Is it true that the longest speech at the UN was made by Fidel Castro?

It is widely believed on the Internet that the leader of the Cuban Revolution gave the longest speech at the UN. We checked whether he really holds such a record.

The fact that in the entire history of the UN no one has presented their arguments longer than Fidel Castro is stated in a variety of sources: from historical information to “RIA Novosti» to online collections interesting facts. Russia Today And Radio Liberty they even claim that the corresponding achievement is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.

The speech given by Fidel Castro was indeed quite long. At the plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly on September 26, 1960, the Cuban leader spoke for four and a half hours. In his speech, Castro told about the revolution that took place in Cuba, condemned US policy towards Latin American countries and criticized the future President Kennedy. UN official website admitsthat it was the longest speech ever given by state leaders. Its Russian version more categorical and makes no such reservations. The authors of the publication also claim that the achievement is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.

The article “The longest speech in the history of the UN” is indeed in the Guinness Book of Records, but the achievement is not recorded for the Cuban leader. How asserts edition, three years before Fidel Castro, Indian politician Vengalil Krishna Menon spoke at the UN - his speech at a meeting of the Security Council took about eight hours. All this time he spoke about his country's position on the situation in Kashmir. In contrast to Castro's continuous speech, Krishna Menon brought their arguments over three sessions, which took place on January 23 and 24, 1957. At the same time, the first break was organized at the suggestion of the chairman, and at the second meeting the Indian asked postpone the end of the speech to the next day due to one’s own fatigue.

Thus, the leader of the Cuban Revolution does hold an unusual record: he delivered the longest continuous speech at a meeting of the General Assembly. At the same time, a few years earlier, Krishna Menon spoke almost twice as long as part of the work of the Security Council, but this single speech was listened to with breaks between meetings.

Half-truth

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. https://ask.un.org/faq/37127
2. http://undocs.org/en/A/PV.872
3. https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/09/25/the-top-10-craziest-things-ever-said-during-a-u-n-speech/