The Voracious Reader

FIDEL

Pedro de la Hoz

Granma | December 02, 2020

“We do not tell the people: believe. We say: read,” a statement not made casually, but rather a public expression of a very deep conviction, spoken by Fidel on April 9, 1961 during a television appearance that ended the sixth cycle of the People’s University, Education and Revolution.

The National Literacy Campaign was underway across the country. A few days later, the mercenary Bay of Pigs invasion, organized and financed by the United States took place and was defeated in less than 72 hours. The aggression did not interrupt the enormous pedagogical effort. With a vast audience listening, recorded was Fidel’s message that summarized in good measure the core of the cultural and educational policy of the new times: “The Revolution tells the people: learn to read and write, study, get information, meditate, observe, think. Why? Because this is the path of truth…” Comandante en Jefe said, at the time.

Fidel’s Presence Reaffirmed During Cultural Tribute

REMEMBERING COMRADE FIDEL

 Granma | November 26, 2020

Photo: Ismael Batista

Many came to meet Fidel again on the University of Havana’s grand stairway, the scene of so many rebellious, revolutionary events, bringing him to the present, giving his work continuity, in the voices of children, in songs of commitment and celebration, in verse…

What Cuba Reaffirms

BIRTHDAY OF FIDEL CASTRO

When the adversity gets worse, at a bad moment, when all our effort is not enough, and we must find another way; when a hopeful project is cut short, given the countless difficulties caused by the blockade, that anyone with any common sense can see, we ask ourselves: What would Fidel do? As if, in him, all answers can be found

 Madeleine Sautié Rodríguez

Granma | August 13, 2020

Photo: Archivo de Granma

The world is living hard times; Cuba, for its part, is, too. After a year of arduous battles, with our neighbor to the North holding our neck, attempting to force us to surrender and accept the imperialist yoke, in mid-March the pandemic reached our shores.

Horrendous images from all parts of the world of a desperate battle with death; a British cruise ship in trouble, with infected passengers aboard, which Cuba allowed to dock, to facilitate their safe return home; rich countries with health systems overwhelmed by the rapidly spreading disease; Cuban medical brigades preparing to save lives around the world, and the empire maliciously attempting to discredit what can only be described as glorious: a small island nation challenging Goliath, protecting its own, while making whatever it has available to all, without a single soul turning away from the task.

Thank you, Fidel, For Being, Above All, Human

BIRTHDAY OF FIDEL CASTRO

 Leydis María Labrador Herrera

Granma | August 13, 2020

 

Fidel visited one hospital room after another during the hemorrhagic dengue epidemic. Photo: Granma Archives

Over the years, many have wondered about the source of the leader of the Cuban Revolution’s inexhaustible energy. How was this exceptional man able to function without rest, with his thoughts perennially directed toward the wellbeing of his people, toward the possibility of a better world with a place for everyone, with rights and opportunities for all?

The answer to this question does not lie in his physical stature or athletic passion, not even in his ability to train his thinking and devour every chapter of the homeland’s history. There was something much more powerful, something that led him to devote himself entirely to humanity, that gave him a vocation he could not renounce, of doing everything he could to transform and create, as the most sacred duty of a man. What made Fidel a natural leader, with exemplary humility and disinterest, the architect of this enduring work, was the greatest gift Martí left him and his generation: human sensibility.

‘Fidel Lives in Those Saved by Cuban Doctors’ Ambassador Says

BIRTHDAY OF FIDEL CASTRO

 

Cuba has nine doctors for every 1,000 inhabitants, which is the highest figure for this indicator worldwide.

Cuba’s Ambassador to Canada Josefina Vidal took part in a virtual conference on the legacy of Fidel Castro, the leader of the Cuban revolution, which was held on the occasion of the 94th anniversary of his birth.

“Fidel Castro is still alive in each of the lives that our doctors save. He is alive in any corner of the world where people say ‘Thank you Cuba’,” Vidal said.

When the world is going through the COVID-19 pandemic, the diplomat focused her conference on one pillar of Fidel’s revolutionary thought and work: the human right to free health care.

Fidel Castro – What Trump and the haters he encourages ignore

by Iroel Sánchez

Granma | May 07, 2020

Photo: Juvenal Balán

It could have been predicted; it has happened before: The U.S. government’s extremism toward Cuba is once again encouraging terrorism.

A fanatic fires on the Cuban embassy in Washington. This was not one of the invisible and unproven “sonic attacks” on diplomatic personnel that the Trump administration alleges occurred in Havana. Bullets were fired from an assault rifle, and their marks are clearly visible on the facade of Cuba’s embassy in the U.S. capital.

Fidel Castro: A champion of public health

by Abhay Shukla

Down To Earth | December 21, 2016

 A CHAMPION OF PUBLIC HEALTH

The demise of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a huge loss to the global public health. As the leader of the island nation of Cuba for nearly half-a-century, Fidel not only led exemplary initiatives to ensure healthcare for all within the country, but also ensured that Cuban doctors were the first to reach out to people in developing countries during natural disasters. Under Fidel, Cuban medical scientists also developed cutting-edge measures to combat diseases, ranging from meningitis to cancers.

The Fidel Castro I know

The Nobel Prize for Literature winner offers his observations of a good friend

by Gabriel García Márquez

Granma | August 30, 2019

Photo: Granma Archives

His devotion to words. His power of seduction. He looks for problems wherever they may be. The impetus of inspiration is characteristic of his style. Books reflect very well the breadth of his tastes. He quit smoking to have the moral authority to fight smoking. He likes to prepare cooking recipes with a kind of scientific fervor. He stays in excellent physical condition with several hours of daily workouts and frequent swimming. Invincible patience. Iron discipline. The power of his imagination prepares him for the unexpected. Learning to rest is as important as learning to work.

Fidel, just as he was

by Mireya Castañeda

Granma | August 19, 2019

Photo: Valiente, Jorge

Only a careful curatorial eye allowed press photographer Jorge Valiente and journalist Sahily Tabares to create the book Fidel es un país, an iconography of the Cuban Revolution’s leader that captures him just as he was.

Colleagues and life companions, the authors made a selection from among more than a thousand shots Valiente has of the Comandante en Jefe, photos taken in the exercise of his profession, first for the newspaper Revolución,and later Granma. His existence just as it was lived.

Fidel, the most visionary Cuban of the 20th century

by Raúl Castro Ruz

Granma | August 13, 2019

Photo: Yousuf Karsh/Camera Press 

Fidel’s authority and his close relationship with the people were key to the country’s heroic resistance during the dramatic years of the Special Period…

At that time few in the world would have bet on our ability to resist and overcome in the face of adversity and the intensification of the enemy blockade. Our people, however, under the leadership of Fidel, provided an unforgettable lesson in resolve and loyalty to the principles of the Revolution.