rebuttal, the same venal press handled this in typical style. The following, for instance, is the full report that appeared in the New York Times of March 21, headline and all:
["Castro Denies Insulting
“Chile or President Frei.
("Special to The New York Times. MIAMI, March 20 -- Premier Fidel Castro seems to be trying to ease his dispute with President Eduardo Frei Montalva of Chile.
("In a statement broadcast today on Cuban stations and last night by shortwave to Latin America, Mr. Castro denied he had — insulted Mr. Frei or Chile. ,
"In ‘a speech last Sunday, however, the Premier called Mr. Frei a 'reactionary,' a 'liar' and a 'coward,' arousing strong. nationalistic feelings in Chile.
["Mr. Castro denied in today's statement that Cuba had anything to do with the recent strike in Chile's copper mines. —
_ [We invite comparison between this slanted report and the text of Castro's rebuttal which we have provided below. The Miami dispatch offers a good example of the kind of reporting that led radicals decades ago to change the slogan of the New York Times from "All the News That's Fit to Print” to "All the News That's Printed to Fit."
[The issues in the dispute between Castro and Frei involve nothing less than which example will be followed historically by the peoples of Latin America -- the one set by Cuba, or the one by Chile
under Frei, which the Times among others has been painting up as a real alternative. From: ' this ‘point of view, it would seem important. to weigh the’ relative merits of the arguments’ of the two main pro-"— tagonists. The editors of the Times, however, are perfectly aware of the strength of Castro's case. They are also perfectly aware of the function: of the Times’as a major propaganda :organ of. American! imperialism and’ so they pre preferred to provide their. readers with a combi nation of silence and: distortion. we
“LAs evidence ‘indicating the real aims: ‘of Cuban policy at present, we Call special: attention to those parts of Castro's declaration that: indicate determination to follow an independent course’ == not to be anyone ' s satellite. Whatever their errors, this. hes been the obvious aim of’ the Cuban: leaders since the beginning of their revolution. If Castro's March 1% speech and: his rebuttal to Frei are any indication -- and we think they are -- this aim has not changed.
(We have utilized the English. translation provided by the March 27 Weekly Review of Granma, the official organ of the Central. Committee of the-Communist party of Cuba,” correcting obvious typo- graphical errors. Granma does not give the date of Castro's rebuttal ; but if the Times can an be” trusted in this, it was March: 20, J
cr a
Sr. Eduardo Frei, President of Chile by the grace of his great demagoguery, abundant Yankee and German financial backing and, according to him, by the grace of God as well, speaking at a meeting before the gover rnmental palace, said that he would not reply to my March 13 speech, “because he had too much respect for his country, too much respect for the position he occupies, and too much respect for himself to engage in this tournament of insults, which one day attacks President Kennedy, today China, and tomorrow Chile." Summing up later, he said: "We do not consider it acceptable that anyone put his hands into our affairs, and ‘(if it happens) we will crush them.
He said this, in spite of the fact that he had personally announced to the - ‘press a few hours prior to the meeting that the government would issue an official reply and, in fact, he did issue a reply snortly afterward through the Governmental Secretariat.
T have taken from the: dispatches of various cablegraph agencies the actual words of Frei's speech in: the meeting at the Governmental Palace, as well as the following paragraphs of the reply delivered to the Governmental Secretariat shortly before his speech, which were transmitted by ‘those agencies and which say literally:
"Since Fidel Castro has. been in power, he systematically and periodically insults one nation or another. President Kennedy knew his diatribes, as well as many other governments. Countries of the socialist camp , such as Yugoslavia and China, have not escaped. The latter country was referred to with extraordinary violence in the. seme speech in which he attacked Chile. This is his way of concealing internal difficulties.
-2l-
"Chile' Ss. government . has: ‘never attacked | ‘him. i "Sr, Castro! s attitude. confirms the. ‘alternatives of the: Revolutionary. ‘process:-in Latin:America: either his system, based on. the capricious dictatorship of one man, without elections and with- -out.a-parliament, with only one. party, an official press, no liberty, ' thousands.~-of firing-squad ‘executions and with satellite-type political and » economic ~dependence abroad; or the revolution with freedom elected by -Chile-in 1964, which-is- being. carried out with the voluntary — _ participation of» the people, with free elections and an- open: parliament. where. all currents of opinion are ‘represented, with a free press and radio, with freedom within unions, and with an active political opposition. a .
"Those Chileans who wanted Castro's system. were crushingly defeated by the people in secret vote in 1964, (1965 and 1966.
“the Chilean people are ‘not about to let. their = ‘country become the toy: of a temperamental man-or:a battleground. in the cold war. We are building-a country in which we will free ourselves of all kinds of. dmperialisn, without becoming the slaves of anyone.
"There | are groups in Chile who have not accepted their defeat, who want to destroy the country's economy, who ignore the authority of the law, who are now inciting to violence, trying . to capitalize On - “the. difficulties which - “they themselves provoked.
"Our. country now knows” where those groups receive their inspiration, and how. much respect they feel for Chile. ae .
"Castroism lost its opportunity to be the guide to the ‘left . for Chile and Latin America. Its lack of freedom, its economic failure, which has led to extreme rationing, and its submission to. foreign interests have deprived it of all significance.
"The -government ‘of Chile will not move one iota from its -revolutionary course, nor from its duty to serve a people who express | their adherence freely, not in terror. Sr. Castro's insults serve only to confirm his desperation. Sr. Castro doesn't know Chile, nor its history, nor the dignity of its people. Chile has never accepted, and will never accept foreign interference in its internal problems. His insults only serve to. unify our nation. " Amen! . With his excellency' s permission
On my part, I am-not. going to create a scandal by shouting that I am insulted. But, will ‘his immaculate. excellency allow me?.. Will. their lordships of. "the Christian—Democrat parliamentary. majority, who. are also in solidarity with his offended excellency, allow me::to. answer those niceties they dedicate to us without saying afterwards s: pharisaically, that it is an. insult to Chile? :
The poor. bourgeois - in Frei ‘turns ‘inside the sack of his own contradictions. His role is to avoid a revolution in Chile, but he:
inDD-
.has taken a liking to being called’ a revolutionary, he swears and forswears that he is making a revolution and, at the same time, nothing frightens him so much as” revolution. "An! if what he is doing in Chile’ were revolutionary. . - but it is not revolutionary!
Should we perhaps understand that the Governmental Secretariat, when! it makes these declarations, has nothing to do with Frei? And if not;. how to explain that he later says he will not answer because he feels: too much respect for his position, for himself, etc.;, etc.? is it that the Government can lower itself to answer, but not Sr. Frei, “who'at the same time lowers himself to answer while saying he does~ not answer? If all this is to let us know the great attachment he’ feels for his position and for himself, that is no secret for all‘of us who know how vane, self-loving and attached to their positions bourgeois. politicians are.
It. is also curious that Frei, as well as his Governmental Secretariat, his parliamentary majority, his official press, and all che bourgeois, ‘oligarchic and reactionary newspapers ‘of the capital, coincide in qualifying as insults to Chile my words ‘in reply to theunfounded and calumnious insinuation that the strikes in their minés were the result of plans drawn UP in the Tricontinental Conference of Havana. :
Identifying themselves” as the nation; which’ they govern on behalf of the exploiting ‘classes; instead of answering with arguments to the reply provoked by an unjust accusation, they adopt airs of offended vestals and call to their aid the spirits of chauvinisn, screaming to the four:winds: "The nation has been insulted! A serious intrusion has been made into the internal affairs of Chile! National unity!" Poor anguished devils
Poor anguished ¢ devils! To what old, demagogic and discredited trickery must they turn to extricate themselves from their cilemme.. What bustle, what ‘clatter, what scandal they have worked up!
“AL potton, what they ‘seek with this hysterical screaming is that. ‘the people forget the bloodshed | and the dead.
But they are wrong if they believe that they will have no answer. As Lincoln said, you can only fool all of the people par* of the time.
- I did not insult Frei. I simply answered, explained and qualified his ‘accusations. Much less did I insult Chile. Frei, in any event, is not. Chile. Chile is also the workers and the women injured and dead in the mine massacre, with whom our working people are wholeheartedly in solidarity, whose orphans and families, left destitute and forsaken by the crime, know that they can count on their Cuban class brothers. Chile is also its heroic workers, its exploited peasants, its progressive intellectuals, its awakened masses of revolutionary militants. -
25
. But this considerable part of the people of Chile means nothing to the imperialist monopolies, the landowners, the big bourgeoisie , and their spokesmen, and the other interests which put Frei in power. To then, Chile is Frei. 12. —_ :
Our cause is not dishonored but ennobled by the comparisons. Frei makes between the Cuban.Revolution and his laughable political. pantomime, which.can only be qualified as revolutionary by the enemies of the revolution..
“Between the two. processes there is the same difference that 7 exists between the true and-the false: the heroic and the ridiculous; | the fact that will pass into history and the farce that will pass into the wastebasket of historians. Frei achieved. power with the help of “imperialist money and with the almost total support of the press,.,the. radio, the television:and other media, which are the weapons employed . in legal political ‘struggles:and which, in Chile, as in any other capitalist and oligarchic society, are owned by - the rich. ,
Bourgeois - freedom. of ‘the press, which is the. freedom Frei refers to, is the freedom of the rich to own.the greater part of the media for divulging ideas, which they use to;defend their class interest — against the exploited.
On the other hand, it is. “the: ‘lack of. freedom of the poor and dispossessed to own’ such. instruments, which imply. ever more. fabulous. | investments, except within very narrow and quantitatively inferior limits, beyond any possible: comparison with: the means available to the rich exploiters. DN,
All of: the resources of imperialisn, the . oligarchy and the. bourgeoisie, their political, social, cultural and. religious institutions, their lies, their prejudices, their fears, were mobilized to make Frei's triumph possible. A part of the people was miserably fooled by instilling psychological terror in them at the danger of a real revolution, and they were offered: instead a beatific "revolution" which could be carried out by the bourgeoisie supported by the imperialists.
If the case of Chile has’ served. any purpose, it is not. precisely to show a new road to the revolutionary,masses, but to plant squarely before all the revolutionaries of this continent with even greater. . force, whéther the: peaceful triumph of the Revolution is possible, when faced: by the exploiting classes which, led by imperialism, retain all the gold of society and the monopoly of. the weapons which are _. used in this type of struggle, even when they are prepared to grant ~ some crumbs of legality to the revolutionary forces within their bourgeois institutions. The road of Cuba has not served to justify the experience of Chile but, precisely the contrary: the experience of Chile will serve to justify more the road of Cuba before the revolutionpries of the continent. os a,
Pride of Cuba
‘Certainly in Cuba, and’ we are very pleased about it, private ownership of the means of thought-dissemination which used to belong: to the exploiters and now serve the cause of the revolutionaries, has ceased to exist, just as imperialist or capitalist ownership of our mines, our banks , our foreign trade, our public utilities,. our factories and our large agricultural plantations has ceased to exist. The soil, the subsoil and even the air, the water, and the sunlight © shining upon us belong wholly to our people and produce for then. This is what Sr. Frei, a pet of Yankee imperialism and guardian of its interests in Chile, calls being» an economic and political satellite.
Certainly ' in Cuba -- and we are - not ashamed of it, but on the» contrary, we are proud of it and itis: consistent with our principles -no landowner, no banker, no mine- owner, | no lawyer of imperialism, no. Frei can govern, because, in fact ‘there are no oligarchical, bourgeois, pro-imperialist, reactionary parties, nor are they needed now because _their property has been socialized and their economic, political and ‘social systen,» that is, capitalism and its bourgeois parliamentary republic or, ‘in its place, the oligarchic-and pro-imperialist strongman governments, have been eradicated, proscribed, eliminated forever.
_ Good proof that Frei and company are not concerned about pourgeois elections, or bourgeois parliaments, or bourgeois liberties, but rather about the economic and class “interests protected by this. form of ‘government , ‘is. that While he refuses:to maintain diplomatic and commercial’ relations with Cuba, he maintains excellent: relations with those military dictatorships which have found it expedient to abolish such bourgeois political forms in the majority of Latin- American countries, the better to serve the interest of imperialism, the oligarchy,'’and the bourgeoisie itself, and to confront with blood and fire. the just and inevitable rebellion of the. exploited. :
It-is true, and we are ‘also: proud ‘of at, -that our Revolution did ‘not’ triumph as the result of-an election, but rather: through the revolutionary armed struggle of the people, which was the only ‘possible road. We knew how to understand the potential power of the » : exploited masses, the historic necessity and possibility of the “Revolution, and beginning with a few rifles, unleashed the immense energy stored up within the people which in its irresistible drive swept away a numerically big army which had been equipped and trained by the United States, an army that defended the interests of. the imperialists, the big landowners, the bourgeoisie, and their parties ana properties. That war would never have been won without the reso-lute and combative support of the masses (of oppressed. workers , peasants and students.
Those masses which yesterday were oppressed and today : are. armed and victorious, have made possible the much more difficult’ and his- toric task of defending and upholding revolutionary power against the ferocious siege of the Yankee empire lying barely 90 miles from our coast. The political and cultural level of these masses becomes increasingly higher. Organized, trained and armed in the Party, in
125.
the Rebel Army: and other branches of the armed forces, in the Militia, in factories,.in the mountains and on the plains of our farmers and agricultural workers, at secondary and university centers, these masses’ constitute the invincible force of the Revolution. In any of the large provinces of Cuba we can gather in a mass rally: more citizens. who are ready to lay down their lives for the Revolution than the total number of votes obtained by Frei with the help of the imperialists,.oligarchs and bourgeois in the election which took... him to power.;And: this can be verified by Frei himself if he so-wishes. In Cuba the people are the power
A pevolutionary ‘people does not see the power of the ‘state as something distant, out of reach and opposed to it. It identifies fully with that power because: it is itself the power.
In Chile, logically, there could be many people who do not understand the tremendous difference that exists between one. political system and another. But in Cuba, our people laugh at the paeans intoned.by Sr. Frei to elections :and other bourgeois institutions, because our people know only too well all the lying and fraud that these conceal. =: .
-Once every so many years our citizens had the theoretical ‘pight to decide in bourgeois elections which bourgeois candidate or oligarch, which bourgeois or oligarchic party, would govern the state and the bourgeois and oligarchic institutions, these.being, of course, the only parties and institutions conceived of or permitted by bourgeois -laws and constitutions. Among all the rights held sacred by such laws and constitutions, private property, of course, has always been the most sacred. : For more than half a century, our people felt repugnance at the frequent Yankee interventions, electoral frauds and coups; the customary thing in the rest of Latin America during a century and a half, with all of their consequences of political vices, cerruption, demagoguery ; :shady businesses, misuse of funds, privileges, abuses, bribery and deceit. For the oligarchic and bourgeois parties, elections were auctions for the highest bidders among those who had the mostmoney for propaganda and vote-buying.
In the country zones,: particularly, ‘the large landowners invested millions of dollars in each election. Thousands of political -Sergeants ‘would meet to. agree upon the amounts of money that they would receive for the votes of ‘their relatives,. eronies, beneficiaries and political protégés.
I witnessed such things in my childhood and in my adolescence, because I:was born into a family: whose land-holdings were surrounded by the immense territories of three great Yankee:sugar companies.. - The povérty-stricken, illiterate and ignorant rural population was _the systematic victim of such procedures. Naturally the individuals 7velected” by such methods were not going to construct any school, or “pass any revolutionary laws. : :
The Revolution has rid the country of that rotten society — and its’ degrading procédurés once and for’all. Frei accuses me ‘of not knowing Chilean history; the.fact is that he does not know the~-: laws of history, nor has he a‘theory for understanding the develop-. ment of Hhtman:society. He is not capable, nor is any bourgeois, of seeing the bourgeois parliamentarian republic as a political form resulting! from the historical devélopment of a society which corresponded to the realities and interests of an era and of a class “recéntly liberated. from the chains of feudalism and aspiring to incarnate the ideals of all humanity.
For Frei, as for all bourgeois, capitalist society with the _ bourgeois. parliamentarian republic as its political. form -- the philosophy’ of which. détermines each‘one of Frei's arguments and opinions to such an extent that when he speaks about revolution he can only mean bourgeois revolution -- constitutes the ideal in economic political and social organization. He feels that all society is governed by immutable and eternal laws, that the laws which govern bourgeois Society aretherefore etérnal and immutable and that bourgeois Society is: Simply: the perfected product of human reason.
We Marxists, beginning with a different conception: of. things, see revolution as a great leap cowards superior forms of human relationships which, envisioned in terms of necessity: plus possibility, must arise as the’ inevitable result of the = historicat:: process. Anything but revolutionaries |
Those who proclaim political and social forms. that. today: curb the’ development of man and his means of livelihood cannot be called
revolutionaries. For this reason, it is impossible to expect Frei... and company to understand the Cuban process. They judge it on the basis of their prejudices, their narrow-mindedness and: their myopic eyes of bourgeois politicians. : :
How ‘could Frei's mentality be ‘reconciled with the: communist idea of ‘a classless society in which even the State ceases to exist ‘as a coercive force and, together with it; alt those institutions that distinguish it asS-a State? ms Sis
Since its historic inception, the State has been an instrument of domination of Sertain classes over other: classes.
The State’ does not lose that: character | in the transition from capitalism to communism. It stops being the instrument of exploiters against the exploited, and becomes the instrument of exploited against exploiters.
“What a beautiful day it will be, Sr. Frei, when force is no longer exerted upon society but also ceases to exist within human society! Then ‘Ro oné like you in Chile would have to give the order to fire upon the workers in a copper mine, the property of a Yankee monopoly, and~nobody such as we would have to execute thugs who-kili thousands of revolutionaries, or spies, saboteurs and criminal. agents
of the imperialism that wants to destroy us, because there would be no exploiting monopolies in any part of the world, not even in. the: United States, counterrevolutionaries, nor’ executions.
It is hard to have to shoot anyone who, product of a society ‘and Of ‘an era, serves the most evil interests of the enemies of our country," but it is even harder, and in no way. ‘morally: justifiable , to massacre workers. in’ defense of: those evil interests. =
‘The reactionaries have always been very quick to. massacre ~ the people in order to protect their interests, but there is nobody . quicker than the reactionaries when it comes to accusing the revolutionaries: of. cruelty.
Even without going back to the time of the crucifixion of tens of thousands of revolutionary slaves under the leadership of Spartacus along the Appian Way, the whole history of colonialism and imperialism, and the modern social upheavals, from the Civil War in: France in the middie of the lést century and the Paris Commune in.-1871,: to’ the - ferocious repression recently seen ‘in Indonesia in which almost: 100,000 communists were assassinated within a matter of days, and’. including in this period the atrocities committed in this world by. the fascists and the Nazis -- all of this. history shows that the =" reactionaries arid ‘the counterrevolutions ‘in. victory | are a _ thousand times more cruel than’ revolutions.:- : : :
Nothing is. tore: ‘eruel in. this world: than ‘imperialism; nobody ° is capable of more atrocities ; nobody is capable of more atrocities and bloodshed than Frei's protectors have shown themselves to be in Viet Nam. Frei borrows the arguments of these bloody mentors in order to accuse the Cuban Revolution of harshness.
We will not let ourselves be defeated by these bloody imperialists and we will defend ourselves with all the force necessary, without any vacillation, not only to survive as a nation and as a people, but to struggle unceasingly for the most humane: society toward which humanity can aspire: the society in | which man ceases to be a wolf in order ‘to ‘become a brother.
And even though the Socialist State is only a transition to. that superior form of society, nevertheless it is much more democratic’ than the Bourgeois State, because it serves the interests of the exploited majority. ae : . “The word: "@emocracy” has meant something different in: each one of the historical ‘epochs. When the word was first used in Ancient Greece, it was the word which denominated the prevailing form of government in a class society in which, coexisting with a land and ‘slavé-owning minority who discussed the problems of government publicly and "very democratically," were great masses of slaves, working on the lands and in the interests of the minority, deprived of all rights, unable to participate in-the destiny of a society whose ‘material wealth they themselves made possible.
' > $Bourgeois democracy is also .based: upon a class.society and, . although this may. notiplease Sr. Frei,.it expresses.the rule:of the. capitalists over the: laborers, who, just as-the slaves in ancient. ; || times» create the society’ s material hel i If: the socialist state. is'a new ‘social. and political formation with: great practical-and theoretical: tasks. before it, and with the-:.., goal of constructing for the first time in history a classless society based upon the modern productive forces developed by man, it is also called. ‘upon to. create the freest: social formation. that has ever existed. Des a :
Each , country. will develop in its own way toward that better. society and will contribute its experiences. We develop in our own way: We have not rushed toward.the forms, ‘because we want these to ‘correspond: ‘to. reality and : not:vice. versa. >
The | conditions peculiar to: our, process” were what determined... the. uniting of all: revolutionary. forces in. one Vanguard Party. But . that wasn't the only determining factor:.the other was the. counterrevolution, directed: and organized by the: imperialist government of the United States: The! militants of our. party. are elected and renewed. through the constant participation of: the masses of workers and. fighters... It is. a homogeneous and.disciplined vanguard which, in representation of the workers, governs the country, leads the devel-opment of the Socialist economy and the struggle against the imperialist enemy. It is not. a. heterogeneous, conglomeration like the Christian: Democrats, where among youth elements who sincerely ‘want revolutionary: changes and represent. the most healthy and progres-— sive wing of the organization, old and conniving reactionaries rule : the roost, openly supported by. Frei, who would sell their.soul. to. the devil ‘before they" d pass a revolutionary law.
y Vulgar bourgeois. reformist kes
In’ economic, social and: political matters, Frei, who.. ‘likes to call himself a revolutionary,:will never exceed the limits of a bourgeois reformist whose program tends precisely to consolidate.a capi-: talist regime of production in Chile which doesn’ 6 interfere with the: interests ‘of imperialism. 7
‘Frei dreams of the impossible chimera of. conciliation between opposing classes. He thinks that the workers' interests can be recon+ ciled with those of imperialism and the bourgeoisie; those of the bourgeoisie with those of imperialism; those of the petty bourgeoisie with those of the big bourgeoisie; and those of the peasant | with those of. ‘the oligarchy.
fo In a country ridden ‘by foreign debts, sacked by the ‘monopolies, witha feudal regime of ownership of the land and a barely developed economy, with:social needs that have been accumulating for decades and where there is: really very: little to distribute, it would be: :. necessary to sacrifice the interests of the imperialists, oligarchs. and big bourgeoisie in order to relieve somewhat the situation of the
peasants, workers and middle strata of the population. Frei wants to compensate the oligarchs, enrich the monopolies and gratify the bankergy the great industrialists and the merchants.
If the imperialists, oligarchs, and bourgeoisie keep the lion's share, including the scraps with which Frei expects the Yankees to help him to develop this pseudo-revolutionary creature, what will remain to increase the workers' income, to give technical and.economic aid to the peasants, to improve the level of the middle strata.and in addition to service the foreign debt, develop the-economy and :have enough resources at hand for housing, schools, hospitals, roads, waterworks and streets?
It is clear that the cord holding this "midsummer night's dream" policy together can only break at the weakest spot in the system: the workers. You cannot demand sacrifices from the workers in order to perpetuate the interests of the bourgeoisie and imperialism. The workers in Chile, as well as anywhere else in the world -it is not necessary to know too much about local history to recognize this -- would only make a sacrifice when these sacrifices are demanded in the name of the future interests of their class and not of their exploiters.
Workers in Chile, therefore, refuse to give up their hopes of better salaries. This is the only real and objective explanation for strikes; to consider this a product of the Tricontinental Conference is either the result of great ignorance or nalicious intent, or both things at once.
There are still other matters on which we have not yet commented.
It is not true that the government of Chile has never attacked Cuba. Its entire political campaign had an anti-Cuban base, resting on the most contentious and unjust interpretations, as well as on the crudest kind of lies and calumnies written by the imperialist detractors against our Revolution. These include the use of a recording .by a near relative of ours, whose actions are wholly directed by.:the -.- CIA and whose declarations are written and publicized by the. same . organization. These were broadcasted widely just before the elections, in order to culminate, with this shocking propaganda, the psychological campaign of terror against the Chilean people, thus influencing the results of the elections.
This was the crudest type of intervention by the CIA and the government of the United States at the very moment when the future government of the country was to be decided upon, and one more repugnant method of the imperialists to create a political effect. On that occasion, our Pontius Pilate washed his hands after reaping, with pleasure, the fruits of such dirty politics.
Less than a month ago the representative of the Chilean government in the United ‘Nations, adding his voice to that pack of lackeys among whom are to be found persons as democratic as Stroessner,
Castello Branco, Castro Jijon, Peralta Azurdia,..the-puppet, Garcia - ~Godoy and-other. such ruffians:-+- about;whom Sr. Frei does not have... the least scruples, neither :Christian-nor democratic -- this repre-. sentative endorsed the document on Cuba sent to the Security Council - of ‘the United Nations..This: amounts to-.adding fuel -to: the: fire of aggressive plans against Cuba entertained “by the U; S. nee ree Is ait by chance | possible ‘that ‘this does not constitute one | “af ‘the worst and most treacherous attacks © since it incites to armed aggression against our people?
That is why it does not surprise me greatly -- to) go gust one step further -- that he insinuates that Cuba was _Tresponsible for the Chilean strikes. a : an Chile, accomplice in the. blockade
Is the present government of Chile, on the. other. hand, far .removed from the imperialist. policy towards Cuba? Following an agreement imposed by the United States on the OAS, which is, as Frei himnself has pointed out on certain: occasions, an anachronistic institution, the former government of Chile broke off commercial and dip- 7 lomatic relations with Cuba, carrying out like sychophants the imperialist orders. Food products: from Chile, which: we exchanged for sugar, were no longer sent. to Cuba. The imperialists added another triumph in their criminal blockade of. Cuba..iIn:- seventeen months of government, Frei has not had the. courage. to rectify that capitulating and humiliating action against Chilean sovereignty. Under these circumstances it is shameless that Frei uses the argument of rationing against Cuba, while he,:in.fact, participates in the inhuman blockade which this imperialist power maintains with all its economic and political resources against % a small and economically underdeveloped _ country. we , oo Cuba faces up to Yankee imperialism. with ; a fortitude: and. integ- ' pity that one day even the: grandchildren of Frei will admire. The. Cuban ‘Revolution does not miove forward with the blessing. and. applause of Yankee ‘imperialism, as the "make-believe revolution" which the Frei -government is proclaiming. They are saying that they wish to liberate themselves from all imperialisms, but. what they .are doing . “is getting on the vAlliance for Progress" merry-go-round and accepting as a blind man's guide the ideology of Yankee. imperialism. Anda revolution run by the imperialists is like the Catholic Church in the hands of Iuther. Yet in spite of the blockade and the rationing of some articles which this comic-opera revolutionary throws up to us, any humble family in .Cuba receives more goods and services than ~ his class brothers .in Chile. As a result of the laws and the measures taken in the Revolution, the great majority of the population receives free housing. “The advances made in educational and in medical. attention in only a few years will have surpassed all the .other countries of Latin America. There are no longer illiterates in our country. All children; whoever they are: and wherever they Live, have teachers. Almost a*million adults attend cultural and. technical educational improvement classes; approximately 150,000 young :people-in. our educa-
tional centers receive lodging, meals, clothing and shoes gratis; “unemployment has; been eradicated, family,incomes have been augmented, directly or indirectly,* by more than one billion pesos. Under Agrar-. ian Reform, more than. 100,000: farming families ‘ceased to pay rent, | and became owners of their ‘land. The country extricated all national. resources, and fundamental means of production from foreign control. In spite of all the difficulties inflicted by the blockade, and Yankee threats of aggression, which obliges us. to invest great quantities of:men and materials towards the defense of our country, we are progressing in the development of our economy.
Does Sr. Frei perhaps believe that he can settle accounts with these realities by utilizing a few Yankee clichés to describe the supposed failure of the Cuban Revolution? It would be interesting to know what a Frei with his shining Christian Democracy would have done had he had to pass the test of fire of a real revolution like that of Cuba, just-90 miles from the U.S.
In Chile, true, the rich lack nothing, and are not rationed, but the poor lack everything, rationed without a ration card by their miserable salaries, and by the pitiless exploitation Of. the imperialists, oligarchy, and capitalists. —
In order to leave none of his nonsensical ideas, lacking in political consistency and fair argument, unsaid, Sr. Frei finds me temperamental. And this-because I- felt the necessity - ‘to answer his attacks and intrigues against the Cuban Revolution.
However, when I publicly praised. on May. 1, 1965, Chile's. initial position regarding, Yankee intervention in Santo Domingo, and our :country- expressed a Similar attitude regarding several of his other attitudes which appeared positive to us -- simply because we follow a‘political line based on principles -- Sr. Frei didn't then call me temperamental.
A revolutionary temperament doesn't necessarily mean a tenperamental revolutionary in the same way that a bourgeois spirit does not necessarily mean..a spiritual bourgeois. We are not intimidated by anybody
It comes as a surprise to Frei that the Cuban Revolution should unmask the intrigues and attacks of the Yugoslav press against Cuba, and at the same time that we should be able to denounce, in all dignity, the economic aggression which the Chinese government carries out against us in an act of political blindness and stupidity, and that we indicted Kennedy opportunely and as he deserved for his crimes against our country.
This means that, although we are a small nation, nobody intinidates us or makes vassals of us.
What is shameful, on the other hand, is that Sr. Frei tries to sanctify Kennedy, instigator of the economic blockade against our
country, promoter of counterrevolutionary bands who massacred Cuban peasants, teachers: and students, confessedly responsible for the’ Playa Girén invasion that cost more than 100 lives of revolutionary © fighters, organizer of piratical incursions into our waters; directed from Central American. bases, and other nefarious activities of this type.
This Kennedy, initiator of what is today the bloody Vietnamese War, was an unscrupulous. servant of imperialisn. The fact of his: ° death and the contemptible way it came about does not release’ Him =~ from blame.
When I sée the saints that Frei worships, t understand his. political beliefs’
: And T warn him that Mao Tse- tung will not like to be classed | together with Kennedy and the Yugoslav Communist League. :
Lastly, Frei declares that whoever puts a hand on Chile will have it crushed. This would deserve applause. if it were true; but * why doesn't he crush the interventionist hands which, ignoring the °° Chilean Government and disrespectful of the country's-‘sovereignty,. tried to put the Camelot Plan into action there? -
And -- most fundamental of all! — “why: doesn't he decide tocrush the imperialist hands ‘which for so long now have been wringing the Chilean economy and exploiting the sweat of thousands of the — best sons of the Chilean people? Is it perhaps that for you, Sr. Frei, the talons of imperialism do not exist? When I see that the workers must Shed blood: becausé they protest » ‘in order to better somewhat their miserable lot, to claim some of what the foreign: monopolies tear out of the entrails and the sweat of Chile, and when there is the threat of more bloodshed, I cannot ‘believe: that you are really capable of crushing the only hands ‘that intervene ‘in! and dominate the life and the destiny of your country: the hands of Yankee imperialism.
It is logical that. your uneasy conscience - “ghoula find relief in false patriotism and try to see in _ Cuba the spectre of an eneny. i af