Words by Ambassador Phatse Justice Piitso on the occasion of his Farewell Function, organised by the African Diplomatic Corps in Havana, Hotel Nacional, 9 June 2011

Comrade Pascal, the Dean of the African Group and the entire Diplomatic Corps,

Comrade Risquet, Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, our stalwart Comrade Puente Ferro and other members of the Communist Party Central Committee present here,

Minister Comrade Marcos, from the Cuban Foreign Ministry and your officials present,

Minister Ripoll, from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment,

Fellow Colleagues Ambassadors from our Mother Continent, Africa,

Comrades and Compatriots,

Our flag is flying half mask, a colossal of our national liberation struggles, Mama Albertina Sisulu, is no more. We pay tribute to this outstanding leader of our national liberation movement, the ANC and the Mother of our Nation. Her mortal remains will be laid to rest over this weekend at Orlando Stadium, in Johannesburg.

It is therefore befitting, during this occasion, to observe a moment of silence in tribute to this finest leader of our people.

I would like to express my profound appreciation for the privilege you have bestowed upon me today during this Farewell function, organised by my fellow comrades and compatriots from our Mother Continent, Africa. On behalf of the President of my Republic and his people, I convey his singular honour to yourselves and also to the Cuban Revolution, led by our Commander-in-Chief, Comrade Fidel Castro, and the First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, and the President of the Council of Ministers, Comrade Raúl Castro Ruz. It is today, during this humbled occasion, that deep in the memory of this son of mankind, concur the notion that no artificial barriers, no waters, no mountains and no forces of Nature and reaction can cut the umbilical chord and rewrite the glorious history of friendship, mutual trust and revolutionary commitment between our Continent and this heroic Caribbean island of Cuba.

I therefore take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Founding Fathers of our African Continent, Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Abdel Nasser, Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral, Agostinho Neto, Eduardo Mondlane, Modibo Keita, Sekou Touré, Kenneth Kaunda, Samora Machel, Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Sam Nujoma, Robert Mugabe, Ben Bella, Houari Boumediene and many other unsung heroes and heroines of our struggle who shed their blood for the liberation of our Mother Continent. I would also be on the wrong side of history if I do not include Fidel Castro and Doctor Tatu, Che Guevara, these great noble revolutionaries of African descendant. We will forever walk their footprints in pursuit of unity and cohesion for our freedom and our future. Their profound contribution in the liberation of the people of our Continent marked a turning point in the chapters of our history.

We celebrate this historic relationship and its victories and hope that our generation of men and women will consolidate and take it two steps forward for the benefit of the millions of people of our Continent, who are still confronted by massive challenges of poverty, disease and underdevelopment. Ours is a responsibility to take this advantage and exploit the prospects the economies of both this island and our Continent provide to qualitatively change our socio-economic landscape. We are traversing a difficult path during this complex epoch of our history, posed by challenges that can only be resolved by our determination to preserve our co-existence. It is not only in the Operation Carlota that saw thousands of Cuban men and women shedding blood on the soil of our Continent for our liberation but also in consistent with her traditions of Internationalism, in her volunteers, who are still expanding their knowledge and assistance in the various social and economic sectors, eradicating the frontiers of poverty, ravaging millions of the vulnerable in our Continent. 

For this, we are still inspired by the humble words of the First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party and the President of the Council of Ministers, Comrade Raúl Castro, when he spoke at the first Congress of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola, MPLA, and he said, “In Angola we will take the close friendship that binds us to this sister nation and the gratitude of her people, and the remains of our dear brothers who died in the line of duty”.

Our continent, Africa, is riddled by conflicts that have caused lives of millions of our people and we still face the brutality of actions led by the military industrial complex that undermines our historic mission of reconstructing Africa, the Cradle of Humankind. We can only overcome this mammoth challenge by building unity amongst ourselves as a guarantee to save the future of our Continent.

We will continue to join forces in the multinational arena to demand for the immediate end of the criminal blockade and the release of the five Cuban heroes, who are unjustly incarcerated in the USA jails. Our struggles are born out of necessity, and the continuous incarceration of our Five Heroes is a necessary precondition that should propel us to further wage the struggles for the just cause of humanity.

I am part of this family and I will miss the breeze from the Caribbean Sea, the beautiful beaches of Varadero, Santa Maria and the Playas del Este, the nourishing Congri and Pollo Criollo, Cuban Rum and cigar, and also the humbleness and warmth of the Cuban people. I will miss the fraternal friendship that I enjoyed with my fellow Ambassadors from my Continent and the experiences I acquired in our daily interactions. No artificial divide will stand on my way to occasionally come and enjoy the tranquillity that characterizes the Cuban Revolution.

United we stand, divided we fall.

I thank you very much.