No. 19
July 25, 2025
July 26, 1953
72nd
Anniversary of Assault on the Moncada and
Carlos Manuel de
Céspedes Barracks
• Long Live Revolutionary Cuba!
• "Moncada Taught Us to Turn Setbacks
into
Victories" –
Fidel Castro
Fifth Ordinary Session of Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power
• Cuban People Review Work to Strengthen Their Economy
• The Beauty of This Difficult Hour Lies
in Knowing That We Are
Part of
an Invincible People
U.S. State-Organized Terrorism Against Cuba
• Cuba Submits Updated List of U.S.-Backed Terrorists to UN
Tenth Plenary Session of Central Committee of Communist Party of Cuba
• Revolutionary Cuba Holds High the Banner
of Resistance
and Forward
March
July
26, 1953
72nd Anniversary of Assault on the Moncada and
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Barracks
Long Live Revolutionary Cuba!
Across Cuba and in many places around the world, Cuba's National Day of Rebellion, July 26, is being celebrated at a time the Cuban revolution faces one of the most difficult moments in its history.
July 26, Moncada Day, known as the National Day of Rebellion, marks one of the most important dates celebrated in Cuba. Seventy-two 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 southeast 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 the movement formed under the leadership of Fidel Castro in response to the 1952 coup which brought the dictator Fulgencio Batista to power. This is the movement that later became known as the July 26th Movement attributed with organizing the victory of the revolution which overthrew the Batista regime.
On this occasion, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) salutes the courageous youth who launched the assaults on the army barracks and pays homage to the legacy of Fidel Castro and other heroes who went on to lead the Cuban people to victory and, after the revolution, to defend the revolution and its cause in the face of the brutal blockade and acts of terrorism organized by the U.S. imperialists to bring Cuba to its knees and surrender.
While the attack was ultimately unsuccessful, it is considered as a catalyst for the Cuban Revolution which mobilized the people to support Fidel in a movement which ultimately led to victory on January 1, 1959.
We honour the memory of the 70 young people who were killed in the battle and those who were captured, 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.
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.
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.
Celebration of Moncada Day in
Mella, Santiago de Cuba, July 23, 2025
On this occasion, CPC(M-L) 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!
Moncada Day marked in Bayamo,
Granma, July 19, 2025
"Moncada Taught Us to Turn
Setbacks
into Victories" – Fidel Castro
The following article is based on material provided by the editorial team of the website Fidel Soldado de las Ideas, originally published by Cubadebate on July 20, 2020.
|
Fidel Castro
during the
commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of
the Assault on the Moncada Barracks held in Santiago de Cuba, July 26,
2003.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. "It was not the end, but the beginning," Fidel Castro once said.
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 -- listen well, comrades -- 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 when, led by Fidel, the guerillas descended victoriously from the Sierra Maestra and approached from various other points of struggle on the island, on January 1, 1959.
"We support Fidel!" Havana, July
26, 1959.
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."
On the 11th anniversary of the
assault on
the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks held in
the city of Santiago de Cuba in 1964 where the people were responding
to the anti-Cuba manoeuvres adopted the day before by the Organization
of American States.
Fidel speaking to the people of
Santiago,
July 26, 1967.
Fidel in Pinar del Río,
July
26, 1976.
On the 30th anniversary, in Santiago de Cuba, on July 26, 1983, Fidel 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 and the people's 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 or 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."
Speech in the Open Tribune in
commemoration of the 47th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada
Barracks on July 26, 1953, in the Provisional Square of the Revolution
in Pinar del Río, August 5, 2000.
On the significance of the date, on the occasion of 49th anniversary, in 2002, in Ciego de Ávila, Fidel 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 Martí 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."
In 2003, Fidel 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!"
Fidel Castro, Santiago de Cuba,
July 26,
2003.
(Cubadebate, July 20, 2020. Translated from original Spanish by TML. Photos: Estudios Revolución/Fidel Soldado de las Ideas, L. Lockwood)
Fifth Ordinary Session of Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power
Cuban People Review Work to Strengthen
Their
Economy
Cuba's National Assembly of the People's Power (ANPP) held its Fifth Ordinary Session of the legislative body's Tenth Legislature from July 16 to 18. In preparation, standing committees of the ANPP held preliminary meetings on July 14 and 15 to examine over 80 national issues affecting the Cuban population.
The Fifth Session of the ANPP focused on evaluating the implementation and impact of government measures under the Economic Recovery Program, aimed at addressing economic distortions and revitalizing Cuba's economy. Key discussions included a mid-year review of the national economy, an update on the execution of the 2025 state budget, and the final accounting of the 2024 budget. Additional agenda items included an accountability report from the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation, as well as an oversight report on the Ministry of Transport. Debates on several proposed laws on the Cuban Sports System, the Code for Children, Adolescents, and Youth, and the Civil Registry, among other important issues, took place and were submitted to Parliament for approval.
Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, Minister of Economy and Planning, explained that Cuba faces marked economic limitations that affect all social and economic sectors. He said that in spite of these circumstances, results were achieved in some programs and investments of the first order. Priority objectives have been determined in the 2025 Economic Plan, that are an expression of the Government Program to correct distortions and boost the economy, Granma International reported.
Regarding food production, Alonso Vázquez detailed that the assembly of 12 irrigation systems was concluded to benefit the grain, miscellaneous crops and coffee programs, and a rice dryer with a capacity of 9,620 tons is now operational.
In addition, 17 hectares of aquaculture ponds were put into operation; 20 cattle ranches were rehabilitated, five of them for the recovery of 2,000 head of cattle, and the rest in actions aimed at infrastructure and livestock genetics.
In the area of tourism, Alonso Vázquez commented that work was done on the recovery of out-of-order rooms, to conclude the semester with 225 of them in better condition.
In compliance with the Capital Repair Program for fuel tanks, 2,475 cubic metres of fuel were recovered from six of the reservoirs. Regarding the water program, the Minister of Economy and Planning informed that 100 kilometres of water supply networks and pipes and 12.3 kilometres of sewage pipes were completed, benefiting more than 700,000 people.
In addition, 63 pumping units were installed, as a continuation of the program to change the energy matrix in this activity, which allows improving the water service to 68,698 inhabitants, without the need for backup from the National Electric System. In addition, 7.9 kilometres of hydraulic networks were rehabilitated.
Also, 104 pieces of railway equipment were repaired, including 93 rail cars and one locomotive.
With the Housing Program, he said, 2,847 houses were completed, which represents 53 per cent of the half-year plan. Holguín was the only province that met the half-year goal. A target of 10,795 new houses was set for all of Cuba in 2025.
In the key sector of energy, Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy submitted a government program aimed at recovering the national power generation system, currently undergoing a severe slump with several-hour power outages. The fall in the local fuel production and fuel import to generate electricity, along with financial restrictions are causes for the current crisis of the sector and for the urgency to implement the governmental plan, de la O Levy said, and stressed the need to undertake the urgent investment in power plants burning locally-produced fuels and advance the installation of renewable energy sources.
In light of the global economic crisis and the tightening of U.S. anti-Cuba unilateral coercive measures, Cuba has prioritized its financial resources to recover the power generation sector, the minister said, and went on to announce an increase in local crude oil and natural gas production along with the setting up of solar parks.
The minister said that Cubans are still undergoing long hours without electricity, which he described is an extremely complex issue to address. He said the government program has the challenge of trying to make advances amidst unforeseen breakdowns of thermal power plants as a consequence of their poor technological conditions and the lack of a stable fuel supply.
Finally, the minister said that the only way to overcome the current power crisis in Cuba is by developing renewable energy sources and recovering the local fuel production.
Regarding the transportation sector, Tamara Valido Benitez, President of the Permanent Working Committee on Attention to Services, read to the plenary a report from the Ministry of Transportation (MITRANS), drawn from extensive dialogue and exchange with the Boards of Directors, workers, and the population receiving services.
The current situation, is very complex, the report states, marked by the tightening of the U.S. blockade and the international economic crisis, among other factors, which have limited the availability of foreign currency and fuel for the economy. This has resulted in low availability of existing cargo, poor condition of vehicles, fuel shortages, and the lack of foreign currency financing for the acquisition of spare parts and other additional items. The sustained deterioration of fundamental transportation has led to a significant contraction in passenger and freight transportation. For example, of the more than 2,500 routes operated by provincial transportation companies, 47 per cent are currently closed, primarily due to equipment availability and fuel shortages. Of the remaining routes, 90 per cent have one morning and one afternoon trip. The report urges continued pursuit of foreign currency revenue and its retention to generate financing schemes and undertake the necessary investments.
The state of Cuba's international relations and diplomacy was brought before the ANPP by Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla. Speaking to the press, Rodriguez said that Cuba's fundamental priorities are related to the preservation of independence, the defence of the Revolution, and socialism, in line with the economic and social model independently chosen by Cubans and in the face of the growing aggression of the United States government.
In line with these principles, he mentioned the need to promote, through diplomatic channels, the search for new options to accelerate economic recovery, advance development, and solve the country's fundamental problems, as well as the difficulties and hardships faced by families, stemming primarily from the U.S. blockade and Cuba's inclusion on the list of countries allegedly sponsoring terrorism.
The Minister also highlighted, as a priority for foreign policy, aspects related to the realization of export, import, investment, financial relations, and international cooperation options, which are essential for economic development.
Another important objective, he said, is to continue and enhance Cuba's leadership in the international arena, within the Group of 77 and China, the Non-Aligned Movement, in representing and promoting the interests of countries in the Global South, in militantly supporting the legitimate and just causes of the peoples, and in the struggle for the creation of a more just and inclusive international order as an alternative to the prevailing hegemonic and anti-democratic model.
He emphasized attention to Cubans living abroad, their families, and descendants, as a way to promote their active participation in the defence of independence and sovereignty, and in opposition to the United States' blockade policy.
(With files from Granma International, Cuba Sí, Periódico 26)
The Beauty of This Difficult Hour Lies in Knowing That We Are Part of an Invincible People
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 closing of the Fifth Ordinary Period of Sessions of the National Assembly of People's Power in its 10th Legislature, at the Convention Palace, on July 18, 2025, "Year 67 of the Revolution"
Dear Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution;
Dear comrade Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly of People's Power;
Dear deputies;
Compatriots:
This has been an authentic Assembly of the people, as the young deputy Danhiz expressed here. It has been so because its debates were the debates of today's Cuban society on the enormous challenges ahead of us, but also because they once again revealed the impressive willingness of this people to fight when everything becomes more difficult.
Neither pessimism, nor defeatism, nor discouragement. What we found here were sober presentations, criticisms based on commitment and, above all, concrete proposals and demands to change what must be changed without delay.
The wisdom and enthusiasm that has characterized practically all the interventions of these days do not surprise me, it is what I have seen in the tours through the provinces. Just where the situation is hardest, after long hours of blackout, you always find the extra of Cubans.
It is not the first time nor will it be the last time that the Cuban Revolution faces its "most difficult moment," although it will always seem to us that nothing can be worse than what we face at the instant we face it.
I will cite a few episodes in the history of Cuba: the Zanjón Pact after ten years of a bloody war that ended with the death or exile of its leaders; the fall in combat of José Martí and Antonio Maceo; the Yankee intervention that robbed us even of the right to enter the heroic city and to attend the signing of the Treaty of Paris because there two empires negotiated our freedom; the neocolonial republic with its appendix, and the Yankee military base where human dignity is tortured and violated.
Then comes the Machado times with its pomp and misery, and Julio Antonio Mella assassinated, and the Revolution that went to the dogs, and Antonio Guiteras massacred in El Morrillo for his profoundly anti-imperialist action. And the corruption of the authentic ones, and Batista's coup d'état, and the murders of "our children" denounced by the Cuban mothers, and the repressed students and the massacre of the assailants of the Moncada, the Presidential Palace, the Goicuría.
With all this inheritance of heroism and frustrations of the revolutionary struggles, the Centennial Generation entered history, with its setback marking the victory in the attack to Moncada. They already had a program, an ideal and a willingness to carry it to the ultimate consequences. And so they did.
When we review all the periods of the 66 years of the Revolution in power, what we find, in addition to victories, are third world challenges, enemy obstacles and also our own mistakes and lessons learned, all fruits of the never abandoned eagerness to conquer and sustain social justice as a supreme aspiration, in a completely adverse world context, since the Soviet Union and the socialist camp ceased to exist.
If, in spite of all that, the Cuban Revolution is standing and fighting for the possible prosperity, it is because of its authentic and genuine character. We are not an accident of history. We are the logical consequence of a history of resistance and rebellion against abuse and injustice that has very deep reasons to believe in its own strength.
That is why the national dignity is offended by those who play at comparing times to praise "how well Cuba was before 1959," posting photos of the palaces and the elegance of its ladies and gentlemen, but hiding those of the eviction, the machete plan, the misery, the children swollen with parasites who worked when they should have gone to school, the prostitutes, and the Italian-American mafias sharing the spoils of the hotels and cabarets for whites only in a mestizo country.
Because the Revolution that finally took power in 1959 was started by a small group of revolutionaries, but it was made by a whole people. And the people who made it have defended it and defend it today even with their teeth, let there be no doubt about it! (Applause).
Otherwise, it will never be possible to explain its existence in this uncertain decade of the 21st century, where dissidence from the single way of thinking, imposed by predatory capitalism, is paid for with smart bombs, the destruction of entire nations or with asphyxiating economic blockades, like the one that this small country of courageous people has been enduring for more than 60 years.
It is deeply insulting to human dignity that those who use the Internet in campaigns to denigrate the Cuban people do not react with equal indignation in the face of the scandalous crimes of those who blockade the country; They avoid calling by name the Israeli genocide in Gaza and Lebanon, and do not protest, do not rebel, do not have the courage to point the finger at those guilty of so much xenophobia, so much war, so many weapons and so much injustice, competing in news prominence with the rampage of billionaire pedophiles and the deportation or imprisonment, without proven crimes, of tens of thousands of migrant workers and their families.
What we learned from the Cuban Revolution is that ideals are not changed because circumstances change; that the trench is not abandoned when the enemy siege tightens. We learned that only by having clear convictions as principles is it possible to sustain and win battles. And we also learned that we can fight our way out of the siege! (Applause).
Fellow Members:
I am not going to expand on the topics already addressed. The gravity of the times demands more actions than words, although we will always have the duty to say them and above all to honor them before the people who elected us. The guide is in the concept of Revolution that Fidel bequeathed us: "Never lie or violate ethical principles."
These working sessions leave us with an important lesson. This is the Assembly of the Cuban people and everything that is discussed and approved in it has to connect with the feelings, needs and demands of the Cuban people. But let us not forget, as we rethink these days, the revolutionary ethics, that which Fidel taught us; let respect and not hatred prevail in us after learning, we cannot for any reason resemble our enemies.
On the other hand, it would not be realistic or honest to commit ourselves to fulfill the solution of all those needs and demands, always growing, where the main obstacle to achieve it is external. What we can and have the duty to commit is our energy, our effort, our tireless search for new ways and actions towards the satisfaction of those demands.
As the main obstacle is not within reach, all solutions depend entirely on the ability to foresee, to anticipate events and to face them with intelligence, effort and innovation. But, first of all, with the indispensable participation of our heroic people.
The recently launched Soberanía information and services platform and the proposal of several deputies to reach a consensus and make transparent the measures of the Government Program to correct distortions are strengths of the digital transformation, which should speed up processes that are still running too slow for the seriousness of the urgencies.
The Cuban economy operates under many risks for any decision, largely derived from the fierce enemy persecution. We cannot add more with our own inadequacies. We maintain the conviction reiterated by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz that it is possible to move forward and overcome the current situation through our own efforts and results; but to achieve this, more discipline, organization, awareness and perseverance are required.
I believe that the reports of the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Economy and Planning and of Finance and Prices have been sufficiently commented on and received observations and proposals that should be taken into account.
An encouraging example is the fiscal results analyzed in this Assembly. I will not dwell on the details, but I do think it is good to remember that we closed the year 2023 with a 35% increase in the fiscal deficit. Many will remember the alarm that this caused and the fatalistic prediction of those who calculated up to a decade to recover that indicator. A year and a half later, the encouraging news is that we were able to achieve a significant reduction. In fact, during the first four months of this year we had surplus results and up to this moment the current account closes without deficit, which had not been achieved for more than ten years.
How was this possible? The main formula: discipline and exigency in the fight against tax evasion, in the collection of taxes and fines. The work is not perfect yet, this is an area in which a lot of awareness and control work is needed, until we gain in tax culture.
This result, very important for the economy, has a transcendental social impact: it will allow us to redistribute that income to the most vulnerable sectors, such as our retirees. This is what has enabled us to bring their pensions to a level that, while not sufficient, does put them in a better condition.
The main currency in fiscal policy is and will continue to be to attend to those, in society, who suffer most severely from the difficult situation of the country under the noose of the asphyxiation plan contained in Mr. Trump's Presidential Memorandum.
With the conviction that "Yes we can," we have to turn to other vital areas for development, such as achieving an increase in foreign currency income, in the midst of a very hostile scenario in which the United States Government is reinforcing its siege to prevent the entry of a single cent into the country every day.
We cannot remain impassive, much less feel defeated. We must focus on all our export capacities, which inevitably start from an increase in production in all possible areas, to do so in sufficient quantity and quality, which will then allow us to impose ourselves against the siege and global competition.
It is up to us, and only us, to be sufficiently efficient, even in the difficult circumstances of acting with our hands tied by the blockade that some try to avoid. It is a challenging challenge, but not an impossible one.
Here, I would like to return to what we find in every tour we make week after week through the country's municipalities: how some, in the same circumstances of shortages, can overcome difficulties and demonstrate results.
An undeniable answer to this question, which we constantly ask ourselves, lies in the potential of leadership and the value of successful collectives.
The import mentality that has corroded us for years, in addition to generating dependence, whose negative effects are felt more in times of crisis, curbs internal capacity and potential and facilitates the actions of persecution against Cuba.
We cannot say that we will renounce imports, they will always be necessary at some level; but it is urgent to change the matrix and work on the basis of consuming more of what we produce internally than what is imported.
These productive processes, which we urgently need to dynamize, we cannot expect them to be only from large structures or companies.
As a way of contributing to municipal development, we must bet on boosting local production systems. Let us defend once and for all that the municipalities finally occupy the leading role they should have in national development.
Dear deputies:
We are facing a world in which an attempt is being made by the main military and economic power to impose a hegemonic and neoliberal approach.
During this semester we have consolidated foreign relations, which are being strengthened in the midst of constant pressures from sectors of extreme anti-Cuban hatred to promote economic and political isolation, which they will never achieve.
Cuba continues to be that benchmark of dignity and national sovereignty that many governments and peoples of the world look up to with admiration.
We have reached a higher level in strategic relations with China, Vietnam, Russia and other friendly countries that participate in a growing and mutually beneficial way in economic and social development plans.
Our support for the Bolivarian Revolution, the Sandinista Revolution and the ever-sister nation and people of Mexico is ongoing.
We have continued the respectful dialogue and cooperative relations with the member countries of the European Union, on the broad basis and legal framework offered by the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between Cuba and that bloc of countries.
Cuba will maintain its solidarity and cooperation with the sister nations of Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean that continue to denounce the blockade and the arbitrary certifications, in spite of the different pressures to which they are subjected.
In the important events we have participated in this year, such as CELAC, the summits of the Eurasian Economic Union and the BRICS, the understanding, sensitivity and willingness to insert and support Cuba in these international mechanisms have been ratified.
We observe in the reactions of the people many favorable expectations about the strengthening of these exchanges and their results. Although it takes time to consolidate the incorporation into these mechanisms, they mean new and hopeful opportunities.
For this we also have to work together, at all levels, with a high sense of belonging, responsibility and without that persistent bureaucracy that we still encounter and not infrequently hinders and frustrates important projects. Any strategy to move forward must take into account that the new U.S. doctrine, which seeks to impose peace by force, is a latent threat to true peace at the global level, which poses, in the particular case of Cuba, a very dangerous scenario.
No one is safe when the most powerful empire in history breaks all the rules of international relations to impose its hegemonic will against countries it intends to subjugate, even, as we have seen, its own traditional allies.
In our case, the attempt to subjugate us, much older than the Revolution, has intensified in recent years, and very recently the current Republican administration has taken it upon itself to declare it, formally and publicly, in a Presidential Memorandum on National Security.
The main measures contemplated in this Memorandum have actually been applied since Donald Trump's first term in office and are aimed at closing all access to the financing that is essential for the normal performance of the economy.
This brutal siege, in combination with the unacceptable inclusion of Cuba on the list of alleged sponsors of terrorism, reinforces the blockade policy to unprecedented levels and causes a multiplied impact of the coercive measures on the economy and, by extension, on the standard of living of the Cuban population. We cannot hide or ignore this effect, much less its destructive purpose.
The combination of the limited availability of foreign currency income, as we have already mentioned, the high dependence on imports and the transversal effects caused by the instability of the national electro-energy system cause a significant paralysis or slowdown of economic activity which imposes a deficit in the supply of goods and services to the population, and a contraction of exports.
Consequently, the capacity to import foodstuffs for the basic food basket and the fuels necessary for the generation of electricity and the functioning of the economy is limited. The scarce availability of medicines, the decrease in transportation services, solid waste collection and water supply, among others, make up the harsh panorama that our people face every day.
To overcome this situation, we have been forced to accept the partial dollarization of the economy, which undoubtedly, in some way, favors those who possess certain capital resources or receive remittances, which translates into an undesired widening of the gaps that mark social inequality.
In this context, we must increase the effectiveness of the redistributive social function of the State with public and fiscal policies that, without restricting solutions, prevent the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, thus increasing inequality and poverty. And to pay the greatest attention to inflation which, although maintaining a slight deceleration, is still very high, limiting the purchasing power of workers' salaries and the lower income of pensioners and retirees.
It is urgent to reorder the relations between the state sector and the private sector to correct distortions, bad practices and negative tendencies that deviate from the principles of socialist construction. Strengthen business ethics to avoid bribery, favoritism and corruption.
It is precisely in this scenario that we are working to enforce and support the Government Program to eliminate distortions and re-drive the economy, whose progress, results and projections were presented by comrade Marrero.
It is essential to make it known, from its foundations to its actions, so that it can be truly supported with popular participation and control.
The eminent scientist and member of our Council of State, Yury Valdés Balbín, very graphically exposed here the importance of the people's participation in the control and in all the processes that have an impact on their welfare, always from a perspective free of formalisms, which really connects with the interests of those who participate. It is necessary to articulate and promote in municipal and community spaces participatory forms to meet the needs of citizens. And municipal management must be based on avoiding and preventing problems in the community, leaving behind tolerance and justifications, and designing a true and effective popular control, exercising it on the fulfillment of approved public policies and their effective implementation.
Another decisive front of national sovereignty is the battle in the digital ecosystem. This is demonstrated by the constant discrediting operations against the country; the networks of influencers, media and algorithms that amplify negative narratives; digital weapons such as bots and fake accounts that saturate that space with distorted narratives. It is also confirmed by the use of emotional techniques that seek to erode the credibility of leaders, institutions and public media.
There we also have to be able to defend the truth with ethics, decency, ingenuity, optimism, confidence and energy; go on the ideological offensive; seek international alliances that allow us to break the media encirclement; promote sovereign technological solutions and, increasingly, build an articulated cyberspace of emancipation.
Ladies and gentlemen:
In the Session that concludes today, four laws were approved, all with a gender focus, which will strengthen the institutional order of the country, with a determining role in the economic and social sphere of the nation.
The Law of the Cuban Sports System establishes and regulates the areas, objectives, principles, components, organization and its operation, favoring its integral development in the midst of the current challenges.
The Law of the General Regime of Contraventions and Administrative Sanctions provides modifications that bring its content into greater harmony with the constitutional postulates and with the legislative provisions adopted lately, related to public administration to guarantee compliance and respect for legality.
The Civil Registry Law makes it possible to set up a single civil registry for the whole nation that contributes to achieve a more agile and efficient processing of the population's affairs, incorporating the use of new information and communication technologies.
They are all important norms, but one, in my opinion, stands out among them all and reveals in all its beauty the importance of what we do as legislators: I am referring to the Code of Children, Adolescents and Youth. By approving it, we legislate on the most sacred rights in our society, according to the future that is already walking with us.
The Code of Children, Adolescents and Youth is a source of pride for Cuba, as was and still is the Code of Families.
The Code is a guide and a tool. Everyone who has to do with the formation of Cuban children, adolescents and youth must imbibe the spirit and the letter of the norm so that the future they symbolize finds its life project in the nation. And that this project is saved from the terrible plagues of this era, such as drugs and violence.
This Code is a source of pride for Cuba, as was and still is the Code of Families, in the midst of an increasingly hostile and aggressive world. It is also a tribute to Vilma, who dedicated her life to Cuban children, adolescents and young people, and opened the way for us with her always humanist, feminist and, above all, revolutionary vision (Applause).
Nothing of what we dream and do would make sense without our greatest treasure: the new generations. Or to put it in more personal words: our children and grandchildren. Their happiness and the better possible world we want to bequeath to them is what the Code seeks to promote. Thanks to those who made it possible in such a short time (Applause).
On the other hand, the approved constitutional reform constitutes a legitimate and fair fact, responds to the current realities of the country and is faithful to our history. In such a way that the Constitution favors the possibility of a wider selection of comrades with conditions to be elected as President of the Republic. Finally, we defend the future of the nation with the approval of this constitutional reform (Applause).
Compatriots:
Today, when only hours away from a new commemoration of that key moment in history that was July 26, 1953, it is worth remembering what Fidel said at the Fourth Party Congress in 1991, the year that would end with the disappearance of the USSR and the socialist camp.
Faced with the challenging uncertainty that this scenario posed for Cuba, the Commander-in-Chief responded as follows: "To those who say that our struggle would have no perspective in the current situation and in the face of the catastrophe that has occurred, we must respond categorically: The only thing that would never have any perspective is if the homeland, the Revolution and socialism were lost. It is as if we had been told that we had no perspective after the Moncada attack...."
His legendary optimism is summed up in that phrase and in the ways out that he always saw, not outside but within the people, with his tremendous intelligence potential, which is one of the great resources at hand. Aware of the absolute validity of those ideas, I reiterate today what Fidel told us then: "There are possibilities, that is the important thing, there are possibilities, but the possibilities are for the peoples who fight, the firm peoples, the tenacious peoples, the peoples who fight; the possibilities exist for a people like ours." (Applause)
That is the Cuban people who, represented by you, have illuminated the days to come and have done so with just criticisms and hopeful proposals, from the magnificent sessions of this Assembly that has left us with lessons, lessons learned, heartbreaks, but above all an extraordinary inspiration to undertake today's decisive combat: to prepare ourselves to leap over the obstacles of the economic war that the greatest empire in history is waging against us with its infamous Memorandum and its plan to suffocate our sacred independence and sovereignty.
On July 26th in Ciego de Avila, whose industrious people we congratulate, we shall celebrate the certainty that Yes we can! History says so and the present certifies it! (Applause)
On behalf of the Party and the Government, I extend my congratulations and deepest gratitude to all the people of Cuba (Applause). For their resistance to so many difficulties. For their inexhaustible creativity. For never giving up when everything is lacking, sometimes even the indispensable communication that we are obliged to give them.
In less than a month we will be celebrating the beginning of Fidel's centennial year, which will take place in August 2026. The best tribute to the political-military genius, the educator, the scientist, the leader of just causes in Cuba and the world, is the work of the Cuban people! (Applause).
Thank you, Cuba! The beauty of this difficult hour lies in knowing that we are part of an invincible people.
Surrender has never been an alternative. Independence or death, yes! Homeland or death, yes! Socialism or death, yes! Surrender, never! (Applause).
This was certified with his powerful voice by Commander Juan Almeida under a hail of bullets in Alegria de Pio:
Nobody surrenders here...!
Fatherland or Death!
We Will Win!
(Granma International)
U.S. State-Organized Terrorism Against Cuba
Cuba Submits Updated List of U.S.-Backed Terrorists to UN
On July
9, Cuba delivered to the Secretary General of the
United Nations an update to its National List of persons and entities
that have been subjected to criminal investigations and are wanted by
Cuban authorities for involvement in the promotion, planning,
organization, financing, support or
commission of acts of terrorism carried out in the national territory
or in other countries. The U.S. has backed or directly organized
thousands of terrorist attacks against Cuba since the birth of the
Cuban Revolution in 1959, causing the death of hundreds and injuries to
many thousands of people.
Between 1959 and 1997 alone, there were 5,780 such attacks.
The delivery of the updated list of U.S.-backed terrorists to the UN was announced at a press conference by Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (Minrex); Colonel Víctor Álvarez Valle, from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation of the Ministry of the Interior (Minint); Edward Roberts Campbell, Chief Prosecutor of the Directorate for Confronting Corruption and Illegalities of the Attorney General's Office (FGR); and Alexis Batista Segrera, Director of International Relations of the Ministry of Justice (Minjus).
The new list, published in Resolution No. 13 (2025) and in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba, includes 62 persons born in Cuba, but not residents, and 20 terrorist entities, by virtue of Resolution 1373 (2001) of the UN Security Council, International Law and the domestic legal system, Colonel Víctor Álvarez Valle reported. Four deceased persons have been removed from the list and five new individuals and one organization have been added.
He added that the investigations involve people based mostly in the U.S., a situation that Cuba has repeatedly denounced to the U.S. authorities, without receiving a response. Cuba alleges that they represent a threat to the security of both countries.
Álvarez Valle argued that, in addition, a new source of threats has been identified, namely cyberterrorism, in which social networks are used to incite violence and create social instability.
Due to the seriousness of the facts, he said, regardless of the mechanisms that exist for international legal cooperation on this front, Cuba can also apply other measures such as people prosecuting those who have sponsored terrorist acts against Cuba in absentia, in accordance with what is established in the Criminal Code.
"It is
paradoxical and cynical that the United States
Government designates Cuba as a State sponsor of terrorism, in a
unilateral list and without any mandate from international
organizations. Any astute and impartial observer can conclude which is
the government that actually encourages,
supports and tolerates terrorism, and which is the country that
confronts and fights it, while it has been a victim of this scourge for
more than six decades," Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vidal Ferreiro
pointed out.
She stressed that with the presentation of the list to the United Nations, Cuba, as a State party to the 19 international conventions on the matter, is strictly complying with and honouring the obligations emanating from the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, related to the fight against terrorism.
Meanwhile, she assured that, in spite of the inaction of the U.S. authorities due to obvious political considerations, Cuba has made cooperation in the fight against this scourge feasible through the Dialogue mechanism and the Memorandum of Understanding between both countries in the area of law enforcement and compliance with the law.
(Granma International)
Tenth Plenary Session of Central Committee of Communist Party of Cuba
Revolutionary Cuba Holds High the Banner of Resistance and Forward March
The 10th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba was convoked on July 4-5 with the essential issues of today's Cuban society on the agenda. The session analyzed the movements of cadres of the Central Committee, and also reviewed the fulfillment of the agreements derived from previous meetings.
In his remarks to the plenary
on July 4, the Party's First
Secretary Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez emphasized
that the battle for Cuba, for the Revolution, cannot be in the
abstract. It has to happen day by day and from every space of the
island.
So," he said, "we are going to vindicate Cuba every day; so we are going to bring Fidel to the current time; so we are going to mobilize the revolutionary forces; so we are going to enter an offensive to overcome the problems of this moment; so we will achieve a more conscious and creative participation.
This is political-ideological work, he said, "oriented to the defence of socialist construction in our Revolution, to achieve the fullest life of our people, the prosperity that we owe to our people, which we must achieve. And we have to achieve it with unity as well."
Regarding how to involve the broad masses of the people in the work, Díaz-Canel stated, "There is talk of participation -- and I am one of the first to defend participation -- but participation is not achieved by a decree at the country level. In all the places where we are, do the leaders take into account the participation of workers in decisions? In all the places where we carry out our work, have spaces been created for workers and the population to be part of or participate in some way?" He added that knowing how to address the specific issues in each place and organization is essential, whether in the Party organizations, workplaces, and this requires the participation of the workers.
Díaz-Canel posed the question of what happens in a place when there is neither participation nor control. He explained that the first thing is that people do not understand the importance of what they have to do and what they contribute. There is no combativeness, there is no discussion about raising production efficiently, there is no thinking of the national aims, and people cannot understand the processes being undertaken. He further elaborated on this point, saying:
"I continue to insist that the visits made by the Party to the territories show us, in the midst of all the inadequacies that exist, in the midst of all the severe problems that exist, that the collectives that have different leadership, and where the leaders do link with their workers and the workers -- more than complaining about their difficulties seek solutions -- these groups are setting a path for us, they are showing us that they can."
"It is clear to me that there are two extreme positions here at the moment in society: those with regret and who lament problems where we have to justify everything they do not do; and those who, far from lamenting, recognize that there are things that to be realistic, cannot be done but go out to fight every day in every way."
Addressing the effects of the U.S. blockade, Díaz-Canel stated, "Today is not the same blockade we have experienced in the last 60 years. Today this blockade, in my view, has three fundamental characteristics: First, it is escalating to the extreme, and measures are being implemented that were not implemented at any previous time, and that limit and affect us very much.
"Second, it is not the same blockade or even the same situation of the special period: today we have a population more aged than when the special period was declared. Therefore, the sufferings of the blockade have another nuance. And third, we reached this resurgence of the blockade with a collapsed Electroenergetic System, which was not the Electroenergetic System that existed in the special period. And here, when we have this electroenergetic situation almost everything stops: there is no supply of water, there is no material production, no services can be offered, because there are almost no hours of electricity."
With courage, without complaints, the resurgence of the blockade must be confronted efficiently and creatively, Díaz-Canel said. To provide the optimism and will necessary to overcome the escalating blockade requires the Party to perfect its political-ideological work, "to explain why we are sticking to socialist construction, why we do not give up." It is important to build militancy and prepare the cadres.
Member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Roberto Morales Ojeda, underscored that "Cuba is going through one of the most complex stages of its history, we are living in very challenging times, of prolonged and intensified blockade policy, of economic difficulties and external pressures that try to bend the spirit of a people that has demonstrated, time and again, its capacity of resistance and dignity." "The circumstances are hard," he stressed.
"Shortages, limitations and attempts of discouragement knock on doors and consciences," he said. In the midst of these adversities, he said, "every day becomes a challenge, but also an opportunity to reaffirm our conviction that socialism is the path; and unity, our strength."
Morales Ojeda valued that "this 10th Plenary Session of our Communist Party acquires a vital importance, because the Party is the force and compass that guides the collective welfare, and it is up to it to watch over the needs of the people."
"Let us analyze the problems in depth; let us define the actions that bring their solution closer; and let us compel the mobilization of the nation towards the search for results," Morales Ojeda said.
"Close to commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the Attacks on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Barracks; a few hours before the 70th anniversary of Fidel's departure to Mexico, to undertake the definitive epic for the independence and freedom of the Homeland, we begin the 10th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba," he said.
Part of the agenda of the first working session was a review of the Political Bureau's Accountability Report, which reflects the main actions carried out in the last period.
Speaking to the report, Morales Ojeda said that even though some macroeconomic indicators show discreet signs of recovery and show that we can move forward with our own efforts, the reality is that they remain distant from what is desired and are not reflected in the daily lives of the people, who suffer the direct effects of high prices and the shortage of essential products.
In this regard, mention was also made of the complex energy situation, which, in addition to the effects on the population, also has an impact on the economic recovery of the country.
According to the report, in this period the Party has focused on reversing the effect of the difficulties that Cuba is going through. As part of this focus, it has maintained a permanent link with the people to inform, dialogue and contribute to the understanding and search for solutions to the problems identified. In doing so, visits were made to all the municipalities of the country, and exchanges held with more than 280,000 people in 4,508 workplaces and 747 popular councils. Another round of exchanges is being prepared to assess the attention given to the problems raised and recommendations for their resolution.
In addition, the report presented refers to the development of meetings with various sectors of society, exchange with researchers, scientists and specialists from various branches, and exchanges with young people in the scenarios where important historical events occurred.
The report also analyzed the recovery of power and capacity-building in electricity production so far, that have not been able to mitigate existing problems, due to the lack of fuel and the increase in demand.
Also reviewed was the work of those involved in the implementation of the Economic Plan and the State Budget for 2025, that includes matters such as price and fiscal control and banking, which have a direct impact on the country's macroeconomic stabilization program.
On the front of agriculture, the report informed of the implementation of measures to save the sugar industry and the progress of the current harvest that is developing under very difficult conditions.
Another issue evaluated was the follow-up of actions aimed at preventing and confronting corruption, crime, illegalities and social indiscipline during 2024, as part of which systematic analyses were carried out in the core of the Party, governing councils and mass organizations. As part of the interventions on this point, the member of the Central Committee, Julio César García Rodríguez, acknowledged that, while progress has been made in preventing and confronting corruption, crime, illegalities and social indisciplines, the evaluation of the actions carried out shows that the results remain insufficient. He noted the importance of preventive measures to address these issues. He added that despite the complex situation in the country, order and legality have been maintained.
The Party's plan to address deviations and negative trends in current Cuban society was approved, and the Political Communication Strategy was approved. The plenary also evaluated proposals for the improvement of comprehensive social policy care and projections to improve the quality of the educational process of general education.
(Granma International, Communist Party of Cuba website.)
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