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 ceremony commemorating the 65th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Socialist Character of the Cuban Revolution, at 23rd and 12th Streets, Plaza de la Revolución, on April 16, 2026, “Year of the Centenary of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.”
(Stenographic Transcripts – Presidency of the Republic)
Long live free Cuba! (Exclamations of: “Long live!”)
Down with the blockade! (Exclamations of: “Down with!”)
Heroic combatants of Girón present here;
Esteemed friends of solidarity with Cuba, participants in the 5th International Colloquium on the Homeland;
Dear and heroic Cuban people;
Fellow citizens (Applause):
Sixty-five years ago, women and men who were as young as, or even younger than, all of us filling these streets today — possibly many grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers, or fathers of some of us — gathered here to write a truly epic chapter in the history of the modern world.
That day changed history, and not only for Cuba. With an invasion looming on our shores, still uncertain of where they would land, but aware that behind the invaders was the full backing of the powerful United States government, the voice of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, almost broken by hours of sleepless nights and tension, rose above the crowd overflowing this historic corner to declare that we were what we continue to be: a socialist revolution right under the nose of the empire! (Applause.)
That declaration is pivotal in Cuban history, marking the definitive course of the revolutionary process that began with the triumph of 1959 and which, by 1961, had become profoundly radicalized in favor of the perpetually dispossessed.
The mercenaries were preparing to attack the nation that had given them birth, convinced that nothing could prevail against the protection guaranteed by the empire. But history would be merciless with them.
They expected fear and found courage. They gambled on betrayal and were confronted by a united people. They believed their lies and were met with truth, rifles ready and singing the notes of the Bayamo Anthem.
The Cuban people marched from here to the fight, and from the fight to victory! A small nation, fresh from war, would inflict, less than 72 hours later, the first great defeat on imperialism in the Americas. (Applause.)
From that April of militia action onward, all the peoples of the region would be a little freer.
Cuba changed forever. The people who fought on the sands of Girón for socialism had already begun their cultural transformation with a Literacy Campaign that elevated the dreams of the humble to university classrooms.
Human development would reach heights that only a just society can guarantee. This Revolution of the humble, with the humble, and for the humble would go so far that a shoeshine boy in capitalism would become Latin America’s first cosmonaut; that young people from Africa and throughout the Third World would become professionals in Cuban schools; that we would share our blood and our fate with the forgotten and the vilified of all time (Applause).
And we defeated apartheid, illiteracy, and curable diseases in other parts of the world, to which we would bring doctors, not bombs; teachers, not bombs. That is socialism: a society where man is brother, not wolf to man! (Applause.)
When, in the fateful 1990s, socialist practice self-destructed in Europe through the vile conspiracies of its imperialist adversaries, Cuba resisted and transformed itself, rising up on its own strength and with the support of international solidarity.
Chávez had not yet triumphed in Venezuela, and the decade of integration, which the Bolivarian Revolution had awakened, was about to begin.
Fidel, once again Fidel, as he had done at the Bay of Pigs, leading the battles and advancing on a tank at the forefront, spearheaded that superhuman struggle to preserve Cuban socialism in an era of feverish neoliberal advance and unipolarity.
While others privatized even cemeteries and parks, blindly believing in the myth of the market as the omnipotent ruler of a wealth that never materialized, this country erected a monumental work, with the science and the human labor and scientific potential forged in the Revolution, and with the heroism and creative resistance of the Cuban people (Applause).
And our people’s army went out to sow and build, to demonstrate, as Raúl said, that yes, it can be done! That it can always be done! And we did it! That is socialism! (Applause.)
Many times throughout those years, while the country strove to correct, perfect, and adapt its battered economy, besieged by the blockade, countless silent invasions occurred: laws to codify the blockade, terrorist attacks, smear campaigns, and constant sabotage of all integration, solidarity, and cooperation projects.
Each silent bomb that fell on development projects has left a wound in Cuban society. One particularly painful wound has been the migration of promising young people, educated free of charge in our schools and universities, whose capacity and talent are stolen by capitalism, which failed to invest in them, while they accuse the society that shaped them of not guaranteeing them what the predatory market offers.
Truth be told: That human potential that impresses and gains ground and relevance in any country it reaches was created by socialism! (Applause.)
Only socialism transformed the children of workers and peasants into top-tier professionals, not exceptionally as in capitalism, but massively. (Applause.)
To conceal the genocidal and multidimensional nature of the six-decade-long blockade that suffocates the entire Cuban people — a blockade that can only be called an embargo on paper by those who impose it — a deceitful and cynical narrative has been constructed: Cuba as a failed state.
The impacts of decades of blockade and financial persecution are very visible in our homes, industries, and in the lack of goods, even essential ones, in the scarcity of almost everything, even the most basic and indispensable things for life.
Also visible are our own mistakes in this process of social construction with its peculiar and very Cuban characteristics, in which we strive, against the current, overcoming countless obstacles; but as long as the blockade remains like a noose around the neck of the economy, no one can deny — and I repeat, no one can deny—its absolute culpability in the suffering of Cuban families! The main cause of our problems is the genocidal blockade imposed by the United States government against our people! (Applause and shouts of: “Down with the blockade!”)
The liars also count on the anesthesia induced in the minds of a world contaminated by prejudice and poisoned with anti-communism since the October Revolution brought the creators of wealth to power.
Brutal aggressions and blockades have been erected against all socialist experiments, and yet it will be impossible to deny all that they contributed to the balance and well-being of humanity. Nor can the colossal contribution of the USSR to the defeat of fascism and the conquest of space be erased from history; nor can the dazzling development of a gigantic nation, which emerged from famine and widespread poverty, like the People’s Republic of China, and of a small but brave country, which endured three wars and today wins the admiration of the whole world for its dynamic growth, the heroic and brotherly Vietnam, be ignored. (Applause)
Socialism is the only guarantee of social justice, the only path to the true emancipation of all people, and in our case, it has been and continues to be the real possibility of providing a collective response to the collective punishment that has been imposed upon us all these years.
No, gentlemen of manipulation and lies, Cuba is not a failed state; Cuba is a besieged state, Cuba is a state facing multidimensional aggression: economic warfare, an intensified blockade, and an energy blockade. Cuba is a threatened state that will not surrender! (Applause.)
And despite everything, and thanks to socialism, Cuba is a state that resists, creates, and, make no mistake, a state that will prevail! (Applause.)
Comrades:
Today, April 16, we commemorate fundamental milestones in our recent history: the heroic and massive popular response to the prelude of the mercenary invasion, with the criminal bombings of the 15th, and the declaration of the socialist character of the Revolution, made by Fidel at the burial of the first victims of the ongoing aggression. And on that same day, although many did not know it then, our Communist Party was born, as has been explained here.
As Fidel said: “In Girón, the socialist character of our Revolution was proclaimed; in Girón, our Party was practically forged.” That is why we consider April 16 as the founding date of the Party, the Party of unity, the Party of the Cuban nation, the Party of organization and leadership of everyone’s efforts for the good of all (From the audience: Long live the Communist Party of Cuba!) (Exclamations of: “Long live!”)
But history would be worth little if we did not pay attention to its lessons, if we did not take note of its regularities and transform them into definitive learnings.
The attacks on the airports of Ciudad Libertad, Santiago de Cuba, and San Antonio de los Baños in the prelude to the invasion, carried out with surgical precision using aircraft bearing false Cuban markings; the sustained use of disinformation and deception through media outlets designed to confuse the population, along with the economic war, diplomatic pressure to isolate the Revolution, and constant threats, demonstrate treacherous practices and methods, never abandoned by those who attack and who continue to repeat them around the world today. They have repeated this aggressive and interventionist formula so often, and so many nations and processes have been threatened and attacked over these years, that despite the technological, military, and media extravaganza they unleash left and right, a wave of solidarity with Cuba continues to rise as evidence of the isolation imposed by imperialist policies that seek to suffocate us.
From this historic platform, where Fidel’s words still echo, calling on the people to find their place for the coming struggle, and where today we pay well-deserved tribute and homage to the heroes and martyrs of that day when the Homeland resolutely donned the militia uniform, we call for a national and international solidarity movement to carry to every corner of the planet the truth of Cuba, the suffering of the people due to the blockade and multidimensional economic warfare, aggravated by the energy blockade, which we consider genocide due to the extreme levels of deprivation to which all Cubans are subjected.
Daily life in Cuba is painful, from the vital rest interrupted first by blackouts and then by the return of electricity after long hours, which has shifted domestic work to the early hours of the morning; to the paralysis of industries, transportation, vital services, and production because there is an absolute lack of fuel for almost everything. The list is very long, and all of this stemmed from a single executive order that declared us an “unusual and extraordinary threat,” exactly what we are not.
Fellow Cubans:
The moment is extremely challenging and calls upon us once again, as on that April 16, 1961, to be ready to face serious threats, including military aggression. We do not want it, but it is our duty to prepare to avoid it and, if it is inevitable, to win! We have the faith in victory that Fidel instilled in us.
We believe in dialogue and in the extraordinary power of peace to sustain life on the planet. The history of the dispute between Cuba and the United States has shown that it is possible to achieve it. We must consider all the human lives that would be lost in our two nations if they were drawn into a senseless, illogical conflict, for which there are neither pretexts nor justifications when there is so much we can do together.
To Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, whose centenary we celebrate this 2026, we pay the highest tribute on this 65th Anniversary of the great epic (Applause). (From the audience shouts: Long live Fidel!) (Exclamations of: “Long live!”)
Fidel not only led the Battle of Playa Girón. Fidel was and is Girón!! (Applause.)
Fidel is that conviction that a united people can defeat an empire! (Applause.)
Resisting the onslaught of daily invasions is the epic we write today, the best legacy to the fallen, to those who offered their lives in that April of 1961 for independence and for socialism. As long as there is a woman and a man willing to give their life for the Revolution, we will be victorious! (Applause.)
The socialist character of our Revolution is not a phrase of the past, it is the shield of the present and the guarantee of the future! (Applause.)
Girón is today and forever!
Cuba does not surrender!
No one here surrenders!
Here we will fight!
Here, as the song says: We will give fire!
Long live the rebellious dignity of our people! (Exclamations of: “Long live!”)
Long live Socialism! (Exclamations of: “Long live!”)
Patria o Muerte! Homeland or Death!
Venceremos! We will win!
