Cuba celebrates National Day of Rebellion
July 26 and the reaffirmation of the Cuban struggle for food sovereignty
On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro led an attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, thus proclaiming in political practice a new stage of the unfinished Cuban revolution, which had been initiated in 1868. The intention of the Moncada assault was to seize weapons for the launching of a guerrilla struggle in the mountains, with the goal of taking political power from the U.S.-supported Batista dictatorship. The assault failed, and 70 of the 126 assailants were killed, 95% of them murdered after capture in a four-day period following the assault.
Arrested and placed in solitary confinement, Fidel was brought to trial separately from his comrades. His address to the Court on October 16, 1953, was not open to the public or the press. A written version of the address was smuggled out of Fidel’s prison cell and distributed clandestinely. Known as “History Will Absolve Me,” the document was at once a manifesto and a proposed program of action for the revolutionary movement once it attains political power. Devoid of Marxist-Leninist terminology, “History Will Absolve Me” demonstrates an insightful understanding of the neocolonial situation and of the measures that must be taken by the revolution in power to attain national sovereignty, necessary for defending the rights and needs of the people.
Fidel was imprisoned for his leadership of the Moncada attack. He and his companions were released on May 15, 1955, following a popular amnesty campaign. The July 26 Revolutionary Movement was established on June 12, 1955; it distributed pamphlets that called the people to revolution, restating the points of the Moncada program. Fidel traveled to the United States, collecting money from small donors in the Cuban émigré community, in order to relaunch the guerrilla struggle for the taking of political power.
Following preparations in Mexico, the armed struggle was reinitiated in the eastern province then known as Oriente on December 2, 1956. After some time controlling the eastern mountain region known as Sierra Maestra, the guerrillas advanced to the west rapidly in 1958, in a counteroffensive responding to an overextended offensive launched by Batista’s army. The counteroffensive culminated in the victory of rebel forces led by Che Guevara in Santa Clara on December 30-31, 1958. The victory in the battle of Santa Clara provoked the flight of Batista and enabled the triumphant entry of Fidel in Santiago de Cuba on January 1, 1959. A Provisional Revolutionary Government was constituted on January 2 and 3, consisting of a coalition of anti-Batista forces, with a majority of the ministers tied to the Cuban national bourgeoisie. With Fidel playing a decisive leadership role, the Cuban Revolutionary Government implemented the Moncada Program, causing the alienation and flight of the national bourgeoisie and the solidification of a program in defense of the people and the sovereignty of the nation.
Each year Cuba celebrates July 26 as the National Day of Rebellion, constituting a moment of reaffirmation of the Revolution, commitment to revolutionary goals and tasks, and tribute to Fidel, Raúl, and the generation of the Revolution. It holds commemorative events in the capital cities of each of the nation’s sixteen provinces, with one of them designated as the central commemorative ceremony for the entire nation. Every five years, the national ceremony is held in Santiago de Cuba, in recognition of its central role in the rebellion of 1953. In the remaining years, a provincial capital city is selected for the honor of hosting the central ceremony, based on the important contributions of the province to the revolutionary process.
To celebrate July 26 in 2024, the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba awarded the hosting of the national ceremony to the province of Sancti Spíritus, in recognition of its compliance with the principal tasks outlined by the Party with respect to the challenges imposed by the economic situation of the country. The province confronts the same difficulties as the other provinces, but it has taken a leading role in developing solutions.
The province of Sancti Spíritus has developed a system of work in which the structures of the Party and the government are coordinated with the local communities, making possible effective control with respect to implementation of the national Plan for the Economy and Budget. The province has had positive results in total net sales, retail commerce, exportation, and a decrease in companies with net losses. It has fulfilled the expectations of the plan with respect to agricultural production during the cold season as well as the food industry. It has reduced the infant mortality rate from 4.7 deaths per 1000 live births at the end of 2023 to 2.7, the lowest rate in the country. It has developed community work for the preservation of the cultural heritage of the country. It has shown advances in tourism, transportation, domestic commerce, and the digitalization of commerce and services.
The Cuban daily Granma interviewed the First Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Party in Sancti Spíritus, Deivy Pérez Martín. She recognized the efforts of production and service workers, farmers, intellectuals, and other sectors, who have been overcoming the obstacles of the present moment in accordance with the concept of creative resistance, put forth by the Cuban Revolutionary Government and the Party. She noted that the capital city of the province as well as the municipality of Trinidad have been able to attain surpluses, and the other municipalities of the province have been able to reduce their deficits, which was accomplished through much work and control. Although not yet sufficient for what is needed and desired, the province attained results in the production of milk, pork, eggs, vegetables, fruit, honey, cigarettes, coffee, and fish. She observed that the systematic ties of the provincial Party and government with the population have been important.
Pérez Martin observed that the highest priority is attention to the concerns of the population, and one of the greatest concerns is high and inflationary prices for goods and services. To address the issue, they are working toward increasing the surpluses in the socialist state companies and improving their integration with the non-state sector. In addition, efforts are being made to confront indiscipline, illegalities, crime, and corruption, through the effective involvement of the people in the centers of work and in the neighborhoods.
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Two pictures are worth more than a thousand words
Cuban journalist Pastor Batista declares that he has never been given very much to before and after comparisons with respect to the Cuban Revolution. However, he recently came across in cyberspace a sad photo of three children captured in prerevolutionary Cuba, prompting him to ask: Why would Fidel, seventy-one years ago, conceive of a surprise plan to assault the Moncada barracks, triggering a turn in the destiny of the country? He posted two photos to suggest an answer.
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Meeting of solidarity with Cuba
Nearly 140 friends of Cuba from 24 countries arrived to Sancti Spíritus to participate in the July 26 commemoration. Miguel Díaz-Canel, First Secretary of the Party and President of Cuba, addressed the visitors in a Meeting of Solidarity held on July 25. He explained that the intensified blockade implemented by the United States since 2019 is not the same as in previous years, although it possesses the same objective that the blockade has had from the beginning, namely, to economically asphyxiate the Cuban people. And the economic blockade is accompanied by “an enormous mediatic intoxication” with respect to Cuban reality.
The Cuban President explained that, as a result of the “unprecedented financial persecution” of the last four years, the nation’s revenues have collapsed, giving rise to economic instability and to the limited availability of fuel, food, and medicine as well as inputs and raw materials necessary for the principal production processes of the nation, which in turn has led to instability in the electric energy system. He also thanked the members of the international brigade for their pronouncements against the inclusion of Cuba on the list of nations that supposedly sponsor terrorism, which has provided a central tool for the U.S. government in its persecution of Cuba.
July 26 commemorative act of Sancti Spíritus
The July 26 commemoration was held in the early morning hours, coinciding with the exact hour of the attack on the Moncada barracks in 1953. Salvador Valdés Mesa, member of the Politburo of the Party and Vice President of the Republic of Cuba, gave the principal address at the 2024 July 26 commemoration. He declared that “any honest person, even if they do not share our ideas, understands that the intensified blockade, together with the rest of the aggressive measures implemented against Cuba by the U.S. government, constitutes the fundamental cause of the current economic difficulties, with inevitable repercussions in all spheres of society. In the face of the attempt to destroy the Revolution and its social project, creative resistance inspired by the teachings and legacy of Fidel and the example of Raúl has been and will continue to be our response.” The Cuban Vice President thus called the people “to work with intelligence and creativity, with the maximum use of science, technology and innovation in search of the paths that allow us to move forward with our resources, without waiting for miracles.” He stressed particularly the production of food for the Cuban population
Vice-President Valdés Mesa declared that “we have come this far thanks to the exemplary capacity for resistance, the knowledge acquired as a result of revolutionary work, and especially the unwavering commitment of Cuban women and men to struggle and victory.”
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