"A un pueblo así, hay que respetarlo"
“A un pueblo así, hay que respetarlo” is a transcription of a speech given by Fidel Castro on October 26, 1959 in front of the Presidential Palace. The objective was to reaffirm support for the revolutionary government and protest attacks on La Habana by foreign-based planes. Through published word the government attempted to unify the people of Cuba by collapsing idea of being revolutionary with supporting the government.The government fostered a simplistic distinction between revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries: any supporter of the government fell into the first class; and anyone who interfered with or came out against government plans fell into the second.
Edited by the National Institute of Agrarian Reform, a government agency, this transcript served to propagate this dichotomy that the government wished to materialize as the singular train of thought. In “A un pueblo así, hay que respetarlo” the crowd’s responses to all revolutionary material are marked with cheers while any anti-revolutionary sentiments are booed. The transcript not only serves towards an internal state of affairs, but also calls out to the people of the United States and other global communities. It presents the image to the world of Cuba as a country that is simply trying to live with dignity, while neither creating enemies nor fearing them.
