"(...) that everything that today contributes to underdevelopment and poverty is tantamount to a flagrant attack on the ecology. As a result, tens of millions of men, women and children perish every year in the Third World, far more than in each of the two world wars. The unequal terms of trade, protectionism and the foreign debt are also an assault on the ecology and facilitate the destruction of the environment".
Quotes
"(...) that everything that today contributes to underdevelopment and poverty is tantamount to a flagrant attack on the ecology".
“Saving Old Havana, which they were already completely destroying, but which the world now admires as the Heritage of Humanity, all that architecture that has incalculable value, protected, where they were already starting to make heliports and tall buildings. If the Revolution had been delayed a few more years, nothing would remain of Old Havana, which is now not only a cultural center admired by the world but even a center of wealth and income for the country. There isn't a citizen who comes to the capital who doesn't want to go to visit Old Havana, which has been preserved by the Revolution”.
“(…) a computer connected to Internet is now a possibility to make a message, a thought, reach millions of people in the world”.
“Don’t let yourselves be confused by anything, don’t ever let anyone deceive you. This is our hope, that our country never goes backwards, that this Revolution never goes backwards and that all the dignity and glory which we have acquired can never be destroyed. This is our commitment and our pledge to our glorious and heroic comrades who have given their lives for this cause.”
“A tree can fall because it has weak roots but no tree with deep roots can ever be uprooted and we have millions of citizens with deep roots and a people with deep roots”
“We have pooled the essence of our thinkers’ best ideas with that of foreign thinkers, which has helped to strengthen and develop our present ideals.”
“Today there are higher ideals. Before we were fighting for our country; today we’re fighting for the world and we’re doing so for two reasons. Firstly, we have acquired an awareness of humanity, so beautifully expressed in Martí’s phrase, "The homeland is humanity". Secondly, because we have acquired these concepts through Martí’s teachings and our political, revolutionary, Marxist, Leninist, socialist education.”
“Every new idea can be a step towards the pinnacle of human progress. We borrowed ideas from philosophers, thinkers and revolutionaries. Our people has contributed new ideas and will continue to do so.”
“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.”
“There is the intention to accord equal treatment to countries which differ greatly in their capabilities and development stages; that is terribly unfair. Our particularly backward and vulnerable economies - a logical consequence of centuries of colonialism, slavery and pillage - would never be able to successfully take part in the world economy in the absence of preferential schemes and of a great contribution in non-repayable foreign resources.”