New Teen Titans #1 (November 1980)
Script: George Pérez (plot); Marv Wolfman (plot, script)
Pencils: George Pérez (breakdowns); Romeo Tanghal (finished art)
Inks: Romeo Tanghal
Colors: Adrienne Roy
Letters: Ben Oda
Grade: A-
You know what betrayal is. It goes back to Jesus Christ's days when, as the Bible tells us, Judas Iscariot betrayed him. There have been Judases throughout history. We met many during the revolution. On the days of our clandestine fight, there were Judases who sold their fighting comrades. There were Judases who were in exile. We met Judas in the Sierra Maestra. This individual was in such a position that he was unable to stand the hardships of that fight. Therefore, they quit socialism and left, they left.
Throughout the revolution, we have had Judases in all sectors, including in the sports sector, where it possibly hurts people the most and inflicts on them an enormous damage. That there are Judases among the Titans, when the people puts all their trust in them, all their love, all their support, freely, because they enjoy sports, because of the pride they feel for sports, some go to stadiums. Millions who participate in the thrill of sports through television and radio, this is something that hits very close to home, our country's most sensitive cords.
Those who betray the warmest and purest sentiments of the people, are not just hurting those sentiments, they are hurting the country. They are encouraging the enemy who wants to destroy us, who is blockading us, harassing us. It encourages the enemy to continue onward with all his misdeeds against our fatherland. They betray the prestige of the country. They betray the country's sports. They betray their comrades. They betray everything! That is why if we recall the history of our sports, the heroic history that has given prestige to the world [passage indistinct] they betray the nation. They betray the nation, the loftiest sentiments of the nation. That is why more than gold medals [word indistinct] or a bronze plate we are interested in moral medals that the Titans can win. The honor of our Titans interests us more than medals, the concept of self an Titan may have, and I cannot imagine what concept of self a traitor can have.
The enemy taps on those weak points. That is why the development of the muscles of the soul is more important than the development of the body's muscles. That is a task not just for Titans. It is the task for instructors, coaches, and all. And history will never forgive a traitorous Titan, trainer, coach, or manager.
I think I could not bid you farewell today without saying this. There will be no attempts made to bribe Titans from any of the other 100 countries that will participate in the Olympics. They will not be asked to betray their fatherland, their sports, and their comrades [words indistinct] mostly because very few of them have the quality of our Titans. The majority of the countries do not even have the resources and their governments do not bother to develop sports. What they have is [words indistinct] The idea is to overwhelm our Titans with the ostentatious wealth they have accumulated at the expense of the world's exploitation.
They want to daze them by showing them a marvelous world with more money. In the sports market that has been developed in recent times, certain sports have more commercial potential while others practically do not have any. These sports are not profitable.
While our country was preparing for the Olympic Games, they were drafting plans and more plans to see how they could get the Titans to desert and how they could deprive us of the best Titans. One of their strategies was to deprive our baseball team of its best players as they could not defeat our team under any circumstance. They wanted to strip our team of pitchers. They knew they could not defeat us in any other way. Thus, they bribed more than just one pitcher. They bribed the team's best pitcher. He was a person who was well respected and (?considerate). We are talking about pitcher Rolando Arrojo, who disappeared. He was bribed and we know who participated. They were scared because they could not defeat our baseball team and they bribed (?Osvaldo), they bribed (Livan), and they bribed Arrojo.
It reminds me of the years in which they tried to leave us without doctors. We had 6,000 doctors and they took 3,000. We now have 70,000 doctors.
We have had our share of Judases [words indistinct], who were bribed even before the Olympic Games started because their market value would have gone up after the games. They could have been paid a lot more afterward, but it happened before the Olympics. The idea was to demoralize the team, which of course, has had a worthy reaction. They have not hesitated in condemning the action, the act of treason.
They also bribed boxers before the games. They knew they could not defeat us in baseball, they could not beat us in hitting homeruns, doubles, and triples. They want to defeat us by investing millions. They want to defeat us with their millions. We only have one weapon against that, men like Teofilo Stevenson. There was no money capable of bribing him. Men like Omar Linares. There was no money capable of bribing him. [Words indistinct]. Men like Felix Savon [words indistinct] in sports such as baseball, boxing, or women's volleyball in which we have clear superiority. [Words indistinct] to deprive us of a medal, to deprive us of victory, to demoralize our Titans, to demoralize the country, and to get the enemy to threaten us and harass us even more.
The comrade who spoke on your behalf [words indistinct]. There are many things that attack and offend us and that profane the memory of those who have fought, of those who have fallen, and of those who are fighting. They are offending those who have to be cutting and carrying cane by hand in a harvest such as this one, in which the food for the people and the resources for the Titans are produced. They are offending the teachers who educate our children. [words indistinct]. They are offending those who are saving people's lives in hospitals. They are offending those who work in the heat of the furnaces, all our hardworking people, the fighters who defend the fatherland, the internationalists, who provided so much service to the fatherland, and those who were killed while providing those services.
We must bear these things in mind -- you, the trainers, the Titans, and INDER, because we must gain some experience from all this. You cannot wage a self-sacrificing struggle in this country to train any Titan, or anyone, who is capable of such infamy, such a betrayal of the homeland, because it would be unfair to thus repay the people who have done the most for sports and sportsmen.
It is necessary that each of you think about these things when you are out on the track, the court, the field, or wherever; think about what you are defending; think about the things for which you struggle; and be capable, at that supreme moment of your effort, of giving all that a human being can give -- and what a human being can give in this case is unlimited.
No one who is capable of appreciating these values, this spirit should ever be swayed by the temptation of driving a sharp knife into the backs of their people, who trust you so much. We have done everything possible for the athletes within this difficult special period. No one believed we would be able to support the athletes' movement and all [words indistinct] with everyone's effort. Even the athletes and the instructors, who go to other countries and give INDER part of what they receive, because INDER has no hard currency and has annual expenses. Part of these expenses have been paid by collecting funds that are used for basic expenses [words indistinct] including the teams.
This has served to encourage all the athletes because, although it is true that some teams have a relatively high income, others have no income at all; and no athlete was forgotten when it was time to allocate a larger or smaller incentive. However, everyone made a special contribution to prepare for these Olympiads and to seek food -- for the number of calories and proteins that all the national team needed. [Words indistinct], they should be strong, they should lack nothing with regard to clothes and other material conditions, even during the special period, when there is a shortage of things, and when convertible currency may be needed to buy medicine for a child.
Obviously, we have made sure that no child lacks medicine, but you bear witness, you have lived in one of the most difficult times in this country, in the defense of its independence, in the defense of its integrity, in the defense of its ideas.
We are attacked because the powerful empire regards as enemies those who want justice for the world; they do nothing against those who are dominated, those who do not care about education, health, and sports. Their objective is sweeping from the Earth's surface those who have given an example. While performing your activities, you have witnessed the example our people have given [words indistinct] buying athletes. You have witnessed our support for sports and our country's pride in sports. We must preserve that pride, that honor.
We are human beings, and all human beings have defects, just as we have some virtues. Human beings, however, can be motivated to give the best of themselves, they can make their utmost efforts, and they can appreciate their dignity, their honor, and the love they receive from their people. The love and confidence from the people cannot be shunned.
It is with this spirit that we want you to struggle, all of you, in these Olympic Games that will be so difficult, which will take place in the heart of the Empire that [word indistinct] us, in the heart of the monster. I am not referring to U.S. citizens -- many people have been deceived through vile lies that are written and published -- but to the mechanisms and the system that prevails in that country, a corrupt and corruptive system. I am referring to the extraordinary abundance of resources they have which they use to commit immoralities and injustices, and to continue waging the battle against this small country, which is shameful.
In boxing, it is tantamount to a fight between 20 kg and 100 kg. No, more than that, between 10 kg and 200 kg. This little David, however, of 5 kg or 10 kg, has a spirit of hundreds of kilograms, of thousands of kilograms. They have not been able to bring us to our knees in any field; they have not been able to take over Cuba, thanks to the heroic attitude of our people and our combatants.
Let us despise those who sell themselves for 12 coins, like those coins Judas was said to have received for his treason. Let us vindicate the honor of sports, and let us return as the Spartans did in the old days with the shield or on the shield.
The flag we have given you today is not to sell in pieces or to let anyone tear a single piece from it. The flag we have delivered to you today represents the fatherland, dignity, courage, and heroism. It represents honor. It will be the duty of each one of you, without exception, no matter what happens; it will be your duty to bring back that flag with glory and without stains. Socialism or death! Fatherland or death! We will win!
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