"(...) we must strive for peace and we must strive for disarmament, because one fifth of what the world is spending in weapons could be used to promote development."
Quotes
“The peoples think that the only thing incompatible with the destiny of Latin America is misery, feudal exploitation, illiteracy, starvation wages, unemployment, the policy of repression against the masses of workers, peasants and students, discrimination against women, blacks, indigenous people and mestizos, the oppression of the oligarchies, the plundering of their wealth by the US monopolies, the moral suffocation of their intellectuals and artists, the ruin of their small producers by foreign competition, the economic underdevelopment, the peoples without roads, without hospitals, without housing, without schools, without industries, the submission to imperialism, the renunciation of national sovereignty and the betrayal of the homeland”.
“[…] the human being, the human society are faced with the crucial necessity to advance at the same pace of the technological and scientific knowledge; the human society feels that vital necessity.”
“[…] It is a known fact that our country, however small, has had to keep an extraordinarily large contingent of men under arm. This is unquestionably higher than any other country’s relative figures. But, in this case, the size of our army responded to the magnitude of our task; to the magnitude of the sacred task of defending our Homeland, defending our Revolution and defending it from a powerful and aggressive enemy. Nevertheless, the men that make up our army have not been away from production, […]”
“The imperialists know that there is no development without revolution, and they feel powerless against the reality of a world that is growing and developing, and a population that is increasing as is the revolutionary awareness as a natural and inevitable phenomenon.”
"The developing countries, and the Non-Aligned Movement on their behalf, demand that an important part of the immense resources being squandered today on the arms race should be devoted to development; at the same time this would contribute to pushing back the dangers of war and it would facilitate improving the international situation".
“the sum total of intelligence and creative capacity of all can make great miracles, those miracles that can be made by man with his efforts, his courage, his tenacity, his noble sentiments and his solidarity.”
“We insist here that to us peace is fundamental and peace is closely linked to development. It is impossible to conceive development without peace and disarmament; and to think of peace without development would not be realistic.”
"Let’s put an end to the transfer of lifestyles and consumer habits to the Third World that ruin the environment. Let human life be more rational. Let a just international economic order be implemented. Let science work toward a sustainable development without contamination".
"(...) that everything that today contributes to underdevelopment and poverty is tantamount to a flagrant attack on the ecology. As a result, tens of millions of men, women and children perish every year in the Third World, far more than in each of the two world wars. The unequal terms of trade, protectionism and the foreign debt are also an assault on the ecology and facilitate the destruction of the environment".
"(...) that everything that today contributes to underdevelopment and poverty is tantamount to a flagrant attack on the ecology".
“It is worthwhile indicating that the main responsibility for the brutal destruction of the environment lies with the consumer societies. They are the offspring of the old colonial metropolises and of imperialist policies that also begot the poverty and backwardness which are today the scourge of the overwhelming majority of humanity.”