Chronology

30/08/1960
  • Gives a speech at the reception for the Cuban delegation that participated at the Seventh OAS Chancellors’ Conference in San José, Costa Rica.  He states:” The future of the Americas is clear.  Of course, the empire shall try to smother revolutions in the Americas.”
02/09/1960
  • In front of a crowd gathered in Civic Square (today this is the José Martí Revolution Square), he gives a stirring speech at the General Assembly of the People of Cuba where the First Declaration of Havana is passed in order to reject the Costa Rica declaration made by the OAS Chancellors, to accept the solidarity and internationalist aid of the USSR and China, to break the military treaty with the United States, to establish relations with the Peoples’ Republic of China, to call on Latin American governments to summon their peoples and proclaim the rights of Latin Americans.
04/09/1960
  • At the José Martí International Airport he bids farewell to Commander Faure Chomón, the first Cuban ambassador to the USSR.
07/09/1960
  • Visits BANSESCU (Banco de Seguro Social de Cuba-Social Security Bank of Cuba) where a great round table is held to discuss the problems with social security and to improve services provided by that institution.  He receives a cheque for $ 110,103.41 from the Federation of Cuban Women, money obtained at the Great Pro-Agrarian Reform Fair.
08/09/1960
  • Gives the closing speech at the Extraordinary Congress of the National Shoe Manufacturing and Tannery Workers` Federation and its affiliates, at the Workers` Palace.   Among the many topics with which the speech deals, he says: `Neither the monopolies or imperialism can destroy our Revolution, nor can a counter-revolution do well in our country.  And, nevertheless, they keep on promoting stupidities".
11/09/1960
  • He speaks at a mass meeting in the Manuel Sanguily agricultural cooperative at the Ciego de Avila municipal terminal, Camagüey, where 98 peasant homes were handed over.
18/09/1960
  • Travels to the US to take part in the UN General Assembly.  
  • He is welcomed by a crowd at New York Airport.  At his arrival he is greeted by the personal delegate of Dag Hjalmar Hammerskjöld, UN Secretary General.  
  • His accomodations are at the Shelburn Hotel.
19/09/1960
  • He is visited by the journalist Herbert Matthews and his wife.
  • Upon instructions from the State Department, the Hotel Shelburn management asks the Cuban delegation to leave the premises.
  •  Fidel and his entourage set up camp on the grounds of UN Headquarters  
  •  Prominent Afro-American leaders approach the UN to invite Fidel to the Theresa Hotel in the humble neighbourhood of Harlem in New York City.   
  •  He takes up residence in the Theresa Hotel and receives the Afro-American leader Malcolm X who comes there to express his solidarity.
20/09/1960
  • He receives Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the USSR at the Theresa Hotel.
  • He meets with President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia.
  • He arrives at UN Headquarters in the afternoon to take part at the General Assembly session.  
  • He has bilateral encounters with Prime Minister Wladyslaw Gomulka of Poland, with Abdelkader Chardeli, the delegate of the Algerian National Liberation Front, and with Sir Claude Corea, ambassador of Ceylon.
21/09/1960
  • Attends the UN General Assembly session.
  • Receives constant ovations by the crowd and that evening waves from a window at the Theresa Hotel in Harlem to the thousands of people who applaud him.