Comrades of the Rebel Army; Comrades of the Militia; Workers;
Peasants; Youths; Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have gathered here today to bury a major in the Rebel Army.
This is an event that is bound to be very painful for all of us today. First of all, because the fatherland has lost a good son; second, because the revolution has lost a first-line fighter; and third, because we, who were his comrades and his friends and his brothers, lost a comrade, a friend, and a brother.

But, how should we revolutionaries react to the death of a valiant
comrade? As we look at death, we revolutionaries must straighten up; as we look at death, we revolutionaries must see what the destiny and the mission of the fighting man is. Death comes to everyone but, above all, death is the only rest for a true revolutionary.

We are all familiar with death. We were especially familiar with death during the war, when episodes like this one occurred constantly; we were quite familiar... (TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED FOR SEVERAL MINUTES).

It would certainly have appeared strange to us, on 1 January, in the midst of all the extraordinary jubilation of our people, to think that, before the end of 2 years, less than 2 years from that date, we would have to meet here, in this heroic city of Manzanillo, to bury another heroic son of Manzanillo, who gave his life to the fatherland, doing his duty, fighting against the same interests and fighting against the same enemies because of whom we have become so familiar with death; and so we became familiar with the death of all of those who fell in combat or with the death of those who were day after day assassinated in the streets and in the rural areas of the fatherland.

And you, the people of Manzanillo, who walked with us in the war, from the very first moment onward, who were our first and our most constant supporters in the struggle, you, people of Manzanillo, who lived through 2years of continuous terror and crime, you know and you remember those days very well. And the idea that death would not touch our youngsters, the idea that death and crime would be banished from our fatherland, the idea that this holocaust, this constant holocaust would spare valiant and useful lives, that idea made up happy and enabled us to go on; but that idea also caused us to mistake of thinking that the battle was over on that day. And now we must face the reality that the battle began, in a different form, on1 January.

The Real Culprits

Why did Major Fajardo die? Who are the men who are responsible for the death of Fajardo? Who gives weapons to the assassins because of whom Major Fajardo died? Who recruits the assassins because of whose guilt the fatherland lost a son, such as Fajardo? Who, if not those who do not wish to have any justice in our country; who but those who want the revolution to fail; who but those who want our country once again to become a land of injustice, privilege, oppression, and crime; who but those who once again want to dominate our people; who but those who once again want to seize control of our economy? Who are the men who are guilty of the murder of Major Fajardo, if not, first of all, those who from abroad, from a foreign government, from a foreign country, constantly receive parachuted weapons which are dropped over a region of Cuba for the purpose of supporting the counter revolutionaries and the spies and the traitors? And although these weapons invariably and always fall into the hands of the revolution, they do constitute an important factor here; the enemy keeps parachuting weapons so that the spies and the traitors can withdraw into the mountains and wait for further aid from abroad, in order to fight against the revolution.

The government of the United States is the prime culprit responsible for the death of Major Fajardo! The bandits in the Pentagon and in the intelligence service of the United States are primarily responsible for the death of Major Fajardo they are the men who have constantly been dropping weapons by parachute into Escambray, in an effort to get various groups to rise up there against the revolutionary government, in order to counteract the operations of the peasant militia;this is why Fajardo was out there, in Escambray, heading the peasant militia forces, watching over our territory and trying to put an end to all of imperialism's attempts to promote counter revolutionary groups there!The same criminals who yesterday assassinated so many Cubans are also guilty of the death of Major Fajardo! The men who have sold out their fatherland are guilty here! The traitors are guilty! The big privileged groups of yesterday are responsible for this, the holders of privilege who refuse to resign themselves to the reality and justice of the revolution!

Fruitful Grief

While there is grief in our ranks, in the ranks of the servants of the fatherland, there is joy in the ranks of the enemy of the fatherland;the enemies and the traitors of the fatherland are glad about the death of a good son of the fatherland but this joy of theirs will not last long because there is something more than just pain in this grief; there is grief and there is also valor; there is grief and there is a fighting spirit; there is grief and there is firmness; there is grief and there is a fighting spirit; there is grief and there is also a determination to go on and on; there is grief as we bury a comrade but there is also the resolve that the enemies of the fatherland, the enemies of our people, will continue to be defeated in all they may attempt; there is grief but there is also the firm determination that those who have come to kill our comrade, those traitors to the fatherland, will perish without glory and without being mourned by their side.

We feel profound grief as we bury our comrade here who fell in the service of the fatherland, a comrade who died doing his duty; but the traitors to the fatherland, the men who have sold out for foreign gold, the men who want to hinder the march of our country toward progress and happiness, they will have to face dishonorable death before the firing squad, unless they fall in combat, which is not very probable because they prefer to surrender to the generosity of the revolutionary forces.

He Has Earned His Right to Rest

Comrade Fajardo has done his duty. He did it in war, as a physician and soldier; he did it in peace, and he will always be in the hearts of the first 500 children of the school city; the name of Fajardo will always be remembered with love by them. He did his duty as a physician, as a teacher, and as a soldier. And the doctor and the teacher fell with the soldier here.

It is not easy to live the kind of life Fajardo lived. To get to be what Fajardo became, it was necessary to make a hard and long effort,from the very first days in school until the very last years of his career as a student; and to become a major in the Rebel Forces, he made a tremendous sacrifice and he exhibited his valor in our ranks until the end of the war. And yet he was only a major because major is the highest ranks in our army. And he could not be anything more than a major.Still, Fajardo was one of those who rendered great service even after he became a major.

And so we now have one major less in our ranks. However, how much more do we prefer one major less because he fell doing his duty than one major less because he betrayed his fatherland! And even though we had traitors here and even though we had some very painful losses in terms of comrades who fell doing their duty, we nevertheless feel consoled in the knowledge that we can say this to our fallen comrade, as we look at all of the dear faces of our veterans, as well look at the faces of the many old soldiers who went through the war, as we realize that the country has tremendous reserves, old reserves and new reserves:

Rest in peace! You have earned your right to rest in peace! You have earned the prize that goes to the good! You have earned the right to the eternal love of your people, the love of the present generation and the generations yet to come! And we are profoundly saddened by the fact that you will not continue to march side by side with us, that you cannot go on contemplating with us the magnificent fruits of the work of the revolution;and we are sad because you cannot go on looking into the new faces of the new students who come here to this school city which you launched; we are profoundly saddened because you cannot continue among us, watching your work grow.

The Fatherland Will Continue to Go Forward

But, amid all this pain, we are consoled because we can say toyou, comrade, that our work will go on! That, someday, in this city, some of us will be able to look into the faces of 20,000 children who have been made happy! We are glad because we can tell you that the fatherland will go on and on, cost what it may! That the struggle will go on, cost what itmay! And the counterrevolutionaries, the men who have sold out, will continue to run into men such as you, soldiers such as you, fighting men such as you, first-line fighting men, capable of doing such as you, capable as dying as you died, leading your men, doing your duty! And, comrade, we are glad to be able to tell you and we are consoled because we can tell you that the enemies of the fatherland, no matter where they may spring up, no matter what crime they plan to perpetrate, no matter what treason they plan to engage in, regardless ofwhere they try to destroy the revolution, and regardless of where they may try to rise up in arms against it, will be wiped out!

Rest in peace, then, comrade Fajardo!