"From day one of the revolutionary victory our country has never set obstacles to the legal emigration of Cuban citizens to the United States or to any other country. At the time of the triumph of the Revolution many people in Cuba, like in the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America, who endured poverty and underdevelopment, wanted to migrate to seek for better paid jobs and better living conditions than they could find in their countries subjected to centuries of exploitation and plundering. Until 1959, an extremely limited number of visas were issued to Cubans. After that, for obvious reasons, the gates were wide opened and that is how an important number of Cubans began settling in the United States".
Quotes
“They were born 83 years apart. The first was already a legendary figure when the second entered the world. If one of them proclaimed that whoever tried to take possession of Cuba would have to gather up the dust of its soil soaked in blood, if he did not perish in the struggle, the other soaked Bolivian soil with his blood trying to prevent the empire from taking over America”.
"Colombia’s problem can only be solved through peace, and in peace; everyone should cooperate. True peace, because quite a few "peaces" there have ended up in the cemetery."
“There shouldn’t be any wars. We should make efforts to find peaceful solutions everywhere, in Colombia too. There shouldn’t be any wars, because at this time in the history of the Americas, no problem can be solved through wars”.
"The neoliberal globalization imposed on the world, designed to facilitate greater looting of the planet’s natural resources, has, in the wake of the fateful "Washington Consensus" led most of the countries in the Third World, and especially those in Latin America, into a desperate and unsustainable situation".
"I have, for a very long time, had the very deeply-held conviction that, when a crisis comes, leaders arise. So Bolívar arose when Napoleon occupied Spain and the imposition of a foreign king created the conditions that facilitated the independence of the Spanish colonies in this hemisphere. So Marti arose when the right moment came for the independence revolution in Cuba. So arose Chávez when the dreadful social and human situation in Venezuela and Latin America determined that the time to fight for the second, real independence had come".
“The real integration between the Latin America and Caribbean countries is a sine qua non condition for sustainable development, food security and sovereignty, to supply our peoples’ needs”
“Unity means sharing in the struggle, the risks, the sacrifices, the aims, ideas, concepts and strategies, assumed after discussion and analysis. Unity means a common struggle against annexationists, quislings and corrupt individuals who have nothing in common with a militant revolutionary. It is to this unity revolving around the idea of independence and against the empire as it advances over the peoples of the Americas that I always referred to”.
"Cuba had friendly relations with all Latin American and Caribbean countries, whether right-wing or left-wing. We have been following that policy for long and we will never change it; we are ready to support any action in favor of promoting peace among peoples. This is a thorny and difficult issue, but we will continue to persevere in it".
“We are hearing the loud clarion call of war in the southern part of our continent as the result of the genocidal plans of the Yankee Empire. Nothing new! It was expected!”
"Today, with everything at risk, we have not been transformed into belligerent people. We are determined supporters of that unity among peoples which Marti named Our America".
"Condoleezza Rice herself would have to answer some questions: How many Americans have been killed by bombs sent by Cuba? Has even one single brick ever been broken because of an explosive device coming from our country? Why are we being included in the grotesque list of terrorist countries, the same one on which Venezuela’s inclusion is being arbitrarily threatened? Who used terrorism against our homeland to blow up planes in mid-air, commit acts of sabotage, and launch mercenary invasions and threats of bombings and wars, economic blockade and actions that have cost thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars? Who is going to believe you or Bush? Why are you insisting on provoking fratricidal wars between the peoples of Latin America? In Iraq, more than a million people have died. How many deaths does the United States of America offer Latin America, a region with over 500 million inhabitants, to defend its democracy and its empire?".