We will continue studying, analyzing and taking decisions that will lead to overcoming our insufficiencies in all orders
• We will act without populist, demagogic or deceptive solutions
 • Venezuela has every right to defend itself and can always count on the steadfast support of all the Cuban people

Speech given by José Ramón Machado Ventura at the central event for the 57th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Garrisons, in Villa Clara, July 26, 2010, Year 52 of the Revolution

GENERAL of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, president of the Councils of State and Ministers.

Compañeros Rafael Ramírez and Ricardo Menéndez, vice presidents of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the other ministers and members of the delegation from that sister nation who are honoring us today with their presence at this event.

Compañeros and compañeras of the leadership of the [Communist] Party, state and government, of the Union of Young Communists and the mass organizations, of the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution, and the glorious Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior.

Assailants and family members of the martyrs of the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Garrisons and of our five heroes unjustly sentenced and detained in prisons of the yanki empire.

Caravanistas from the Pastors for Peace directed and led by the Reverend Lucius Walker who, over 21 years, have stood up to and violated the blockade of our homeland and who, once again, with their presence at this event, are demonstrating their love for the Cuban Revolution.

Compatriots:

As announced, the leadership of our Party decided to dedicate this 26th of July to the Liberator Simón Bolívar, on the 227th anniversary of his birth, and also to the bicentenary of the independence struggles of the peoples of Our America.

Compañero Hugo Chávez had planned to be here alongside the people of Cuba and speak at this event. That could not be, but we know that he is commanding his people, who are preparing to respond – as he stated yesterday afternoon – to the empire’s threats to Venezuela’s national security and sovereignty and his own life.

Once again, we reiterate our unshakeable solidarity with Venezuela and our condemnation of the deployment of U.S. military bases in Colombia, which is endangering peace in the region.

In the face of these threats and provocations, Venezuela has every right to defend itself and can always count on the steadfast support of all the Cuban people.

The delegation from that sister country to the 1st Cuba-Venezuela Summit, comprising the two vice presidents already mentioned, six ministers and other compañeros, is present at this rally, in representation of President Chávez and the Venezuelan people.

The principal objective of this Summit is to take links to a higher level, to consolidate the economic union of Venezuela and Cuba and to review ongoing projects agreed and initiate others, to the benefit of the wellbeing of both peoples.

We are inspired by the ideas, still to be realized, of a grannación of Republics, of Bolívar and of Our America, of José Martí.

Our national hero [José Martí], inspirer of the generation that, exactly 57 years ago, assaulted the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Garrisons, felt a profound admiration for Simón Bolívar. We all know the famous passage from The Golden Age in which he narrates with a singular devotion how, without shaking off the dust from the journey, he paid an emotive tribute before the equestrian statue of the Liberator in Caracas.

In his eloquent language, he dedicated fundamental writings and impassioned speeches. In one of these, Martí emphasized: "because of what he left undone, and which remains undone until today, because Bolívar still has to act in America!"

Today, those prophetic words of the Cuban national hero have more validity than ever. They mark out the road to unity, along which we are decidedly advancing within the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America.

At a time when the bicentenary of the beginning of the independence struggles is being celebrated throughout Latin America, the peoples are rising up in increasing force to take that unconcluded work to its end and to make a reality the aspirations of freedom and justice for which Bolívar and so many other eternal heroes fought.

This Saturday, the Comandante en Jefe paid tribute at the Artemisa Mausoleum to the martyrs of the 26th of July and the struggle without respite of our people for their independence. In his message he reiterated in his message to the revolutionary combatants of Artemisa and all of Cuba, that his revolutionary thinking was based on the Martí idea that "Homeland is humanity," and that our struggle is evidence of what one little country can achieve in the face of the gigantic power of the empire.

Fidel, whose visible recovery is a motive of profound joy for Cuban revolutionaries and for progressive men and women beyond our borders, is present and fighting on this day which means so much to him and for all of us.

Fidel himself has repeatedly expressed his infinite admiration for Bolívar. In the book Un grano de maíz (A Grain of Corn), the leader of the Cuban Revolution noted: "I have read a lot about Bolívar and I never tire of reading about Bolívar, about every one of his minutes, every one of his tragedies, every one of his successes. I have an extraordinary sympathy for Bolívar unlike that, let’s say, of any other historical figure."

That was said precisely in 1992, the year in which Chávez led the Venezuelan people in the February 4 uprising; the valiant and patriotic action launched to revive, give continuity to and put into practice the dreams of the Liberator.

Just as the assault on the Moncada opened the way to the definitive stage of the Cuban Revolution, the uprising of patriotic soldiers commanded by Chávez, was the precursor of the powerful and invincible Bolivarian Revolution.

They are the same dreams that, in the internationalist epic in Bolivia, inspired Che and his heroic compañeros, whose remains are jealously guarded by the sons and daughters of this valiant soil of Villa Clara, which saw the battle of the heroic guerrilla. They will always accompany our people as a glorious reinforcement detachment, in the struggles of today and tomorrow. Che would be proud of this act of patriotic and pro-Latin American reaffirmation, of whose cause he was a champion.

Dear compatriots:

In their efforts to obtain the hosting of the central event of the Day of National Rebellion, the winning provinces have particular merit. They are: Ciego de Avila, Granma and City of Havana, which were awarded as outstanding, and Villa Clara, which merited the hosting of the commemorative event. This is not about a triumphalist emulation, with fanfares and grand events, but of rewarding effort, results and the modest fulfilling of duty.

Villa Clara has maintained great stability in the last 12 years, with advances in the principal socioeconomic sectors of the territory, which include industry, agricultural production and the development of an important tourism complex, in conjunction with its achievements in the social sphere, in education, culture and health.

These are sufficient reasons for particularly congratulating the people of Villa Clara, an undisputed protagonist in those results, and the leadership of the provincial Party and government, which has achieved cohesive action and has been the reserve of important cadres for other territories and fronts of the Revolution.

Compañeras and compañeros:

In the wake of the severe damage wreaked by the three devastating hurricanes which lashed us close to two years ago, our people have had to undertake intensive labors in the midst of the particularly adverse international environment resulting from the effects of the current global economic climate, for whose emergence we are not in the least responsible, but whose consequences we are enduring alongside other peoples; in addition to the anachronistic blockade that U.S. administrations have enforced for 50 years; and the constantly more visible effects of climate change.

In these complex circumstances, as Raúl noted in the closing session of the Congress of the Union of Young Communists, "the economic battle today more than ever constitutes the principal task and the center of the cadres’ ideological work, because the sustainability and preservation of our social system depends on that." (End of quote)

It is worth insisting that food production continues to be the essential front of the economic battle: thus we must continue to give it maximum priority. At the Congress of the National Association of Small Farmers barely two months ago, everything was discussed in relation to this strategic sector, which demands a consolidation of the process of handing over land in usufruct (free of charge) and making a sustained advance in the suburban agriculture program.

Savings, costs reduction and the maximum possible rationality of forces and resources are an imperious necessity in all sectors. It has been demonstrated in the field of education that profound transformations can be made in the teaching-educational process, directed at raising its quality, and at the same time, to reducing costs. Something similar could be said of the health services, where we have a long way to go in terms of eliminating waste and superfluous costs.

Another task that we must not lose sight of for an instant refers to energy savings. Systematic checks, requirements and discipline are indispensable for carrying out the listed objectives.

This is an opportune moment to highlight that we will continue studying, analyzing and taking decisions that will lead to overcoming our insufficiencies in all orders and improving our society. We will act without populist, demagogic or deceptive solutions.

We will not be led by foreign press campaigns. We shall proceed with a sense of responsibility, step by step, at the rate that we ourselves decide, without improvisations or haste, in order not to err and so as to definitively leave behind errors or measures that are not appropriate in current conditions.

Our people have given more than sufficient confirmation of their confidence in the leadership of our Party and government and trust in the irrevocable will that animates us in the solution of problems.

We do not fear the difficult challenges that lie ahead of us; for that we can count on the invincible force of our people who, as Fidel said on the 20th anniversary of the 26th of July, "While that day we were a fistful of men, now we are an entire people conquering the future."

The heroic martyrs of that epic did not die in vain. Their sacrifice made possible the triumph of the Revolution on January 1, 1959. They have accompanied us in the hardest moments of the struggle: at the Bay of Pigs and in the October Missile Crisis, on the glorious internationalist missions, in the days in which the socialist camp was disappearing and the Soviet Union was disintegrating and the empire and its lackeys were rubbing their hands together proclaiming the end of history and auguring the final hours of the Revolution.

Today we ratify before them our commitment to be faithful to the ideals for which they gave their lives, by changing that which has to be changed at this historic moment, but without ever accepting external pressure or any detriment to our sovereignty and without renouncing any of our dreams of justice for Cuba and for the world!

Our people have given evidence of that fidelity and determination for more than 50 years, and that patriotic commitment is today higher than ever, in the face of challenges, threats and attempts at coercion.

Eternal life to the heroes and martyrs of the 26th of July!
¡Viva to the indestructible sisterhood between Cuba and Venezuela!
¡Vivan Fidel and Raúl!
¡Hasta la victoria siempre!