{"id":195186,"date":"2021-12-06T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T12:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=195186"},"modified":"2021-11-30T10:45:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T10:45:19","slug":"homeland-or-death-che-guevaras-historic-speech-at-the-un-on-11-dec-1964","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/12\/homeland-or-death-che-guevaras-historic-speech-at-the-un-on-11-dec-1964\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeland or Death! Che Guevara\u2019s Historic Speech at the UN on 11 Dec 1964"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Che na 19\u00aa Assembleia da ONU<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Feb 2021 – Che declared, in that historic UN Assembly meeting, the internationalist character of the Cuban Revolution and the non-negotiable willingness to defend its sovereignty — concepts that have become even more urgent and universal due to the coronavirus pandemic that the world faces today.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\u201cPatria o muerte!\u201d<\/em>, With that phrase the then Minister of Industry of Cuba, Ernesto Che Guevara, ended his speech on December 11, 1964, before the United Nations General Assembly. Almost 60 years later, the speech and the slogan chosen by him for its closure, remain a beacon for the Latin American continent.<\/p>\n

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An Internationalist Revolution<\/strong><\/h3>\n

First of all, it must be said that Che Guevara declared, in that historic 19th UN Assembly in New York, the internationalist character of the Cuban Revolution, in addition to the socialist island\u2019s non-negotiable resolve to defend its sovereignty.\u00a0 And he did so with shocking clarity and frankness. \u00a0Today, his words, while triumphant at the time, cannot but make one sad when considered in the context of the Latin American experience of the last decades.<\/p>\n

In the midst of the Cold War, \u201cEl Che\u201d also shed light on the reality of the African and Asian continents, drawing attention to the demands of non-aligned countries\u00b9<\/strong> which, even today, struggle against imperialism and colonialism consistent with the rights memorialized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights <\/a>and many other international Covenants.<\/p>\n

The long and intense speech, carefully followed by the leaders present, went through the ills of capitalism around the world in the 60s and questioned whether the UN was truly living up to its mission as the organization created with the chief aim of preserving world peace. As chancellor of the Cuban nation, Che greeted other nations in resistance to oppression, such as Palestine and Somalia; defended Puerto Rico\u2019s struggle for independence; denounced the horrors of the Vietnam War; accused the United Nations of colluding with Belgium\u2019s brutal occupation of Congo and the assassination of leader Patrice Lumumba; asked member countries to take a stand against the cruel apartheid regime in South Africa imposed by the United Kingdom; and urged the nations of the world to recognize the legitimacy of the representation of the People\u2019s Republic of China and its status as an indivisible nation at the UN. Che, speaking for the newly-liberated island nation of Cuba, made it clear to the world that Cuba would not only keep its head up in the face of the consequences of having chosen the path of independence, but he also stood as a beacon lighting the way for all other struggles for liberation. It was homeland or nothing.<\/p>\n

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Homeland or Death!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The battle cry, which underscored the transcendental character of nationhood and deepened the concept of homeland beyond geography (invoking those who died anywhere in the world to defend it) had previously been expressed by the historic leader of the revolution, Fidel Castro \u2013 himself inspired by the independence leader Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed. \u00a0Fidel had declared these words in front of a crowd, on March 5, 1960, assembled at the burial of the victims of the explosion of the French ship \u201cLa Coubre,\u201d which left more than one hundred dead and almost four hundred injured.<\/p>\n

It was also during this collective funeral that photographer Alberto Korda took the iconic photo of the Argentine guerrilla, Che Guevara \u2014 an image that has become one of the most recognized emblems of the Cuban Revolution itself and which is still examined by academic scholars to the same extent that it has gained popularity all over the planet as a symbol of resistance.<\/p>\n

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A steam freighter, carrying 76 tons of ammunition, exploded when unloading at Havana\u2019s port. Less than an hour later, a second explosion, even stronger, hit hundreds of volunteers involved in the rescue operation of the victims of the first detonation.<\/p>\n

A series of declassified documents<\/a> soon confirmed that the terrorist attack on the French freighter had been organized by the CIA, with the aim of sabotaging the supply of arms and ammunition to Cuba, leaving the island defenseless against Washington\u2019s offensives, the first of which materialized in the attempted Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. This was just one of the many defeats of the USA in its vain, but perverse, obsession with subjugating the Cuban nation.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, as soon as he heard the crashes and saw the immense cloud of dust covering the city, then Minister Che, who was meeting at the National Institute for Agrarian Reform, rushed to the port area and spent hours providing medical care to the wounded.<\/p>\n

In fact, Che never stopped practicing medicine, and he inspired Cuba to become what it is today: the greatest example in the world of the duty of the state to provide public health. In the midst of the pandemic, Che\u2019s example is more than alive: at least four vaccines are being produced by Cuba \u2013 despite the aggressive blockade \u2013 and with guaranteed care for its people, maintaining low numbers of cases and deaths while still sending doctors, nurses and supplies to dozens of countries, poor and rich alike.<\/p>\n

While the rich countries of the West increase global tensions by promoting conflicts and wars even during a relentless pandemic, Cuba has shown what true international solidarity looks like. This is why there is a growing campaign<\/a> for a Nobel Peace Prize for Cuba\u2019s Henry Reeve International Brigade<\/strong>, one which already has the support of more than 17,000 personalities worldwide. Such recognition by the Nobel Committee is the least that humanity can do to show gratitude for such a gesture of universal solidarity.<\/p>\n

Cuban doctors incorporate as value and mission the idea expressed by the Brazilian professor and writer Marcelo Biar and which became a symbol of the campaign: \u201cThe soul has no frontier, no life is foreign.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Since Che\u2019s historic UN speech, \u201cPatria o Muerte\u201d became more than a statement; it became a but an almost religious incantation \u2013 affective, moral and full of memories \u2013 of a nation grateful and determined never to surrender its right to continue becoming itself and to aid the immense community of exploited human beings in the world.<\/p>\n

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The spectrum that still haunts the world<\/h4>\n

It is not difficult to see, observing Che\u2019s speech at the UN, the evident political weight of having been applauded with such enthusiasm at that historic moment by that Assembly of Nations. Che was applauded right after his legendary battle cry, demonstrating, as he said in his speech, that Cuba\u2019s cause had \u201cthe understanding and support of all the peoples of the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

There, \u201cEl Che\u201d inevitably became a preferred target of the United States, having in fact been assassinated a few years later. But also for this reason, he became the greatest representation of the hero converted, by his own enemy, into a world icon of dignity and self-determination of peoples.<\/p>\n

Che\u2019s martyrdom had the opposite effect of those who wanted to silence him, resulting in a specter that still haunts and will continue to haunt generations of cowards.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The terrorist Felix Gutierrez Mendigutia, known as El Gato, not only murdered Che Guevara at the behest of the United States, but also ensured that Che\u2019s hands were cut off and sent to the CIA so that the death of such a legendary character could be proven. But neither Che nor Cuba ever threatened any nation in the world, except with its \u201cBattle of Ideas\u201d, which Fidel Castro spoke of, and which continues today as the great lump in the throat of those who need to destroy the living idea of \u200b\u200bthe possibility of building a \u201cNew man\u201d in opposition to selfishness, individualism and all human misery. This battle is even more critical in light of the current world-wide pandemic.<\/p>\n

For those today who wish to follow in the footsteps of Che Guevara, any step back on the road of liberation must be regarded as an act of betrayal to the sacrifice for which Che sacrificed his life.\u00a0 Che himself certainly was aware at the moment of his great sacrifice that he represented and represents thousands of others, anonymous heroes of human liberation \u2014 heroes of all genders, races and creeds.<\/p>\n

The extensive speech that Che \u2013 himself proclaimed of \u2018Cuban origin\u2019 by the revolution but because of his history of life and ideas, also an irremediable internationalist \u2013 transmitted to the world that day, contained a universal concept that is intergenerational and adaptable to any culture or nation, and that fits completely in a single sentence of the national anthem of Cuba: \u201cto die for the homeland, is to live!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check below the translation of fragments of Commander Ernesto Che Guevara\u2019s historic speech representing the Republic of Cuba at the 1964 UN General Assembly:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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