Castro in his own words

Here are some of the things Fidel Castro has said about his revolution.

* “Condemn me. It is of no importance. History will absolve me.” — Castro in 1953, when the young lawyer was defending himself at trial for his near-suicidal assault on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba.

* “I began the revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I would do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and a plan of action.” — Castro in 1959.

* “I’m not thinking of cutting my beard, because I’m accustomed to my beard and my beard means many things to my country. When we fulfil our promise of good government I will cut my beard.” — Castro in a 1959 interview with CBS’s Edward Murrow, 30 days after the revolution.

* “A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.” — Castro in 1959…

* “These changes (the opening to international tourism, foreign investment, some small business and family remittances)have their social cost, because we lived in a glass case, pure asepsis, and now we are surrounded by viruses, bacteria to the point of distraction and the egoism created by the capitalist system of production.” — Castro in 1998.

* “One of the greatest benefits of the revolution is that even our prostitutes are college graduates.” — Castro to director Oliver Stone in 2003 documentary “Comandante.”

* “I realized that my true destiny would be the war that I was going to have with the United States.” — Castro’s opening quote in “Looking for Fidel,” Stone’s second documentary on the Cuban leader from 2004.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.