Companero students and professors of architecture the world over:
It is my duty to give the summary, as we call it in Cuba, that is, to make the closing remarks and conclude this international meeting of students.

I must begin by making a very embarrassing confession: I am totally ignorant on all these questions. My ignorance reached the point of not realizing that this international meeting of students was apolitical. I thought it was a student conference, without knowing that it was part of the International Union of Architects.

Therefore, as political people, that is, as students who participate in the active life of your country, and after reading the final resolutions of this meeting -- which by the way shows that the ignorance was mutual because the resolutions are also very political [laughter and applause] -- I thought I'd say, first of all, that I agree with the resolutions of this conference. It seemed to me that its conclusions were logical, not just revolutionary but also scientific ....

I believe an architect -- as with practically every other professional -- is a man in whom the general culture achieved by humanity up to that moment converges with humanity's general level of technology or with the particular technology of a given nation.

The architect, like every other professional, is a man living within society. He can attend international apolitical meetings -- and it's correct for them to be apolitical -- to maintain peaceful coexistence. But I don't understand how, as a man, he can say he is apolitical.

To be apolitical is to turn one's back on every movement in the world. It is to turns one's back on who will be president or leader a nation. It is to turn one's back on the construction of society, or on the struggle to prevent the new society from arising. In either of the two case, one has to take a political position. In present-day society every one of us is by nature political.

The architect -- political person -- the convergence of the culture of humanity up to that point and its technology -- confronts this reality....

Our youth must always be free, discussing and exchanging ideas, concerned with what is happening throughout the entire world, open to using technology coming from any part of the world; welcoming whatever the world might offer us. And you must always be sensitive to the struggle, the suffering, and the hopes of the oppressed people everywhere.

This is how we will build our future.