"In their own words ...

"One after the other, all the U.S. [administrations] have tried to force regime change in Cuba. Resisting has been the key of our victories during this half-century of fighting ... The next 50 years will also be of permanent struggle."

--Raul Castro, during a 40-minute speech Jan. 1 to 3,000 supporters gathered in Santiago de Cuba to mark the 50th anniversary of Cuba's communist revolution.

"The Revolution has given us a lot. I'm communist but I wish there were changes in the economy. That's where the problem is."

--Pedro, a 65-year-old pensioner attending the celebrations in Santiago de Cuba.

"I can't tell you how emotional I became at seeing my late father's name on the database list. All of a sudden, I was a little boy tightly holding his hand as we boarded our plane."

--Unidentified man, in an email to the Miami Herald, thanking the newspaper for publishing its Cuban Freedom Flights Database (see news item at left).

"Let's make a gesture for a gesture. These prisoners you talk about--they want us to let them go? We'll send them with their families and everything. But give us back our five heroes. That is a gesture on both parts."

--Raul Castro, telling reporters during a Dec. 19 visit to Brasilia that the United States should release five convicted Cuban spies from prison in exchange for political dissidents languishing in Cuban jails.

"In the defense of free exchange and the transparent practice of international trade, the application of unilateral coercive measures that affect the well-being of the people and obstruct the process of integration are unacceptable."

--Statement issued at the end of a summit in Brazil by 33 Latin American and Caribbean heads of state, demanding an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

"If I were Obama, the first day of my presidency I'd lift the economic blockade on Cuba ... if the United States doesn't, we should expel its ambassadors."

--Bolivian President Evo Morales, speaking at that same summit in Brazil. "The party is all about solidarity, and while it's true that we lack many things in Cuba, the hurricanes showed we still stand together."

--Maria Jose Fachada, survivor of two hurricanes in the Pinar del Rio town of Consolacion del Sur, quoted in a Dec. 23 story in the St. Petersburg Times.

"I was born with the revolution. I've never known capitalism. My earliest memories are of socialism, the special period and the U.S. blockade. For years I had to wear the same pair of shoes to school. But at least I had free healthcare and education. And as a nation, everyone was willing to work together."

--Liaena Hernandez, who at 18 is the youngest deputy in Cuba's National Assembly. Hernandez was interviewed Dec. 22 by Michael Voss of BBC News.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am back."

--Patrick Manning, prime minister of Trinidad & Tobago, showing reporters his scar Dec. 24 following successful kidney surgery in Cuba. The 62-year-old head of state also met with Raul Castro for an hour before his return to Port of Spain.

"We pick up the purpose of the sociedades, but we are going further. We meet not only to carry out activities specific to the society of color, but to actively fight against racism."

--Norberto Mesa Carbonell, founder of Cofradia de la Negritud (Fraternity of Blackness), a Havana social club established in 1998. Carbonell was quoted in a Dec. 20 story in the Miami Herald about the revival of race-based clubs in Cuba.

"Cuba expresses its most energetic condemnation of this genocidal massacre by the Israeli government, which is directed at annihilating the Palestinian population, including women, children and the elderly."

--Cuban Foreign Ministry statement on Israel's latest military offensive against Islamic Hamas terrorists operating from the Gaza Strip.