‘History will absolve me’: Fidel Castro in his own words

● “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.