We have special ties with
Algeria. When we fought in the mountains, the Algerians were fighting in the wilayas. When
the Cuban Revolution triumphed on January 1, 1959, the heroic people of Algeria had still
not achieved victory. They were waging a heroic and difficult battle against the powerful
forces of a country that had written brilliant pages in European military history. We
wanted to help them, and in a quiet and modest way we sent some of the few weapons we had
at the time.
Cuba was already subject to a brutal blockade and a
dirty, merciless war in which our enemy did not hesitate to use any means to crush the
Revolution.
On April 16, 1961, a mercenary force invaded our
country using fighter planes, tanks, artillery and infantry, and it was defeated in 72
hours.
Unwilling to accept the defeats it suffered, our
powerful enemy made new sinister plans against Cuba, leading to a great crisis that put
the world on the brink of nuclear war.
Algeria was the first country to test our
internationalist consciousness. In addition to the modest cooperation I just mentioned,
after the Missile Crisis and Algeria’s triumphant struggle for independence, other
great risks of foreign aggression emerged. The thousands of kilometers that separate our
small island from Algeria did not keep Cuban fighters from crossing the Atlantic with all
urgency to support that country.
Algeria was also the country where the first Cuban
medical brigade arrived, when our country had barely 3,000 doctors left, after the United
States had seduced half of the doctors we had with promises of high salaries.
Now, fortunately, there a thousands of Cuban doctors
on internationalist missions in the Third World, and the total number of doctors our
country has is more than 65,000.
Algeria is the country where I first attended a
summit of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, in 1973.
Algeria was the country that gave the greatest
support for Cuba to host the 6th Summit, six years later.
Algeria played a decisive role in the liberation
struggle of countries that were still colonized or were subject to the shameful apartheid
system.
Algeria is the country where I met so many loyal
friends of Cuba, some of whom are no longer with us.
Algeria struggled untiringly for African unity. At
that time this continent did not know the tragedy of division and wars that came later;
the wise principle of maintaining the borders imposed by colonialism prevailed; the
population had not almost tripled; the current foreign debt had not multiplied several
times over; there were not such high levels of poverty and hunger; there were more forests
and less deserts; development aid had not been reduced to 0.24% of the industrialized
countries’ gross domestic product; AIDS was unknown; there was hardly any talk of
increasing environmental deterioration and climate changes. Africa was still the most
forgotten region of the world.
At the Algerian Army’s
Central Museum,
Fidel receives a detailed
explanation of that people’s
fight for its liberation.
|
Enumerating so many tragedies is
very difficult. I’m not doing so because of any interest in exaggerating or
dramatizing. I do so because if there is any value in saying some words here and
taking your time, it is to exhort our African sisters and brothers to make a supreme
effort to achieve peace and unity among the peoples of this long-suffering continent, as
distinguished African leaders are doing and whose efforts we ought to second, so that the
new generations of Africans, their children and their children’s children may have a
better future. I know that the circumstances and living conditions in the 54 countries on
this continent are not all the same.
The most economically and socially developed
countries, those with the most resources and knowledge, have the duty to transmit their
best experiences and to cooperate. I invite those here who represent other continents and
countries to meditate and reflect that Africa—exploited for centuries, and from which
millions of its sons and daughters were uprooted and turned into slaves and where today,
as a consequence of exploitation and underdevelopment, there are entire countries in
danger of extinction—deserves our most determined support.
Cuba does not have any ties to the International
Monetary Fund or the World Bank, nor is it a financial power, but it has demonstrated that
it is willing to share its experience, to struggle and to cooperate. It has human
resources that were created honestly and professionals who now have 40 years of
experience: doctors, engineers, skilled personnel, men and women educated in solidarity
and willing to serve in any corner of the globe. We offer our human capital. That’s
the last thing I want to tell you.
I beg you to excuse the time I have taken.
I wish the best for Algeria. I wish the best for
Africa. I dream of a more just and more humane world.
Thank you very much. (APPLAUSE)
We have special ties with
Algeria. When we fought in the mountains, the Algerians were fighting in the wilayas. When
the Cuban Revolution triumphed on January 1, 1959, the heroic people of Algeria had still
not achieved victory. They were waging a heroic and difficult battle against the powerful
forces of a country that had written brilliant pages in European military history. We
wanted to help them, and in a quiet and modest way we sent some of the few weapons we had
at the time.
