I am not interested in power nor do I envisage assuming it at any time. All that I will do is to make sure that the sacrifices of so many compatriots should not be in vain, whatever the future may hold in store for me. ...
We shall exile hatred from the republic, that hatred which is a damned and evil shadow bequeathed to us by ambition and tyranny. ...
There will be freedom for those who speak in our favor and for those who speak against us and criticize us. There will be freedom for all men.
--Jan. 1, 1959, in Santiago.
Let us not deceive ourselves into believing that what lies ahead will all be easy. Perhaps all that lies ahead will be more difficult. ...
The worst enemies of the Cuban revolution in the future may be the revolutionaries themselves. ... We must be more demanding of the rebel soldiers than of anyone.
--Jan. 8, 1959, at Camp Columbia, Havana.
The problem is that the people of Cuba want to mete out justice and the enemies of the Cuban revolution do not want this. ...
When the total number of ruffians who will be shot is calculated, they come to fewer than the number they (ousted dictator Fugencio Batista's forces) murdered in a single town. ...
No one has a right to import standards for the people of Cuba from abroad.
--Jan. 17, 1959, at presidential palace, Havana.
The revolution is not weakened by attacks. On the contrary, it waxes and gains strength. ...
Those who agree with the justice that is being carried out, those who agree that the henchmen should be shot, raise your hands. ... Gentlemen of the diplomatic corps, reporters of the entire continent: The jury of a million Cubans (has voted).
--Jan. 21, 1959, in Havana.
The Cuban government does not wish to be the enemy of the government of the United States, nor the enemy of any government in the world. ... (But Cuba) has the right to follow its own political line, the same right that the United States has to follow its own, and therefore we cannot permit a policy to be imposed upon us.
--Feb. 19, 1959, news conference.
Sources: U.S. government Foreign Broadcast Information Service texts; UT-LANIC Web site, University of Texas (www.lanic.utexas.edu).
© Copyright 1998 The Associated Press