BY RAÚL CASTRO
The following is the complete text of a speech given April 16 in Santa Clara, Cuba, by Raúl Castro, minister of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. The speech was published in the Cuban daily Granma. The translation and subheadings are by the Militant.

Thirty-six years ago, on a day like today, Fidel [Castro]'s voice proclaimed, before Cuba and the world, the socialist character of our revolution.

It was the first revolution on this continent that culminated in the complete sovereignty of a nation, embarking on a road that both consolidated genuine independence and led to the full liberation of mankind from the yoke of capitalist exploitation.

These were solemn moments of grave danger.

The bodies of the raw and inexperienced antiaircraft gunners who had fallen in combat were not yet buried.

Mercenary planes, displaying the insignia of our air force, had carried out a cowardly surprise attack the previous day on the airports of San Antonio, Ciudad Libertad, and Santiago de Cuba in an attempt to wipe out the few planes we had.

To render posthumous tribute to the young heroes, tens of thousands of militiamen and women, shouldering their weapons, marched in tight formation to the gates of the cemetery in our capital.

Fidel had not yet concluded the funeral address, when U.S. warships carried out a mock landing west of the capital to lead us into a diversion and as a tool of psychological warfare.

It was the prelude to the invasion of our national territory. From the funeral ceremony, we marched straight to the trenches.

The ships carrying the invasion force were already steaming through the Caribbean toward some point on our sacred land. Behind them were U.S. warships - whether to encourage them or to land marines in a second stage of the invasion, we did not know.

How our socialism was born
Our homeland was in mortal danger. This is how our socialism was born.

With guns raised, the humble men and women of our country, free and masters of their own destiny for the first time in four and a half centuries, swore to defend their socialist homeland.

Over the next three days, this oath was emblazoned, with the fire from those arms and the blood and lives of many people, on the sands of Playa Larga and Playa Girón, on the southwest coast of what was then Las Villas province.

It was the first great military defeat inflicted on the United States on this continent, previously proclaimed the private preserve of the Empire's gamesmen, the U.S. monopolies.

Our socialism did not come into the world in silk diapers, but in the rough cotton uniforms of the worker, peasant, and student militias; of the fighters of the Rebel Army and the Revolutionary National Police.

Its baptism of fire, in combat against the nation's enemies, was carried out not with holy water but with the blood of patriots, spilled once again on this island by its brave children in its long struggle for freedom, in its long path to independence.

Every April 16, as part of the events to commemorate this date, thousands of militia members and reservists throughout the country are given promotions or medals.

For more than a decade, this event has also been an occasion to honor representatives of the writers, artists, journalists, and institutions that in their work reflect the most outstanding fighting traditions of our people.

This is fitting homage to all those who have taken up this theme with unique artistic ability and who, through their creative labor and their links to military units, have contributed significantly to the country's preparedness to defend socialism and strengthen the patriotic military and internationalist spirit and revolutionary traditions of the combatants of the FAR and of the entire people.

Warmest congratulations to the comrades who were promoted, decorated, and given awards.

The world has changed greatly over the past 36 years, but the pledge we made on April 16, 1961, stands intact: Socialism will remain in this land, defended by the rifles of the people!

We have ratified this irreversible decision each time yet another fighter has fallen in combat in the long struggle to safeguard, as Che said, our "genuine and irrenounceable independence."

True to Che's example and ideas
On the 30th anniversary of the death of Che and his fellow internationalist combatants, our most worthy tribute is to be true to his work, his example, and his ideas at this time of danger, difficulties, and glory for the homeland.

In order to continue defending our socialism, which was born in the uniform of our mambises, our rebels, our militia fighters, our internationalists; to ensure we do not lose the achievements of justice that are ours and the right to attain everything we aspire to; and to safeguard our free and sovereign homeland, the Fifth Congress of the party has been called today.

The previous congress, a congress in arms, as Fidel described it, took place as we were entering the Special Period, under the most difficult conditions our people had ever faced.

It is impossible to recount in a few words the long battle to resist that has unfolded since then. The call to the congress, read here by comrade José Ramón Machado Ventura, concisely highlights the key moments of the extraordinary historic experience the Cuban nation has lived through.

The harsh test of these years has strengthened our party. Its leaders and members have been steeled and are better prepared to confront the new challenges, with the confidence that comes with the modest gains we have made.

We have the certainty that we can build socialism even under these complex circumstances, since the people have maintained their unity, patriotism, dignity, and loyalty to the pledge made to history and to our martyrs. It is not necessary to repeat the solid arguments put forth in the call, or its appeals to maximize the efforts to carry through the big tasks before us both in the economy and in the areas of politics, ideology, and defense.

Lastly, let me mention the upcoming May Day celebration, a day when the workers and the entire people will, in their millions, pour into the streets of all cities and towns throughout the country to reaffirm their determination to fight imperialism and pay tribute to Ernesto Che Guevara in the year marking the 30th anniversary of the fall in combat of the Heroic Guerrilla and of his comrades on Bolivian soil.

The revolution is strong, but we cannot forget that its enemy is powerful and that we face great perils and challenges. Over a period whose duration is hard to predict, we will have to continue our efforts to resist some of the hardships and shortages of these past years.

The main card the enemy is playing today is its ruthless economic war carried to the extreme, combined with its attempts at ideological subversion through the so-called Track II [of U.S. policy toward Cuba].(1)

Reject U.S. attempts to buy us
Added to this criminal policy was a recent, even more shameful act that deeply wounded the dignity of Cubans - the attempt to buy us with counterfeit money and the promise to grant us an imperial pardon in exchange for the unconditional surrender of this people.

The declaration of the Mambises of the 20th Century is the fitting response by Cubans to the repulsive plan put forward by the U.S. president and Congress for organizing Cuba's supposed transition to capitalism as established in the Helms-Burton law.

This declaration, as you know, arose from the officer corps of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Interior Ministry, who were particularly offended by the direct references in the U.S. government's plan to members of these institutions and its outrageous insinuations about their future role in a hypothetical Cuba newly subjected to Yankee designs.

Voluntary offers to add their signatures to the Declaration immediately came from the students of the FEU (Federation of University Students) and FEEM (Federation of High School Students), the rest of the youth through the UJC (Union of Young Communists), the Pioneers, the Central Organization of Cuban Workers, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the Federation of Cuban Women, the peasants, the intellectuals, in short, the entire people.

What was accomplished here in the city of Santa Clara stands out among all these expressions of patriotism.

Thousands have signed declaration
When you launched the initiative of a mass signing of the declaration on March 23, coinciding with the Day of Defense, something truly amazing happened.

In a matter of hours, more than 120,000 residents of Santa Clara signed the document, and they were later joined by thousands of other citizens who for various reasons had been unable to do so at that time.

Likewise, a unanimous response came from the university and high school students, as well as our Pioneers and other youth, who at this rally also turned in hundreds of thousands of signatures. And this process is in full swing among workers, housewives, retirees, and the rest of the population.

The Second Protest of Baraguá - as Fidel called it - led by the Mambises of the 20th Century, is the forceful, firm, and unequivocal response by the Cuban people to the latest version of imperialism's sinister designs against our country.

As we stand before the figure of Che Guevara at the scene of one of his most brilliant victories, we issue the call for the Fifth Congress of our party, which will open 30 years to the day that he gave his generous life and inscribed his name in the history of Latin America and the world as one of the greatest figures of this century.

At this crucial moment in our history, we declare once again:

We shall never betray the trust placed in us! We shall never betray the memory of our dead! As long as a single Cuban with dignity remains on this land, the cry with which our leaders made the enemies of our homeland tremble a thousand times will resonate through our mountains and plains:

Viva Cuba libre! [Long live free Cuba!]

Notes
1. "Track II" of Washington's strategy to overthrow the Cuban revolution involves expanding travel to Cuba by certain U.S. academics, greater access to universities in the United States by Cuban professionals on a case-by-case basis, and leeway for non-governmental organizations to finance antigovernment activities in Cuba under the banner of the "free flow of ideas."  
 
 
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