"(...) 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.”
“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".
“For super-developed societies, the problem is not growth but distribution, and not only distribution amongst themselves, but distribution among all of them. The sustainable growth we are talking about is impossible without a more just distribution among all countries.”
“[…] Do a better job dividing up the wealth of the world among all nations and within the nations; set up true solidarity among the peoples, that is the only way our dreams of today can become realities tomorrow.”
“The sum total of all our cultures would be one enormous culture and a multiplication of our cultures. Integration should not affect but enrich the culture of every one of our countries.”
“In the last few days we have seen the hasty establishment of the basis, the concept, the true purposes, the spirit and the conditions for such a war. No one would be able to affirm that it was not something thought out well in advance, something that was just waiting for its chance to materialize. Those who after the so-called end of the cold war continued a military build-up and the development of the most sophisticated means to kill and exterminate human beings were aware that the large military investments would give them the privilege to impose an absolute and complete dominance over the other peoples of the world. The ideologists of the imperialist system knew very well what they were doing and why they were doing it.”
"The rich world should condone their foreign debt and grant them fresh soft credits to finance their development. The traditional offers of assistance, always scant and often ridiculous, are either inadequate or unfulfilled."
The greatest desire of all Cuban revolutionaries is for every new generation to be better prepared for the huge challenges that the future brings for our country and all of humankind. Every minute of your lives, you must be fully aware of the great responsibility that the country and the Revolution have entrusted in you: for the moment, to study hard and fulfill your duty with honor.