“To fight for the future does not mean not to avoid doing everyday what must be done for the present. These two ideas must not be confused.”
“Revolutionaries have always fought for the future. Máximo Gómez and Martí fought for the future. When Martí died at Dos Ríos he knew he was dying for the future. He was not concerned with seeing the results of all that. It would have been extraordinarily useful to have him longer. It can be said that he died in the prime of youth, when his talent was at its best. They were fighting for the future.”
“Our battle is not only a battle for survival, it is not just surviving for the sake of surviving, no. It is a battle to take part in the struggle for a better world, to participate in that struggle along with the world.”
“Today, by force, the struggle of any country, any people, especially the Third World peoples, becomes a struggle for the whole world, a universal struggle. Any contribution to the struggle counts, however modest. Some can do more, some less, depending on certain factors and circumstances.”
“(…) if a drop of blood is shed, it should be shed for the good of mankind and for the planet off which the human family must live. And, it will live one day under principles which will not be ruthless exploitation and selfishness, which will not be inequality and injustice; they will be brotherhood, true brotherhood, fraternity and justice among all human beings on this planet. That is really worth any sacrifice.”
“One must have faith in history. One must have faith in the peoples. That encourages us in this fight, and teaches us”.
“It is that men who play a role, depend completely on events that have nothing to do with their personal ability that can only show under certain circumstances. That is what happened with the forefathers of our independence and all personalities throughout history. Previous conditions are required for which no man take credit.”
“Our country does not practice chauvinism or commercialize sports, which are as sacred as the people’s education and health. What it practices, rather, is solidarity. Years ago, it created a Physical Education and Sports Trainers School, with capacity for more than 1,500 students from the Third World”.
“An attempt is made at imposing an economic order in which our small and poor countries would have no choice but to become an immense free zone where the capital and industries of the powerful would find cheap labor force, destroy our environment, deplete our resources and multiply their profits without even paying taxes, when these countries no longer receive the modest custom benefits they used to obtain.”
“For 50 years, we have been deceived with the promise of reducing the extensive gap between the poor and the rich countries that has continued to widen every minute of this half century since the war. The so-called reciprocity would be an outrageously arbitrary historical injustice.”