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.
Speech delivered by Miguel M. Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of Cuba’s Councils of State and Ministers, during the national commemoration of the 66th anniversary of the assaults on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Garrisons, held in the Plaza de la Patria, Bayamo, Granma, July 26, 2019, Year 61 of the Revolution
(Council of State transcript / GI translation)
Dear Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee;
SANTIAGO DE CUBA.– Frank País García was among those men who move people, conquer plains and mountain tops, who see the light on the horizon, and speak for all. The young revolutionary was shot by Batista’s henchmen, 62 years ago, thinking that with 20 bullets they could bury him in oblivion. But the date was chosen in his honor, to become Martyrs of the Cuban Revolution Day.
At only 18 years of age, he heard the sound of shooting from the Moncada, and tried to reach the garrison to see what was happening, but the guards stopped him. That night he managed to get in and saw the riddled bodies, which he would later describe as “full of blood, bullets, and honor.”
President Obama on December 17, 2014 announced a U.S. opening to Cuba. Months later there was a U.S. embassy in Havana. Beginning in late 2016, however, some diplomats there –CIA agents among them – experienced strange noises, hearing loss, headaches, impaired memory, confused thinking, dizziness, impaired vision and more. Expressing safety concerns, the State Department in September, 2017 recalled most of its employees from its Embassy in Cuba.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was joined by his Cuban counterpart Miguel Díaz-Canel Sunday as they issued a rallying cry for regional unity “to confront the onslaught of U.S. imperialism.”
The pair were among the speakers at the closing ceremony of the 25th Sao Paolo Forum in Caracas, which coincided with celebrations marking the 65th anniversary of the birth of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013.
Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, member of the Party Central Committee Political Bureau, and President of the Councils of State and Ministers, delivers the event’s central remarks.
