Talk with Distinguished Personages [!]
(May 8, 1960)

Chairman Mao Zedong expressed gratitude to these friends for their friendship toward the Chinese people. The Chairman said that the Chinese people, like the people of Latin America, have long suffered from imperialist oppression and exploitation. Relying on their own unity and on the support of the peoples of various countries, the Chinese people waged a protracted and arduous struggle, finally overthrew the rule of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism in China, and are now building their own country and changing the face of "poverty and blankness." The Chinese people have full confidence in building their country well; for this they need time, need peace, and need friends. The Chairman said that the people of Cuba, the people of Latin America, and the people of the whole world are all friends of the Chinese people; the imperialists and their lackeys are our common enemies, but their numbers are very small. The Chairman said that the attainment of world peace depends mainly on the struggles of the peoples of various countries. The Chairman expressed admiration for the heroic struggle of the Cuban people against U.S. imperialism. The Chairman said that the struggles of the Cuban people and the peoples of the Latin American countries have helped the Chinese people, and the struggles of the Chinese people have also helped the people of Cuba and the peoples of the Latin American countries. The people
[I]
On the afternoon of May 8, 1960, Mao Zedong received in Zhengzhou delegations and distinguished personages from eight Latin American countries who were visiting China. They were: a delegation of the Chilean Workers' United Trade Union, a delegation of the Colombian Petroleum Workers' Federation, a delegation of the Costa Rican Trade Unions, a delegation of the Ecuadorian Workers' Federation, and distinguished personages from cultural, educational, and political and legal circles of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. Also received at the same time were Major William Gálvez Rodríguez, Inspector General of the Cuban Army, and his wife.

are the decisive factor; relying on the unity and struggle of the people, we can surely defeat the imperialists and their lackeys and achieve lasting world peace.