July 26, 2021 marks the 68th anniversary of the act that is annually celebrated all over Cuba as the beginning of the movement and struggle that paved the way for the Cuban Revolution.

On that day, Cuba’s rebels — led by Fidel Castro — rose up against the U.S.-supported dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Although that first battle was lost, the Revolution ultimately prevailed on January 1, 1959.

This year’s celebrations and commemorations occur in the wake of an orchestrated campaign by Washington and its collaborators to destabilize Cuba, at a time when the U.S. economic war and the COVID-19 pandemic have created very significant challenges for the heroic island nation.

The Canadian Network On Cuba and the Canada-Cuba solidarity movement stand united against the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba. This economic war, combined with other attacks against the right of the Cuban people to chart their own course, has failed — and will fail — to defeat those historical aspirations and aim to build a society based on genuine independence and justice.

Canadian commemorations of Moncada Day are a reflection of the ties that exist between Cuba and Canada. Canadians admire the courageous and rebellious spirit embodied in Moncada; a spirit that today is so powerfully manifested in Cuba’s steadfastness against the efforts of the empire to destroy the island’s independence. As Cuba’s President, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez poignantly underscored, “We will not surrender the sovereignty of our country.”

LONG LIVE THE MARTYRS OF MONCADA!

(July 25, 2021)

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