00:00On January 23rd, Venezuela commemorates the 68th anniversary of the end of the military
00:05dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, a date which represented a turning point in the history
00:10of the popular struggles of the Venezuelan people. Exactly one year later, on January 23rd of 1959,
00:19Commander Fidel Castro visited Caracas as leader of the already victorious Cuban Revolution
00:24and is a special guest to the celebrations marking the overthrow of Pérez Jiménez' dictatorship.
00:30They say that at 3 in the morning, these people began to arrive at Maiketía Airport.
00:37The Cuban delegation was invited to participate in the celebrations for the first anniversary
00:41of the overthrow of dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez. 30,000 Venezuelans were waiting for Cuba.
00:48They say that it took 45 minutes for this landing staircase to cross the human mass.
00:52Fidel Castro comes to Venezuela as the representative of a people who conquered its freedom with
01:00the spontaneous and valuable help of the people that now welcome and cheer him. He
01:05doesn't want to be seen as a caudillo, a leader, but a victorious general. His words are clear and
01:11firm. Fidel Castro say, this war has been won by the people, and I say this in case anyone thinks
01:19that they want it. I come in the name of the people who today for your help and your solidarity
01:25to tell the Venezuelans that they can also count on our help and our unconditional solidarity.
01:38In the Plaza del Silencio, 300,000 people participated in the welcome. For two hours, Fidel explained
01:46the ideas of the Cuban revolution. Journalists assured that the displays of enthusiasm were
01:51as great as those he received when he entered Habana.
01:55Upon entering Caracas, Fidel Castro say, I have felt more emotion here than in Habana.
02:00In Cuba, the people expressed with demonstrations their gratitude for their liberation, but from
02:05Venezuela, we have only received favors and have never provided a service.
02:10The program was extensive. It was difficult to stick to the schedule. Fidel slept at the
02:16Cuban embassy in Caracas and at the Humboldt Hotel. He ate where he could not receive two
02:20or three delegations at a time. Each of his speeches represented a new thesis, an original
02:24idea, a broad scope plan. He spoke of the dictatorship that remained in America and the need to create
02:30a news agency in the service of democracy.
02:35I tell you that if Venezuela ever finds itself under the rule of a tyrant again, you can
02:43count on the Cubans. You can count on the fighters of the Sierra Maestra.
02:48He ascended to the presidential podium of the Chamber of Deputies in Caracas. The governing
02:56board was sifting at the Miraflores Palace. The university awarded him with an honorary
03:00diploma of merit, and he met with President Romulo Betancourt and Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.
03:07Fidel Castro shows up at the diplomatic event, coming down from his private rooms in the upper
03:13floor of the embassy. His presence adds a note of human simplicity above the formalities
03:18of protocol. The commander-in-chief remains the same man who spoke with the peasants at the
03:24Sierra Maestra during the two years of the liberation campaign.
03:43Fidel carried the impact of the crowds in his heart. The voice of Cuba was beginning to travel
03:50around the world.
03:51They say that in those days, the Caracas newspapers called him the man of freedom. For Venezuela,
04:00Fidel's presence in Caracas was only comparable to the joy they felt on January 23rd, the date
04:06that marked the fall of dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez.
04:09Propios venezolanos, 65 años después, quienes cuenten la historia.
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