This database includes speeches, interviews, etc., by Fidel Castro from 1959 to 1996. All texts are in English.

31 March 2019 | Latin American Information Center | Castro Speech Data Base

Published Hawkins Bay Dispatch

This database includes speeches, interviews, etc., by Fidel Castro from 1959 to 1996. All texts are in English.

If you would like more recent speeches or texts in Spanish, please consult Discursos e Intervenciones de Fidel Castro, which has texts in a variety of languages starting with 1998, Discursos: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, orDiscursos y otras intervenciones de Fidel Castro.

You can search the Castro Speech Data Base by using the box above, or you can browse the collection by date using the links to the right.

“Castro Speech” is a database containing the full-text translations of speeches, interviews, and press conferences by Fidel Castro, based upon the records of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), a U.S. government agency responsible for monitoring broadcast and print media in countries throughout the world. These records are in the public domain.

On 26 February 1941, President Roosevelt directed that $150,000 be allocated for creation of the Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service (FBMS) under the authority of the Federal Communications Commission.

The mandate of the FBMS was to record, translate, transcribe and analyze shortwave propaganda radio programs that were being beamed at the United States by the Axis powers.^[1] Its first monitoring station was established in October 1941 in Portland, Oregon.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) was an open source intelligence component of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Directorate of Science and Technology.

It monitored, translated, and disseminated within the U.S. government openly available news and information from media sources outside the United States. Its headquarters was in Rosslyn, Virginia 38.8959°N 77.0727°W, later Reston, Virginia 38.955°N 77.359°W, and it maintained approximately 20 monitoring stations worldwide.

In November 2005, it was announced that FBIS would become the newly formed Open Source Center, tasked with the collection and analysis of freely available intelligence.

The Department of Research of the Radio Martí Program, part of the U.S. Information Agency, undertook the task of digitizing FBIS reports from 1959 through the end of the 1980s. FBIS records are now produced online and updates to the Castro Speech database have been made electronically.

The files are organized by year and with files named according to the date of the speech, interview, or event (e.g., 13 July 1987 = 19870713).

If there are two or more events on the same date, files are named sequentially by adding extensions (e.g., 19870713.1, 19870713.2, etc.).

The convention has been to name files in accordance with the date of the event; however, file names may vary in that the date of the event, date of the broadcast, and date of the report are often different and inconsistencies will occur.

There are several caveats that users should keep in mind:

1. It is not to be construed that this database contains all statements, speeches, and interviews made by Fidel Castro.
2. There is no guarantee that all FBIS records have been acquired and entered into the database. Further, FBIS corrections of original transcriptions have not been incorporated into the database.
3. For critical research needs, it is suggested that users compare the text of FBIS translations with an original source such as the newspaper Granma, the Granma Archives Index, or other collections of speeches by Fidel Castro, such as the Discursos e Intervenciones de Fidel Castro collection.

Original Link: Fidel Castro Speech Database

Sample:

CASTRO OUTLINES SUPPORT FOR OTHER REVOLUTIONS

[Report on Prime Minister Castro's speech by Jesus Suarez Moreno; Havana,
Verde Olivo, Spanish, 5 August 1971, pp 51-55]

"Today in Bolivia there is not a single revolutionary who believes
that any other road can exist than that of armed revolution, and there is
no one who does not understand that that road is precisely the one pointed
out by Che," said Maj Fidel Castro Prime Minister of the Revolutionary
Government and first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, in
summarizing an emotional act of solidarity with the Cuban revolution.

The legendary Plaza Cadenas at the University of Havana again
served as the meeting place for revolutionary demonstrations of combat.
Young people from the farthest corners of the earth came together with
Cuban students in order to spend a beautiful day of solidarity, not only
with Cuba, but with all oppressed peoples.

The gathering was the result of an initiative taken by young
delegates from more than 30 countries, enroute through our country to
Valparaiso, Chile, to attend a meeting of Latin and North American youth
for solidarity with the Indochinese peoples. The World Federation of
Democratic Youth (FMJD) and the International Union of Students (UIE)
organized the event.

The gathering drew its meaning from simple but fervent
contributions by student and youth delegates, described by Maj Fidel Castro
as beautiful speeches with profound revolutionary meaning. All the orators
emphasized their complete support for the Cuban revolution, for the Latin
American peoples, and especially for the heroic Bolivian people who are not
waging open battle against fascist and proimperialist forces.

Special attention was given to the single delegate of the
Indochinese peoples, who drew the greatest applause, while in the
background could be heard the chorus, "Cuba, Vietnam, united we will
overcome." A few minutes later, a young South Vietnamese girl, Phan Min
Hien, addressed the crowd. Her voice and her message symbolized the most
beautiful example of human dignity; from her high fighting parapet, she
united us all.

Reference to the most heroic guerrilla of all time was not
missing. All stood to pay homage to Che, who once again inspired the most
revolutionary and the purest sentiments.

The the spokesman for Cuba, the president of the FEU [Federation
of University Students], Nestor del Prado, announced the decision of Cuban
students to fight shoulder-to-shoulder alongside the Bolivian people, on
the very soil where Che and his comrades shed their blood.

Almost 2 hours had already passed when the Cuban student leader
spoke. Before him had come Angelo Oliva, president of the World Federation
of Democratic Youth; Fathi el Fadle, vice president of the UIE; Eugenio
Tiazheinikov, secretary general of the Leninist Konsomol of the USSR and
representative of youth in the Movement for the Liberation of Angola; the
associate secretary general of the Communist Party of France, Jean Michel
Catala; and the secretary general of Communist Youth of Argentina, Hector
Santana. The first part of the meeting having ended, all awaited Fidel's
words.

In the name of the various revolutionary movements, Maj Fidel
Castro began his discourse by praising the solidarity of the peoples of the
world with the Cuban revolution.

The Prime Minister pointed out the value that this solidarity has
for Cuban revolutionaries, who see themselves faced with the arduous and
difficult task of bringing to fulfillment "our revolution at the very
doorstep of the Yankee empire."

"And naturally," said Fidel, "if you compare the correlation of
forces between imperialism and our country, you can understand perfectly
why our people, capable of paying any price for its right to independence,
for its right to revolution; our people who would be willing to die while
fighting to defend its revolution, have been able to depend on arms and
economic and technical support from the socialist camp, mainly from the
Soviet Union, to carry on this hard and difficult struggle."

He recalled how that feeling of solidarity has been essential for
the very existence of the revolution during the past 12 years, and he
emphasized that this rhetoric was not simply "beautifully expressed
conceptions," but, for the Cuban people, already part of their own
education in international and revolutionary feelings.

Along this line he underlined the growing deep sympathy for the
heroic people of Vietnam, who are an example to the rest of the world.

"Vietnam has repaid the solidarity of the world in the form of a
priceless service: the lesson it has given imperialism, the knowledge that
it has offered to the peoples, the faith that it has instilled in the
combatants of the entire world, that the empire is not invincible."

As proof of what international solidarity signifies today in a
world in which imperialism resorts constantly to the use of force, of
violence, Maj Fidel Castro mentioned the declarations, expressed by the
occasion's orators, of solidarity with the peoples who are struggling today
on different continents: in Africa, including Angola, Mozambique, so-called
Portuguese Guinea, the Arabic nations, heroic Palestine, and peoples such
as those of South Africa, who have to endure the oppression of exploiting
and racist minorities; in the United States itself, where revolutionary
fighters are victims of brutal repression, such as George Jackson, who was
recently assassinated; with the Chilean people, the Peruvians, and other
brothers of Latin America; in Asia, with a Korea divided by the presence of
imperialist armies.

Then he referred broadly to the recent fascist coup in Bolivia
which stirred "revolutionary feeling and the conscience of our continent."

As instigators of the coup, Fidel blamed Yankee imperialism,
backed by the military dictatorships of Brazil and Paraguay; the
participation of Argentina was also evident.

"The facts, that is, the fascist intentions, the fascist coup in
Bolivia surprised absolutely nobody. It was something expected as
inevitable. The Bolivians themselves knew about it. The Bolivian delegation
attending the 26 of July, made up of workers, student, and peasant
representatives, all knew the imminent danger of the coup. they also knew
that the people could depend on only one garrison: the Colorados Regiment
under the command of Maj Ruben Sanchez. But they were determined to fight."

The Prime Minister pointed out that the coup took place at a time
of rising anti-imperialist and revolutionary movements on the continent: in
Chile, the Popular Unity government; in Peru, a nationalist government that
is promulgating laws such as the nationalization of oil and agrarian
reforms which go against the capitalist and oligarchic structures; in
Uruguay, a struggle which is more and more being resolved on two planes:
armed resistance and in a legal struggle in which a broad front which has
great possibilities of overthrowing the oligarchy is being organized.

It is logical that, faced with this situation, imperialism would
hasten to aim a blow at the weakest link, in this instance, Bolivia. And,
emphasized the Prime Minister, it is not only a coup against Bolivia, but
also against the peoples of Chile, Uruguay, and Peru, and, to a more or
lesser degree, against all the peoples of Latin America.

Fidel referred to the repression by the Bolivian forces which
caused hundreds of wounded and dead among the people who defended
themselves valiantly in spite of not being able to count on sufficient
arms.

"That massacre," he said, "reminds us of those years when our
university buildings were also being attacked by the police, of the heroic
actions of the students, of their pitched battles with the police, beneath
the bullets, beneath the blows, under repression; battles that moved the
country even if they were completely disarmed; they were the prelude to the
heroic attack on the Presidential Palace on 13 March, the day the glorious
leader of the Federation of University Students, Jose Antonio Echeverria,
died.

"And what was the answer from our people? What could be the only
answer from our people! War! War on any field where it becomes necessary!"

Fidel recalled how dozens of unarmed young people, students,
peasants, faced the fiery of the omnipotent police, falling under the
bullets, and learning with their very flesh what the class hatred of the
imperialists meant. "Until the day when our unarmed people tired of
receiving beatings and shootings. Until that day! Until the day when they
decided to answer violence with violence, until the day when they decided
to answer arms with arms.

"The message of our revolution to our sister nations of Latin
America is essentially that. And," he specified, "it is not that we support
violence for the sake of violence, armed struggle for the sake of armed
struggle. It is not that we hold dogmatic positions, disregarding all other
forms of struggle. No!"

He explained how the Cuban revolution grasped the possibilities of
the triumph of the popular movement in Chile and also understood the
intelligent combination that the Uruguayans have developed from the
different forms of struggle.

A good example of lack of dogmatism, Fidel pointed out, was the
fact that this country understood the new events in Peru from the very
beginning. There, a group of military men are undertaking a nationalistic
and patriotic process. We saw what was happening as a positive thing and we
supported it.

Maj Fidel Castro detailed: "In that way, the revolution has
demonstrated its lack of dogmatism. And it has demonstrated its capacity to
appreciate all positive elements of a situation, and the revolutionary
contradictions that can be developed at any given time in any country on
our continent."

He recalled that right after the guerrilla movement led by Che in
Bolivia, imperialists,and pseudorevoltitionaries used it as an argument to
fight the idea of armed revolutionary struggle. "They thought that the
revolution in Bolivia had been definitively stamped out! After Che had
written one of the most beautiful pages of solidarity, of disinterest that
a revolutionary can write! And he wrote it with guns in his hand, he wrote
it even with his pen, leaving us the legacy of his diary, with that
objectivity, with that value and with that serenity which always
characterized him! And with his blood!"

Che's battle, his death, contributed to the extraordinary
awakening of the people of Bolivia. An in that country, "there is not a
single revolutionary who believes that any other road can exist except that
of armed revolution, precisely the road pointed out by Che."

Maj Fidel Castro expressed his conviction that the fascist
government of Bolivia could not hold out and that revolutionaries will
struggle until they take power. "And it is the duty of all revolutionaries
to offer support and moral and material encouragement to the struggle of
the Bolivians, and against the threat that imperialism and reaction have
launched against the revolutionary movement."

In another part of his speech before the young people and students
gathered in the Plaza Cadenas, the First Secretary of the Communist Party
of Cuba reiterated the well-known position of the revolutionary government
concerning the United States and its absolutist Organization of American
States, the sadly notorious OAS:

"For better or for worse, Cuba will never join the OAS," said
Fidel, denouncing the imperialist maneuvers which, noticing the
revolutionary sentiment growing in the continent, now even try to authorize
some governments of Latin America to approve Cuban entrance into the OAS
and to establish relations with Cuba.

"The policy of the Cuban revolution is well established; it will
accept relations only with governments which are independent, with
governments capable of opposing Yankee dictates, with governments ready to
demonstrate authentic national sovereignty and independent." But, in order
to have relations with us authorized, Fidel added, we have "to paint
ourselves as 'good guys'"; we are witnessing another unusual thing: the
intention of picturing Cuba as tranquil, as a nation which would not
express any support of the revolutionary movement in Latin America.

"And there is no way to convince, there are no words in the
dictionary to explain to the imperialist 'gentlemen' that we are not nor
will we be 'good guys.' And since they know that solidarity with the
revolutionary movement -- that solidarity which the revolution has
expressed and will continue to express, has maintained and will continue to
maintain, as was said 26 July, as long as one single Latin American country
remains under imperialist domination -- is the reason measures were taken
against Cuba, we wish to tell them in all clarity that we are not one whit
repentant, and that the road we have followed so far is the road we will
continue to follow. So, imperialist gentlemen, gentlemen of the OAS, we do
not agree to your painting us as 'good guys.' For we wish to, and are
determined to continue, being the 'bad guys' in the eyes of the
reactionaries and imperialists."

Concerning rumors abroad about an approach to, or the possibility
of reestablishing relations with the United States, the Commander in Chief
was once again precise and clear.

Fidel reiterated Cuba's position, which totally rejects any kind
of negotiations with or approach to the imperialist government of the
United States. Besides, he clarified that this position concerning the
government at Washington had nothing to do with the natural sympathies of
the Cuban people for the rising struggles of the American people. "We do
not harbor any chauvinistic feelings, we do not preach hatred toward that
people, and we distinguish fully between the people and the imperialist
government of the United States.

"So, our position toward the imperialist government is quite
clear: we have nothing to negotiate with the imperialist government of the
United States! Debts to the imperialist government? Mines, Cuban soil,
natural resources, banking institutions, factories, commercial prerogatives
which were recovered for the people? Those goods cannot be paid for, should
not be paid for, and will never be paid for! Never will we pay even one
symbolic penny to the imperialists who exploited us and extracted millions
from our sweat and from our blood. It is quite clear.

"It is not we who owe them. It is they who owe us for the immense
material and human damage they have caused us with their blockades and
economic aggression and repeated political and military misdeeds."

Concerning the blockade, Maj Fidel Castro said that there was
nothing to talk about because the Yankee imperialists did not discuss it
with Cuba when they were going to impose it.

"So," he emphasized, "our position concerning the imperialist
government of the United States is very clear: we have nothing to negotiate
with them! And less because of their position of strength, less because of
their position as a blockading country toward a blockaded country, And this
we must say with all clarity: whenever they feel like it, if they feel like
it -- and it does not worry us a great deal -- the day that they want to
remove their blockade and cease all measures against Cuba, they must do it
unconditionally and without discussing one single word with us."

Before ending his speech, which was repeatedly applauded by the
multitude of young people and students, Maj Fidel Castro referred to Cuba's
commitment to the peoples of the world.

"You can tell our brothers all over the world that Cuba will not
fail."

Fidel praised the broad solidarity of revolutionary movements and
pointed out that "solidarity will be repaid with solidarity, with
revolutionary loyalty."

He ended by telling the representatives of world youth on our
continent of the importance that the solidarity and the support of young
people and students from all over the world have for the peoples of Latin
America, and especially for Bolivia.
-END-