — that will be present in the area of the naval base in Guantánamo.

Another aspect worth taking into account is the evacuation of the civil personnel from the base, an unprecedented action.

These maneuvers coincide with the Venezuelan and Peruvian embassies' acts of provocation against Cuba and the evasive Andean Pact meeting which was just concluded in Lima. They are unquestionably an attempt to intimidate the revolutionary movement in El Salvador with the idea of military intervention. It should be pointed out that the Christian-Democrat government that rules Venezuela is cooperating with the United States in its genocide of the sister people of El Salvador. The maneuvers also constitute a brazen provocation and a threat against Cuba. What right do the Yankees have to use the occupied territory of Guantánamo for carrying out air and naval landings? The idea of a possible real attack on Cuba is behind such operations.

However, it's pointless to threaten Cuba. After 21 years of blockade and heroic struggle, it should be clear that we neither fear nor have any respect for imperialism. Carter is nothing but a foolish — and perhaps by that very reason a dangerous — novice in this kind of venture.

The people of Cuba will remain alert and determined in the face of these provocations and threats. There was a Girón in April and there could very well be other Girons in May or any other month of the the year.

Nobody will lose any sleep; nobody will be ruffled over this. We had nothing to lose but our chains and we got rid of them a long time ago. With them went our last fears of despicable, loathsome, arrogant Yankee imperialism.

Ours is not the breed of the servile and the cowardly. We leave that pitiful role to the oligarchs and bourgeois of this hemisphere, who are beginning to feel the earth tremble under their feet.

NOW THE PEOPLE WILL GO INTO ACTION

The battle is being waged vigorously in Cuba and abroad. It was necessary to end the blackmail and provocations once and for all. The death of Private Ortiz Cabrera was the last straw. Of course this is not an isolated or accidental incident. It has to do with the titanic job of building socialism 90 miles from the richest and most powerful imperialist nation on earth surrounded by many oligarchic and bourgeois regimes that, because of their class nature, cooperate with the United States in one way or the other in its policy of aggressión and hostility towards Cuba.

We have heroically resisted for 21 years, and our enemies must resign themselves to the idea that we will resist until the final victory of the sister peoples of our hemisphere —especially now that we are no longer alone!

They still don't know the Cuban people very well. They probably imagined that the Cuban people were tired and worn out by the struggle; that they could be corrupted, weakened, by consumer societies; that they would capitulate and surrender. There is no other way to explain the illusion of imperialism, the ridiculous counterrevolutionary dreams of our enemies, the stupid euphoria of reactionaries all over the world given the "difficulties" of our Revolution. They ignore the fact that 21 years of Revolution have left a very deep mark on the soul of our country — that our people are more conscientious, cultured, thoughtful, revolutionary, socialist, communist and internationalist than ever before. It has also made them more experienced, tough and militant. The history of the Moncada Garrison, the Granma landing, the Sierra Maestra, the Escambray, Girón, the October Crisis, Angola and Ethiopia was not written in vain. Nor were the brilliant pages of internationalism and the dedicated, creative effort which, despite a criminal economic blockade, has provided our people with the highest standards of education, health and social development among the countries in this part of the world which Martí called Our America.

We are not ashamed to say that we still have lumpen elements, declassed and antisocial individuals and even opponents of the Revolution. But even so, our country has the lowest rate of crime, drugs, gambling, prostitution, unemployment, begging and vice in this hemisphere. Some of these evils which are inherent to capitalism have practically disappeared in Cuba. And none are tolerated. Our society is austere, rigorous and disciplined, as a society of workers should be. It rejects the parasites, the selfish and all those who seek to live off the sweat of others. Thus it comes as no surprise that people of this sort prefer the capitalist world, nor that, in the present stage of our revolutionary development, counterrevolutionaries and common criminals tend to become one.

None of those in the Peruvian embassy had cases pending in the Revolutionary Courts nor were they sought by the state security bodies. Many of them had common criminal records or were facing proceedings of this sort and could objectively be described as lumpen elements. The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution where these people live and their neighbors are well aware of this. We are not going to resort to the ridiculous method which some governments in this hemisphere use in the case of revolutionaries; that is, arbitrarily describing political activity as common crime. Besides, for us as socialists, in our revolutionary country both are enemies of wellbeing and social progress.

We have never denied the institution of political asylum, nor the possibilities of leaving the country to all those who so desire, according to the firm, dignified and solid principle that the building of socialism is a task for totally free men. For the past 21 years, hundreds of thousands of people — including landlords, bourgeois and petit bourgeois opponents of the Revolution and declassed elements — have been given permission to leave the country legally. Recently we released more than 3 000 counterrevolutionary prisoners and the first thing we did was to authorize their departure and that of thousands more who had served time for similar crimes. Their relatives were also allowed to leave. The United States, the country with the greatest moral responsibility towards the long-time counterrevolutionaries, didn't hasten to receive them and it has delayed issuing visas to many of them. Camarioca was and can again become — if the Yankees provoke such a situation — irrefutable proof of our generous migration policy.

Since this has been and is our attitude, what justification could the Governments of Peru and Venezuela have for taking in, giving asylum and visas to, paying the fare for and giving a hero's welcome to proved common criminals and lumpen elements who forcibly entered their embassies, while refusing them visas when they requested them in a normal and peaceful manner?

That isn't all. In recent months the United States has been brazenly encouraging illegal departures from our country and the seizure of Cuban boats whose crews were taken to Florida as hostages. Not a single measure has been taken against such acts of vandalism and all this has been used for subversive purposes and dirty propaganda against Cuba.

Such deeds encouraged illegal entries in diplomatic missions and the violation of the laws of our country by people who had no political problems of any sort.

Why did these elements always choose the Venezuelan and Peruvian embassies and not those of Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Jamaica, Grenada or other Latin American or Caribbean countries in Havana? Simply because the latter maintain a position of sincere friendship and respect for Cuba.

At the same time, we can not forget the monstrous crime of Barbados was hatched and organized in Venezuela by elements linked to the police and the present ruling party, who haven't ever been tried.

Nor can we forget that the Peruvian navy, whose high command at the time was rabidly reactionary, pro-Chilean and pro-fascist, sank the Cuban ships Rio Jobabo and Rio Damuji in the port of Callao on July 22 and October 9, 1977. The present Government of Peru knew of this yet took no measures.

For years we have patiently put up with the irregularities at the Venezuelan and Peruvian embassies. On numerous previous occasions and out of strict courtesy and consideration towards those governments, we have authorized the departure of such elements. But does any one really believe that Cuba must beg for diplomatic relations and yield to this blackmail of any bourgeois government in the hemisphere? This situation clearly posed not only the pressing question of what is meant by the right to asylum, but also the question of who is to guard the embassies and what are the rights and duties of the diplomatic personnel in Cuba. Regarding asylum, we have repeatedly said that we would gladly authorize the departure of all lumpen elements or opponents who want to leave, but we will not tolerate any acts of force or blackmail. Our guards have never obstructed normal access to any embassy. Those who so desire can guard their own embassies and decide whom to receive or not, to whom they give asylum or not, under any circumstances. We would limit ourselves to simply helping out when asked to do so.

That is why we insist this is not a battle against lumpen elements; it is basically a battle for the dignity and sovereignty of our country and for the security of the diplomatic missions based in Cuba, and we are ready to see it to its ultimate consequences.

Naturally, the stand taken by the lumpen elements — the only social allies imperialism has left in our country — has aroused the indignation of our people. And not without reason. They are especially irritated by the fact that some of those elements have taken their children out of the daycare centers and schools where they are given an education which is not available anywhere else in the Americas, depriving them of our meticulous medical care — one of the best systems in the world to take them to a lair of criminals and a hopeless future. Our people are angered that such elements are still to be found in our society.

We all know these elements exist and that they reject the discipline and morale of our society, longing for the world of corruption, vice and capitalist alienation. There are enough of them to fill several embassies. We all know that they have been encouraged by imperialism and that, throughout history, they have been used as raw material for counterrevolution.

In a matter of three days the Peruvian embassy was filled with these elements. Nobody knows the exact figure, because the Peruvian officials had no control of the situation. We will know the exact figure in due course. The fact of the matter is that nobody wants them now. The results of the Andean Pact meeting amounted to the mountain giving birth to a mouse: a lot of chatter about the right to asylum, the Vienna Convention and things of that sort. Nothing concrete. Now they remember that they have a lot of lumpen elements and millions of unemployed. Peru says it will take 1 000; Spain, 500; the "noble" Government of the United States says perhaps 2 000. But nothing official. It's not enough, however. Estimates are that the number of people in the embassy ranges from 6 000 to 10 000. At a certain stage 8 000 food rations were being distributed, before many started taking advantage of temporary or permanent passes granted by the Revolutionary Government to return home. As the people say, these elements got more than they bargained for.

Venezuela produces oil, it's wealthy — thanks, in part, to the sweat of Third World countries. It could very well receive a large number of these "refugees". It they refuse to do so, all this talk within the Andean Pact about the right to asylum will remain hollow words and demagoguery.

But the departure of the lumpen elements does not solve the problem. There remains the question of the criminals who forced their way into the embassies; what is to be done with them and who is to take responsibility for guarding the embassies? The control set up by the Cuban authorities around the Peruvian embassy is provisional and permanent agreements on this point must be reached. This means that we could again remove the guards at any moment.

The Andean Pact countries decided to convene a special meeting to protest against Cuba, which has merely demanded respect for its dignity, its laws and its sovereignty.

Why don't the Andean Pact countries protest against the blockade against Cuba, a criminal 23 imperialist attempt to starve an entire people into submission which has now lasted for over 20 years?

Why don't they protest against the forcible occupation of a piece of our national territory at the Guantánamo naval base?

Why don't they protest against the threatening Yankee maneuvers off the coast of Cuba?

Why don't they protest the genocidal repression against the people of El Salvador that, with the complicity of Yankee imperialism and the Venezuelan Christian-Democrats, has taken thousands of lives?

Why don't they protest against the massacre of peasants, workers and students in Guatemala?

Why don't they protest against the shameful colonial status of the sister nation of Puerto Rico?

In El Salvador there aren't thousands of lumpen elements trying to leave the country, but thousands of patriots who are dying. What are the United States and one of the Andean Pact governments doing about this?

Helping to murder them!

Here, on the contrary, no policeman has fired a single shot against the antisocial elements that went into the Peruvian embassy. There have been no wounded, no dead. The Revolutionary Government of Cuba itself has seen to feeding these people, providing milk to the children taken there by irresponsible parents, providing water, sanitary facilities and efficient medical care to all even though not a single one of them could be considered subject to political persecution.

At the time this editorial was being written, 5 473 persons had received medical attention. About 3 000 received temporary passes to go home, 747 of whom did not return to the Peruvian embassy. Another 3 187 received permanent passes to stay home, plus passports and authorization to leave the country, the only requirement being the permission of both parents in the case of those under 21. Disgusted by the type of people harbored in the embassy, 476 people left there for good and gave up the idea of leaving the country. They will receive the assistance and cooperation of the people for them to rejoin our society. In sum, 4 410 people have already, in one way or another, abandoned "exile". Elementary and secondary schoolchildren will have the right to return to their classrooms for as long as they remain in Cuba. Those holding permanent passes will be given first priority to leave the country. Those governments which are willing to issue visas should be fully aware of this. Cuba, after all, is the one-to extend the exit visas. Gradually, the worst elements, the hardened criminals and lumpen individuals is what's being left in the embassy, and will be the last to leave.

What offends and outrages our working people most is that the imperialist news agencies and the right-wing and bourgeois press in the United States, Latin America and elsewhere have tried to portray these elements as being representative of the Cuban people. But what else is to be expected from those who, filled with hatred and impotence before the growing force and prestige of the Cuban Revolution, crazed by the economic crisis and the vigorous upsurge of the revolutionary and progressive movement the world over, can not conceal their hatred for Cuba and their dreams of destroying our Revolution.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Government announces provocative and threatening military maneuvers off Cuba, the landing of marines and soldiers at Guantánamo naval base, mining the sea from the air and other such actions. This is not coincidence — just as the epidemics and blights which have affected our pigs, tobacco and sugarcane for, as has been the case in the past, the CIA may have had a hand in this.

But, again, they still do not know us very well. The threats and provocations have aroused the indignation of our people from one end of the country to the other.

Our people, in dignified, energetic response to our enemies, have organized countless rallies and demonstrations that testify to their strength and revolutionary spirit. April 19 will mark the 19th anniversary of the historic Girón victory. On this day, our combative mass organizations have decided to hold a huge demonstration marching down Fifth Avenue. It will be the expression of the true people, the fighting people, the patriotic, internationalist and socialist people that will make imperialism remember Girón. The people will show their strongest opposition to the Yankee threats, against the provocations at the Peruvian and Venezuelan embassies, against the lumpen elements. And for those who try to mistake the feelings of our heroic and selfless people with those of the scum of our society this rally will show what Cuba is really like. A million Cubans will march by the Peruvian embassy on April 19: laborers, manual and intellectual workers, peasants, soldiers, members of the militia, students, men and women, young and old, all integrated and united in the indestructible ranks of the Revolution. Fifth Avenue will resound to the marching of our fighting people and the anthems of the Revolution and the homeland.

On May Day, International Worker's Day, a million Cubans will also gather in Revolution Square with the same purpose.

And on the very day that the Yankee marines and soldiers land at Guantánamo base, millions of Cubans will mobilize throughout the entire island to express their indignation and condemnation of the Yankee threats and provocations, and all the people of Havana will express their energetic protest by marching in front of the U.S. Interest Section in Havana.

The people are not interested in diplomatic subtleties. They will now go into action.

Este título se terminó de imprimir
en el taller Federico Engels, de la
Empresa Poligráfica. Unión de
Empresas de Medios de
Propaganda, adjunta
al DOR del CC
del PCC,
abril de 1980
"Año del Segundo Congreso"