– While the US authorities assumed an openly hostile attitude, in Harlem Fidel found a friendly atmosphere, surrounded by the poor and Afro-American community that welcomed him and still remembers him.
United Nations. Sep. 26th (Prensa Latina) Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s first speech to the UN General Assembly took place on September 26, 61 years ago, and he still remains among the most critical of the philosophy of war.
The speech occupied the forum’s attention for almost five hours and is one of the longest speeches made in the plenary.
But it is not its length that most transcended those first words of the leader of the Cuban Revolution before the largest UN body, it was his attack against the brutal philosophy of war, analysts agree.
The denunciation of numerous actions by the United States Government against the Cuban Revolution and the use of force through the growing arms race were the central arguments of the speech that provoked repeated ovations and applause.
Fidel Castro (1926-2016) criticized how war was used to monopolize underdeveloped countries and steal their resources, and lashed out at US policy toward Cuba and other nations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
‘Wars, since the beginning of humanity, have arisen, fundamentally, for one reason: the desire of some to deprive others of their wealth. Disappear the philosophy of dispossession, and the philosophy of war will have disappeared, ‘he said.
In addition, he showed how the arms race has always been a big business for monopolies, which like crows «feed on the corpses that wars bring us.»
When the leader arrived in New York City on September 19, 1960, he was then the young Cuban prime minister, champion of a nascent Revolution that was hindering Washington’s plans.
In the US spheres of power, animosity against the Cuban Revolution had increased. Fidel even denounced an abusive treatment at the Shelburne Hotel and then decided to stay with his delegation at the Theresa Hotel, located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York: Harlem.
He was excluded from official meetings and gatherings, but in Harlem residents – mostly African Americans – he found support, admiration, and a warm welcome.
At the Theresa Hotel, which closed in 1967 and now houses offices, he received civil rights defender Malcolm X, met Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev for the first time, and had meetings with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Spontaneous demonstrations arose under the balcony of his room, where he hung a Cuban flag and spoke on one occasion to thousands of supporters of the Revolution. He was also surrounded by provocation and disturbances caused by small groups opposed to the process of change that was just beginning on the Island.
While the North American authorities assumed an openly hostile attitude, in Harlem Fidel found a friendly atmosphere, surrounded by the poor and Afro-American community that welcomed him and still remembers him.
"An Island on a Continent" 