Pravda 1983
Source: Pravda. November 16, 1983; obtained from the Latin American Network Information Center;
Transcribed: for marxists.org by David Adams.
Fidel Castro, first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party Central Committee and president of the Cuban Councils of State and Ministers, has angrily denounced the criminal U.S. aggression against sovereign Grenada. He was speaking in Havana at a funeral meeting in memory of the 24 Cubans internationalists who died so heroically in Grenada.
Grenada, F. Castro said in particular, is one of the smallest independent states in terms of both territory and population. If Cuba rendered Grenada a great deal of aid, it did so because our efforts -- quantitatively quite modest but qualitatively very important -- meant a lot to that country. Our doctors, teachers, and other specialists took part in assisting Grenada.
Our people's friendship with Grenada and Prime Minister M. Bishop was cordial. Our respect for that country's sovereignty was so irreproachable that we never allowed ourselves even to voice an opinion with regard to what was done in Grenada and how it was done. In our relations with Grenada we were guided by the same principle as in relations with other revolutionary movements -- by absolute respect for its policy, its viewpoint, and the decisions it took. We expressed our opinion on a particular question only if the Grenadians asked us to do so. Imperialism cannot understand that the secret of our excellent relations with the international revolutionary movement consists in only this respect.
The U.S. Government despised Grenada and hated Bishop. It wanted to thwart the process taking place in Grenada and to destroy its achievements, which had served as an example to others. The United States developed plans for a military invasion of the island -- they were exposed two years ago by M. Bishop -- but did not find a suitable pretext for implementing its objectives.
In the years since the victory of the revolution, the speaker pointed out, the economic and social situation on the island has improved markedly, the people have received many benefits, and the GNP has risen -- despite the consequences of the economic crisis. Grenada became a real symbol of independence and progress in the Caribbean.
Today no one can yet say exactly whether dissent was sown in the Grenadian leadership at its own initiative or on instructions from imperialism. It is not out of the question that it was the CIA's doing. Who were the people who prepared the plot against Bishop within the ranks of the party, army, and state security service? Were they a group of extremists infected with theoretical intrigue, or is it simply a case of a group of opportunists with excessive ambitions, or even of enemy agents who wanted to put an end to the revolution in Grenada? Only history will give a definitive answer.
As of 20 October, the Cuban Communist Party and Government statement pointed out, no crime may be committed in the name of freedom and revolution. To the honor of our own revolution it should be noted that, despite the profound indignation with which we greeted M. Bishop's deposition, we totally refrained from interfering in the Grenadians' internal affairs.
The report that U.S. naval forces were advancing toward Grenada put Cuba in a difficult position. Under these conditions, the speaker noted, there was no pretext on which we could leave Grenada. If imperialism really intended to attack Grenada, our moral duty was to remain there. To leave at that moment would have been dishonorable. It could have promoted the unleashing of aggression -- against Grenada today and against Cuba tomorrow. In addition events were developing with such unbelievable speed that even if we had decided to undertake an evacuation, we would simply not have had the time.
The events within the country could not and cannot serve as a pretext to justify U.S. aggression, F. Castro said. Since when has the United States been the judge in another state's internal conflict? What right did Reagan have to rend his garments in alleged grief at the death of Bishop, whom he so hated and against whom he had struggled? What was the reason for flouting the sovereignty of Grenada -- a small independent state which had achieved recognition and respect throughout the world? It was as though some other country had suddenly declared it had the "right" to invade the United States because of the vile assassination of Martin Luther King or the other numerous crimes against, for instance, the black and Hispanic minorities in the United States, or because John Kennedy was assassinated.
The same can be said of the "argument" that the lives of the Americans in Grenada were in danger. There are far more Americans in dozens of other countries. Does that mean the United States has the right to attack those countries when internal conflicts arise there? Having dismissed the phony stories of the reasons for the U.S. invasion of Grenada, can we regard this policy as the norm in international relations? Even a thousand lectures on scientific communism could not have demonstrated the base, perfidious, aggressive essence of imperialism more graphically than the aggression against Grenada did.
The Reagan administration was flagrantly lying when it tried to justify its invasion by stating that Cuba was responsible for the coup d'état and Bishop's death, that the U.S. students were in danger of being turned into hostages, that the main aim of the invasion was to protect the lives of U.S. citizens, that the invasion was a "multinational operation" undertaken at the request of former Governor-General Scoon and several East Caribbean countries, that Cuba was planning to invade Grenada and capture it, that Grenada had become "an important Soviet-Cuban base," that the airport under construction was not a civilian but a military one, that the weapons in Grenada were intended for "the export of subversive activity and terrorism," that the Cubans were the first to open f ire that there were over 1,000 Cubans in Grenada, the majority of whom were not construction workers but professional soldiers, that the invasion forces strived to avoid devastation and casualties among the civilian population, that the U.S. troops would stay in Grenada for just one week, that missile launching silos were being installed in Grenada, that the ship the Vietnam Heroico was transporting "special arms," that Cuba had been warned of the invasion, that 500 Cubans were fighting in the mountains, that Cuba has given the order for "reprisals" against the U.S. citizens, and that representatives of the press had not been allowed on the island only for the sake of the "journalists' safety."
Not one of these allegations has been proved, F. Castro stressed: they have all been refuted by the facts. This cynical way of using lies to justify aggression against the tiny country is reminiscent of the methods to which Hitler resorted when he was preparing and unleashing World War II.
Even the U.S. students and employees at the medical college in Grenada admitted that they had been given absolute guarantees of safety and the opportunity to leave the country. Cuba offered the United States its cooperation to reserve any situation which might arise without resorting to violence and invasion.
Not a single U.S. citizen suffered before the invasion of Grenada, and if there was something jeopardizing their lives then it was only the military operation unleashed in Grenada by the Americans. Cuban personnel were instructed not to impede operations to evacuate U.S. citizens from the runway near the university in order to rule out any risk. Reagan's claims that the same thing could happen to Americans in Grenada as happened in Iran, the speaker stressed, were aimed at kindling the Americans' vanity, wounded by these events. It was a demagogic, speculative dishonest statement. Allegations that the airport under construction in Grenada was "a military establishment" are an old lie to which the Reagan administration has frequently resorted, and it has been categorically denied by the British firm which has supplied and installed its electronic equipment there. Specialists from the Plessey firm who worked with Cuban construction workers assert that the latter were simply civilian workers. Several EEC countries belonging to NATO were also taking part in the airport's installation. Could anyone imagine they were cooperating with Cuba and Grenada in installing a military airfield? The allegation that Grenada had become a "Soviet-Cuba military base" is refuted by the fact that not a single Soviet military specialist was to be found there. The allegedly "secret documents" which fell into U.S. hands and were published by the U.S. Government speak of agreement between the Cuban and Grenadian Governments, under which our country sent 27 military advisers, whose number may later have reached 40. These figures coincide fully with the data published in Cuba. Not one of these documents hints at the existence of military bases in Grenada. Nor is there anything to confirm the allegation that the weapons received for the Grenadian Army and militia were designed for export to third countries. This refutes the allegation that Grenada had been turned into an "arsenal" for supplying subversive organizations and terrorists -- as the present head of the U.S. Administration likes to call all national liberation and revolutionary movements.
The allegation that Cuba intended to seize Grenada is so unrealistic, so absurd and insane, so alien to our principles and international policy, that it does not merit any serious attention, F. Castro asserted.
What has actually been proved is Cuba's strictest noninterference in Grenada's internal affairs. The instructions which were sent to our embassy in Grenada and which have been published by the Cuban Government provide incontrovertible proof of the clear-cut and principled position taken by our party and government with regard to events in that tiny island. The fact that our specialists were civilians has been confirmed by the hundreds of foreign journalists who were present when they returned home and had an opportunity to talk with every one of them.
When the U.S. representatives claimed that some 1,000 to 1,500 Cubans were in Grenada at the time of the invasion and that hundreds of them continued to fight in the mountains, Cuba published the exact number of citizens in Grenada at the time of the aggression. There were 784 of them, including diplomats and family members. The instructions they received were also published -- to defend their workplaces and the settlements where they lived in case of attack -- and the impossibility of the claim that hundreds of Cubans were in the mountains was pointed out. The facts have confirmed that the information given by the Cuban side has always corresponded with the truth.
It is just as false and cynical to claim that the Cubans were the first to start hostile actions. It has been incontrovertibly proved that the Cuban workers were asleep at the time of the invasion. They were issued with weapons when the landing on the runway was already at its height, and there were not enough weapons to go around. It is absolutely accurate that fighting began when-U.S. troops advanced on the Cubans in combat formation. It is also true that a group of unarmed Cuban specialists was captured by the Americans, who used them as hostages, driving them ahead of U.S. servicemen.
Having cited specific facts in a well-argued refutation of other false claims by Reagan, F. Castro emphasized that the seizure of Grenada was carried out suddenly and treacherously without any advance warning at all, in the Pearl Harbor style, in the Nazi style. This invasion, he pointed out, was presented to the American people as a major foreign policy victory for Reagan in the struggle against the socialist camp and the revolutionary movement. All this is linked with the death of 240 U.S. soldiers in Beirut, with the memory of the hostages in Iran, and with the humiliating defeat in Vietnam. The Reagan administration has ignobly and dishonorably played on the patriotism of Americans, on such terms as the country's dignity and the nation's greatness and glory. Hitler behaved in exactly the same way in 1938 when he occupied Austria and Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
And where is the glory, the greatness, and the victory -- laurels from the conquest of one of the tiniest countries in the world, a country that lacks the slightest economic or strategic significance? How can it be "heroism" to fight against handfuls of workers and civilian specialists who offered courageous resistance despite the surprise attack and the shortage of ammunition, despite the difference in armaments and numbers? The United States has not scored any victory at all, from either the political, the military, or the moral points of view. From the military point of view, this has been a pyrrhic victory and a profound moral defeat. By flouting all international norms, thus incurring the whole world's hatred and condemnation, the United States has manifested the extent to which it holds the rest of the world in contempt.
This contempt is so great that, as President Reagan has himself declared, events in Grenada have in no way affected his appetite. This is why we must evaluate with all responsibility the real situation and the dangers facing the world. Bearing in mind that the United States possesses the latest means of waging war, both conventional and nuclear, and that the president of such a country can launch a war without consulting anyone: This can be extremely dangerous and tragic for all mankind. The echo in the last shots in Grenada is still reverberating, yet there is already talk about intervention in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Cuba.
Imperialism is continuing its interference and armed aggression in the Near East and South Africa against progressive countries and national liberation movements.
Deployment is beginning of the first Pershing and cruise missiles out of the 572 which are to be installed in Europe, surrounding the USSR and the other socialist countries with a deadly ring of nuclear facilities capable of reaching their territories in a matter of minutes. It is not just small countries, but all mankind that is in danger. The bell that now tolls for Grenada could toll for all mankind tomorrow. The most prestigious scientists and doctors confirm that man would be unable to survive a nuclear conflict. The destructive power of the stockpiled weapons of this type is a million times greater than the bombs which destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in a flash. This is what the Reagan administration's militarist and aggressive policy could bring.
The arms race is already a reality at a time when the world is in the grips of its deepest economic crisis since the thirties and it is more imperative than ever to resolve the vital problems of the development of most peoples of the world. No one can trust a government which acts as precipitately, recklessly, and cynically as the incumbent U.S. Administration has done in Grenada. Reagan does not even wish to hear the advice of governments closely linked with him in the political, ideological, and military spheres -- for example, the British Government. It is not surprising that during a public opinion poll, over 90 percent of British people categorically spoke out against the unilateral U.S. prerogative to use the cruise missiles currently being deployed in Britain.
Less than 18 months ago, one of the NATO countries used in our Western Hemisphere modern means of warfare against the Argentinians. The Reagan administration supported these actions, paying no attention at all at the time to the OAS and the treaties and mutual defense pacts, which it discarded with scorn. But now, justifying itself by an invented "request" from some imaginary organization of East Caribbean states, the United States invades Grenada, as a result of which the blood of Grenadians and Cubans is shed.
In Nicaragua, in addition to the 40,000 victims who were the price at which the country's freedom was gained, about 1,000 more have died in battles against the Somozista gangs, which are openly organized and armed by the United States. In El Salvador more than 50,000 people have been exterminated by the inhuman regime, whose army is armed and trained by the United States.
In Guatemala more than 100,000 people have already perished as a result of repressions by the bloody regime which was put in power by the CIA in 1954, when the progressive Arbenz government was overthrown. And how many people have perished in Chile since imperialism plotted the overthrow of the popular unity government and Salvador Allende's assassination! And how many have perished in Uruguay, Paraguay, and other countries over the last 15 years! What a high price in blood, privations, sufferings, and sorrow has been paid by our peoples for imperialism's domination and the existence of the unjust systems imposed by it. The imperialists are trying to destroy the symbols because they know the value of symbols, examples, and ideas, they wanted to destroy them in Grenada, they want to put an end to them in El Salvador, in Nicaragua, and in Cuba. But symbols, examples, and ideas cannot be destroyed, they can only multiply. Grenada has already augmented the patriotic confidence and combat spirit of Salvadoran revolutionaries, Nicaraguans, and Cubans. Grenada has proved that it is possible to fight the elite imperialist troops without fearing them. The imperialists must know that they will encounter resolute resistance each time they attempt to carry out aggression against any revolutionary people. Let the pyrrhic victory in Grenada not intoxicate them nor lead to new and irretrievable mistakes.
In Nicaragua the United States will run up against a highly patriotic and revolutionary people -- united, organized, militant, and armed -- whom it will never be possible to subjugate. As for Cuba, if in Grenada the United States had to use an elite division to fight against handfuls of people surrounded in unfortified positions thousands of kilometers away from home, how many divisions will it need against millions of fighters defending their homeland and their people! Our country, as we have repeatedly said, may be wiped off the face of the earth, but it will never be conquered and subdued! -- F. Castro declared in conclusion.
After the end of the meeting, to the sound of the funeral march, the cortege of gun carriages bearing the remains of the Cubans who fell in Grenada, covered by Cuban national flags, made its way to the capital's Colon Cemetery, where they were buried in the pantheon of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces. Over 1 million residents of the capital and of Havana Province paid their last respects to the internationalist heroes.