"Where the roads of the peoples are closed, where the repression of the workers and peasants is fierce, where the domination of the Yankee monopolies is stronger, the first and most important thing is to understand that it is neither just nor correct to entertain the peoples with the vain and accommodating illusion of pulling out, by legal means that do not exist and will not exist, from the dominant classes, entrenched in all the positions of the State, monopolizers of instruction, owners of all the vehicles of dissemination and possessors of infinite financial resources, a power that the monopolies and the oligarchies will defend with blood and fire with the force of their police forces and their armies".
Quotes
“The peoples think that the only thing incompatible with the destiny of Latin America is misery, feudal exploitation, illiteracy, starvation wages, unemployment, the policy of repression against the masses of workers, peasants and students, discrimination against women, blacks, indigenous people and mestizos, the oppression of the oligarchies, the plundering of their wealth by the US monopolies, the moral suffocation of their intellectuals and artists, the ruin of their small producers by foreign competition, the economic underdevelopment, the peoples without roads, without hospitals, without housing, without schools, without industries, the submission to imperialism, the renunciation of national sovereignty and the betrayal of the homeland”.
“And in the face of the objective and historically inexorable reality of the Latin American revolution, what is the attitude of US imperialism? To prepare to wage a colonial war with the peoples of Latin America; to create the apparatus of force, the political pretexts and the pseudo-legal instruments signed with the representatives of the reactionary oligarchies to repress with blood and fire the struggle of the Latin American peoples”.
“The peoples of the Americas freed themselves from Spanish colonialism at the beginning of the last century, but they did not free themselves from exploitation. The feudal landowners assumed the authority of the Spanish rulers, the Indians continued in painful servitude, the Latin American man in one form or another remained a slave and the minimal hopes of the peoples succumbed under the power of the oligarchies and the strap of foreign capital”.
“"Their society" of privileged minorities over exploited majorities, "their class order" which they maintain with blood and fire over the dispossessed, "the homeland" which they alone enjoy, depriving the rest of the people of that enjoyment, to repress the revolutionaries who aspire to a new society, a just order, a true homeland for all”.
"The National Ballet of Cuba has been present in the greatest moments of our major cultural endeavors, throughout the long battle for independence and socialism waged by our people".
“But it is a historical truth, an inexorable law of history, that all peoples exploited by imperialism will free themselves from imperialism, and that the peoples of Latin America will also free themselves, just as those in Asia who are yet to free themselves will also be free and those remaining in Africa to be freed as well.”
“He left us his revolutionary thinking, he left us his revolutionary virtues, he left us his character, his will, his tenacity, his spirit of work. In a word, he left us his example! Che’s example must be a model for our people, Che’s example must be the ideal model for our people!”
“One day, when the revolution is triumphant in all the rest of the countries of Latin America, we shall unite with the other peoples and we shall form a community of Latin American peoples. We need the revolution for that; we need socialism for that.”
“But I insist that truly a people shall be stronger, they will have a much more secure future, related to how much culture, how much training they have in all aspects; but especially how much more political culture, revolutionary culture, that people have.”
“How useful it is to rummage through our peoples’ extraordinary history! So many things to be learned, so many lessons, so many examples! What a never-ending source of heroism! Because there have never been a people on this continent that have fought more for their freedom than the Cuban people!”
“Vietnam is a most cherished name too close to the hearts of all Cubans. To all of us Vietnam has been an example to follow and an incentive in our struggle. The Cuban people is very much aware of the extraordinary role played by the people of Vietnam within the world’s revolutionary movement and in people’s liberation struggles. Vietnam has taught an unforgettable lesson to all the exploited and oppressed peoples. No liberation movement, none of the peoples that have struggled for their independence have had to wage a struggle as prolonged and heroic as that waged by the people of Vietnam.”