CASTRO APPEALS FOR IMMEDIATE AID TO NORTH VIETNAM
In a fighting speech at the University of Havana March 16, Fidel Castro appealed for immediate aid for North Vietnam.
"In face of the aggression against North Vietnam," he said, "our position is unequivocal, We think that all the aid necessary in men and arms must be granted North Vietnam. We hold that the socialist camp must run all the necessary risks to aid North Vietnam. We are well aware that if the international situation worsens, we will be the first target of imperialism. But we are indifferent to thas We will.never agree to remain silent and to adopt a stupid attitude in the hope that we will be spared. This is our point of view. It is necessary to act the way we feel to be the most correct and the most revolutionary, and no one can pretend to give us revolutionary lessons.
"Tt would be absurd to underestimate the psychology of our people, That error has already been committed many times by Yankee imperialism, It would be lamentable for others to commit the same error. . . We have never been and never will be the satellite of anyone. This is not the time to be digging in the archives. As long as imperialism is taking the offensive, it would be ridiculous to argue over the sex of the angels. It would be ridiculous to ask whether the imperialists are paper or steel, whether they are behaving badly or not. Because we think it is ridiculous to wash dirty linen in public while the enemy is attacking. And it is not the most powerful they are attacking, but the smallest and the weakest.
“Grave dangers threaten us and they cannot be combatted with academic chatter. . . Divided revolutionaries, slandering each other, cannot face the imperialist enemy effectively. And no one is more affected by these divisions in the socialist camp than the little countries like North Vietnam and Cuba,"
In a previous speech March 10, Castro launched a similar appeal and said his government was ready to’help with arms and men,
"WILL CONTINUE TO SEND ARMS," SAYS BEN BELLA
[In a speech delivered March 8 during Algeria's celebration of International Woman's Day, Ben