Speech: Fidel Castro: "What the Revolution Found When It came to power"

Below is you an excerpt from a speech Castro delivered to the UN General Assembly in 1960. He talks about the economic and social situation that persisted under the Baptista regime. The excerpt is a powerful and piercing criticism of the American hegemony and exploitation that motivated the revolution. Moreover, the excerpt provides insight into why the Revolution progressed as it did.

While I do not necessarily agree with how Castro went about fulfilling the promise of the revolution, I do support the spirit that motivated it in the first place. The promise of an independent nation, is it's people's freedom traverse a path of their own choosing. The Baptista regime was not working towards the benefit of Cubans, and they had the right to change it.

The first paragraph of the speech is below, with a link to download the entire speech at the end.

"What did the Revolution find when it came to power in Cuba? What marvels did the Revolution find when it came to power in Cuba? First of all the Revolution found that 600,000 able Cubans were unemployed — as many, proportionately, as were unemployed in the United States at the time of the great depression which shook this country and which almost created a catastrophy in the United States. That was our permanent unemployment. Three million out of a population of somewhat over 6,000,000 did not have electric lights and did not enjoy the advantages and comforts of electricity. Three and a half million out of a total of slightly more than 6,000,000 lived in huts, shacks and slums, without the slightest sanitary facilities. In the cities, rents took almost one third of family incomes. Electricity rates and rents were among the highest in the world. Thirty­seven and one half percent of our population were illiterate; 70 per cent of the rural children had no teachers; 2 per cent of population, that is, 100,000 persons out of a total of more than 6,000,000 suffered from tuberculosis. Ninety­five per cent of the children in rural areas were affected by parasites, and the infant mortality rate was therefore very high, just the opposite of the average life span."

Read the full Excerpt here : http://www.mediafire.com/file/lxwwwmz2xe5/revFindFidel.pdf

*1 Image taken from VivirLatino.com