Havana. Cuba celebrated the central event of July 26, National Rebellion Day, with a mass rally in the central city of Sancti Spíritus (360 kilometers west of Havana), in which it launched messages of unity and criticism of the US.
The main speech was not given by the current president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, nor by his predecessor, Raúl Castro (2008-2018), both of whom were present at the event.
The last time something similar happened was in 2017, when the speech was given by José Ramón Machado-Ventura, then vice president and second secretary of the Communist Party (PCC, the only legal party).
This year, Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdés was in charge. In his speech to some 5,000 people, the leader attacked the economic embargo imposed by the United States on his country and said that “anyone, even” if they are not a supporter of the Cuban government, “understands that the intensified blockade, together with the rest of the aggressive measures implemented against Cuba, constitutes the fundamental cause of the current economic difficulties” on the island.
However, the vice president assured that the leadership of the PCC and the Government are not “sitting around waiting” for “the blockade to be lifted” and “the list of alleged sponsors of terrorism to be removed.” He also called on his supporters to work with “intelligence” in the face of difficulties.
Moncada assaults
July 26 is a key date in the revolutionary calendar in Cuba and its central event is central, along with January 1 and May 1, in the official liturgy.
The date commemorates the failed attacks on July 26, 1953 on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks – both in the east – by a group of revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl.
