We are going to show you moments of the speech delivered by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the Councils of State and Ministers, after he received last Monday the medal conferring on him the honorary doctorate degree of the National University of San Marcos of Peru. This is the most important part of this ceremony for us. Allow me, on behalf of the National University of San Marcos and the Peruvian people, to bestow on you the medal conferring on you the honorary doctorate degree from our university. 

It has been necessary to take some time from the enormous amount of work we have been involved in during these last days to hold this informal meeting among us. It has not been possible to fulfill the traditional requirements and formalities. Although the rector referred to the solemnity of this event, which is true, we have not been able to even get the space and time to organize it with all the attributes an event such as this one deserves. We are not in an amphitheater. 

I cannot forget either the fact that there was a possibility of having this degree presented at the San Marcos University when there was almost a possibility of visiting Peru.  This was going to be a visit, even if it was a short one, so that I could meet with the Peruvian people.  I would have liked very much to receive this degree there. 

I also greatly appreciate the fact that you did not wait for the possibility of making that visit to hold this event. I appreciate even more the fact that you have visited our fatherland during these times and that you have come here to carry out the agreement reached by the university. I believe that all my comrades and I can appreciate the value of your gesture, especially if one takes into account the times in which we are living. They are difficult times for all. They are difficult times for the truly democratic ideas, they are difficult times for progressive ideas, for socialist ideas, for revolutionary ideas.  Perhaps they are one of the most difficult times we have known in the last few decades, and undoubtedly the most difficult we have known since the triumph of the revolution in 1959. 

Finally, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro expressed his gratitude for the gesture made by the National San Marcos University for visiting our country during these times. [Begin recording] [Castro] I know that the times are not only difficult for us. I think about you. I think about the rest of the Latin American countries and the problems that await them. I think about the San Marcos University. I imagine it must not be easy for such a prestigious university, for an institution that has played such an important role in the development of the political thought, in the development of the democratic thought, in the development of the revolutionary thought as the San Marcos University has.... I repeat, you have made an extraordinary gesture. I am going to say it even more clearly. One has to have a lot of courage to come to Cuba today. You have to be men of deep convictions. As we said before, in the middle of such confusion as there is today, in the middle of so much disinformation, the University of San Marcos with that courageous gesture, we could say, with that heroic gesture, is showing that this institution rises to its glorious centuries of history, that this institution deserves the recognition and prestige it enjoys in the heart of all the democratic, progressive, and revolutionary men in our hemisphere. 

I know that you do not give out many honors, that you do not confer many honors. I know that to make this type of decision the consensus of professors and students is needed. We understand this clearly and we appreciate it immensely. I can also tell you that we will always be grateful for the confidence that you have had in us. I want to guarantee you the certainty that we will know how to deserve this honor. 

I will conclude with one phrase, that we will never disappoint the University of San Marcos.