Lebanese national radio station “La Voz del Pueblo” highlights the 73rd anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks on July 26, 1953.
Ambassador Jorge P. León Cruz and the president of the Lebanese-Cuban Friendship Association (AALC), Maurice Nohra, appeared on July 29, 2026, for over an hour on the Lebanese national radio program “The Voice of the People,” during which they highlighted the celebrations commemorating the 73rd anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks on July 26, 1953.
The Cuban diplomat thanked the management of “The Voice of the People” for the opportunity to address the Lebanese and regional audience on such a memorable occasion and delivered the following speech:
The commemoration of the 73rd anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, on July 26, 1953—Cuba’s National Day of Rebellion—gives me the welcome opportunity to express, on behalf of the Cuban Government and people, our sincere gratitude to all our brothers and sisters and friends in solidarity in Lebanon and around the world for the celebrations in solidarity with Cuba, which are also held in defense of international peace and security.
The events of July 26, 1953, marked the beginning of the end of the dictatorship established in Cuba, which enjoyed the full support of the United States.
The Moncada attack marked the relaunch of the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel and Raúl, who took up arms in defense of José Martí’s ideals and for the independence and sovereignty of Cuba.
This anniversary on July 26, 2026, is very special because it coincides with the centennial of the birth of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz. And on this historic occasion, we take this opportunity to recall when, on September 26, 1960, at the UN General Assembly, Fidel stated: “Let the philosophy of plunder disappear, and the philosophy of war will have disappeared!”
Fidel’s statement remains as relevant as ever when we see the U.S. government implementing its policy of attempting to plunder and appropriate the resources of independent countries, imposing the law of the jungle, supporting genocide against Palestine and Lebanon, carrying out imperialist aggressions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and unleashing war in the Middle East.
Through its aggressive policy against Cuba, the U.S. government undermines international peace and security, violates international law, and flouts international humanitarian law with impunity.
The filing of criminal charges against the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, is a morally reprehensible act.
It is an arbitrary and illegal act by U.S. courts, which distort the location of the downing of the aircraft, which occurred in the airspace and territorial waters of Cuba. It misrepresents and justifies the frequent terrorist and illegal flights operated by the Miami-based terrorist organization Brothers to the Rescue, which violated U.S. laws themselves, with the impunity and complicity of U.S. authorities, and seeks to disregard the right of states to self-defense.
It is obvious that this decision against the Leader of the Cuban Revolution is fraudulent and is intended to deceive U.S. and foreign citizens, 30 years after the events took place, with the vile purpose of getting them to support a military adventure against Cuba to achieve what they euphemistically call “regime change.”
The U.S. government is attempting to conceal the numerous formal complaints filed by Cuba during that period with the State Department, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), regarding more than 25 serious and deliberate violations of Cuban airspace carried out by the aforementioned organization between 1994 and 1996, in open violation of international law and U.S. law itself.
The U.S. government is also attempting to ignore the public and official warnings issued by Cuban authorities regarding the inadmissibility of such violations of its airspace, as well as the alerts conveyed directly to the U.S. president regarding the seriousness and possible consequences of such violations.
Cuba’s response to the violation of its airspace constituted an act of self-defense, protected by the United Nations Charter, the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, and the principles of air sovereignty and proportionality.
The United States, which has been a victim of the use of civil aviation for terrorist purposes, does not and would not permit hostile and provocative violations by foreign aircraft over its territory and would act, as it has demonstrated, by using force.
It is obvious that this decision against the Leader of the Cuban Revolution is fraudulent and is intended to deceive U.S. and foreign citizens, 30 years after the events, with the vile purpose of getting them to support a military adventure against Cuba to achieve what they euphemistically call “regime change.”
Even in recent months, the United States has killed more than 200 people, including civilian fishermen, in 45 attacks on vessels suspected of drug trafficking—both in the Caribbean and the Pacific—without presenting any proof or evidence that they were transporting drugs or weapons.
The oil and energy blockade that the United States imposes on Cuba is a naval blockade; it is an act of war and genocide; it is a cruel and discriminatory policy against the Cuban people that causes deaths, as reflected in the doubling of the infant mortality rate—from 4.0 to 9.2 per 1,000 live births—and the reduction in life expectancy for children with cancer, from 85% to 65%.
Cuba has reiterated that a U.S. military attack against Cuba would result in a bloodbath. Thousands of Cubans would die defending their homeland, and young Americans would also die—with no cause or ideal to defend, but dragged into violence by an imperialist, neo-fascist policy of domination, plunder, and conquest.
Those in the U.S. who order a military attack against Cuba will go down in history as war criminals, direct perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
The U.S. government never tires of fabricating lies and pretexts against Cuba, the most recent example being the report published on July 20, 2026, by the U.S. Department of State, regarding Cuba’s alleged subversive influence against that country.
Cuba strongly condemns this mediocre propaganda pamphlet, which seeks to reinforce the false message that Cuba poses a threat to the United States—a pretext that the U.S. government uses to justify collective punishment and genocide against the Cuban people by fabricating accusatory narratives to build consensus that would allow for eventual military aggression against Cuba.
It is utterly shameless and hypocritical for the State Department to accuse Cuba of promoting subversive actions, when it is well known that it is the U.S. government that allocates tens of millions of dollars from its federal budget each year to subvert the internal order in Cuba, provoke hunger and despair, and bring about the overthrow of the Cuban government.
It is also utterly hypocritical to persist in the lie of labeling Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, without being able to present any evidence—not even the slightest indication—to support such an illegitimate accusation, since no such evidence exists, as confirmed by the U.S. government’s own specialized agencies.
On the contrary, it is common knowledge that those who finance, organize, and instigate violent and terrorist acts against Cuba have found protection and total impunity on U.S. soil.
The U.S. Secretary of State is fabricating a new enemy: so-called “leftist terrorism,” a novel concept that the U.S. government is using to attack any progressive movement, social commitment, or leftist expression both within and outside U.S. territory, to intensify repression, and to establish a new form of neo-McCarthyism.
With this new policy, they are attempting to repress and attack the American people themselves and to intimidate those who express solidarity, including those who denounce their government’s unjust aggression against Cuba. It is clearly afraid of the growing number of voices and solidarity movements in the United States—including among Cubans living there and their descendants—opposed to the energy blockade, the strangulation of the Cuban economy, and the threat of military aggression against Cuba.
The State Department questions Cuba’s ties with other sovereign nations, in flagrant violation of and disregard for international law. It manipulates and distorts Cuba’s widely recognized history of solidarity, anti-colonialism, and internationalism, even within the United States.
Every year, the overwhelming majority of the international community at the United Nations General Assembly demands an end to the economic, financial, and commercial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba for nearly 70 years.
The report highlights a nuclear superpower’s fear of the Cuban Revolution’s example of social justice and defense of sovereignty, as well as its national program that prioritizes the people over the elites.
For more than six decades, the U.S. government has invented thousands of pretexts to reinforce the criminal blockade. The U.S. government lies constantly and does not care if the peoples of the world see through its crude lies.
No one in the world can believe the absurd argument that portrays the small island of Cuba as a supposed threat to the national security of the U.S. nuclear superpower.
Cuba is not and cannot be a threat, nor is it or does it wish to be an enemy of the United States, despite significant differences with its government. There are no foreign bases in Cuba, nor are there foreign forces operating against the U.S. from our territory. The only military base in Cuba is the one at Guantánamo, which is illegally located on Cuban territory.
Cuba has deep and fraternal ties with the American people, who are welcomed with warmth and hospitality, even though their government restricts their freedoms and rights to travel freely to Cuba, where American businesspeople and companies, without any discrimination, can participate in competitive projects contributing to Cuba’s economic development.
A corrupt and immoral plutocracy within the U.S. government wields the myth of the Cuban government’s incompetence and alleged corruption, as well as the supposed danger of a “humanitarian crisis,” as justification for organizing a military intervention against Cuba.
Despite the United States’ lack of seriousness and goodwill, we remain willing to engage in dialogue—based on mutual respect as sovereign and independent nations—to resolve bilateral issues and work together to combat terrorism, drug trafficking, transnational organized crime, promote regular and safe migration, combat human trafficking, and address mutual economic compensation and other matters.
As always, Cuba will continue to foster friendly relations with the American people and institutions, in strict accordance with international law, the United Nations Charter, and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Cuba is facing unprecedented unilateral aggression from the United States, which uses intimidation and “secondary” sanctions—applicable to third parties—to threaten and coerce other countries with sanctions if they do not submit to its imperial designs.
Cuba calls on the international community to mobilize and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe that could result from either military aggression or the energy blockade and the extreme tightening of the embargo.
Cuba calls on all its friends around the world to support efforts to maintain Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace and prevent destabilization in the region.
The Global South is called upon to engage in broad international coordination, transcending political differences, ideological approaches, and historical disputes, to put a stop to and prevent acts of aggression that threaten and harm the national interests and sovereignty of states.
If we were to be attacked, if a war we do not want were imposed upon us, the Cuban people would face it with determination and resolve, committed to defending Cuba’s sovereignty and independence.
The Cuban Revolution has faced many heroic feats, from the beginning of the armed struggle for Cuba’s liberation with the Moncada Barracks assault 73 years ago, on July 26, 1953, to the victory of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959.
Many Cubans gave their lives in the struggle to seize revolutionary power, and many have also dedicated their lives to the development and defense of the Revolution, fighting against the most powerful empire in the world: Yankee imperialism.
We know that Cuba is not alone in this battle, and we are receiving countless expressions of solidarity and support from governments, parliaments, political forces, prominent figures, nongovernmental organizations from a wide range of social sectors, Cubans living abroad, solidarity groups, individuals, and international organizations—to all of whom we reiterate the Cuban people’s deepest gratitude.
We therefore take this opportunity to express our deep gratitude to all our friends around the world who stand in solidarity with Cuba and to redouble our call to everyone to demand an end to the cruel blockade and energy blockade imposed by the United States against the Cuban people and to condemn the threats of imperialist aggression against Cuba.
Thank you to everyone who is taking action against those who threaten the peace of our children, young people, women, men, and the elderly.
We will resist, we will persevere, and we will prevail.
Thank you very much.
Afterward, the president of AALC and the Cuban ambassador answered questions posed by the host and moderator, Zeina Al-Sayegh, offering a detailed and comprehensive explanation about Cuba. They highlighted the legacy of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz and the enduring relevance of his ideas, as well as Che’s example to the world, making clear his commitment to the struggle for social justice, emancipation, and the defense of sovereignty and independence when he said: “Always be capable of feeling, in the depths of your being, any injustice committed against anyone anywhere in the world.” That is the most beautiful quality of a revolutionary.