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 political and cultural event marking the centennial of Fidel and the closing ceremony of the First International Colloquium “Fidel: Legacy and Future,” at the Carlos Marx Theater on August 13, 2026, “Year of the Centennial of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz”
(Stenographic Transcripts – Office of the President of the Republic)
Dear Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution;
Dear Dalia and the family of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz (Applause);
Comrades:
Fidel lives on, just as the men and women from the most diverse eras, geographies, and ethnicities who dedicated their lives to the struggle for a better world for all live on forever.
This is the centennial of a warrior, a rebel, a fighter, a champion of justice from Cuba, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. A champion of justice for all humanity! (Applause.)
More than 1,500 participants from 63 countries, including 500 Cubans, filled the various spaces of the Convention Center to capacity every day during the First International Colloquium marking Fidel’s 100th anniversary. For every delegate, there were thousands of interested individuals who were unable to travel from abroad and many more Cubans who could not obtain accreditation due to basic logistical problems.
It is up to the organizers to disseminate the papers presented, with their undeniable contributions and numerous revelations from those who worked directly with the Commander-in-Chief or have devoted years to studying the impact of his leadership on a wide range of issues.
It will also be important to understand what questions, concerns, and requests for information are raised by domestic and foreign participants, especially young people.
The Fidel Castro Ruz Center and the Ideological Department of the Party’s Central Committee, which were primarily responsible for organizing the Colloquium despite the extreme constraints facing the country, deserve our full recognition and congratulations (Applause), as do the rest of the organizations and agencies involved.
We thank all participants and guests for their personal and collective contributions to the valuable legacy that is jealously guarded by the institution that honors the life and work of our historic leader.
Amid the harshness of the brutal and immoral imperial blockade that seeks the extermination of our people, this celebration in honor of Fidel here in Havana will be remembered as yet another challenge overcome through sheer willpower; an impossibility transformed into a beautiful and tangible reality by the effort and solidarity of you, sisters and brothers, who have come here ready to do anything—covering your own expenses from distant countries, carrying suitcases full of donations, and without demanding material conditions of any kind. To you, all our gratitude! (Applause and shouts of: “Cuba is not alone!”)
It would be impossible to commemorate this event, which has such profound universal resonance, alone. Fidel does not belong only to Cuba. Fidel belongs to all the revolutionaries of the world who admire his work and share his ideas. Fidel belongs to all of humanity! (Applause.)
Being a Fidelist is not about professing blind faith. It is an honorable attitude toward life. Being a Fidelist means defining ourselves as steadfast fighters against imperialism and all the injustices of the world.
And celebrating the immortality of the Commander-in-Chief means, first and foremost, once again defeating those who attempted to assassinate him more than six hundred times and only succeeded in elevating his stature.
The Soldier of Ideas is back in a way that must terrify his adversaries: hundreds, thousands, millions of people of the most diverse ages and creeds, across nearly the entire world, are expanding his legacy—not only to alleviate the natural nostalgia for his absence—which we also feel and which is part of the strong emotions we share—but above all, to embark on new paths in the battle for the future, without giving up, without selling out, without betraying, without submitting to the voracity of the decadent empire that acts with no regard for any law other than the law of plunder and greed.
Fidel Lives! Long Live Fidel! (Shouts of “Long Live!”) (Applause.)
Today we celebrate a life dedicated to fighting for all just causes, with passion and commitment, ever since he was practically a teenager. We delve deeply into the ideology of a tireless explorer of history and the human condition, who drew upon the best and most useful aspects of universal thought with exceptional acuity and distinguished himself through an ethic that—like an unbeatable moral shield against which the worst attacks of his enemies crashed—enshrined him in history as the paradigm of the authentic revolutionary, on the highest rung of the human species.
I know you will agree with me: We have many more anniversaries ahead of us to celebrate his ideas! (Applause.)
Based on what doctors and teachers shared, what scientists and religious leaders argued, what artists and intellectuals extolled, what athletes and combatants expressed, what diplomats and parliamentarians revealed, and what young people affirmed, let me tell you that we felt Fidel’s presence very much alive in every corner of this Colloquium. We saw him multiplied in each one of you.
Fidel was reborn in a special way at the Youth Forum. As I told them, after listening to their remarks, most of them displayed impressive maturity—undoubtedly due in part to the very complexity of the alienating capitalist societies in which they have had to live, but, above all, because of their well-reasoned responses regarding the causes of these problems and the way they embrace and express their activism, proudly defending it despite the risks and threats they face for attending the celebration of Fidel’s centennial in Cuba at a time like the present, when the McCarthyist practices of the Cold War are returning.
I told them in all honesty that without them, holding the Colloquium would not have made much sense. Who better than young people to understand Fidel’s humanist and revolutionary legacy?
He made it clear: even greater struggles and even greater acts of heroism will be required of the new generations. The future is full of tasks; the future is full of struggles that require awareness, that require fortitude, and that require a revolutionary spirit (Applause).
As I spoke to you, I thought of Fidel, who was always close to young people, to whom he constantly entrusted the most important tasks. From his own experience, he knew that youth is the most passionately revolutionary stage of life.
I was thinking about Fidel as a law student, who also enrolled in social sciences as part of his political interests and who always acknowledged that he became a revolutionary at the university.
I was thinking about the very young Fidel who joined the Cayo Confites expedition to be just another soldier fighting against the Trujillo dictatorship, which was plunging the neighboring Dominican Republic into bloodshed; about the student leader who met the Colombian leader, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, and witnessed the turmoil of the Bogotazo; the “Orthodoxy” militant who elevated journalism to a form of public denunciation, and ultimately chose the path of armed struggle when Batista’s coup d’état closed off all constitutional avenues.
That is why I did not hesitate to recognize them and name them as Fidel’s Centennial Generation (Applause).
And they are not alone. Today we also honor our friends in solidarity who have dedicated their entire lives to the cause of defending Cuba. Younger people can look to them for guidance and admire their dedication to this struggle. The international movement for Cuba and just causes is made up of the names and surnames of tireless men and women on every continent.
It is urgent that we coordinate and unite all our forces and arm ourselves with progressive, emancipatory, and socialist ideas, without fear of words—which is precisely what the enemies of the people seek to do to paralyze us at a time when mobilization is the key to salvation.
The resurgence of fascism around the world is imposing an ideological war on the Global South that, in its cultural and media dimensions, insists on cementing capitalism as the hegemonic destiny—subordinate to imperialist logic—and seeks to erase historical memory, culturally recolonize us, and destroy our identities.
At the same time, and in pursuit of the same objectives, the media war rages on with its disinformation and propaganda campaigns directed against the most fundamental human values—as if they were obsolete—in order to justify wars and acts of aggression that are as incompatible with international law as the genocide in Gaza, the aggression against Iran, or the energy blockade against Cuba (Applause).
Comrades:
Exactly ten years and one day ago, on August 12, 2016, Fidel published one of his well-known “Reflections,” on the eve of what would be his last birthday spent physically among us.
In that text, which takes on renewed relevance today—and I urge you: those who are curious should try to read it—the powerful and sensitive memory of a man on the verge of turning 90 shines through as he recalls his childhood; his father, a Spanish immigrant, and Birán, the family farm where he learned to love nature and to draw nourishment from the first glimmers of the “moral world” of Cuban ethics, immersing himself in his country’s history, which even then was already steeped in authentic heroic epics.
We also find the Fidel of boundless curiosity, deeply attentive to scientific advances and constantly concerned about the fate of the human race; but also, always a sleepless sentinel, a fair and stern critic of the powerful neighbor, whom he never ceased to publicly challenge—even when going against the tide—exposing lackeys and sellouts.
When the U.S. fascist regime intensifies its genocide against our people, obstructing their well-being and quality of life by every means possible, Fidel remains the key to knowing that there is indeed a way out, no matter how difficult the circumstances may be and no matter how tight the noose may be drawn.
From Fidel, we learned that we must always uphold three non-negotiable principles: the country’s independence, the Revolution, and the values and achievements that socialism represents (Applause).
Under this premise, we are embarking on a challenging process of economic and social transformation, prioritizing the well-being of the people and the social justice that he so strongly defended.
Comrades:
As I said at the opening of the Colloquium: the presence of so many people—in a Cuba that is besieged, blockaded, harassed, and accused by the empire in an attempt to prevent its example from inspiring rebels everywhere—is the finest monument we can erect in memory of Fidel Castro Ruz on the occasion of his first centenary (Applause).
Solidarity activists around the world: you are the complementary force behind the heroic resistance of the Cuban people, forged by what Army General Raúl Castro Ruz defined as Fidel’s enduring lesson: “…that man is capable of overcoming the harshest conditions if his will to prevail does not falter, if he makes a correct assessment of each situation, and if he does not renounce his just and noble principles” (Applause).
Thank you for being here and joining us in this unforgettable celebration!
Fidel lives on in every Cuban medical professional who saves a life, most of the time without even having access to essential medications; in the educators who do not abandon their classrooms, whether in the city or in the mountains; in the millions of workers who, despite the painful limitations on essential resources imposed on us by the blockade, show up for work every day; in every soldier who is willing to give his life for the homeland and socialism (Applause).
When future historians look back in time, searching for Fidel Castro Ruz, the Commander-in-Chief, they will no longer see just a man. They will see his people and the millions who, inspired by his exemplary life, earned a place in history by standing up, without surrendering, to the most powerful and criminal empire—and triumphing! (Applause.)
Long live Fidel! (Shouts of: “Long live!”)
Long live a free, sovereign, and independent Cuba! (Shouts of: “Long live!”)
Long live socialism! (Shouts of: “Long live!”)
Long live Fidel! (Shouts of “Long live!”)
Fatherland or Death!