In this Oct. 12, 1979, photo, Cuban President Fidel Castro points during his lengthy speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Cuban President Raul Castro has announced the death of his brother Fidel Castro at age 90 on Cuban state media on Nov. 25. AP
Quotes from Fidel Castro:
鈥淐ondemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.鈥濃�擮ct. 16, 1953, at his trial for rebel attack that launched Cuban Revolution.
鈥淚 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.鈥濃�擩an. 1, 1959, upon triumph of the revolution.
鈥淲orkers and farmers, this is the socialist and democratic revolution of the humble, with the humble and for the humble.鈥濃�擜pril 16, 1961, declaring his government socialist.
鈥淚 believe that aggression is imminent in the next 24 to 72 hours,鈥� Oct. 26, 1962, commenting on possibility of US attack in memo to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev during tensest hours of Cuban missile crisis.
鈥淢illions of Cubans shed their tears today together with the loved ones of the victims of the abominable crime. And when an energetic and forceful people cry, injustice trembles.鈥濃�擮ct. 15, 1976, addressing more than 1 million mourners in Havana the week after the terrorist bombing of Cuban airliner killed 73 people.
鈥淭oday it hurts us if a Cuban is hungry, if a Cuban has no doctor, if a Cuban child suffers or is uneducated, or if a family has no housing. It hurts us even though it鈥檚 not our brother, our son or our father. Why shouldn鈥檛 we feel hurt if we see an Angolan child go hungry, suffer, be killed or massacred?鈥濃�擬arch 30, 1977, to Cuban civilian and military personnel in Luanda, Angola.
鈥淐uba is not opposed to finding a solution to its historical differences with the United States, but no one should expect Cuba to change its position or yield in its principles. Cuba is and will continue to be socialist. Cuba is and will continue to be a friend of the Soviet Union and of all the socialist states.鈥濃�擠ec. 20, 1980, to Congress of Communist Party of Cuba.
鈥淲e will take the steps we have to take to keep our factories running, to keep our workers employed, to keep going forward in these difficult conditions, and 鈥� find the formulas to save the country, save the revolution and save socialism.鈥濃�擮ct. 14, 1991, to Communist Party congress as Cuba felt first effects of waning Soviet trade.
鈥淲e will win this battle for life, and not only for your lives, but also for the lives of all children in the world.鈥濃�擠ec. 23, 1999, calling on schoolchildren to participate in fight to repatriate Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez.
鈥淚 promise that I will be with you, if you so wish, for as long as I feel that I can be useful鈥攁nd if it is not decided by nature before鈥攏ot a minute less and not a second more 鈥� Now I understand that it was not my destiny to rest at the end of my life.鈥濃�擬arch 6, 2003, upon being re-elected by Cuba鈥檚 National Assembly to sixth term as Council of State president.
鈥淚 do not have the slightest doubt that our people and our revolution will fight to the last drop of blood to defend these and other ideas and measures that are necessary to safeguard this historic process.鈥濃�擩uly 31, 2006, announcing he had undergone intestinal surgery and temporarily ceded his powers to younger brother Raul, Cuba鈥檚 defense minister.
鈥淚 am saying that I will neither aspire to nor accept鈥擨 repeat, I will neither aspire to, nor accept鈥攖he positions of president of the State Council and commander in chief.鈥濃�擣eb. 19, 2008, announcing his resignation as president.
鈥淚 was at death鈥檚 door, but I came back,鈥� speaking of his 2006 illness in an Aug. 30, 2010 interview with Mexican daily La Jornada.
鈥淭he new generation is being called upon to rectify and change without hesitation all that should be rectified and changed 鈥� Persisting in revolutionary principles is, in my judgment, the principal legacy we can leave them,鈥� April 18, 2011 opinion piece written during key Communist Party Congress on the need to hand off to young leaders. At the Congress, Castro stepped down as head of the party. But despite talk of rejuvenation, he was replaced by his 79-year-old brother, with two grey-haired veterans of the revolution selected as Raul鈥檚 chief deputies.
鈥淚鈥檒l be 90 years old soon,鈥� Castro said at an April 2016 communist party congress where he made his most extensive public appearance in years. 鈥淪oon I鈥檒l be like all the others. The time will come for all of us, but the ideas of the Cuban Communists will remain as proof that on this planet, if one works with fervor and dignity, they can produce the material and cultural goods that human beings need and that need to be fought for without ever giving up.鈥�