"I am very aware, and I have been aware throughout my life, that Bolívar was the man whom José Martí admired the most. Bolívar, Venezuela and their people were always what Cubans admired the most. Bolívar, Venezuela, their people and their feats always inspired my dreams as a Latin American and Cuban revolutionary.’’
“I think we are all worthy of a better future, we have a right to a better future; nobility of spirit, the talent of our peoples, their patriotism, their courage, their feelings – all of these make them worthy of a better future.”
… the human species has attained a maximum of consciousness while it is incapable of hurting for the suffering of others.
“Julio Antonio Mella, one day you said that even after we are dead we are useful, because we serve as a standard. And so it has been! You were always the standard for our workers and youth in their revolutionary struggles, and today you are the inspirational standard, exemplary, victorious and invincible, of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba!”
“Those of us who have read about the history of the Americas, who have meditated more than once about it, from the time when we acquired the first political notions and learned the first concepts about what this continent was like, its origin and its history, have found it very difficult to understand why our America has reached the present status; (…) why have we lived so estranged from each other; why have we lived so indifferently to those who many a time have been separated from us only by a river, or an imaginary line, or a mountain, or an inlet, when we all were essentially o
“We are against the injustice of the past, of the era of Greece, Rome and the Pharaohs. We are against the injustice of the Middle Ages and we are against the injustice and the abuses committed during the conquest of this continent, practically exterminating the indigenous population and enslaving millions and millions of Africans. We are against the injustice of the past but we must also be, and we are, against the injustice of the present and there is much of it. And we must never accept the injustice of the future.”
“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 e
[…] and I promise you, with the seriousness with which we have always promised to do things and lived up to our promises, that I will be the last to use a weapon here to solve any problem; that I will the most firm, determined an consistent advocate of peace, […]
“It is important that, as from today, that the people know and understand that the Revolution could not be a task of one, two, or three days, that the evils that affect us could not be eradicated overnight, and that it would be necessary to work very hard. Just as the war was not won in a single day, […], the Revolution would also have to be made step by step, little by little, and without any other maxim but that of the final victory.”
"José Martí, the Apostle of Independence, a genius of the ideas, and of the noblest ideas that can ever be conceived; the National Hero of our homeland, whose ideas inspired the Centennial Generation and today inspire and will continue to inspire all of our people more and more."