Quotes
"(...) cannot renounce my convictions, as I feel that the more candid we are in telling the truth the more possibilities there will be to be heeded and respected".
“Today, of course, the main concern of our people and the planet as a whole is the preservation of peace, because without peace, the world would be headed towards a fatal abyss. And we will struggle for peace with the same courage, honor and dignity as we always have”.
“In Cuba we have never cultivated hatred against the American people or blamed them for the aggressions perpetrated by the governments of that country. That would have run contrary to our political doctrines and our internationalist conscience, both well-proven throughout many years, and increasingly rooted in our ideas.”
“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”.
“Revolutionary Cubans, in the thick of the Battle of Ideas we are waging and embroiled in the arduous and heroic defence of our Homeland, the Revolution and Socialism, on a day like today we are rendering a special tribute to our two great heroes, with a firm, unshakeable decision: We shall all be like Maceo and Che”
“If I were to look for a word that was synonymous with austerity, integrity, a spirit of sacrifice and ethics, that word would be Che”.
General Antonio Maceo, Cubans today, brought up on your immortal example, would like to have shared with you the honour of being with you that glorious day when you said to the representative of Spanish colonial power: We want no peace without independence.
"We are prepared to do without anything, including life, except our country’s dignity and sovereignty. We are not the ones attacking, being hostile to or blockading the United States. We are not demanding that its constitution and political and economic system be changed. We show the strictest respect for the rights of other countries. Our rights must also be respected".
“Unity, dignity and rational and solidarity-based integration are the only possible means to confront the common challenges of the globalized, unequal and discriminatory world that threatens us all.”