Analyze the following excerpt from a speech by Fidel Castro, the former
dictator of Cuba, during the Cold War. Which of the statements below the
excerpt best summarizes Castro's main point?
The economy of our country is based on an increase of 10
percent a year, while in the United States the figure is only
two percent. The U.S. economy is managed in the interest
of only a few groups; it is divorced from the interests of the
people. In war they have a cure for their crises.
They have the capacity to do all sorts of things for the
benefit of their people. But their system demands
production for war, not peace. As a result, there is
extensive wasting of natural resources. Look at their
military budget. What they could do with this money for
schools, industry, homes! What good it could mean for the
world!
And that is only part of the story. Some of their factories
are working on a part-time basis. How different from the
Soviet Union, where everyone works! If someone wants to
build a factory in the United States, he does so whether it
is needed or not. This is the result of an unplanned
economy. In the United States, war militarizes the
economy. They plan for that.¹
1. Fidel Castro, "Denouncing U.S. Bay of Pigs Aggression (speech) (Havana Domestic
Service in Spanish: April 24, 1961), Marxists.org, accessed April 22, 2013,
http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1961/04/23.htm.