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On what moral grounds can the rulers of a nation in which millionaires and beggars exist; Indians are exterminated; Blacks are discriminated against; women are prostituted; and huge numbers of Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, and other Latin Americans are scorned, exploited, and humiliated, speak of human rights? How can the representatives of a capitalist and imperialist society based on the exploitation of man by man, combined with egoism, individualism, and a complete lack of human solidarity, do this? How can those that train and provide military supplies to the bloodiest, most reactionary, and most corrupt governments in the world, such as those of Somoza, Pinochet, Stroessner, the guerrillas in Uruguay, Mobutu, and the shah of Iran, just to name a few, mouth this slogan? How can the leaders of a state whose intelligence agencies organized assassination attempts against the leaders of other countries and whose armies dropped explosives in Vietnam equivalent to hundreds of atom bombs, such as those that exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and who murdered millions of Vietnamese without even deigning to apologize to the country or pay indemnity for the lives lost - the leaders of a state that has traditionally intervened in Latin America, subjects the people of this part of the world to its exploiting yoke, and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of children every year due to illness and starvation - how can they speak of human rights? In short, how can the imperialist government that forcibly maintains a military base in our territory and subjects our people to a criminal economic blockade speak of human rights?

Fidel Castro#12

PoliticsImperialismJusticeExploitationForeign policyHuman rightsHypocrisyMorality

About this quote

What does it mean?
Castro questions the moral legitimacy of a nation that practices internal exploitation and supports oppressive regimes abroad while claiming to uphold human rights.
In plain terms
How can a country that harms its own people and supports dictators claim to defend human rights?
What can you take from it?
Hypocrisy undermines moral authority in international relations.

Where it applies

  • political debate
  • international relations
  • social justice activism

Putting it to work

  • critique foreign policy
  • analyze state hypocrisy
  • demand human rights

Questions to consider

  • Can a nation claim human rights while violating them domestically?
  • What makes a government morally legitimate?

Another view

The quote assumes a specific ideological stance without addressing counterarguments about national interests.

More from Fidel Castro

  1. They talk about the failure of socialism but where is the success of capitalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America?

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  2. I began revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and p…

    Permalink to quote #13
  3. When I was a young boy, my father taught me that to be a good Catholic, I had to confess at church if I ever had impure thoughts about a girl. That very evenin…

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