Long live Cuba, sovereign and independent!: Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez

Image via the PCC

Speech delivered by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, at the central ceremony for the 73rd anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, in the province of Pinar del Río, on July 26, 2026, "Year of the Centennial of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz", translated from the Spanish

Comrades of the Presidency;

Dear people of Pinar del Río;

Friends of solidarity:

Early this morning, I received a call from Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of our Revolution, who asked me to convey the following message to you:

"Dear people of Pinar del Río;"

"This July 26, please receive the affection and my recognition for having earned, through your effort, dedication to the revolutionary cause, and creative work, the great honor of hosting the main ceremony marking the 73rd anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, National Rebellion Day."

"A warm embrace to all,"

"Raúl Castro Ruz" (Applause).

Compatriots:

Cuba is fighting a historic battle today: A new Moncada! Just as the Centennial Generation charged with nothing but a few rifles against the walls of two barracks of the Batista dictatorship 73 years ago, we, the current generations, are charging against the walls of a genocidal policy that has set out to suffocate the entire people in order to take over the country. They will say that the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks in 1953 failed. We will remind them that that action ignited the small spark that set in motion the great engine of the Cuban Revolution.

These are the words of Fidel, who has taught us, ever since, to seek victory, even in the face of the greatest setbacks. And in his historic self-defense speech, he explained why, stating: "There is one reason that stands with us, more powerful than all the others: we are Cubans, and being Cuban implies a duty; failing to fulfill it is a crime and an act of treason."

For that reason, we are fighting fiercely and tenaciously in defense of our sovereignty and our right to freely choose how we are governed, with the same passion with which José Martí set out to achieve complete justice.

In memory of all, I would like to note that this is the first July 26 since the triumph of 1959 on which we are not joined by Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, hero of that epic feat and of all those the Cuban people have waged since then.

Eternal glory to the Moncadista!

Comrades:

We are celebrating National Rebellion Day in the Vueltabajo region because of the results that have already been highlighted and recognized, but I would say that, in times like these, these are not just achievements—they are examples of everyday heroism.

A single statistic would suffice to illustrate my point: an infant mortality rate of 4.8 per 1,000 live births and a maternal mortality rate of zero—amid power outages and shortages of every kind—that is what we call heroism!

As acknowledged by the Political Bureau, Pinar del Río is demonstrating results in fulfilling key tasks in the political, economic, and social spheres, with the leading role played by workers in production and services, farmers, intellectuals, young people, and other sectors of society.

The province prioritizes the implementation of the Government’s Economic and Social Program, the Economic Plan, and the State Budget, which have a positive impact on foreign exchange earnings from exports; it is a province with a budget surplus, and the number of companies operating at a loss is decreasing.

I would also highlight, as an example for other provinces, the consistent efforts that have enabled it to boost food production—in close collaboration with producers—and the efficiency in the process of granting land for usufruct, an issue of vital priority today.

Of course, it is essential to mention tobacco production—a symbol of the region and an export commodity of extraordinary value—as well as the food industry’s output, which is developing new linkages with non-state management models.

Through science and innovation, the Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca University of Pinar del Río prioritizes regional development, serving as a model for the rest of the country.

Overcoming every imaginable adversity, in this region of rich literary and artistic traditions—the birthplace of Luis and Sergio Saíz Montes de Oca, Pedro Junco, and Nersys Felipe—the flame of culture has been kept alive and burning brightly.

The commendable work in heritage preservation, the sustained efforts in cultural outreach to communities, and the results achieved last academic year in arts education speak eloquently to the joint effort of Pinar del Río’s institutions and creators to defend their culture and identity and to maintain cultural services for the people.

The province, together with its municipalities and agencies, has established a system of work that has fostered closer ties between Party and government structures and the communities, especially those in the most vulnerable situations. We have observed this during our frequent visits to this noble land.

Congratulations, Pinar del Río, on your heroism and achievements!

We also salute Villa Clara and Matanzas, outstanding provinces, and recognize the achievements of Guantánamo and Sancti Spíritus.

We urge you to remain at the forefront and continue to serve as an example of everything that can indeed be done and changed to improve the current, very difficult living conditions.

Compatriots:

The Cuban nation’s historic adversaries, intoxicated by the rise of the right and the far right in the region and blind believers in the power of money to buy consciences and subjugate wills, issue a threat against the Revolution every day and announce a new punishment every week for Cuban companies and officials—and even for those, whether Cuban or foreign, who dare to send an oil tanker or invest in Cuba.

The latest sanctions set a new low in infamy by targeting public health officials and Cuban medical services. I wonder under what absurd pretext professionals can be singled out—professionals whose work in remote areas, facing dangerous situations, natural disasters, and contagious diseases, is recognized as exemplary by governments of the most diverse political orientations.

State Department officials—experts at drafting sanctions, compiling lists, and inventing pretexts—are a modern version of the drafters of military edicts and proclamations that were so widely feared and hated during the dark medieval times or the Nazi occupations of World War II. As if the rest of the world were their colony, they dictate how things must be done under threat of punishment or aggression.

They have declared a world war against the left and against Cuba as the capital of communism in the 21st century. Under the philosophy of this new mandate, in the supposed land of the free, it is forbidden to protest against state policies that impoverish the majority, all while the ruling elites grow obscenely rich.

By accusing Cuba, they are not only seeking a scapegoat, an external agent; they are looking for someone to blame for the protests by the sectors hardest hit by an economy that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer to what are unsustainable extremes.

They are criminalizing protest without analyzing its causes and, opportunistically, are seeking a new excuse to sustain their genocidal policy against Cuba, which the world condemns.

Let Cuba live in peace! And let the noblest among the American people—who have historically fought for the human rights of other peoples, without expecting recognition and often facing persecution, imprisonment, and risks to their lives—live in peace as well.

Cuba is not a threat—neither to the United States nor to any other country on Earth! We are a noble people who save lives where others destroy, who send doctors and teachers where others send bombs, and who train highly qualified professionals from various nations in cooperation projects sustained amid the greatest hardships!

In these final days of the academic year—tense and difficult as only this people knows how to endure—Cuban universities have graduated 30,185 young professionals, 735 of whom come from 62 countries. And here is a fact we are proud to share: twenty-three new Palestinian doctors and five American doctors. Is this what they call terrorism? Is this what they call a threat?!

Everything Cuba does, everything the Cuban Revolution can demonstrate through its programs and actions, is a solid 67-year history of tireless defense of its sovereignty, solidarity, and international cooperation in support of life, health, education, and science.

The only threat to security in the region—the true and real threat to world peace and to human life—is the policy of aggression that causes famines, impoverishment, disorderly migration, chaos, instability, and tens of thousands of deaths around the world.

Cuba is not the first nor will it be the last victim of this type of war that blocks, suffocates, and seeks to provoke social unrest with the sole purpose of imposing governments aligned with imperialist interests.

Therefore, from this podium, I declare that Cuba is the victim of a coldly calculated genocide!

The U.S. government has consciously designed and implemented a policy of maximum economic suffocation against the Cuban people. It has intensified its six-decade-long blockade policy, imposing an energy and financial siege, causing a profound crisis in the system, power outages which result in blackouts lasting more than a day, bring industries to a standstill, and affect tens of thousands of workers.

The immense suffering of Cuban families is confirmed by statistics: deaths caused by a lack of medicines that the country produced and distributed for decades—free of charge or at subsidized prices—but which it is now unable to guarantee; more than 100,000 surgeries that cannot be scheduled or performed because hospitals cannot be protected from unexpected power outages during the already frequent failures of the National Power System and due to a lack of fuel for backup generators; more than 118,000 cancer patients, including 1,200 children, who cannot receive first-line treatments and are forced to resort to second- and third-line alternative treatments; and what is just as painful—if not more so—the infant mortality rate has risen to 9.3 per 1,000 live births, compared to the 4 or 5 recorded in previous years. Behind those numbers are the faces of children who never got to experience life as a direct consequence of the blockade and its genocidal nature!

Unilateral coercive measures – "sanctions" are what the United States calls them, whose government believes it has the right to sanction the rest of the planet – are condemned every year by the United Nations General Assembly for being contrary to international law. It is illegal and criminal to torment a people solely to provoke them into rebelling against their government; it cannot even be called a tool of foreign policy.

The blockade is a weapon of war and causes death. In the face of international condemnation and the honorable and growing solidarity we receive from peoples around the world, the new hawks at the helm of the U.S. State Department have released a slanderous report on Cuba’s alleged subversive influence against that country. As stated in the Declaration by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this is a mediocre propaganda pamphlet that seeks, through the fabrication of accusatory myths, to build consensus for a potential military aggression.

We denounce the fact that those who designed this policy of suffocation—those who implement and sustain it—are responsible for the suffering of the Cuban people! They are responsible for the deaths caused by the lack of access to essential goods! They are responsible for the famine they seek to impose, and history will not forgive them!

We also denounce those who remain silent and tolerate the excesses of the emboldened U.S. fascist far right, which lies, steals, kills, and seeks to set itself up as the master of all destinies.

The U.S. blockade only works because of the complicity of those who fear Washington’s power more than the judgment of history. This is a new appeal to the world’s conscience: Do not become accomplices to another genocide.

Every time a part of the world remains silent in the face of aggression against Cuba, international law is weakened. Every time a government accepts the United States’ illegitimate sanctions, the principle of non-intervention is eroded. Every time a company is pressured to abandon its investments in Cuba and others hesitate to make them out of fear of reprisals, the economic dictatorship of a single power is strengthened.

First it was Gaza, Lebanon, Iran; today it is Cuba. Tomorrow it could be any other nation.

Let us not forget that the solidarity that has finally emerged for Gaza around the world came too late for more than 70,000 Palestinians—including some 21,000 children—whose ashes are now part of the horrific mountains of rubble into which the Zionist perpetrators of genocide have turned that martyred strip of land.

That is why I say today that defending Cuba from the cruelty of its executioners is not something that can wait!

To defend Cuba with strength and urgency is to halt the advance of supremacist, racist, xenophobic, elitist, and exclusionary ideas—ideas that are the enemies of true freedom and human emancipation!

Defending Cuba means fighting against 21st-century colonialism, against hegemony, against the claim that a single country can decide the fate of all! There are no superior or inferior nations. The world divided between emperors and subjects was defeated after centuries of struggle and cannot return.

Forces and voices around the world are rising up against attempts to drag humanity back to the darkest days of its past.

Cuba knows, recognizes, and embraces the peoples and governments—including the representatives of the noblest elements of the American people—who risk everything to bring their message of solidarity and support to the island.

To the women and men like those on the Open Arms flotilla and the Our America convoy, and to the social movements of Latin America and the Caribbean that have maintained their solidarity with Cuba despite pressure from Washington.

To the human rights organizations that denounce the crimes of the blockade before international forums.

To the parliamentary groups and legislators from various countries who are working tirelessly to condemn the illegitimate sanctions.

To the European civil society organizations that have maintained ties with Cuba despite the threats.

To social, pacifist, and anti-imperialist movements around the world, who understand that the struggle against hegemony is the struggle for peace, and to the groups of countries in the Global South who share the conviction that sovereignty is non-negotiable.

Special thanks to all the governments that voted in favor of the Cuban resolution against the blockade and the energy blockade at the United Nations General Assembly, despite the insulting pressure from the U.S. government.

Special thanks to the Cuba solidarity groups visiting us and present at this event: Pastors for Peace; Carlota’s Warriors from New York; the Australian Association for Solidarity with Cuba; the José Martí Cultural Association of Miami; and the Marcapasos project. Your presence is living proof that we are not alone.

Your presence here today is an act of courage, because defending Cuba in times of maximum pressure means taking risks, means facing criticism, and means exposing the hypocrisy of those who preach human rights but remain silent in the face of crimes of genocide.

We thank you for your solidarity! We thank you for your courage! We thank you for your commitment to justice!

Rest assured that we will not give up!

Just as on that early morning of July 26, every day we take the harsh realities of daily life head-on to write the history of our time.

Amid such great difficulties, what are we doing? We are working, we are creating, we are innovating. In all productive sectors—workers, farmers, scientists, intellectuals, artists, and students—people are innovating, contributing, and adapting technologies to keep producing and keep the lights on, even if only minimally; while our adversaries surpass their own wickedness by trying to leave us without lights, without water, without energy, and without hope.

Our response to this suffocation is the inventiveness, creativity and, although it bothers them, also the joy of the Cuban people!

The response to the blockade is intelligent and efficient effort. The response to the never-ending attempts to isolate and divide us is unity.

"Unity is our main strategic weapon," Army General Raúl Castro Ruz told us on the anniversary of the Revolution in January 2024, and he asked us to cherish it more than any apple of our eye.

Unity does not mean uniformity. It means that despite differences in style, dynamics, and ways of facing challenges, we all share the same goal: for Cuba to be a socialist, sovereign, independent, dignified, and ultimately prosperous country that leaves no one behind. Anything that undermines that purpose would strip the Revolution of its meaning, because every time unity has fractured in our long history of struggles as a people, the Revolution has lost its way.

Compatriots:

Creativity and effort alone—however heroic they may be—are not enough to dismantle the structures of the blockade. This conviction makes the implementation of the ongoing economic and social transformations a strategic priority. These are profound and necessary changes that have been proposed and debated for several years.

We have embarked on a process of macroeconomic restructuring and are strengthening all forms of management, motivating workers and farmers, and opening avenues for responsible investment—always guided by the sacred principle that change cannot be divorced from social justice. This is the economic and social battle of this generation.

The mission is highly complex and fraught with risks, which we have a responsibility to minimize for the vulnerable.

The boldness bequeathed to us by Moncada demands that we not fear change; yet, in the name of the supreme ideal of those who fell then and of those who have given their all over the years, economic transformations must be guided by a fundamental principle: the highest degree of social justice.

We reaffirm that Cuba is and will remain a sovereign country; that no one, under any circumstances, has the right to decide our course; and that economic, political, and social decisions are and will remain ours!

The year 2026 holds special significance—and not only for Cubans—as the Year of the Centennial of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz has universal resonance.

Very soon, revolutionary friends from all five continents will begin to arrive. Using their own resources and willing to share in the complex and challenging realities we face, they have chosen to participate in the Colloquium and other events and activities celebrating Fidel’s 100th anniversary.

These will be days for analyzing and debating the ideas of his extraordinary legacy, for assessing the international and national situation, and the role and place of the Cuban Revolution at one of the most difficult moments in its history; and it will also be a time to test ourselves in the study and practice of the revolutionary principles bequeathed to us by the Commander-in-Chief.

In the year of his centennial, we Cubans are called upon to honor his memory not only with words but also with deeds: through work, unity, dignity, and with sufficient clarity and determination to implement, as quickly as possible, the transformations that the current moment and the nation demand of us.

I would now like to address the young people of Cuba in particular. You are the present and the future. Consider yourselves the heirs to the courage of Abel Santamaría, Melba, Haydée, and that entire generation—the generation of Martí’s Centennial. You are the youth of Fidel’s Centennial! You are called upon to lead this moment from every neighborhood and every corner of this island. Get involved and bring about change for the good of all, just as it was once done with your best interests in mind.

José Martí, the intellectual architect of the actions we commemorate today, once said: "A people needs only one strength: not to doubt its own strength."

Compatriots:

The call now is to action—to not wait, to not lament, to not settle, to think as a nation, to seek alternatives with boldness and creativity, to care for every resource as if it were the last, to produce, to replace imports, to develop our potential. Let us trust in our own strength! May every Cuban—at their workplace, in their fields, in their workshop, at their school, in their neighborhood—be and feel like a protagonist in the transformation that we owe it to ourselves to overcome at this moment.

Today’s call is one of hope!

Just as on that morning of Santa Ana, we face enormous challenges with the same fortitude, the same optimism, and the same unshakable conviction in victory.

We Cubans today are also conquerors of the impossible, and on this July 26th, we reaffirm our commitment to the homeland, to the Revolution, to the achievements of socialism, and to the task of rebuilding an economy mercilessly battered by four centuries of colonialism, six decades of neocolonialism, and another six decades of a blockade that has been reinforced to the point of becoming a genocidal plan.

May every dawn find us standing ready to fight!

Long live July 26th! (Shouts of: "Long live!")

Long live the National Rebellion! (Shouts of: "Long live!")

Long live Cuba, sovereign and independent! (Shouts of: "Long live!")

Long live international solidarity with Cuba! (Shouts of: "Long live!")

Socialism or Death!

Homeland or Death!

We will prevail!

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