“Peace is just the primary condition so that we can overturn, according to our beliefs, the colossal sources of energy and resources necessary for all of humanity, and not just for one part of it, to be able to live honourably, decently and decorously.”
Quotes
“Those, myself included, who defend socialism as the future of mankind, we should be in this battle which is not yet the battle of socialism, but the battle for a different world, free from poverty and oppression, the battle of hundreds of millions of people for whom it is pressing to convince the neocolonialists of the urgent need to change, or to defeat their policies through this struggle of the peoples”.
“It is also said that the West has created a civilization inspired by Christian values. Indeed, this is said of the West that has been responsible for so many wars and so many tragedies for humanity, of so much misery and so much poverty in the world, of so many conquests and so many colonies, of so much under-development which today plagues the Earth.”
“We look at the entire planet, in hopes it will survive, that the men will find enough intelligence and energy to survive, that mankind will find
enough consciousness and spirit to fight, because only fighting anarchy, fighting the madness of the empire and the system it represents mankind will be able to survive.”
“Thank you for coming to bolster us in this difficult struggle we are involved in today to save the ideas for which you fought so valiantly, to save the Revolution, the homeland and the conquests of socialism, which is a part that has been carried out of the great dreams you harboured!”
"Forty-five years have passed since the assault on the Moncada. Our country had been struggling for its independence and its rights for more than a century. Maceo, Gómez and other fighters struggled from 1868 until 1898. They suffered the humiliation of not being able to hoist their flag in this heroic city, of not even being able to enter it after 30 years of a self-sacrificing, admirable and heroic struggle. But the day came when those flags were hoisted and their ideas triumphed, ideas which were ever-changing and which never stopped evolving into something better. Every new idea can be a step towards the pinnacle of human progress.”
"What we need to do is carry forward a united struggle. We have to work together to create a consciousness, to sow ideas."
"Our country lives by values. It has resisted thanks to values, waging not only economic battles but also battles against terrorism, against assassination attempts."
“We are fighting for the most sacred rights of the poor countries; but we are also fighting for the salvation of a First World incapable of preserving the existence of the human species, of governing itself in the midst of contradictions and self-serving interests and much less of governing the world…”
“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 ethical principles; it is the profound conviction that there is no force on earth that can crush truth and ideas. Revolution is unity, it is independence, it is fighting for our dreams of justice for Cuba and the world that is the basis of our patriotism, our socialism and our internationalism."
"I have left out many other unforgettable events, yet at none of those moments in our struggle have I felt such intense emotion as I did when I saw on television that door open on the little plane that brought them from the United States, after so many months of tireless battle, and the figures of Juan Miguel and Elián emerge, at 7:53 p.m. on June 28. A small boy and a modest Cuban father, known by very few people hardly a few months before, were returning as great moral symbols of our homeland".
“[...]How great our people are! How invincible a just cause is! How important it is to believe in human beings! How beautiful it is to fight for great ideals! How much light and happiness can emanate from an innocent little boy as a gift to the people who were prepared to die for one of their most beloved sons!”