Remarks of the Chargé d’affaires a. i. of the Embassy of Cuba in Jamaica, Ulises Calvo Borges, on the occasion of the 66th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada Garrison
Dear Trevor Brown, president of the Jamaica Cuba Friendship Association;
Hope Mc Nish, president of the Jamaica Peace Council;
Dr Lorenzo Gordon, in representation of the Association of Graduates in Cuba, and members present;
Damaris Hernández, president of the Association of Cuban Residents in Jamaica “Antonio Maceo”, members, of its Board, and compatriots from the Cuban Diaspora;
Collaborators and members of the Cuba Governmental Mission to Jamaica;
Representatives of the Diplomatic Corps;
Friends from the press;
Comrades, brothers and sisters of the solidarity movement, friends all.
This year, we gather once again, all of us Cubans by birth, blood or heart, to commemorate the anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes barracks. I’d like to thank our inestimable friend Dr Neville Graham for lending us his beautiful home to hold this event, and I give my thanks also to all the people who contributed with its organization.
The 26th of July has become an historical date in the annals of our country's long and heroic struggle for its freedom. It marked the beginning of the last stage in our fight for true national sovereignty, a century-long revolution that started in 1868 and achieved success only the 1st of January of 1959.
In 1898, after 30 years of struggle against Spanish colonialism, Cuban patriots were about to win, not without a great deal of sacrifice. Just to have an idea of the bravery of our “mambises”, in the final stages of our independence wars, the Spanish crown had more soldiers in Cuba than it had in all continental America in the early XIX century, a time when their colonies there fought for their freedom and ultimately emerged as independent republics.
So, in an opportunistic way, and performing an early experiment of mass media manipulation, the USA intervened in the war, claiming to do so to protect the Cuban people. The reality was different: they actually wanted the remains of the Spanish colonial system for themselves. The only thing that spared us the fate of Guam Islands, or Puerto Rico (colonies of Spain at the time), was the undisputable strength and prestige of the Cuban Liberation Army and their leaders.
After 3 years of USA military occupation, the Republic of Cuba was formally proclaimed. However, it was born in shackles, by virtue of an Amendment to our Constitution, imposed by the occupying power, that granted USA the right of intervene in our internal affairs (even with troops) every time they seemed it fit. Another provision of this Amendment allowed them to build naval bases in our country.
After decades of military interventions and heavy meddling in our internal affairs, the Amendment was ultimately removed; but the US Naval Base in Guantanamo stood (and stands, against the will of our people), and economical and political domination mechanisms were prioritized over brute force. Meanwhile, illiteracy, poor health care, extreme poverty and famine were common, especially in the countryside.
And then the year 1952 arrived. The Orthodox Party, prestigious and popular among the humble people for its commitment of fighting corruption, organized crime, and social injustice, might actually win the presidential elections. The imperialism and their lackeys couldn’t allow them to win. So, they organized a military coup d’état that put their “strong man” Fulgencio Batista in power. So much for bourgeois democracy.
Young revolutionary elements, some of them coming from the Orthodox Party ranks, committed to fight the antidemocratic seize of power. First, they used legal channels. They tried to use the rules to defeat someone who didn’t play by them, and soon they realized that the only way to give the power to the people was to forcefully take it from the oppressors.
The leader of this revolutionary movement was no other that young lawyer Fidel Castro. It was 1953 already, Batista stood strong in power. 100 years after the birth of José Martí, who was the apostle and the most beloved martyr of the Cuban independence, the republic was all but dead. So, this “centennial generation” came up with an idea.
They decided to attack by surprise the second most important garrison in the country, the Moncada barracks, and distribute the weapons obtained there among the ever patriotic and combative people of Santiago de Cuba. According to Fidel, the first revolutionary laws were to be promulgated as soon as Santiago de Cuba was in their power, the people would be rallied to fight against Batista, and all the workers in the country would be called on to stage a revolutionary general strike. The tactics of wars would be adjusted to the development of events. If the city could not be held, they would begin guerrilla warfare in the Sierra Maestra.
Marti taught us Cubans ardent patriotism, impassioned love for freedom, man's dignity and decorum, repudiation of despotism and unlimited faith in the people. His revolutionary preaching embodied the moral basis and the historic legitimacy of the armed action. That is why we said he was the intellectual author of the 26th July.
Fidel, his brother Raul, and the rest of the armed group of young patriots not reaching 200, saw their efforts thwarted as they were on the verge of seizing the garrison. Factors that were absolutely accidental destroyed the action. The repression after the event was cruel. The bloodthirsty officers of Batista savagely hunted down, tortured and killed many of the assailants that had managed to escape the failed attempt. Thanks to the honest attitude of some low-ranking officers of the army and the growing popular turmoil after the killing, the lives of Fidel and some of his comrades were spared.
In the following trial, Fidel turned the tables on their supposed accusers and delivered the later well-known speech “History will absolve me”. In this speech, he made an extensive analysis of Cuba internal situation and problems. Solving them became the initial goals to be achieved when the revolution was victorious.
Some could argue that the actions of the 26th of July were a failure. And, well, tactically they were. The young assailants, just as the ones from the Paris Commune in 1871, were willing to “storm heaven” if needed, and the assault became indeed, for many of them, their ultimate sacrifice. Some of them were very young, younger than me, and they selflessly abandoned the comfort of their families and homes and jobs, and gave even the most valuable thing they had: their lives, for the greater good. They died, so others could live free. We are not allowed to forget them! It would be betraying their legacy!
But their deaths were not in vain. The assault was a strategic success, because it woke up and rocked the Cuban people from their slumber, it united the Cubans against Batista and his imperialist handlers, and made ultimately possible the triumph of 1959.
So today we shall not mourn. We shall celebrate, celebrate the short but luminous lives of those who perished, and the victory they made possible.
Friends:
The struggle of Cuba is far from over. The imperialism, stubborn as ever, refuses to accept our right to be independent. In the last months, we have witnessed in the US Government a return to hard-line policies against our homeland. The sanctions intend to punish us for the “crime” of deciding our own fates. This time the pretext is our help to the sister countries of Venezuela and Nicaragua, although we know that there’s more to it. But even if that was the cause; we won’t cower nor stand back! For a revolutionary, internationalism is a duty and an honour! We will continue to support the just causes of the peoples of the world, and we will continue to stand by our friends, whatever the circumstances; because our strength draws from our unity.
That’s why imperialists can’t figure us out. They think it’s all about money. They can’t understand freedom and friendship as we do. Two things we are ready to risk everything for, just as a hundred brave young men and women did, a 26th July, sixty-six years ago.
Viva Jamaica!
Viva Cuba!