标签： Cuba

As Cuban Army General Raúl Castro approaches his 95th birthday, a new edited collection of his public remarks brings his decades of revolutionary commitment, unwavering loyalty to Fidel Castro, and steadfast resistance to the U.S. trade blockade into sharp focus. Titled *Revolución, la obra más hermosa* (Revolution, the Most Beautiful Work) and published by Ediciones Celia, the two-volume anthology compiles 138 of Raúl’s speeches, interviews, and official statements spanning the last 10 years of Cuba’s revolutionary journey. Any reader hoping to understand the core of Raúl Castro’s lifelong ideology must start with four non-negotiable pillars of his public life: unshakable faith in the Cuban Revolution, unwavering loyalty to Fidel Castro, relentless opposition to the long-standing U.S. blockade, and a consistent commitment to self-critical reflection, all of which permeate every page of the new collection.

To know Raúl Castro through his own words is to encounter a leader both sensitive to the human cost of revolution and unyieldingly tenacious in pursuit of the movement’s goals. He consistently urges Cubans to deepen their understanding of the nation’s history, embrace constant renewal, reject political complacency, hold firm to their stated values, and maintain clear focus on long-term objectives rather than being swayed by fleeting overenthusiasm. As he often emphasizes, honesty and intentional reflection must guide all revolutionary action.

Belkis Duménigo García, editorial director of the Office of Historical Affairs, notes that the collection offers readers a chance to revisit the most pivotal moments of the Cuban Revolution over the past decade, covering topics ranging from domestic policy to global affairs. The texts highlight Raúl’s longstanding advocacy for regional integration across Latin America and the Caribbean, his commitment to the core foreign policy principles of sovereignty, national dignity, and non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations, and his work shaping Cuba’s contemporary political and economic governing model. He also uses the collected remarks to reinforce his unwavering campaign against national indiscipline and illegal activity, while openly offering self-critical assessments of the Cuban Revolution’s ongoing challenges.

The book also includes Raúl’s sharp critiques of U.S. foreign policy and its decades-long interventionist approach toward Cuba, while making clear that the Cuban government supports the reestablishment of mutually respectful bilateral relations. He repeatedly underscores the devastating human and economic harm caused by the U.S. trade blockade, a policy he has consistently opposed throughout his career. In a memorable September 27, 2006 address included in the collection, he reminded audiences that Cuba cannot afford to overlook the threat posed by a powerful adversary dedicated to eliminating the Cuban Revolution entirely. He pointed to the long history of U.S. intervention on the island, dating back to the 1898 thwarting of Cuban independence that imposed American overseers on the nation, noting little has changed in the power dynamic that continues to shape U.S.-Cuba relations today.

What sets this collection apart, however, is its ability to reveal the human side of Raúl Castro beyond his public roles as a military leader and former head of state. Readers will encounter a man moved to emotion when speaking of Fidel Castro, who honors every fallen revolutionary by name, calls former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez “My Brother,” and holds the young revolutionaries who participated in the 1953 Moncada Barracks attack as the forever youth of the Cuban movement. It is this intimate, unfiltered voice that makes *Revolución, la obra más hermosa* a unique addition to the historical record of modern Cuba.

On a Wednesday morning in late May 2026, Cuba’s top leader — Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic — traveled to the University of Computer Sciences (UCI), an institution that has embodied founding revolutionary leader Fidel Castro Ruz’s vision of linking academic innovation to the long-term success of the Cuban Revolution for nearly 25 years.

Accompanied by senior government officials including Deputy Prime Minister Eduardo Martínez Díaz, Education Minister Naima Ariatne Trujillo Barreto, Higher Education Minister Walter Baluja García, and UCI Rector Raydel Montesino Perurena, Díaz-Canel held wide-ranging dialogues with students and faculty, toured campus laboratories and the university’s pioneering K-9 program for children of staff, and observed the institution’s growing software export operations.

Rector Montesino walked the delegation through UCI’s decades-long evolution, from its launch in 2002 with just a single degree program to its current portfolio of four undergraduate credentials: three bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science Engineering, Bioinformatics Engineering, and Cybersecurity Engineering, plus one associate degree in high-demand Network Administration. To date, more than 18,000 students have graduated from the institution, which now counts six faculties, seven development centers, and 2,552 enrolled undergraduates — a figure campus leadership says it is positioned to expand. Even amid the ongoing national energy crisis and persistent U.S. economic pressure, Montesino emphasized UCI’s core commitment to leaving no student behind, adjusting curricula and prioritizing in-person learning where possible. This year alone, 554 students will complete their degrees, 100 more than the 2025 graduating class. While transportation challenges remain the institution’s most pressing operational hurdle, Montesino noted that campus leaders have leaned into adaptive, flexible strategies to keep operations running smoothly, staying true to Fidel’s founding vision of UCI as an experimental teaching-production hub that blends innovation and public service.

One of the most notable adaptive initiatives on display during the tour was UCI’s on-campus primary and secondary school, the Pioneers Project.uci.cu, launched in response to barriers created by the intensified U.S. blockade. When children of UCI faculty and staff who live on campus were cut off from their zoned schools in the La Lisa district due to transport and resource constraints, campus and education leaders repurposed existing university space and teaching talent to launch a full-scale program serving learners from preschool through 9th grade. Education Minister Naima shared that the program, which draws students from multiple local school zones and leverages existing university faculty expertise, has filled a critical gap while creating a replicable model of adaptive education. “There’s a lot of heart behind this experience,” Naima told reporters, noting that while the exact model may not work at every Cuban university, its core approach of leveraging existing institutional potential can be scaled across the country. Even amid the prolonged hardship imposed by the blockade, Naima emphasized, all participating students are on track to complete their grade levels on schedule — a victory for creative resilience in the face of external pressure. During a warm interaction with young students, a second-grade pioneer expressed affection for the Cuban leader, to which Díaz-Canel responded with a call for the next generation to prepare diligently to serve their country.

The final stop on the tour was UCI’s Software Export Laboratories, where more than 600 specialists including students, faculty, and dedicated industry professionals develop digital products for international markets. Dr. Reynaldo Rosado Roselló, who leads the program, explained that the initiative operates on a shared benefit model that generates revenue for the national government, the university, and the participating specialists, all of whom are paid in foreign currency for their work. Over recent years, the program has ramped up its export operations to increase foreign currency earnings for Cuba, with one three-year-old spinout company already generating more than 150 million pesos in domestic revenue and over half a million pesos in foreign currency in 2025. Rosado noted that expanding software exports remains UCI’s top strategic priority, aligned with Fidel’s original vision for the institution: to train top digital talent, drive national digital transformation, and generate critical foreign currency for the Cuban people. Díaz-Canel challenged the UCI community to expand their work further, emphasizing the university’s central role in advancing Cuba’s national artificial intelligence strategy and integrating AI across all sectors of Cuban life. He shared his vision for UCI to become Cuba’s first “Smart University”, calling for accelerated progress toward that goal.

At the close of the tour, Díaz-Canel visited a commemorative plaque marking Fidel Castro’s first visit to UCI on December 12, 2002 — the date now recognized as the institution’s official founding. On that historic day, Fidel called UCI students “the troops of the future”, a phrase that grew into the university’s enduring motto: “Connected to the future, connected to the Revolution.” Speaking to young innovators on campus, Díaz-Canel struck a hopeful tone amid ongoing economic pressure from the United States. “Waking up here today at UCI — with the little school, with the new school model, and now with this development you (the young people) are experiencing — fills one with happiness and, above all, with confidence that, even in the most complex situation, we will overcome it,” he said, framing the campus’s progress as a powerful example of creative resistance: resistance that is not merely about enduring hardship, but about growing and advancing even in the most challenging circumstances. The work underway at UCI, he emphasized, proves that Cuba can continue to build and thrive despite external pressure, laying a strong foundation for future progress across every sector of the nation.

Across the steep slopes of the Sierra Maestra and the sunbaked plains of eastern Cuba, the legacy of Raúl Castro’s lifelong leadership of the Cuban Revolution is etched into every community of Santiago de Cuba. For more than 85 years, the revolutionary leader has walked alongside the people of this province, building a legacy of mutual respect and affection that persists to this day, documented by thousands of personal stories from residents and former guerrillas alike.

One of the most intimate of these stories dates back to September 1958, when Fulgencio Batista’s air force launched indiscriminate bombing raids across Cuba’s eastern mountains. The attacks targeted not only anti-Batista rebel fighters but also the peasant communities that openly supported their cause. In one of these violent strikes, a young girl named Ana María Poll suffered severe wounds to her forehead and leg, and received care at a field hospital operated by the revolution’s Second Eastern Front Frank País García. When Raúl learned of the attack, he and his lifelong partner Vilma Espín traveled immediately to the site, held the injured girl, and vowed that the regime’s brutal crimes would soon be brought to an end. Decades later, every time Raúl visits the town of Mayarí Arriba, he asks after Ana María, who still loves him as a father figure.

That same deep devotion can be found across Santiago de Cuba, where Raúl has long lived as just another resident: warm, gregarious, and unflinchingly brave. As Francis Rondón Gómez, a self-identified follower of both Raúl and Fidel Castro, puts it: “These are the men who, fighting alongside the Cuban people, won us true national independence.” That is why local musician Cándido Fabré penned his iconic lyrics reminding Cubans that those who stand against Fidel also stand against Raúl.

It is no overstatement to say there is not a single municipality in Santiago de Cuba province where Raúl has not stood at the forefront of revolutionary struggle and progress. His connection to these lands first began in 1939, when a teenaged Raúl enrolled at the prestigious Dolores School, a Jesuit institution in Birán. Over the following decades, that connection deepened through every defining chapter of the Cuban Revolution: the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, his imprisonment in San Luis, the founding of the Second Eastern Front that liberated dozens of Santiago’s towns and cities, the proclamation of revolutionary victory on January 1, 1959, his marriage to Vilma, and eight decades of ongoing work to advance the province’s development.

### Raúl’s Life in Santiago
When young Raúl arrived at Colegio Dolores to study between 1939 and 1945, he followed in the footsteps of his older brothers Fidel and Ramón, receiving a holistic education that introduced him to the history of Oriente province—then Cuba’s eastern capital—and the 1898 betrayal that saw U.S. military forces bar Cuban independence fighters (the Mambises) from entering the city after Spain’s defeat in the Spanish-American War.

Eight years later, Raúl returned to Santiago as part of the Generation of the Centennial of José Martí, Cuba’s iconic founding father. In the early hours of Saint Anne’s Day 1953, he stood firm at Siboney Farm, leading the contingent of revolutionaries that supported the attack on the Moncada Barracks from the city’s Palace of Justice. When the attack faltered, Raúl escaped to the home of family friend Dr. Ana Rosa Sánchez, a local pharmacist, where he warned her about the brutal massacre being carried out by Batista’s loyalist henchmen.

On July 27, he reached the outskirts of the Algodonal sugar mill, and made the independent decision to trek toward Birán. Following the Central Railway line, cold, exhausted, and soaked through, he covered roughly 10 kilometers to the San Rafael River bridge, where he was spotted by Batista’s soldiers, who arrested him and held him at the San Luis barracks before transferring him to Palma Soriano. What followed was trial, productive imprisonment, exile, and the historic Granma landing that marked the start of the full-scale guerrilla war against Batista.

As the rebel struggle gained strength and consolidated control over eastern Cuba, Raúl established the Second Eastern Front, named in honor of fallen revolutionary leader Frank País García. When the 20th-century Mambises (as the revolutionaries called themselves) entered Santiago on January 1, 1959, a new chapter began for Raúl, then a commander in the Rebel Army.

Just weeks later, on January 26, in Raúl’s own words: “I put on a new guerrilla uniform and went to Vilma’s wedding (…) the best and most beautiful thing I’ve ever done in my life.” The ceremony took place at the Rancho Club, which overlooks most of the city, uniting Raúl with a Santiago-born revolutionary who had worked in hiding before joining the Second Eastern Front and seeing the fight through to Batista’s defeat.

From that point onward, Raúl spent decades working to advance Santiago’s progress: he inaugurated new schools, hospitals, and production hubs; visited iconic revolutionary sites including La Granjita, the Moncada Barracks, and El Escandell; spent time working alongside residents of Palma Soriano; collaborated with fellow revolutionary commander Juan Almeida Bosque on countless party and national defense initiatives; and stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Segundo Frente municipality. All the while, he pushed forward socioeconomic development for the province and restoration work for the city, which was declared a Hero City of the Republic of Cuba in 1984.

Two years before that designation, Operation Heredia—an initiative personally directed by Raúl—laid the groundwork for a host of new public buildings and community spaces for Santiago, including the modern Heredia Theater. After the Aguilera Theater was destroyed by fire and the Oriente Theater closed, the city had lacked a large performing arts venue for decades. Under Raúl’s direct oversight, thousands of workdays of construction culminated in the theater’s inauguration on August 13, 1991.

That same year, Raúl convened the Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba from Santiago, with the core mission of preserving the nation, the revolution, and the Cuban socialist project—a goal the gathering successfully achieved in October 1991. Throughout this period, alongside Fidel, Raúl was present for the inauguration of dozens of transformative public projects across the province.

Whenever his duties allowed, Raúl returned to Santiago. In December 2007, he joined Venezuelan revolutionary leader Hugo Chávez Frías for a historic visit to the city. When Hurricane Sandy devastated large swathes of the province’s infrastructure and housing in 2012, then-Cuban President Raúl Castro provided consistent, on-the-ground support. Recalling his visit, local resident Israide Mora Osoria said: “He announced the revolutionary government’s new pricing and subsidy policies for construction materials; he shared firsthand stories of the day Batista’s army surrendered at the La Maya barracks, and he called on all of us to keep fighting for the Cuban people.”

In 2016, the then-First Secretary of the Communist Party’s Central Committee surprised Santiago residents with an early-morning walking tour of the Enramadas Heritage Corridor. Standing at an impromptu podium, he told the crowd: “Those who saw Santiago after Hurricane Sandy can’t believe how splendid it is now.” In 2019, alongside current President Miguel Díaz-Canel, he inaugurated the Cuba-Vietnam Solidarity Special School. “He has always had a constant concern for our living, studying, and working conditions,” said school director Iriobis Rodríguez Madariaga.

### The Second Eastern Front: Raúl’s Revolutionary Legacy
On March 11, 1958, Raúl fulfilled Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro’s order to found the Second Eastern Front Frank País García, which operated as “a small revolutionary state within the old regime” across some 12,000 square kilometers of territory, covering most of the Santiago municipalities of San Luis, Songo-La Maya, and Segundo Frente.

First Colonel Alberto Vázquez García, a Hero of Labor of Cuba who now directs the historical complex and mausoleum holding the remains of fallen Second Front fighters (and which reserves a space for Raúl alongside Vilma’s monument), recalled: “I was one of the seven members of Column 6 that marched from Pata de la Mesa to Piloto del Medio. Throughout that long, hard march, Raúl was always the first to get up and the last to go to bed, and he never stopped encouraging all of us. He always had unwavering faith that we would win.”

Beyond combat operations, the Second Front built a full framework of revolutionary governance: it established departments of Justice, Rebel Health, Public Works, Treasury, Propaganda and Inspection, and Education, alongside agrarian and labor bureaus. These institutions forged unity among fighters and local residents, laying the groundwork for the revolutionary government that would take power after victory.

In just nine months and 20 days of operation, the Second Front captured 31 military barracks and Rural Guard outposts, seized roughly 2,000 weapons from Batista’s forces, established 20 field hospitals and medical posts, and built nearly 400 new schools. “It was thrilling to see the insurgents defeat the soldiers who had committed so many terrible atrocities against us. Raúl and Vilma entered San Luis in December 1958, greeting and hugging everyone. The joy was impossible to overstate,” recalled long-time resident Henry Reyes Rodríguez, who witnessed the entry.

It was also Raúl’s initiative that led to the creation of the municipality of Segundo Frente, transforming Mayarí Arriba from a small hamlet controlled by a handful of wealthy landowners into a vibrant, thriving town with its own schools, hospitals, and paved access roads. “Everything here is 100% the work of the revolution,” said local resident Pablo Campos Batista. “He was one of our representatives in the National Assembly, and he won more votes than any other candidate in the last election. He has always given us confidence, and reminded us that unity is our greatest strength. He is so kind, he loves sharing stories and anecdotes, and he passes on knowledge to current and future generations with so much modesty, selflessness, and altruism.”

In his most recent address, marking the 65th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Raúl reaffirmed his lifelong commitment to the cause: “From heroic Santiago de Cuba, we reaffirm that we remain steadfast and ready to charge with machetes, alongside the people and as one more combatant.” For the crowd gathered to hear him, the response was unanimous and thunderous: Long live Raúl!

In a sharp rebuke of a recent legal action brought by the United States Department of Justice against iconic Cuban revolutionary leader Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Cuban legal and political authorities have labeled the accusation a baseless, illegitimate act of political provocation designed to distort the historical record of a 1996 national sovereignty defense. The analysis, published by Arnel Medina Cuenca, a Doctor of Science and full professor at the University of Havana’s Faculty of Law, in Cuba’s state newspaper *Granma*, outlines the extensive legal and historical flaws in the U.S. indictment.

From the perspective of international law, the U.S. government has no legitimate standing or jurisdiction to prosecute a sitting former leader of a sovereign foreign nation for actions taken to protect that nation’s territorial integrity. This move represents an unacceptable overreach of extraterritorial authority, a blatant violation of established global legal norms, and a deliberate attempt to undermine Cuba’s sovereign status, the analysis argues. The indictment specifically targets the 1996 downing of two aircraft operated by the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue, which the U.S. has framed as a humanitarian organization. Cuba rejects this narrative, documenting that the group carried out repeated hostile provocations against the Cuban state between 1994 and 1996.

### Legal Foundations of Cuba’s 1996 Action
Cuba’s 1996 response to Brothers to the Rescue incursions was a fully legitimate exercise of the right to self-defense, fully protected under the United Nations Charter, the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, and long-recognized principles of air sovereignty and proportional use of force, the analysis confirms. Extensive documentary evidence shows Cuban officials exhausted all peaceful diplomatic channels to halt the airspace violations long before any defensive action was taken. Between 1994 and 1996, the Cuban government submitted more than 25 formal complaints to the U.S. State Department, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the International Civil Aviation Organization, detailing repeated unauthorized incursions. When the U.S. failed to act to stop the flights, Cuba issued explicit public and official warnings, including a direct alert to then-U.S. President Bill Clinton, that any unauthorized aircraft entering Cuban airspace would be intercepted and neutralized if necessary.

A full chronology of violations confirms the persistent pattern of hostile activity: multiple incursions by Florida-based aircraft across western Cuban airspace in 1994 were formally reported to U.S. authorities; a 1995 low-altitude flight over the city of Havana by four U.S.-registered aircraft violated restricted military airspace; and two January 1996 flights dropped anti-government subversive propaganda over Cuban territory. Many of these overflights took place in designated military training zones, creating severe risk of civilian and military aviation accidents.

Brothers to the Rescue has systematically misrepresented as a humanitarian group, but its documented actions show it was dedicated to orchestrating hostile acts against the Cuban government, propped up by U.S. inaction that allowed the provocations to continue. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has already denounced the indictment as a purely political action with no grounding in law.

### Broader Context of U.S. Aggression
Cuban officials emphasize that the prosecution of a historic revolutionary leader is not a legitimate exercise of justice, but a severe breach of diplomatic norms that undermines the core foundations of global international institutions. According to Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this indictment fits into a longstanding U.S. pattern of using spurious legal accusations to justify military intervention against sovereign states, instrumentalizing the U.S. judicial system as a tool for geopolitical aggression.

Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío noted that the fraudulent process against Castro is part of a broader U.S. strategy of fabricating pretexts to justify intensified collective punishment of the Cuban people through the long-running U.S. economic blockade, which Cuba describes as genocidal.

Cuba has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to global peace and its unwavering right to self-defense as enshrined in the UN Charter. The Cuban government is demanding an immediate end to the abusive misuse of U.S. judicial institutions for political ends, and insists on full respect for international law and the sovereign equality of all nations. No false ruling or coercive measure will break the Cuban people’s resolve to defend their nation and socialist revolution, the statement confirms.

Cuba is calling on the international community and people of goodwill globally to join in denouncing this provocation, a move that has already drawn condemnation from multiple governments, political parties, social movements, and prominent public figures around the world. The Cuban people have reaffirmed their full, unwavering support for General Raúl Castro, and note that any attempt by U.S. imperialism to subdue Cuba will be met with steadfast, heroic resistance.

In a demonstration of deepening cross-continental cooperation, Cuba has taken delivery of the first installment of a major 60,000-ton rice donation from China, with the initial 15,000-ton shipment docking at Havana’s port this past Saturday. Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, Cuba’s President and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, publicly expressed profound gratitude for the donation in a post to his official Twitter account on May 25, 2026.

Díaz-Canel emphasized that the support comes rooted in the shared political commitment of both nations to advance the Cuba-China Community of Shared Future. He framed the donation as a meaningful reflection of the solidarity extended by the Chinese people, ruling party, and national government to Cuba. “This important shipment, which arrived Saturday at the Port of Havana, marks the beginning of a new donation totaling 60,000 tons, which will gradually arrive in our homeland,” he added.

The Cuban leader described the contribution as a noble gesture of solidarity, outlining that the full donation will be distributed to millions of domestic consumers across every Cuban province and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud. The rice will also be allocated to support the country’s public health and education institutions, two core pillars of Cuban public welfare.

Closing his statement, Díaz-Canel noted that the long-standing ties of friendship and collaborative partnership between Cuba and China only grow stronger during critical moments, reaffirming the value of bilateral alignment on shared goals and mutual support.

In a recent scathing rebuke of U.S. policy toward the island nation, Cuban commentator Ortelio González Martínez has blasted the Biden administration’s latest claim that Cuba poses a national security threat to the United States as nothing more than crude, transparent propaganda designed to greenlight new interventionist actions against a country that has endured nearly 70 years of unilateral blockade and diplomatic harassment.

The controversy ignited after U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and long-time anti-Cuba hardliner Mario Díaz-Balart—whose political agenda is backed by anti-Cuban factions in South Florida—framed the recent port call of Russian naval vessels, including a nuclear-powered submarine, in Havana as a dangerous provocation that endangers U.S. national security. But Martínez dismantles this argument by pointing to a fundamental norm of international statecraft: any sovereign nation has the inherent right to welcome ships from allied partners into its territorial ports, a practice that the United States relies on daily across the globe. Washington routinely stations its own warships in foreign ports including Rota in Spain, Yokosuka in Japan, and Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. By Hegseth’s own flawed logic, that would make these host nations global threats—a conclusion no serious international actor accepts. This staggering hypocrisy, Martínez argues, lays bare the bad faith of Washington’s framing.

Further underscoring the double standard is the imbalance of military posture between the two nations. Cuba hosts no foreign military bases on its soil with one glaring exception: the illegal U.S. facility at Guantánamo Bay, which Washington has refused to surrender despite decades of Cuban demands. The island nation maintains no naval fleets in the Gulf of Mexico, has never threatened neighboring states with invasion, blockade, or forced regime change. In fact, the roles of aggressor and victim are inverted: Cuba is the party that has endured decades of hostility, from the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 to more than 600 documented assassination attempts against former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, to the ongoing, crippling economic blockade that Martínez describes as genocidal. Today, the island faces explicit open threats from the U.S. president to seize control of the country. The actual threat to regional stability, Martínez emphasizes, originates not from Havana, but from Washington.

This double standard becomes even more grotesque when accounting for the global U.S. military footprint. The United States maintains over 800 military installations across every inhabited continent, deploys naval fleets to patrol all of the world’s oceans, routinely positions nuclear submarines off the coasts of dozens of sovereign nations, and has launched direct military interventions in more than 30 countries since the end of the Cold War. Yet when Cuba exercises its basic sovereign right to allow a friendly port call, it is immediately framed as a national security emergency for the United States. This is pure, unadulterated double standards.

Far from being rooted in genuine strategic concern, Martínez argues that the entire ‘Cuban threat’ farce is driven by domestic political and electoral calculations. The sitting U.S. president needs a fabricated foreign enemy to mobilize his highly polarized base of supporters in the key swing state of Florida. For Díaz-Balart, the narrative is a convenient way to justify decades of failed punitive policies against Cuba that have never achieved their stated goal of regime change. Hegseth, meanwhile, is simply toeing the administration’s line to advance this political agenda.

This is not a new playbook, Martínez recalls: the same tactic of inventing an external threat to sell illegal aggression to the public was used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when the U.S. claimed Saddam Hussein held weapons of mass destruction that never actually existed. Today, the same script is being recycled, with ‘Russian spy ships’ in Cuba replacing Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

What makes the charade even more striking is that Washington makes no real attempt to hide its true agenda. The U.S. president himself has openly threatened to take action against Cuba ‘almost immediately’ after the conclusion of the ongoing conflict with Iran. This admission, Martínez argues, makes clear that there is no actual threat to U.S. national security—only a pre-existing agenda of conquest and regime change. While U.S. politicians stoke paranoia about Cuban aggression, the Cuban population continues to suffocate under a tight U.S. oil blockade, and new layers of sanctions are added every year. At no point in history has Havana ever posed a genuine threat to the safety and security of the American people; the danger exists only in the propaganda manufactured by a small circle of radicalized politicians and anti-Cuban exiles.

In closing, Martínez reaffirms that Cuba has never been and will never be a threat to the United States. Instead, it is the constant victim of systematic hostility from the world’s most powerful military and economic power. What Washington dismisses as a ‘threat’ is nothing more than Cuba’s unwavering commitment to exercising its sovereign right: the right to build diplomatic and economic ties with any nation it chooses, the right to refuse to submit to U.S. demands, and the right to reject selling out its national independence. For ruling elites who view the entire Western Hemisphere as their exclusive sphere of influence, that unyielding commitment to sovereignty is an unforgivable offense.

Nearly seven decades after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959, the enduring character of Raúl Castro remains a steady, defining force in the legacy of the island’s revolutionary struggle. This retrospective reflection, originally published by Granma in 2006 and republished to mark Raúl Castro’s birthday, traces the revolutionary leader’s journey from his childhood in Birán to his pivotal role as a commander in the mountains of eastern Cuba, capturing the unwavering spirit that has defined his lifelong commitment to Cuba’s people.

The story opens in the thick of the 1958 revolutionary war, anchored in a moment of quiet exhaustion that reveals the grit of the guerrilla movement. In the damp highlands of the Sierra Maestra, a young Raúl Castro allows himself only a fleeting moment of rest, his mind flooding with memories stitched together from a lifetime already steeped in struggle: the scent of orange blossoms in his family’s groves back in Birán, the sharp tap of his father Ángel’s cane on wooden floorboards, the overlapping sounds of a life forged in rebellion — train whistles pulling into Santiago, the rustle of priestly cassocks in the corridors of his strict religious school, the thunder of crowds marching, the crackle of gunfire outside the Moncada Barracks, the roar of enemy aircraft over guerrilla territory. Disoriented by fatigue, he cannot immediately place whether the exploding shrapnel echoing in his memory comes from the harassment after the Battle of Alegría de Pío or air raids targeting his column as they advanced toward the Second Eastern Front. Yet after only minutes of sleep, he jolts awake and returns to his urgent work.

For hours, Raúl had written tirelessly, forearms braced against rough mountain planks, after days of marching, ambushes, reconnaissance, combat and enemy bombings. In his message to revolutionary leadership, he laid out a clear strategic assessment: following Fidel Castro’s decisive defeats of Fulgencio Batista’s army offensive in the Sierra Maestra, the shaken dictatorship — reeling from the arrest of American citizens on the Second Front, rising troop desertions and plummeting morale among Batista’s ranks — would be desperate to score a symbolic victory to cling to power. The lightly armed Second Eastern Front, he warned, would almost certainly be the target. He closed the urgent dispatch with a request for critical reinforcements: “If they would send us the 159 Springfields and the M-2s that are over there, we could do many things, at least prevent them from penetrating our lines; they must send them here urgently. I had to sleep for a while, lying on the same table where I’m writing to you, so I could finish this. Vilma is writing next to me in the same condition, so please forgive me that this isn’t as long as I’d like; in any case, it’s better this way for you, since all we do is ask for weapons!!”

That letter, dated July 5, 1958, captures the urgency and resolve that marked Raúl’s leadership from the earliest days of the revolution. Barely 27 years old when revolutionary forces descended from the mountains to claim victory in 1959, Raúl had already spent half his young life fighting for a transformative vision for Cuba. Born June 3, 1931, in the sweltering midday heat of rural Cuba, he was the fourth child of Ángel Castro and Lina Ruz, the youngest son his father affectionately nicknamed “My little calf.” In the small village of Birán, he was remembered as a quick-witted, mischievous, warm-hearted boy who prioritized his family above all else.

After leaving the strict, discipline-bound Jesuit school Belén, where he bristled at mandatory prayers and confessions, Raúl returned to work on his father’s farm until Fidel encouraged him to pursue university study in Havana, either in law or public administration. When he submitted his application in April 1950 and moved to the capital, he unknowingly stepped onto a path that would write him into the history books. Fidel introduced him to Marxist texts, which opened Raúl’s eyes to a new vision of social justice, and he embraced these ideals with the unshakable focus of a compass and the fiery passion of a young man fighting for what is right. His courage became legendary during the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, when he was detained by guards at the Palace of Justice — only to disarm his captors, save his small contingent of fighters, and lead them to safety.

That bold action cemented a truth that would define Raúl’s role in the revolution for decades to come: where Raúl was present, the impossible became achievable. Years later, after the Granma landing and the devastating dispersal of revolutionary forces at Alegría de Pío, when Fidel had lost many comrades and thought Raúl may have fallen, his relief at seeing Raúl alive turned to unshakable confidence: “Now we will win the war!”

To the Cuban people, Raúl has always been known for much more than his strategic skill on the battlefield. They remember his rebellious temperament, his sharp good humor, his approachable simplicity, his unwavering rectitude, his austere work ethic and his warm, jovial demeanor. Above all, he is celebrated for his unyielding loyalty and the singular courage that earned him his place as the revolution’s second-in-command through his own merit, not by circumstance. Alongside Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Celia Sánchez, he was Fidel’s most trusted right hand, a steady anchor rooted deeply in the struggle, a testament to the personal virtues that would carry him through decades of service building the revolution, developing Cuba’s armed forces and shaping the nation’s political and social life. Beside him through every step was his partner Vilma Espín, a fellow guerrilla fighter; their decades-long revolutionary love story revealed the quiet tenderness and sensitivity that lay beneath his tough public resolve.

As the reflection concludes, marking the anniversary of the revolution and Raúl’s life of service, the core truth of his legacy remains unchanged: Raúl remains the same man who joined the struggle as a young idealist, bringing the same boldness, simplicity, unshakable faith in Cuba’s youth, complete selflessness and restless, joyful, profound spirit to every chapter of the nation’s journey. He always believed the revolution could transform Cuba, and time has proven him right again and again. Firmer than ever in his convictions, he has earned the enduring respect and affection of the Cuban people, who have seen his steady leadership through every trial and recognize him as an eternal brother in the struggle. Bound by shared sacrifice and shared vision, Fidel and Raúl together forged the generous, unyielding, foundational legend of the Cuban Revolution — a legacy that endures, anchored in the unchanging character of the man who never stopped fighting for a better, happier homeland.

On May 22, 2026, Cuban President and First Secretary of the Communist Party Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez issued a forceful rebuke of the United States Department of Justice’s unsubstantiated accusation against revolutionary leader Raúl Castro Ruz, using his social media platform to galvanize national unity in the face of what Cuban officials frame as renewed imperial aggression.

Díaz-Canel emphasized that this latest provocative action by Washington has only deepened solidarity across the island nation, strengthening the long-held sense of national honor, dignity, and anti-imperialist resolve that has defined Cuba’s position in global affairs for decades. “The General of the Army is Cuba, and Cuba must be respected,” he stated in his online address. “The heroes of the Homeland are not to be disrespected, nor are history and traditions to be offended without response. Not in Cuba.”

Per the Cuban president’s account, the unfounded prosecution attempt against the revolutionary leader in a U.S. court represents the most recent in a long line of provocations from what Cuban leaders describe as the nation’s historic adversaries. He noted that despite decades of systemic economic hardship and critical supply shortages driven largely by the U.S. trade embargo – which the Cuban government describes as a genocidal blockade – the Cuban people have stood firm in rejecting outside interference.

“Our people have fiercely risen above the daily hardships and shortages, caused primarily by the genocidal blockade, to respond to the latest infamy of the Cuban nation’s historical enemies: the attempt to prosecute the leader of the Revolution in a U.S. court,” Díaz-Canel wrote. He added that the new attack has “further united us and elevated the honor, dignity, and anti-imperialist sentiment of a people already recognized worldwide for their courageous resistance to any kind of subordination to the empire.”

To demonstrate collective support for Castro, Díaz-Canel echoed a call for a national gathering scheduled for Friday morning at Havana’s iconic Anti-Imperialist Tribune. The rally was organized through a joint initiative by the Young Communists League, a broad coalition of Cuban mass organizations, student groups, and youth movements, all mobilizing to stand with the revolutionary leader.

A separate official statement from the Revolutionary Government of Cuba clarified that the U.S. accusation relies entirely on deliberate, dishonest manipulation of a 1996 incident, in which Cuban air defense forces downed two Miami-based aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a U.S.-based organization classified by Cuba as a terrorist group. Cuban officials have long stressed that the aircraft repeatedly violated Cuban national airspace for open hostile activities, a fact that was well-documented and publicly known at the time and in subsequent decades.