“With the legitimate pride of those who have known how to act ethically, Rebel Army combatants can say no prisoner’s life has ever been taken. No wounded soldier has ever left without medical attention. No prisoner ever beaten, insulted, or humiliated. No captured officer subjected to interrogation.
“No affront to human dignity can ever be justified... In the midst of today’s human passions, this record is valued less than it will be when the history of the revolution is written” – Fidel Castro, August 19, 1958
In articles, letters, and other writings collected here, Fidel Castro draws important lessons from his half-century of revolutionary experience leading the working people of Cuba to take state power out of the hands of its capitalist rulers, who were backed by US imperialism. They opened the door to the first socialist revolution in the Americas.
In 2008, as part of efforts to end six decades of armed conflict and guerrilla war in Colombia, Castro shared that experience with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the world.
The example set by Cuba's Rebel Army combatants presented in these pages remains as relevant today as it was then.