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Che Guevara Archive
Message to the Tricontinental
In the interval between his disappearance from Cuba in the
spring of 1965 and his death in Bolivia in the fall of 1967, Guevara
made one public statement. It was his message "from somewhere
in the world" to the Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples
of Africa, Asia and Latin America. It was made public in Havana by
the news service Prensa Latina on April 16, 1967. It is presented
here in full.
Now
is the time of the furnaces, and only light should be seen. —
José Martí
Twenty-one years have already elapsed since the end of the last world
conflagration; numerous publications, in every possible language,
celebrate this event, symbolized by the defeat of Japan. There is
a climate of apparent optimism in many areas of the different camps
into which the world is divided.
Twenty-one years without a world war, in these times of maximum confrontations,
of violent clashes and sudden changes, appears to be a very high figure.
However, without analyzing the practical results of this peace (poverty,
degradation, increasingly larger exploitation of enormous sectors
of humanity) for which all of us have stated that we are willing to
fight, we would do well to inquire if this peace is real.
It is not the purpose of these notes to detail the different conflicts
of a local character that have been occurring since the surrender
of Japan, neither do we intend to recount the numerous and increasing
instances of civilian strife which have taken place during these years
of apparent peace. It will be enough just to name, as an example against
undue optimism, the wars of Korea and Vietnam.
In the first one, after years of savage warfare, the Northern part
of the country was submerged in the most terrible devastation known
in the annals of modern warfare: riddled with bombs; without factories,
schools, or hospitals; with absolutely no shelter for housing ten
million inhabitants.
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Under the discredited flag of the United Nations, dozens of countries
under the military leadership of the United States participated in
this war with the massive intervention of U.S. soldiers and the use,
as cannon fodder, of the South Korean population that was enrolled.
On the other side, the army and the people of Korea and the volunteers
from the People's Republic of China were furnished with supplies and
advice by the Soviet military apparatus.
The U.S. tested all sorts of weapons of destruction, excluding the
thermonuclear type, but including, on a limited scale, bacteriological
and chemical warfare.
In Vietnam, the patriotic forces of that country have carried on an
almost uninterrupted war against three imperialist powers: Japan,
whose might suffered an almost vertical collapse after the bombs of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki; France, who recovered from that defeated country
its Indo-China colonies and ignored the promises it had made in harder
times; and the United States, in this last phase of the struggle.
There were limited confrontations in every continent, although in
Our America, for a long time, there were only incipient liberation
struggles and military coups d'état until the Cuban Revolution
resounded the alert, signaling the importance of this region. This
action attracted the wrath of the imperialists, and Cuba was finally
obliged to defend its coasts, first in Playa Girón, and again
during the Missile Crisis.
This last incident could have unleashed a war of incalculable proportions
if a U.S.-Soviet clash had occurred over the Cuban question.
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But, evidently, the focal point of all contradictions is at present
the territory of the peninsula of Indo-China and the adjacent areas.
Laos and Vietnam are torn by a civil war which has ceased being such
by the entry into the conflict of U.S. imperialism with all its might,
thus transforming the whole zone into a dangerous detonator ready
at any moment to explode.
In Vietnam the confrontation has assumed extremely acute characteristics.
It is not our intention, either, to chronicle this war. We shall simply
remember and point out some milestones.
In 1954, after the annihilating defeat of Dien Bien Phu, an agreement
was signed at Geneva dividing the country into two separate zones;
elections were to be held within a term of 18 months to determine
who should govern Vietnam and how the country should be reunified.
The U.S. did not sign this document and started maneuvering to substitute
the emperor, Bao Dai, who was a French puppet, for a man more amenable
to its purposes. This happened to be Ngo Dinh Diem, whose tragic end
— that of an orange squeezed dry by imperialism — is well
known by all.
During the months following the agreement, optimism reigned supreme
in the camp of the popular forces. The last pockets of the anti-French
resistance were dismantled in the South of the country — and
they awaited the fulfillment of the Geneva agreements. But the patriots
soon realized there would be no elections — unless the United
States felt itself capable of imposing its will in the polls, which
was practically impossible, even resorting to all its fraudulent methods.
Once again the fighting broke out in the South and gradually acquired
full intensity. At present the U.S. army has increased to over half
a million invaders while the puppet forces decrease in number and,
above all, have totally lost their combativeness.
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Almost two years ago the United States started bombing systematically
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, in yet another attempt to overcome
the belligerence of the South and impose, from a position of strength,
a meeting at the conference table. At first, the bombardments were
more or less isolated occurrences and were adorned with the mask of
reprisals for alleged provocations from the North. Later on, as they
increased in intensity and regularity, they became one gigantic attack
carried out by the air force of the United States, day after day,
for the purpose of destroying all vestiges of civilization in the
Northern zone of the country. This is an episode of the infamously
notorious "escalation."
 The
material aspirations of the Yankee world have been fulfilled to a
great extent, regardless of the unflinching defense of the Vietnamese
anti-aircraft artillery, of the numerous planes shot down (over 1,700),
and of the socialist countries' aid in war supplies.
There is a sad reality: Vietnam — a nation representing the
aspirations, the hopes of a whole world of forgotten peoples —
is tragically alone. This nation must endure the furious attacks of
U.S. technology, with practically no possibility of reprisals in the
South and only some of defense in the North — but always alone.
The solidarity of all progressive forces of the world towards the
people of Vietnam today is similar to the bitter irony of the plebeians
coaxing on the gladiators in the Roman arena. It is not a matter of
wishing success to the victim of aggression, but of sharing his fate;
one must accompany him to his death or to victory.
When we analyze the lonely situation of the Vietnamese people, we
are overcome by anguish at this illogical moment of humanity.
U.S. imperialism is guilty of aggression — its crimes are enormous
and cover the whole world. We already know all that, gentlemen! But
this guilt also applies to those who, when the time came for a definition,
hesitated to make Vietnam an inviolable part of the socialist world,
running, of course, the risks of a war on a global scale — but
also forcing a decision upon imperialism. And the guilt also applies
to those who maintain a war of abuse and snares — started quite
some time ago by the representatives of the two greatest powers of
the socialist camp.
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We must ask ourselves, seeking an honest answer: Is Vietnam isolated,
or is it not? Is it not maintaining a dangerous equilibrium between
the two quarrelling powers?
And what great people these are! What stoicism and courage! And what
a lesson for the world is contained in this struggle! Not for a long
time shall we be able to know if President Johnson ever seriously
thought of bringing about some of the reforms needed by his people
— to iron out the barbed class contradictions that grow each
day with explosive power. The truth is that the improvements announced
under the pompous title of the "Great Society" have dropped
into the cesspool of Vietnam.
The largest of all imperialist powers feels in its own guts the bleeding
inflicted by a poor and underdeveloped country; its fabulous economy
feels the strain of the war effort. Murder is ceasing to be the most
convenient business for its monopolies. Defensive weapons, and never
in adequate number, are all these extraordinary soldiers have —
besides love for their homeland, their society, and unsurpassed courage.
But imperialism is bogging down in Vietnam, is unable to find a way
out, and desperately seeks one that will overcome with dignity this
dangerous situation in which it now finds itself. Furthermore, the
Four Points put forward by the North and the Five Points of the South
now corner imperialism, making the confrontation even more decisive.
Everything indicates that peace, this unstable peace which bears that
name for the sole reason that no worldwide conflagration has taken
place, is again in danger of being destroyed by some irrevocable and
unacceptable step taken by the United States.
What role shall we, the exploited people of the world, play? The peoples
of the three continents focus their attention on Vietnam and learn
their lesson. Since imperialists blackmail humanity by threatening
it with war, the wise reaction is not to fear war. The general tactics
of the people should be to launch a constant and a firm attack in
all fronts where the confrontation is taking place.
In those places where this meager peace we have has been violated,
which is our duty? To liberate ourselves at any price.
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The world panorama is of great complexity. The struggle for liberation
has not yet been undertaken by some countries of ancient Europe, sufficiently
developed to realize the contradictions of capitalism, but weak to
such a degree that they are unable either to follow imperialism or
even to start on its own road. Their contradictions will reach an
explosive stage during the forthcoming years — but their problems
and, consequently, their own solutions are different from those of
our dependent and economically underdeveloped countries.
The fundamental field of imperialist exploitation comprises the three
underdeveloped continents: America, Asia, and Africa. Every country
has also its own characteristics, but each continent, as a whole,
also presents a certain unity.
Our America is integrated by a group of more or less homogeneous countries,
and in most parts of its territory U.S. monopolist capitals maintain
an absolute supremacy. Puppet governments or, in the best of cases,
weak and fearful local rulers are incapable of contradicting orders
from their Yankee master. The United States has nearly reached the
climax of its political and economic domination; it could hardly advance
much more; any change in the situation could bring about a setback.
Their policy is to maintain that which has already been conquered.
The line of action, at the present time, is limited to the brutal
use of force with the purpose of thwarting the liberation movements,
no matter of what type they might happen to be.
The slogan "We will not allow another Cuba" hides the possibility
of perpetrating aggressions without fear of reprisal, such as the
one carried out against the Dominican Republic or before that the
massacre in Panama — and the clear warning stating that Yankee
troops are ready to intervene anywhere in America where the ruling
regime may be altered, thus endangering their interests. This policy
enjoys an almost absolute impunity: the OAS is a suitable mask, in
spite of its unpopularity; the inefficiency of the UN is ridiculous
as well as tragic; the armies of all American countries are ready
to intervene in order to smash their peoples. The International of
Crime and Treason has in fact been organized. On the other hand, the
autochthonous bourgeoisies have lost all their capacity to oppose
imperialism — if they ever had it — and they have become
the last card in the pack. There are no other alternatives: either
a socialist revolution or a make-believe revolution.
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Asia is a continent with many different characteristics. The struggle
for liberation waged against a series of European colonial powers
resulted in the establishment of more or less progressive governments,
whose ulterior evolution has brought about, in some cases, the deepening
of the primary objectives of national liberation and in others, a
setback towards the adoption of pro-imperialist positions.
From the economic point of view, the United States had very little
to lose and much to gain from Asia. These changes benefited its interests;
the struggle for the overthrow of other neocolonial powers and the
penetration of new spheres of action in the economic field is carried
out sometimes directly, occasionally through Japan.
But there are special political conditions, particularly in Indo-China,
which create in Asia certain characteristics of capital importance
and play a decisive role in the entire U.S. military strategy.
The imperialists encircle China through South Korea, Japan, Taiwan,
South Vietnam, and Thailand, at least.
This dual situation, a strategic interest as important as the military
encirclement of the People's Republic of China and the penetration
of these great markets — which they do not dominate yet —
turns Asia into one of the most explosive points of the world today,
in spite of its apparent stability outside of the Vietnamese war zone.
The Middle East, though it geographically belongs to this continent,
has its own contradictions and is actively in ferment; it is impossible
to foretell how far this cold war between Israel, backed by the imperialists,
and the progressive countries of that zone will go. This is just another
one of the volcanoes threatening eruption in the world today.
Africa offers an almost virgin territory to the neocolonial invasion.
There have been changes which, to some extent, forced neocolonial
powers to give up their former absolute prerogatives. But when these
changes are carried out uninterruptedly, colonialism continues in
the form of neocolonialism with similar effects as far as the economic
situation is concerned.
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The United States had no colonies in this region but is now struggling
to penetrate its partners' fiefs. It can be said that following the
strategic plans of U.S. imperialism, Africa constitutes its long-range
reservoir; its present investments, though, are only important in
the Union of South Africa, and its penetration is beginning to be
felt in the Congo, Nigeria, and other countries where a violent rivalry
with other imperialist powers is beginning to take place (in a pacific
manner up to the present time).
So far, it does not have there great interests to defend except its
pretended right to intervene in every spot of the world where its
monopolies detect huge profits or the existence of large reserves
of raw materials.
All this past history justifies our concern regarding the possibilities
of liberating the peoples within a long or a short period of time.
If we stop to analyze Africa, we shall observe that in the Portuguese
colonies of Guinea, Mozambique, and Angola the struggle is waged with
relative intensity, with a concrete success in the first one and with
variable success in the other two. We still witness in the Congo the
dispute between Lumumba's successors and the old accomplices of Tshombe,
a dispute which at the present time seems to favor the latter: those
who have "pacified" a large area of the country for their
own benefit — though the war is still latent.
In Rhodesia we have a different problem: British imperialism used
every means within its reach to place power in the hands of the white
minority, who, at the present time, unlawfully holds it. The conflict,
from the British point of view, is absolutely unofficial; this Western
power, with its habitual diplomatic cleverness — also called
hypocrisy in the strict sense of the word — presents a facade
of displeasure before the measures adopted by the government of Ian
Smith. Its crafty attitude is supported by some Commonwealth countries
that follow it, but is attacked by a large group of countries belonging
to Black Africa, whether they are or not servile economic lackeys
of British imperialism.
Should the rebellious efforts of these patriots succeed and this movement
receive the effective support of neighboring African nations, the
situation in Rhodesia may become extremely explosive. But for the
moment all these problems are being discussed in harmless organizations
such as the UN, the Commonwealth, and the OAU.
The social and political evolution of Africa does not lead us to expect
a continental revolution. The liberation struggle against the Portuguese
should end victoriously, but Portugal does not mean anything in the
imperialist field. The confrontations of revolutionary importance
are those which place at bay all the imperialist apparatus; this does
not mean, however, that we should stop fighting for the liberation
of the three Portuguese colonies and for the deepening of their revolutions.
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When the black masses of South Africa or Rhodesia start their authentic
revolutionary struggle, a new era will dawn in Africa. Or when the
impoverished masses of a nation rise up to rescue their right to a
decent life from the hands of the ruling oligarchies.
 Up
to now, army putsches follow one another; a group of officers succeeds
another or substitutes a ruler who no longer serves their caste interests
or those of the powers who covertly manage him — but there are
no great popular upheavals. In the Congo these characteristics appeared
briefly, generated by the memory of Lumumba, but they have been losing
strength in the last few months.
In Asia, as we have seen, the situation is explosive. The points of
friction are not only Vietnam and Laos, where there is fighting; such
a point is also Cambodia, where at any time a direct U.S. aggression
may start, [as well as] Thailand, Malaya, and, of course, Indonesia,
where we cannot assume that the last word has been said, regardless
of the annihilation of the Communist Party in that country when the
reactionaries took over. And also, naturally, the Middle East.
In Latin America the armed struggle is going on in Guatemala, Colombia,
Venezuela, and Bolivia; the first uprisings are cropping up in Brazil.
There are also some resistance focuses which appear and then are extinguished.
But almost all the countries of this continent are ripe for a type
of struggle that, in order to achieve victory, cannot be content with
anything less than establishing a government of socialist tendencies.
In this continent practically only one tongue is spoken (with the
exception of Brazil, with whose people, those who speak Spanish can
easily make themselves understood, owing to the great similarity of
both languages). There is also such a great similarity between the
classes in these countries, that they have attained identification
among themselves of an international americano type, much more complete
than in the other continents. Language, habits, religion, a common
foreign master, unite them. The degree and the form of exploitation
are similar for both the exploiters and the men they exploit in the
majority of the countries of Our America. And rebellion is ripening
swiftly in it.
We may ask ourselves: How shall this rebellion flourish? What type
will it be? We have maintained for quite some time now that, owing
to the similarity of their characteristics, the struggle in Our America
will achieve, in due course, continental proportions. It shall be
the scene of many great battles fought for the liberation of humanity.
Within the frame of this struggle on a continental scale, the battles
which are now taking place are only episodes — but they have
already furnished their martyrs, who will figure in the history of
Our America as having given their necessary quota of blood in this
last stage of the fight for the total freedom of man. These names
will include Comandante Turcios Lima, Padre Camilo Torres, Comandante
Fabricio Ojeda, Comandantes Lobatón and Luis de la Puente Uceda,
all outstanding figures in the revolutionary movements of Guatemala,
Colombia, Venezuela, and Peru.
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But the active movement of the people creates its new leaders: César
Montes and Yon Sosa raise up their flag in Guatemala; Fabio Vázquez
and Marulanda in Colombia; Douglas Bravo in the Western part of the
country and Américo Martín in E1 Bachiller, both directing
their respective Venezuelan fronts.
New uprisings shall take place in these and other countries of Our
America, as it has already happened in Bolivia, and they shall continue
to grow in the midst of all the hardships inherent to this dangerous
profession of being modern revolutionaries. Many shall perish, victims
of their errors; others shall fall in the tough battle that approaches;
new fighters and new leaders shall appear in the warmth of the revolutionary
struggle. The people shall create their warriors and leaders in the
selective framework of the war itself — and Yankee agents of
repression shall increase. Today there are military aides in all the
countries where armed struggle is growing; the Peruvian army apparently
carried out a successful action against the revolutionaries in that
country, an army also trained and advised by the Yankees. But if the
focuses of war grow with sufficient political and military insight,
they shall become practically invincible and shall force the Yankees
to send reinforcements. In Peru itself many new figures, practically
unknown, are now reorganizing the guerrillas.Little by little, the
obsolete weapons, which are sufficient for the repression of small
armed bands, will be exchanged for modern armaments, and the U.S.
military aides will be substituted by actual fighters until, at a
given moment, they are forced to send increasingly greater numbers
of regular troops to ensure the relative stability of a government
whose national puppet army is disintegrating before the impetuous
attacks of the guerrillas. It is the road of Vietnam; it is the road
that should be followed by the people; it is the road that will be
followed in Our America, with the advantage that the armed groups
could create Coordinating Councils to embarrass the repressive forces
of Yankee imperialism and accelerate the revolutionary triumph.
America, a forgotten continent in the last liberation struggles, which
is now beginning to make itself heard through the Tricontinental in
the voice of the vanguard of its peoples, the Cuban Revolution, has
before it a task of much greater relevance: to create a second or
a third Vietnam, or the second and third Vietnam of the world.
We must bear in mind that imperialism is a world system, the last
stage of capitalism — and it must be defeated in a world confrontation.
The strategic end of this struggle should be the destruction of imperialism.
Our share, the responsibility of the exploited and underdeveloped
of the world, is to eliminate the foundations of imperialism: our
oppressed nations, from where they extract capital, raw materials,
technicians, and cheap labor, and to which they export new capital
— instruments of domination — arms and all kinds of articles,
thus submerging us in an absolute dependence.
The fundamental element of this strategic end shall be the real liberation
of all people, a liberation that will be brought about through armed
struggle in most cases and which shall be, in Our America, almost
indefectibly, a Socialist Revolution.
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While envisaging the destruction of imperialism, it is necessary to
identify its head, which is no other than the United States of America.
We must carry out a general task with the tactical purpose of getting
the enemy out of its natural environment, forcing him to fight in
regions where his own life and habits will clash with the existing
reality. We must not underrate our adversary; the U.S. soldier has
technical capacity and is backed by weapons and resources of such
magnitude that render him frightful. He lacks the essential ideologic
motivation which his bitterest enemies of today — the Vietnamese
soldiers — have in the highest degree. We will only be able
to overcome that army by undermining their morale — and this
is accomplished by defeating it and causing it repeated sufferings.
But this brief outline of victories carries within itself the immense
sacrifice of the people, sacrifices that should be demanded beginning
today, in plain daylight, and which perhaps may be less painful than
those we would have to endure if we constantly avoided battle in an
attempt to have others pull our chestnuts out of the fire.
It is probable, of course, that the last liberated country shall accomplish
this without an armed struggle and the sufferings of a long and cruel
war against the imperialists — this they might avoid. But perhaps
it will be impossible to avoid this struggle or its effects in a global
conflagration; the suffering would be the same, or perhaps even greater.
We cannot foresee the future, but we should never give in to the defeatist
temptation of being the vanguard of a nation which yearns for freedom,
but abhors the struggle it entails and awaits its freedom as a crumb
of victory.
It is absolutely just to avoid all useless sacrifices. Therefore,
it is so important to clear up the real possibilities that dependent
America may have of liberating itself through pacific means. For us,
the solution to this question is quite clear: the present moment may
or may not be the proper one for starting the struggle, but we cannot
harbor any illusions, and we have no right to do so, that freedom
can be obtained without fighting. And these battles shall not be mere
street fights with stones against tear-gas bombs, or of pacific general
strikes; neither shall it be the battle of a furious people destroying
in two or three days the repressive scaffolds of the ruling oligarchies;
the struggle shall be long, harsh, and its front shall be in the guerrillas'
refuge, in the cities, in the homes of the fighters — where
the repressive forces shall go seeking easy victims among their families
— in the massacred rural population, in the villages or cities
destroyed by the bombardments of the enemy.
They are pushing us into this struggle; there is no alternative: we
must prepare it and we must decide to undertake it.
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The beginnings will not be easy; they shall be extremely difficult.
All the oligarchies' powers of repression, all their capacity for
brutality and demagoguery will be placed at the service of their cause.
Our mission, in the first hour, shall be to survive; later, we shall
follow the perennial example of the guerrilla, carrying out armed
propaganda (in the Vietnamese sense, that is, the bullets of propaganda,
of the battles won or lost — but fought-against the enemy):
the great lesson of the invincibility of the guerrillas taking root
in the dispossessed masses; the galvanizing of the national spirit,
the preparation for harder tasks, for resisting even more violent
repressions; hatred as an element of the struggle, a relentless hatred
of the enemy, impelling us over and beyond the natural limitations
that man is heir to and transforming him into an effective, violent,
selective, and cold killing machine. Our soldiers must be thus; a
people without hatred cannot vanquish a brutal enemy.
We must carry the war into every corner the enemy happens to carry
it: to his home, to his centers of entertainment; a total war. It
is necessary to prevent him from having a moment of peace, a quiet
moment outside his barracks or even inside; we must attack him wherever
he may be, make him feel like a cornered beast wherever he may move.
Then his moral fiber shall begin to decline. He will even become more
beastly, but we shall notice how the signs of decadence begin to appear.
And let us develop a true proletarian internationalism; with international
proletarian armies, the flag under which we fight would be the sacred
cause of redeeming humanity. To die under the flag of Vietnam, of
Venezuela, of Guatemala, of Laos, of Guinea, of Colombia, of Bolivia,
of Brazil — to name only a few scenes of today's armed struggle
— would be equally glorious and desirable for an American, an
Asian, an African, even a European.
Each spilt drop of blood, in any country under whose flag one has
not been born, is an experience passed on to those who survive, to
be added later to the liberation struggle of his own country. And
each nation liberated is a phase won in the battle for the liberation
of one's own country.
The time has come to settle our discrepancies and place everything
at the service of our struggle.
We all know great controversies rend the world now fighting for freedom;
no one can hide it. We also know that they have reached such intensity
and such bitterness that the possibility of dialogue and reconciliation
seems extremely difficult, if not impossible. It is a useless task
to search for ways and means to propitiate a dialogue which the hostile
parties avoid. However, the enemy is there; it strikes every day and
threatens us with new blows, and these blows will unite us, today,
tomorrow, or the day after. Whoever understands this first, and prepares
for this necessary union, shall have the people's gratitude.
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Owing to the virulence and the intransigence with which each cause
is defended, we, the dispossessed, cannot take sides for one form
or the other of these discrepancies, even though sometimes we coincide
with the contentions of one party or the other, or in a greater measure
with those of one part more than with those of the other. In time
of war, the expression of current differences constitutes a weakness,
but at this stage it is an illusion to attempt to settle them by means
of words. History shall erode them or shall give them their true meaning.
In our struggling world every discrepancy regarding tactics, the methods
of action for the attainment of limited objectives, should be analyzed
with due respect to another man's opinions. Regarding our great strategic
objective, the total destruction of imperialism by armed struggle,
we should be uncompromising.
Let us sum up our hopes for victory: total destruction of imperialism
by eliminating its firmest bulwark, the oppression exercised by the
United States of America. To carry out, as a tactical method, the
people's gradual liberation, one by one or in groups: driving the
enemy into a difficult fight away from its own territory, dismantling
all its sustenance bases, that is, its dependent territories.
This means a long war. And, once more, we repeat it, a cruel war.
Let no one fool himself at the outset and let no one hesitate to start
out for fear of the consequences it may bring to his people. It is
almost our sole hope for victory. We cannot elude the call of this
hour. Vietnam is pointing it out with its endless lesson of heroism,
its tragic and everyday lesson of struggle and death for the attainment
of final victory.
There, the imperialist soldiers endure the discomforts of those who,
used to enjoying the U.S. standard of living, have to live in a hostile
land with the insecurity of being unable to move without being aware
of walking on enemy territory — death to those who dare take
a step out of their fortified encampment, the permanent hostility
of the entire population. All this has internal repercussions in the
United States [and] propitiates the resurgence of an element which
is being minimized in spite of its vigor by all imperialist forces:
class struggle even within its own territory.
How close we could look into a bright future should two, three, or
many Vietnams flourish throughout the world with their share of deaths
and their immense tragedies, their everyday heroism and their repeated
blows against imperialism, impelled to disperse its forces under the
sudden attack and the increasing hatred of all peoples of the world!
 And
if we were all capable of uniting to make our blows stronger and infallible
and so increase the effectiveness of all kinds of support given to
the struggling people — how great and close would that future
be!
If we, in a small point of the world map, are able to fulfill our
duty and place at the disposal of this struggle whatever little of
ourselves we are permitted to give: our lives, our sacrifice; and
if some day we have to breathe our last breath on any land, already
ours, sprinkled with our blood, let it be known that we have measured
the scope of our actions and that we only consider ourselves elements
in the great army of the proletariat but that we are proud of having
learned from the Cuban Revolution, and from its maximum leader, the
great lesson emanating from his attitude in this part of the world:
"What do the dangers or the sacrifices of a man or of a nation
matter, when the destiny of humanity is at stake?"
Our every action is a battle cry against imperialism, and a battle
hymn for the people's unity against the great enemy of mankind: the
United States of America. Wherever death may surprise us, let it be
welcome, provided that this, our battle cry, may have reached some
receptive ear, that another hand may be extended to wield our weapons,
and that other men be ready to intone our funeral dirge with the staccato
singing of the machine guns and new battle cries of war and victory.
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