The peoples and nationalist organisations of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe sent their delegations to this Conference for two main purposes: first, because we wish to attend and take active part in this epoch-making event in the history of mankind; second, because it was our political and moral duty to bring the Cuban people clear evidence of our fraternal combatant solidarity at this doubly historic moment – the seventh anniversary of the revolution and the first Tricontinental Conference.

Allow me, therefore, on behalf of our struggling peoples and on behalf of the militants of each of our national organisations, to offer warmest congratulations and fraternal greetings to the people of this tropical island on the seventh anniversary of the triumph of their revolution, on the holding of this Conference in their beautiful and hospitable capital and on the successes they have been able to attain on the path to building a new life. This last has the essential aim of achieving in full the aspirations for freedom, peace, progress and social justice felt by all Cubans. I hail in particular the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, the Revolutionary Government and its exemplary leader – Commandant Fidel Castro – to whom I express our wishes for continued success and long life in the service of his country Cuba, and the progress and happiness of its people, and in the service of mankind.

If any of us, when we reached Cuba, brought any doubt about the deep-rootedness, strength, maturity and vitality of the Cuban Revolution, such doubt was swept away by what we have had the chance to see. Unshakable confidence warms our hearts and encourages us in the hard but glorious struggle against the common enemy.

No power in the world will be able to destroy the Cuban Revolution, which is creating in the countryside and the cities not only a new life but also – what is more important – a new Man, fully conscious of his national, continental and international rights and duties. In all fields of activity, the Cuban people have made significant progress in the past seven years, especially in the last year – Agriculture Year.