73 years ago, today on July 26 1953, a band of 160 young Cuban revolutionaries, launched what would become one of history’s most consequential acts of defiance. Their assault on Moncada Garrison in Santiago de Cuba and the Carlos Cespedes Barracks in Bayamo, marked not merely a military operation, but the birth of a battle cry of a revolution, that would reshape the Caribbean and inspire liberation movements worldwide.
Led by a young lawyer, Fidel Castro, these revolutionaries struck against the corrupt blood-soaked dictatorship of Fulgencio Btista, a regime that reduced Cuba to little more than an American playground, while its people suffered in grinding poverty. Though the attack failed militarily, the barbaric response of Batista forces, who tortured and murdered dozens of captured revolutionaries, fueled the very rebellion they sought to crush.
The survivors including Fidel Castro, faced a ‘kangaroo court’ for treason. Yet from the dock, Fidel delivered his legendary self-defense, “History Will Absolve Me”, laying out a revolutionary blue-print for a Cuba, where health care, education and human dignity would be rights not privileges. After serving less than 2 years of a 15- year sentence, Castro and his comrades were freed in a general amnesty, only to regroup in Mexico and return abroad the yacht Granma, to complete what Moncada had begun.
On January 1, 1959, that vision became a reality. The Cuban revolution didn’t just topple a dictator, it fundamentally transformed the society. Land reform broke the stranglehold of foreign corporations and Cuban oligarchs; universal healthcare and education replaced the luxury of the few with the birthright of all. A nation once condemned to serve as ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’ for foreign masters, became a beacon of what small nations could achieve, when they controlled their own destiny.
Today, Cuba boasts health outcomes that rivals the world’s wealthiest nations, an education system that has eliminated illiteracy and a commitment to international solidarity, that has seen Cuban doctors healing the sick from Haiti to Sierra Leone, from Venezuela to Italy, with Covid-19 pandemic being one of the most recent examples.
Yet for over 6 and a half decades, Cuba has faced the relentless hostility of the world’s most powerful empire, located a mere 90 miles from its shores. The United States of America, has unleashed every weapon in its arsenal short of a nuclear war; a criminal economic and financial blockade that has cost Cuba inestimable billions of dollars to the economy and society, the Bay of Pigs mercenary invasion, more than 600 documented attempts on the life of Fidel, biological warfare that destroyed crops and livestock, mid-air ‘bombing’ of Cubana airlines which resulted in 73 lives being lost, the cynical placement of Cuba on a fabricated ‘state sponsors of terrorism’ list, designed to strangle its international relationships and the recent imposition of a cruel and heartless fuel blockade, are a snap-shot of the genocidal conduct of empire’s undeclared war, against our sister country.
Additionally, and most recently, the empire has targeted Cuba’s crown jewel of international solidarity- its medical missions, that have saved millions of lives and restored sight to countless thousands, including right here in Jamaica. This diabolic campaign seeks to punish Cuba for the “crime” of proving that another world is possible.
As we commemorate this 73rd anniversary of Rebellion Day, Cuba’s example burns brighter than ever. In a world increasingly torn by inequality, environmental destruction and the resurgence of fascism, Cuba demonstrates that small nations can chart independent path of development, that healthcare and education can be human rights rather than commodities and that true security comes not from military might but from social solidarity.
For Jamaica and the wider Caribbean and Latin American region, Cuba’s resistance offers crucial lessons. We face our own struggles against neo colonial domination, our own battles for genuine sovereignty, our own need to prioritize people over profit. Cuba’s path, marked by mistakes and limitations, yes and they are first ones to tell you so, but also by unprecedented achievements in human development, shows what becomes possible when a people refuse to accept, that there is no alternative to the empire’s dictates.
The Jamaica Solidarity Movement with Cuba, stands with our brothers and sisters, not out of blind allegiance, but from recognition that their struggle is our struggle. Their resistance to imperial domination, strengthens our own capacity for independence. Their achievements in healthcare, education and international solidarity provide roadmaps for our own development.
As we honor the memory of those who fell at Moncada, we pledge our continued solidarity with the Cuba of Marti of, Mariana Grajales, of Fidel, Raul, Diaz-Canel and the millions of our Cuban brothers and sisters, who choose dignity over submission.
Let’s also not forget the words of Fidel, when he spoke in Camaguey in 1989 at the 26 of July Celebration, “This is a Cuba that does not surrender or sell its self, that is why today the empire appears more wicked, more threatening than ever before’.
Long live the homeland of Marti
Long live proletarian internationalism
Long live the solidarity between the Cuban and Jamaican People
We will Overcome
Jamaica-Cuba Friendship Association
26th July 2026