Declaracion de la Habana by Castro, Fidel - [1960]

La Habana: Editorial Cenit, S. A., [1960]. Wraps. Good. 32mo. pp 3-15 in black and white printed stapled wraps with a photograph of Fidel Castro addressing a crowd. The text of the Castro's first "Declaration of Havana," drafted by Castro and delivered on September 2, 1960 before more than a million Cubans in Havana, who gathered as the "National General Assembly of the People" to hear and ultimately ratify the declaration. This declaration was in rebuttal to the "Declaration of San Jose," earlier drafted by the OAS, which proposed ousting Cuba from its member states. During his fiery speech, Castro famously shredded a copy of the OAS declaration. The contents of the speech, divided into 9 parts include: 1) a rejection of the OAS declaration; 2) a condemnation of American imperialism; 3) the rejection of the Monroe Doctrine; 4) the acceptance of Soviet military backing (including rockets); 5) the denial of Cuba's situation as being one of a puppet state belonging to the Soviet Union or China; 6) the condemnation of social inequality, racism, exploitation, and poverty, while asserting the rights of the people of Cuba to land, education, literacy, medical attention, artistic and scientific liberty, and equality; 7) the duty of people to fight for their rights and for those of others; 8) the commitment to Latin American solidarity and progress; and 9) that the contents of this speech will be called "La Declaracion de la Habana." The rear panel has an ad/statement from INAV ("Instituto Nacional de Ahorro y Vivienda," established by act in February of 1959), reading "Todos a la batalla final contra el analfabetismo!" printed under the authority of Depto. de Relaciones Publicas and Comision de Alfabetizacion of the C.D.R. This refers to the coming nationwide literacy campaign (Campana Nacional de Alfabetizacion en Cuba) which was to commence on January 1, 1961 and last through December 22 of the same year, and which was to become the largest and most successful literacy campaign in history. As a result of this campaign (which Castro undertook at Che Guevara's insistence), Cuba raised its national literacy rate from 60% to 96% in a single year, making it one of the most literate countries in the world (ranking higher than the U.S.). There is a faint blue official seal stamped to the rear panel. The wraps are separated from the stapled text, and a bit foxed; there is a 1" by 3/8" piece missing from the rear panel, not affecting text. Very light previous owner's name in pencil to front panel. Contents are clean, readable and solid. An extremely scarce artifact of Cuban revolutionary history.