“Oppression, exploitation, inequality and injustice create people who, even at the agonizing moment of an unfair death, are capable of moving an empire and exciting the admiration of honorable people throughout the world.”
“All conditioning becomes unacceptable when the inalienable principles of our homeland are involved. The political organization adopted by a sovereign nation cannot be subjected to conditions. Cuba will neither negotiate nor sell out its Revolution, which has cost the blood and the sacrifice of many of its sons and daughters.”
“The Revolution gave the people the property of their own country. What the Revolution eradicated was the property of the basic means of production, of the financial institutions and of other crucial services which were in the hands of those who plundered and exploited the people --and made fortunes on the workers’ sweat-- or that only served the rich and the privileged, leaving the poor and the black people out”.
“And what does the Cuban Revolution teach? That revolution is possible, that the peoples can make it; that in the contemporary world there are no forces capable of preventing the liberation movement of the peoples.”.
"At the same time, education has always been, from the very moment of the triumph of the Revolution, and will always be, one of the fundamental objectives in our epic struggle for a truly just, free and humane society".
"From day one of the revolutionary victory our country has never set obstacles to the legal emigration of Cuban citizens to the United States or to any other country. At the time of the triumph of the Revolution many people in Cuba, like in the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America, who endured poverty and underdevelopment, wanted to migrate to seek for better paid jobs and better living conditions than they could find in their countries subjected to centuries of exploitation and plundering. Until 1959, an extremely limited number of visas were issued to Cubans.
"You ignorants! Do you not understand that Cuba is impregnable, that its Revolution is indestructible, that its people will never bow down or surrender? Do you not realize that our patriotism and internationalism are as deeply rooted in our minds and hearts (...)".
"The Cuban Revolution does not merely confide in the moral integrity and patriotic and revolutionary spirit of its people, and in the survival instinct of the human species, whose very existence is threatened. It also believes and confides in the traditional idealism of the American people that can only be led into unjust wars and shameful aggressions on the basis of vulgar deceit".
"When the invaders landed there, three roads crossed the marsh, some facilities had already been built and others were being built for tourism, even an airport in the vicinity of Giron Beach, the last stronghold of the enemy forces which our combatants took by assault on the evening of April 19, 1961. I have told that story before. We were at the point of recovering it in less than 30 hours. Diversion maneuvers by the U.S. Marines delayed our crushing tank attack in the early morning of the 18th.
"You accuse Cuban revolutionaries of being torturers. I seriously urge you to find a single one of the more than a thousand prisoners captured during the Bay of Pigs fighting who had been tortured. I was there, not in some protected position at a distant general command post. I personally captured a number of prisoners with the help of some assistants; I walked in front of armed squads who were still lying under cover of the forest’s vegetation, paralyzed by the presence of the Chief of the Revolution.