"We didn’t deserve to be a colony of an empire that was even more powerful, that took over our Homeland and a good portion of our national conscience, sowing fatalism with the idea that it was impossible to shake off such a hefty yoke."
"Since the beginning of the Revolution, Cuba has been engaged in training doctors, teachers and other professionals; with a population of less than 12 million inhabitants, today we have more Comprehensive General Medicine specialists than all the doctors in sub-Saharan Africa where the population exceeds 700 million people."
"Cuba has resisted and it will continue to resist; it will never beg for alms. It will go on forward holding its head up high and cooperating with the fraternal peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean; with or without Summits of the Americas; whether or not the president of the United States is Obama, a man or a woman, a black or a white citizen."
"Even though it hurts our modesty, it is a bitter duty to say that our blockaded, threatened and slandered country has shown that Latin American peoples can live without either violence or drugs. It can even live, and that’s what has happened for more than half a century, without relations with the United States. That is something we haven’t shown; they have. "
“I reaffirm my conviction that Cuba will march forward, that Cuba has a great destiny and a great people deserving the glory they are earning with their heroism in time of war, their virtue in time of peace and the courage they will show again a thousand times if again a thousand times it were necessary to take up arms”.
“Cuba has many talented athletes but it has not stolen them from anyone. The people, what’s more, are the ones who enjoy their marvellous performances. It is already a part of their culture, their well-being and their spiritual wealth.”
“We must think of the future; and the future is you, the future of our homeland is personified by you [...]
“ Since January 1, 1959, Cuba has been, is, and will continue to be free forever. Its capacity for struggle and resistance, its profound political culture, and the awareness and courage of its people demonstrate that the Cuban Revolution, with its devotion to justice and its noble objectives, has created such a spirit of solidarity and heroism and has become so deeply rooted in the heart of the homeland that it has been rendered invincible.”
“Those virtues with which our people can resolutely face up any situation, that patriotic feeling, that civic awareness, that political maturity, that revolutionary intelligence which opens up the minds of all of our citizens to the great truths and unites the people, is the path we will never steer away from.”
“…What an extraordinary people this one will be! What a people this one will be, moving along with other peoples of the world! What a people this one will be, which will also be helping, through its own example, many other peoples that are still living in darkness, that are still living in ignorance, that are still living under exploitation!”