On May Day Cuba shows the world again that history has not ended

Images via Estanislao Santos except where noted

By Alina Perera Robbio, translated from the Spanish

"We’re not a people who attack or spread hatred, fanaticism, or conflict. We are a noble people with good intentions, always ready to stand up for what we’ve achieved. While the wealthy nations stockpile weapons and build walls, the people of the Global South yearn for a spark of humanity."

On the morning of May Day, that portrait honoring the children of Cuba was shared by Osnay Miguel Colina, Member of the Central Committee and President of the Organizing Committee of the XXII Congress of the Workers Central Union of Cuba (CTC). This took place during the Central Act for International Workers' Day at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune, attended by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz and President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.

The event concluded under a clear sky and beside a remarkably calm sea with the song "The Internationale." At the end of a day that saw the participation of over half a million Havanans representing the entire population, this reporter wondered how many places around the world have heard that beautiful anthem that calls for comradeship among human beings.

The celebration didn’t start at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune; the moon still hung like a perfect coin in the dark sky when people began to gather—President Díaz-Canel and other leaders of the Revolution leading the way—moving along the capital’s Paseo Avenue toward the sea. The crowd surged forward like a volcanic torrent, the heat radiating from the tightly packed mass of people.

Along the path, amidst flags and slogans, the crowd moved. Amidst the noise and commotion, the threads of life were palpable; the expressions of daily struggle were audible. You could witness the camaraderie among colleagues and that joyful essence of being, the determination to live and find happiness despite all challenges.

What happened in Cuba—I realized long ago—is the fate of a living being that can be destroyed but never defeated. She, unique in her nature, living south of the north and drifting north of the brethren of Our America, learned to face her fate with courage. And so, in that spirit, her children came this Friday to the Tribune to mark a day that many may have overlooked or chosen to forget.

Joining the people were Roberto Morales Ojeda, member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party; Commander of the Rebel Army, José Ramón Machado Ventura; and other leaders. Over 827 friends from Cuba gathered at the venue, including Heroes and Heroines of Labor, founders and leaders of the CTC, along with members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the island.

Speaking for the working women in the industry, Yolaydis Hernández Valdés, a specialist with the Chemical Industry Business Group, made her voice heard. She denounced the imperial blockade and remarked, "We have the responsibility to reinvent ourselves in order to grow." The young woman expressed her confidence that "we will move forward, always through our own efforts."

A significant moment unfolded this Friday when 6,230,973 Cubans added their names to “My Signature for the Homeland.” In a symbolic gesture, members of Cuban civil society organizations presented Army General Raúl Castro Ruz and First Secretary of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, with two books containing the people’s signatures, along with a table showing the number of citizens who backed this movement for peace and sovereignty.

Osnay Miguel Colina led the event with powerful words, saying, "Our enemies have tried everything. They thought we’d be suffocated, defeated; yet here we are, committed and strong, with our foot in the stirrup, still fighting."

“These four marching fronts we’ve paraded in,” he emphasized, “come from history. They’re guerrilla fronts. This massive, colorful, and patriotic gathering of over half a million Havanans is Fidel’s May Day in the year of his centennial. It’s a powerful response from workers all across Cuba, filling the streets and squares to show that socialist and anti-imperialist Cuba is here to stay—without surrender, without forgetting history, and without betraying the glory we’ve lived.”

"That is why Army General Raúl Castro Ruz is here, at the head of the people of the capital and of all of Cuba, together with the generation that continues his work, defending the Homeland with loyalty, conviction and ideological firmness, with that sense of the historical moment that Fidel defined in the Concept of Revolution, on this very day, 26 years ago."

The President of the Organizing Committee of the XXII Congress of the CTC reflected that, "in the 21st century, as the extreme right and neofascism attempt to dominate without resistance, we proudly reaffirm our mambisa and rebellious heritage. Against all odds, we’ll keep standing by our values and principles, speaking up for peace, solidarity, and a world where people, not capital, are the real priority."

At another moment in his speech, he emphasized that amid the global turmoil, "Cuba, a defiant island, continues to stand as a moral beacon—without armies to invade, without digital algorithms to deceive."

"This country," he said, "has sent doctors where others send bombs, has offered literacy where others impose functional illiteracy, and has shared the little it has where others hoard wealth. Our greatest weapon is not a missile, but an awareness, the certainty that another better world is possible."

The member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party stated that, "as long as there is a single Cuban child learning to read, a single doctor in a remote village of the world, a single voice denouncing injustice from this island, Cuba will continue to be the example that bothers our historical enemies so much."

Speaking about the imperial blockade, he pointed out that "the accumulated material and financial costs amount to billions of dollars and remain the main obstacle to the country’s development. However, the human toll, now worsened by the energy siege, is impossible to quantify."

"The human face of asphyxiation is the clearest condemnation of crime. To spell it out and denounce it from any platform is to call out a cruel act of collective punishment. Yet, despite all the grim predictions from the war machine—complete with media manipulation and online mob attacks—despite the many attempts to silence us and force our surrender under senseless threats of violence and death, this May Day proves we’re still here. We don’t just resist; we create, grow, and overcome adversity."

Every day that passes, he emphasized, "is a victory for Cuba, a triumph for peace, and a new epic admired by the proud peoples of the world. This is our stronghold, our response to the so‑called end of history claimed by outdated capitalist thinkers. History isn’t over—we continue to shape it with determination, revolutionary ideas, and the power of digital platforms to defend the truth and denounce barbarism."

"That is also our Bay of Pigs, today and always."

As he concluded his remarks, during the event filled with the beauty and joy of art, Osnay Miguel Colina said: "May Day in Cuba will always be a genuine expression of unity around the Revolution and the Party. It is the stronghold of the international working class and the living proof that the workers are the main link in the construction of the history of a people that continues to stand and fight, that will never surrender, and that is determined to fight until victory always."

This work was translated and shared via a License CC-BY-NC