No. 43
July 25, 2024
July 26
71st Anniversary of Assault on the
Moncada and
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Barracks
Celebrate Cuba’s National Day of Rebellion!
CALENDAR of EVENTS
• Stand with the Cuban
People and Their
Revolution!
• Fidel Castro: "Moncada Taught Us to Turn Setbacks into Victories"
July
26
71st Anniversary of Assault on the Moncada and
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Barracks
Stand with the Cuban People and Their Revolution!
Commemoration of 70th anniversary
of the attack on Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes
Barracks, July 26, 2023.
July 26 marks one of the most important dates celebrated in Cuba, Moncada Day or the National Day of Rebellion. Seventy-one years ago on that day, revolutionary youth led by Fidel Castro launched an attack on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Barracks in Santiago de Cuba and Bayamo respectively, two of the main garrisons of the reactionary dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Moncada in particular was the regime's military stronghold in the south of Cuba, the second largest barracks in the country and a symbol of its power. The goal was to seize the weapons and distribute them to the people and spark a national uprising that would not only overthrow the Batista dictatorship but also establish Cuba's independence and sovereignty. The attacks were carried out by an organization that was created in 1952, under the leadership of Fidel Castro.
Of the 120 or so youth who were part of the attacks, approximately 70 were killed and many others were later tortured and executed. The survivors, including Fidel Castro, were subsequently put on trial and sentenced to long prison terms. At his trial, with great prescience, Fidel Castro delivered his famous speech "History Will Absolve Me" which laid out the national and social goals of the revolutionary movement that eventually triumphed over the dictatorship on January 1, 1959.
Top: the Moncada martyrs; Fidel
imprisoned after the Moncada attack. Bottom: Fidel, demanding the right
to defend himself, delivers his famous "History Will Absolve Me"
speech.
Most of the Moncada fighters who had been imprisoned, including Fidel Castro, were released after they won amnesty in May 1955 due to the broad mobilization of support from the Cuban people for the aims of the action. They would later regroup in Mexico, joined by Che Guevara and others, returning to continue the armed struggle a year and a half later.
Above,
Raúl Castro (far left), Fidel
Castro (centre) and other Moncada combatants are released from prison,
May 1955.
This audacious action became the rallying cry for the fight of the youth of Cuba for a bright future for themselves and the nation. It played a decisive role in galvanizing the struggle of the Cuban people to affirm their sovereignty, ultimately leading to the victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. The action also stirred the revolutionary spirit of the peoples of the world.
To this day, this
bold action on July 26, 1953 symbolizes the
revolutionary spirit and audacity of the Cuban people. It symbolizes
their recognition of their right to decide their own fate free from
foreign interference or domination. It is this same spirit of defiance
that has enabled Cuba to
not only withstand the genocidal blockade by the U.S. imperialists, but
to consolidate the Revolution and provide for the well-being of its
people and broaden its internationalist assistance to the peoples of
the world despite all the difficulties.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) sends its revolutionary greetings to the Cuban leadership and people and expresses its profound appreciation for the spirit with which Cuba stands on its own two feet and holds its head high. This spirit is indomitable because it upholds a just cause which, moreover, it shares in common with the peoples of the entire world.
CPC(M-L) salutes the achievements of the Cuban Revolution and the ongoing work of the Cuban people and their Communist Party to renovate socialism so that it stays true to its aims under the present circumstances. CPC(M-L) calls on the working class and people to step up support for revolutionary Cuba. This is all the more crucial amidst intensified U.S. sanctions, disinformation and interference aimed at counterrevolution under the guise of high ideals. As the Cuban people affirm their human rights and selflessly provide so much assistance to the peoples of the world to do the same, the U.S. imperialists and their allies continue to brutally attack all those countries and peoples who are standing up for their right to be. Such base inhumanity must be utterly rejected.
To affirm Cuba's right to pursue an independent path is to contribute to affirming our own right and that of the entire world to do the same.
Viva Cuba!
Long
Live
the Cuban Revolution!
End
the Blockade Now!
"History Will Absolve Me,"
poster by Rene Mederos, part of a series of posters commissioned by the
Communist Party of Cuba in 1973 on the 20th anniversary of the Moncada
attack. The other posters show the untenable situation facing the Cuban
people in 1953 under U.S. domination, the preparation
for the attack, and finally the launch of the attack under Fidel's
leadership, with the patriots disguised as soldiers.
Go All Out for Petition to
End U.S. Blockade
and Remove Cuba from U.S. List of State Sponsors
of Terrorism
On the occasion of Moncada Day, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) calls on Canadians and Quebeckers to go all out to get signatures for the petition on the Parliament of Canada website calling on the Government of Canada to demand that the U.S. end its blockade of Cuba and remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. On June 18 petition e-5014 opened for signatures which as of the eve of Moncada Day stand at 712. The U.S. blockade of Cuba and Cuba's spurious inclusion on the list of sponsors of state terrorism are aimed at undermining the Cuban people from pursuing their chosen path and socialist nation-building project. These actions by the U.S. are illegitimate, unjust and profoundly violate the human rights of the Cuban people.
The petition was initiated by Pierre Hivon from Ste-Marcelline and is open for signatures until October 16. Since it has surpassed 500 signatures, it will be presented to Parliament by Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc Québécois MP for Joliette who sponsored it, after which the government must respond within 45 days.
All out to get signatures for the petition! Call three friends to call three friends to call three friends. Get as many signatures as possible to win more support for Cuba and the just cause of its people to live free from foreign interference and aggression!
All Out to Get Maximum Signatures for the
Petition!
End the U.S.
Blockade of Cuba!
Get Cuba Off the List of Terrorist States!
Petition to the Government of Canada
Whereas:
• The Quebec and Canadian people have numerous and significant economic, historical and cultural ties with the Cuban people;
• The blockade of Cuba has lasted for 60 years and Canada is opposed to it;
• The international community has repeatedly shown its support for the Cuban people, particularly through votes at the United Nations General Assembly;
• The embargo has led to more severe shortages that affect the daily lives of Cuban residents; and
• American economic sanctions and the economic blockade against Cuba violate international law, as well as the right to self-determination and the human rights of the Cuban people.
We, the
undersigned residents of Quebec and
Canada, call upon the Government of Canada
to:
1. Ask United States representatives, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to lift the blockade against Cuba as well as to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism;
2. Reaffirm the importance of the Cuban people's human rights, which must be respected, and denounce the blockade against Cuba as one of the key barriers to the Cuban people's full enjoyment of their human rights;
3. Act immediately to preserve the sovereignty of Quebec and Canada, ensuring that Quebec and Canadian corporations and other entities, particularly governmental ones, do not participate in the American economic sanctions against Cuba; and
4. Ensure that Quebec and Canadian relations with Cuba continue to be based on equality and respect for sovereignty, independence and the right to self-determination.
To sign the petition, click here.
Fidel Castro: "Moncada
Taught Us to Turn
Setbacks into Victories"
The following article was provided by the editorial team of the website Fidel Soldado de las Ideas and originally published by Cubadebate on July 20, 2020.
[On July 26]
the beginning of a struggle will be commemorated.
"It was not the end, but the beginning," Fidel Castro once said. July
26 is and will remain one of the most important pages in Cuban history.
Under Fidel's leadership, the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel
de Céspedes
barracks removed the foundations of Batista's dictatorship.
That day, when everyone was ready, the "Moncada Manifesto," written by the young poet Raúl Gómez García under the guidance of Fidel, was read out. Gómez García read his poem "We Are Already in Combat" and Fidel directed this brief appeal to everyone:
"Comrades: In a few hours you will be victorious or defeated, but regardless of the outcome ù listen well, comrades ù this movement will triumph. If we win tomorrow, what Martí aspired to will be fulfilled sooner. If the opposite happens, our action will nevertheless set an example for the Cuban people, to take up the banner and press on."
Victory would come a few years later with the Bearded Ones, when, led by Fidel, they descended victoriously from the Sierra Maestra on January 1, 1959.
Cubadebate and the website Fidel Soldado de las Ideas are proposing that you walk the path of this historical date today, through the speeches that the Commander in Chief gave on several occasions on July 26.
Fidel Castro, Santiago de Cuba, July 26,
2003.
Just when the Revolution triumphed, Fidel expressed at a peasant gathering, on July 26, 1959:
"On seeing it today, on seeing how high we have raised our flag, I felt so happy that I saw at that moment all the sacrifices we have made, and all the sacrifices we will have to make in the future, rewarded."
A year later, remembering this same day, in the Mercedes foothills of the Sierra Maestra, he recalled:
"[...] July 26 and Sierra Maestra; they are two names that must weigh very deeply in the hearts of each of us."
"And so, that 26th of July was for us a moment that when a struggle seemed to end, when an effort to begin the battle for the liberation of our people seemed to end, it was not the end but the beginning."
"But it was not always like that, and by contrast, the memories of that first 26th came to our minds, that afternoon when everything was bitter and painful, when the pain of our comrades who had died and the pain of the defeat that forced the country to wait weighed on our spirits, its limits impossible to imagine at that moment.
"And our people is one of those peoples that has never trembled in front of sacrifice, one of those peoples that has never trembled at the price it was forced to pay for its dignity and its freedom; a people that has never trembled nor will it ever tremble before the price it has to pay for its happiness."
Fidel speaking to the people of Santiago,
July 26, 1967.
On the 30th anniversary, in Santiago de Cuba, on July 26, 1983, the Commander said:
"One thing remains the same as on July 26, 1953: we have the same faith in the destiny of the country, the same confidence in the virtues of our people, the same certainty of victory, the same capacity to dream of all that will be tomorrow's reality, on top of the already realized dreams of yesterday."
On July 26, 1987 he would also speak about the new times, the revolution and the decision to rectify:
"To rectify meant on July 26, 1953, to fight to erase the old, to open a channel, to make a revolution, to create a new life; it means that today as well. Rectify has a really broad meaning, and I am actually satisfied, stimulated by what I see, the results that I see, even though we know that we are still far from all our possibilities, that there are many more possibilities ahead."
In more recent times, after several years of the revolution being in power, in 1998, in the central event for the 45th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, carried out in Santiago de Cuba, he acknowledged:
"We believe that we have fulfilled our duty, a whole generation, having fought without pause nor rest for 45 years since that July 26, 1953, standing firm in our trenches, in our principles, with the same ideas that inspired us that day."
"We support Fidel!" Havana, July 26, 1959.
On the significance of the date, in the celebration of its 49th anniversary, in 2002, in Ciego de vila, he recognized:
"[...] what are they this July 26th? An indestructible path that unites the thought, the heroism and the will to fight of the inextinguishable bastion, whose independence Mart wanted so as to prevent and that did prevent the powerful and expansionist neighbour to the north from expanding into the Antilles and falling with that added strength on our lands in America."
Fidel in Pinar del Río, July 26, 1976.
He recalled on the 50th anniversary of the assaults the validity of revolutionary ideas and their effect on the people:
"The Moncada Program was fulfilled and overfulfilled. For a long time now we have been pursuing much higher and more unimaginable dreams. Today, great battles are being fought on the field of ideas and we are facing problems associated with the world situation, perhaps the most critical that humanity has ever experienced."
"I wish to assure you of something similar to what I said before the spurious court that judged and condemned me for the struggle we began five decades ago today, but this time I will not be the one to say it; it is something affirmed and foreseen by a people that carried out a profound, transcendent and historic Revolution, and knew how to defend it: Condemn me, it doesn't matter! The peoples will have the last word!"
Speech
in the Open Tribune in
commemoration of the 47th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and
Carlos M. de Céspedes barracks on July 26, 1953, in the
Provisional Square of the Revolution
in Pinar del Río, August 5, 2000.
On the 11th anniversary of the assault on
the Moncada and Carlos M. de Céspedes barracks held in the
city of Santiago de Cuba where the people were responding to the
anti-Cuba manoeuvres adopted the day before by the Organization of
American States.
(Cubadebate, July 20, 2020. Translated from original Spanish by TML. Photos: Estudios Revolución/Fidel Soldado de las Ideas, L. Lockwood)
(To access articles individually click on the black headline.)
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca