1930 - 2007
Cuban revolutionary leader and feminist. Founder and Eternal
President of the Cuban Federation of Women
Excerpt from speech to Latin American Conference. March, 1961
“The Revolution was not, and is not, and will never become the adventure of a few, to benefit a new
class of self-seekers. It was, and is, and will be the irresistible impulse of a whole people to become absolute master of its destiny,
without subjection to any type of colonial rule, to recover its land and its dignity, its right to bread and to
culture, to exploit its own riches for its own benefit, and to live in peace and friendship with all the peoples
of the world.
We want to live in peace and be friends with everyone, but we are on guard in case they attempt
aggression against us. And we are not exporting revolutions. But neither can we prevent the
example of the Cuban Revolution from going beyond our borders and revealing to the brother peoples of
our America and the world that imperialism is not invulnerable. That when a united people decides
to obtain its full freedom and its complete independence, there are no forces which can stand in its
way.”
