“Julio Antonio Mella, one day you said that even after we are dead we are useful, because we serve as a standard. And so it has been! You were always the standard for our workers and youth in their revolutionary struggles, and today you are the inspirational standard, exemplary, victorious and invincible, of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba!”
“Those of us who have read about the history of the Americas, who have meditated more than once about it, from the time when we acquired the first political notions and learned the first concepts about what this continent was like, its origin and its history, have found it very difficult to understand why our America has reached the present status; (…) why have we lived so estranged from each other; why have we lived so indifferently to those who many a time have been separated from us only by a river, or an imaginary line, or a mountain, or an inlet, when we all were essentially o
“We are against the injustice of the past, of the era of Greece, Rome and the Pharaohs. We are against the injustice of the Middle Ages and we are against the injustice and the abuses committed during the conquest of this continent, practically exterminating the indigenous population and enslaving millions and millions of Africans. We are against the injustice of the past but we must also be, and we are, against the injustice of the present and there is much of it. And we must never accept the injustice of the future.”
“Revolution is the sense of the historical moment; it is changing everything that must be changed; it is full equality and freedom; it is being treated and treating others like human beings; it is emancipating ourselves, by ourselves and with our very own efforts; it is challenging the dominant powerful forces within and outside of the social and national arena; it is defending the values one believes in at the cost of any sacrifice; it is modesty, selflessness, altruism, solidarity and heroism; it is fighting with audacity, intelligence and realism; it is never telling a lie or violating e
[…] and I promise you, with the seriousness with which we have always promised to do things and lived up to our promises, that I will be the last to use a weapon here to solve any problem; that I will the most firm, determined an consistent advocate of peace, […]
“It is important that, as from today, that the people know and understand that the Revolution could not be a task of one, two, or three days, that the evils that affect us could not be eradicated overnight, and that it would be necessary to work very hard. Just as the war was not won in a single day, […], the Revolution would also have to be made step by step, little by little, and without any other maxim but that of the final victory.”
"José Martí, the Apostle of Independence, a genius of the ideas, and of the noblest ideas that can ever be conceived; the National Hero of our homeland, whose ideas inspired the Centennial Generation and today inspire and will continue to inspire all of our people more and more."
“My only wish is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas. I shall continue to write under the heading of ‘Reflections by comrade Fidel.’ It will be just another weapon you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard. I shall be careful.”
“The path will always be difficult and require from everyone’s intelligent effort. I distrust the seemingly easy path of apologetics or its antithesis the self-flagellation. We should always be prepared for the worst variable. The principle of being as prudent in success as steady in adversity cannot be forgotten. The adversary to be defeated is extremely strong; however, we have been able to keep it at bay for half a century.”
“Fortunately, our Revolution can still count on cadres from the old guard and others who were very young in the early stages of the process. Some were very young, almost children, when they joined the fight on the mountains and later they have given glory to the country with their heroic performance and their internationalist missions. They have the authority and the experience to guarantee the replacement. There is also the intermediate generation which learned together with us the basics of the complex and almost unattainable art of organizing and leading a revolution.”