Speech by Fidel Castro Ruz before Leaving for the Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953
Tag: Latin America
The Cuban Revolution Began Today
Castro Leads July 26th Attack (1953)
A People’s Calendar
On this day in 1953, the Cuban Revolution began when approximately seventy rebels, led by Fidel and Raúl Castro, attacked two Cuban military installations, a battle that became the inspiration for the “July of 26th Movement“.
The communist rebels were decisively defeated: nine died in the fighting, fifty-six were executed, and Fidel himself was captured (shown) and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
In his subsequent trial, Fidel gave what is now known as his “History Will Absolve Me” speech, nearly four hours long, and ending with the words “Condemn me, it does not matter. History will absolve me.” Both Fidel and Raúl were later released as a part of general amnesty for political prisoners.
The communist rebels fled to Mexico and began organizing to overthrow the Batista government. Several years later, they succeeded, finally ousting Batista on December 31st, 1958, replacing his government with a revolutionary socialist state.
The Cuban Revolution had powerful domestic and international repercussions. In particular, it made Cuba’s relationship with the United States significantly more antagonistic.
In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, Castro’s government began a program of nationalization, transforming Cuba’s economy and civil society. Castro’s Cuban government was also keen on international aid, providing more medical personnel to the developing world than all the G8 countries combined.
Today is celebrated in Cuba as the Day of the Revolution (Dia de la Revolución). Castro’s 26th of July Movement later reformed along communist lines, becoming the Communist Party in October of 1965.
Photograph by Getty Images
SOURCE of Text: https://www.apeoplescalendar.org/calendar
‘Let’s Keep Alive Bolivar’s Integration Dream’, AMLO Says
teleSUR | July 24, 2021
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (C), Mexico DF, Mexico, Jul. 24, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @EduardomteleSUR
“Let’s say goodbye to impositions, interference, sanctions…Let’s apply the principles of non-intervention, self-determination of peoples, and peaceful solutions to disputes,” AMLO praised.
Addressing the 21st Summit of Foreign Ministers from the Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States (CELAC) on Saturday, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) called for a new political and economic integration that observes the region’s history, reality, and particular identities.
Read More »China Asks the US To Lift Its Sanctions Against Cuban Officials
teleSUR | July 23, 2021
Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, Beijing, China. | Photo: Twitter/ @zlj517
“The U.S. should foremost examine its human rights issues instead of meddling in other countries’ internal affairs,” the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry stated.
On Friday, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian asked the United States to remove the sanctions against the officers of Cuba’s Interior Ministry (MININT) and Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR).
“The U.S. should foremost examine its human rights issues instead of meddling in other countries’ internal affairs,” Zhao stated and reiterated China’s support for the Cuban government and people amid the U.S. blockade.
On Thursday, using the 2016 Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the Biden administration sanctioned Cuban senior officials for allegedly repressing citizens during the demonstrations staged on July 11.
In response to this arbitrary act, besides accusing the U.S. of being behind these protests, the Cuban government pointed out that the recent sanctions against FAR and MININT officers are slanderous and unfounded.
Read More »The Only Way to End Economic Hardship in Cuba Is to Lift the US Blockade
Francisco Dominguez
Tribune | July 17, 2021
In an evidently well-coordinated action, on 11 July 2021, groups of opponents of the government staged demonstrations in several Cuban cities, notably Havana. Within seconds of the event the world’s mainstream media, including, of course, the media in the UK, were in full swing magnifying the event.
Such social outburst is an unusual event in Cuba and even more surprising were the intensity and violence deployed by the protestors (vandalism, aggression against officials, attacks on public buildings), reminiscent of similar protests in Venezuela in 2014 and 2017 and Nicaragua in the coup attempt of July 2018.
Read More »Protests in Cuba: defend the revolution!
Jorge Martín
In Defence of Marxism | July 12, 2021
The situation in Cuba is serious. On Sunday 11 July, there were protests in various towns and cities in Cuba that have enjoyed widespread coverage in the international media (how could it be otherwise?) Where do these protests come from? What is their character? How should we, as revolutionaries, respond?
The protests began in San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa province, 26 km southwest of the capital Havana. The immediate motivation for the protests, which brought hundreds of people to the streets in San Antonio, were prolonged and constant power outages. But this factor must be added to an accumulation of problems, which have become particularly serious since the beginning of the pandemic 16 months ago: shortages of basic products, shortages of medicines, the fall in the purchasing power of wages. Added to all of this is the worsening of the pandemic in recent days, with the arrival of new, much more contagious variants, at a time when only 15-20% of the population have been fully vaccinated, putting the healthcare system under a lot of strain in several provinces.
Read More »Chile: Why Did the Coup Succeed? (Special Dossier)
FEATURING THE WORK OF JACK WODDIS AND PATRICIO GUZMAN
The Greanville Post | July 22, 2021
The material presented below is the work of great didacts, talented filmmakers and political analysts. Patricio Guzmán, the Chilean documentary filmmaker and author of The Battle of Chile (BOC), filmed literally in the teeth of the bloody Chilean counter-revolution, with his precious footage smuggled out of the country with the help of a brave anti-fascist, none other than Harald Edelstam, the Swedish ambassador (who had already distinguished himself in World War II by rescuing Jews and many anti-fascists from the Nazis), needs no introduction. The documentary, made with little money, and eventually completed with the help of Cuba, is a masterpiece of astute and precise storytelling. Indeed, Guzmán’s small team seems to be always wherever something critical is happening:
* in the copper mines, where the workers, the country’s “labor aristocracy”, stupidly decide to oppose the Allende government;
* surveying the critical truck owners’ strike that selfishly and myopically paralysed the country at a decisive moment (an ominous sign that, as Communist party leader Luis Corvalán feared, the middle and lower middle class had not been fully won over to the revolutionary project);
* or within the Chilean Congress itself, where one naked betrayal after another seals Chile’s fate in accordance with plans already drawn up in the late 1960s (we now know for certain) in the US White House and in the sordid “intelligence agencies” entrusted with such tasks. All this in perfect coordination with Chile’s native oligarchy.
Terrorist Operations in Caracas: Context and Orchestration
Misión Verdad | July 09, 2021
Since last Wednesday June 7 and during Thursday June 8, the capital city of Venezuela, Caracas, has been the target of important operations by armed groups, which through the facade of criminal gangs have operated in actions of terror and the generation of chaos.
These events have been carried out by gangs led by alias El Koki, alias El Garbys and alias El Vampi as the main group leaders. Criminal gangs have carried out actions to generate anxiety among the population of Cota 905, El Paraíso, Quinta Crespo and its surroundings, shooting in the air or against the civilian population and sending criminals on motorcycles and pick-up trucks, heavily armed, to other nearby sectors such as the boulevard of El Cementerio, in an attempt to mark their presence there and force people to retreat to their homes.
Read More »Venezuela’s Minister for Defense: ‘We Have Captured 11 Paramilitary Criminals in Apure State’
orinocotribune | July 15, 2021
This Wednesday July 14, Venezuela’s Vice President for Political Sovereignty, Security and Peace, General Vladimir Padrino López, referred to the arduous battle that the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) is fighting against Colombian terrorist and paramilitary groups. In this regard, he reported that the FANB have captured 11 criminals in Apure state, and they are already in Caracas.
“There are those who think that we have surrendered the sovereignty of Apure,” said General Padrino. “No! We have not surrendered our sovereignty. We are doing the necessary work and since last Sunday (July 11) we have captured 11 individuals (paramilitary criminals) in Apure state, from the same small group that attacked us [before], who intend to occupy Venezuelan territory. There are 11 and they are already here in Caracas.”
Read More »Economic recovery in Venezuela
Pasqualina Curcio
Últimas Noticias | July 12, 2021
To forecast the economic recovery in Venezuela, or in any country in the world, it is necessary, first, to know what the causes of the fall in national production have been. Between 2013 and 2020, the gross domestic product has registered an abysmal decrease of 73%, that is, we are producing around a quarter of what was produced 7 years ago.
Like all economic, social and political phenomena, the causes are usually multiple, however, among all of them there are always some that have more weight. In this case there are two: 1) the fall in oil exports; 2) the attack on the bolivar. Recovering national production necessarily involves reversing these two factors or, at least, their effects.
Read More »