标签: Cuba

古巴

  • Hermanos Martínez Tamayo Pre-University Institute: A Distinctive, Innovative, and Demanding Educational Model

    Hermanos Martínez Tamayo Pre-University Institute: A Distinctive, Innovative, and Demanding Educational Model

    On Thursday, June 5, 2026, Cuban President and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez undertook an official visit to the unique Hermanos Martínez Tamayo Vocational Pre-University Institute, operated by the country’s Ministry of the Interior (Minint) in Havana’s Playa municipality. He was joined on the visit by Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, Minint Minister, Army Corps General and member of the Communist Party Political Bureau.

    The visit came at the direct request of a student from the institute, who raised the invitation during a previous public event where the two leaders crossed paths. During an open, heartfelt exchange with students, graduates, faculty and institutional leadership, Díaz-Canel offered high praise for the institute’s educational framework, labeling it a “distinct, innovative, and demanding educational model” that aligns with the revolutionary vision first laid out by Fidel Castro during the development of the Battle of Ideas initiative.

    Díaz-Canel told attendees he was particularly impressed by the institute’s ability to maintain its high standards of operation for decades, including through the ongoing challenging period that has strained educational systems across Cuba. He noted that the Ministry of the Interior, already widely recognized by the Cuban people for its critical public service, has extra reason to take pride in hosting such an exceptional educational institution.

    Commenting on the institute’s well-maintained, orderly and welcoming campus, the president emphasized that holistic education extends far beyond textbook curriculum. Physical environments that nurture and inspire the spirit, he explained, are a core component of meaningful learning that prepares young people for public life.

    Throughout the conversation, which preceded a guided tour of the institute’s classrooms and research laboratories, Díaz-Canel stressed the ongoing importance of fostering critical thinking, revolutionary commitment, and well-rounded personal development to prepare young Cubans to contribute to the country’s socialist construction project as engaged, responsible citizens. After hearing personal accounts from students, professional insights from graduates, and reflections from teaching staff, the president noted that the visit offered a critical morale boost amid the country’s current complex context, which has been shaped by persistent external aggression from the United States. “Talking with you, seeing your willingness, your commitment, your training, and the way you express yourselves, also reaffirms the feelings of appreciation one has for this institution. This strengthens us greatly and also gives us a lot of energy,” he stressed.

    Díaz-Canel extended an invitation to students to join the Community Youth Network, a new grassroots initiative that organizes Cuban youth for neighborhood-focused public service work. He also urged attendees to prioritize rigorous study, deep exploration of history and science, and independent inquiry, explaining that these practices build the knowledge and critical perspective needed to make thoughtful, informed decisions that benefit the nation. The conversation also included open discussion of the severe economic and social strain placed on Cuba by the United States’ long-running suffocating embargo policy.

    In comments to reporters following the visit, institute director Colonel Vivian Sabuquet Larrondo outlined the institution’s 22-year legacy of public service. As the only pre-university of its kind in Cuba, the school holds a unique mission: training the next generation of Minint officers and personnel, while also preparing graduates who choose to pursue civilian higher education. To date, more than 4,000 young people have graduated from the program, many of whom now serve in the Ministry of the Interior.

    Sabuquet Larrondo explained that the institute delivers a fully holistic education that integrates patriotic formation, military preparation, physical education, cultural programming, athletic opportunities, and cutting-edge instruction in technology and scientific development. Students enter the institution between the ages of 14 and 15, graduate at 17, and learn from a faculty of highly experienced educators who bring strong professional expertise and a deep commitment to core revolutionary values. Beyond academics, the school instills foundational life skills including disciplined coexistence, strong work ethic, solidarity, humanism, and patriotism, with ongoing support from students’ family members. “I think the most important thing is the contribution we have made, not only to the Ministry of the Interior, but also to society,” Sabuquet Larrondo noted.

  • Cuba resumes production of cytostatic drugs

    Cuba resumes production of cytostatic drugs

    Against a backdrop of crippling economic constraints and a steadily tightening U.S. economic, commercial, and financial blockade, Cuba has marked a major milestone in protecting public health: the full restart of production at the AICA Laboratories cytostatic drug facility, following a targeted expansion investment designed to boost domestic output of critical cancer treatments.

    The reopening event, held on June 5, 2026, brought together senior leaders from Cuba’s biopharmaceutical sector and public health system, including BioCubaFarma president Mayda Mauri Pérez, who hosted Minister of Public Health José Angel Portal Miranda during an official tour of the upgraded facility. The visit underscored the close cross-sector collaboration between the national biopharmaceutical industry, the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), and the Cuban government – a partnership that officials say was instrumental to completing the expansion and restart despite the country’s ongoing external pressures.

    Per an official update shared to BioCubaFarma’s Facebook page, the production restart is being carried out as a gradual, carefully monitored process. Each stage of manufacturing will be brought online incrementally, a deliberate approach chosen to guarantee consistent technological stability and adherence to Cuba’s strict quality standards for pharmaceutical products.

    Following the expansion, the upgraded plant is now positioned to supply 16 different cytostatic (cancer-fighting) medications to Cuba’s National Program for the Care of Cancer Patients. Production scheduling has been structured to prioritize the drugs classified as most clinically critical, aligned with needs assessments coordinated directly with Minsap.

    Speaking during the reopening ceremony, Portal Miranda emphasized that even amid widespread economic limitations, the facility’s return to operation represents a critical step forward in securing consistent access to life-saving cancer treatments for the Cuban people. Mayda Mauri Pérez echoed this sentiment, noting that the intersectoral alliance between the biopharmaceutical and public health sectors has emerged as an essential bulwark protecting drug access for Cubans, even as the U.S. blockade has intensified in recent years.

    The event also included participation from practicing Cuban oncologists, who held working discussions with facility leadership to align production priorities with real-time clinical needs on the ground. This direct input ensures that output from the plant will directly address the most pressing care demands facing patients across the country.

    Far from being an isolated infrastructure milestone, the restart of the AICA Laboratories plant stands as a clear illustration of the coordinated mission that unites Cuba’s biotechnology sector and public health system: to guarantee access to essential medications for all citizens, regardless of external pressures. For a country grappling with externally induced supply shortages, every treatment produced at this expanded facility represents more than just medicine – it is a testament to Cuban public health sovereignty, a source of hope for thousands of patients and families, and a reaffirmation of the state’s longstanding commitment to the universal right to health.

  • A center for science and soul is born

    A center for science and soul is born

    On a historic Wednesday afternoon in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución municipality, Cuba officially opened the doors to a new, purpose-built Outpatient Oncology Treatment Unit at the country’s renowned Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology, a milestone that marks not just a leap forward in cancer care but also a testament to the nation’s resilience in the face of sustained external pressure.

    The inauguration ceremony drew the country’s top leadership, including Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, and Manuel Marrero Cruz, member of the Political Bureau and Prime Minister of Cuba. The event carried added symbolic weight: it fell on the 95th birthday of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, and unfolded during the centennial year of Fidel Castro Ruz, while also celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology’s founding. The ceremony opened with a recorded address from the veteran guerrilla leader Raúl Castro, who reminded attendees that “life is a constant struggle.”

    In his opening remarks, Institute director Dr. Luis Eduardo Martín Rodríguez framed the new facility around a core philosophy of cancer care: “In oncology, it is not enough to treat with quality: one must treat with heart. May this unit be a refuge of hope, a center of science with soul, and the daily confirmation that, although the path may be complex, no one will walk it alone.” He added that the space was intentionally designed to prioritize three pillars for patients: safety, professional excellence, and compassionate, patient-centered care.

    The new unit carries the name of Dr. María del Carmen Barroso, a pioneering Cuban oncologist who launched the country’s first outpatient chemotherapy program in the 1980s, a legacy that organizers say laid the groundwork for this modern expansion.

    Dr. Martín Rodríguez did not shy away from the challenging context in which the facility was built, noting that the project came to fruition amid the intensification of the decades-long U.S. blockade, ongoing energy shortages, and persistent threats of military intervention from the U.S. government. Despite these headwinds, he emphasized that the new unit matches the standard of any top-tier cancer care facility across the globe. “It has the proper physical infrastructure, it has the technology, which is quite acceptable, but what it has most of all is the scientific quality of the leaders, the professors, the doctors who are here,” he explained. Many of the 20-plus specialized physicians and nurses working at the center are recognized as leading experts in their field across the Americas and beyond, he added.

    The ceremony included an official recognition of the cross-sector collaboration that made the project possible, with President Díaz-Canel presenting honors to eight contributing entities: International Insurance of Cuba (ESICUBA), the Industrial Technologies for Construction Company (TICONS), the San Miguel Construction Materials MSME, the Inicio Group, the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), AICA Pharmaceutical Laboratories, and the Embassy of Qatar in Cuba.

    After the presidential ribbon-cutting, Díaz-Canel, Marrero Cruz, Minister of Public Health José Angel Portal Miranda, other Havana municipal leaders, and health system representatives toured the new facility, where every space was marked by order, cleanliness, and a quiet, calming environment tailored to patient comfort.

    Unlike traditional inpatient oncology settings, the new unit will deliver a full spectrum of outpatient care beyond routine chemotherapy: patients will have access to cutting-edge immunotherapy, targeted supportive care, and continuous monitoring to track recovery progress. Dr. Martín Rodríguez noted that the facility does not only improve patient experiences and care quality—it also transforms working conditions for clinical staff, boosting their comfort by 100% compared to older, outdated spaces.

    Addressing the unique challenges that Cuban health workers face amid ongoing economic and energy pressures, including prolonged daily power outages, Dr. Martín Rodríguez highlighted the extraordinary commitment of the center’s staff. “We are all experiencing the same situation,” with various daily hardships, he said. “But these specialists have to know how to put on a suit in the hospital, one that has nothing to do with the one they left at home. So, it has to do with heart.” He emphasized that even with world-class training and equipment, successful care for 90 to 120 daily patients depends first on centering empathy for vulnerable patients and their affected families.

    The inauguration marks the fulfillment of a long-held aspiration for Cuban healthcare, one that follows a presidential visit to the Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology back in late February 2026. During that tour of upgraded health facilities, Díaz-Canel highlighted the value of advancing digital transformation in care, and Dr. Martín Rodríguez reflected at the time that ambitious new ideas often seem impossible until they are brought to fruition. This Wednesday, that once-distant vision became a tangible reality for the Cuban people, joining the ranks of the nation’s long-cherished goals for accessible, high-quality public health.

  • Raúl: “A true Cuban, with all the force that redundancy suggests”

    Raúl: “A true Cuban, with all the force that redundancy suggests”

    On June 3, 2026, Cuban President and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez published a warm, heartfelt birthday tribute on his official Twitter account to mark the 95th birthday of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, a foundational leader of the Cuban Revolution. In his public message, Díaz-Canel lavished praise on Castro, highlighting the many roles he has filled across his decades of public and private life: a loving son, loyal sibling, devoted husband, caring father and grandfather, trusted friend, and a leader who combines high expectations for public service with sincere, deep affection for the Cuban people. He described Castro as a bold, intrepid revolutionary fighter, a foundational leader of the nation’s progressive movement, and the unwavering guardian of the Cuban Revolution’s core values and principles. “He is a true Cuban, in every sense of the word,” Díaz-Canel emphasized in his post. The Cuban leader went on to note that Raúl Castro’s 95 years of life, spent in constant service to the Cuban homeland and dedicated to advancing global peace, multilateral cooperation, and the pursuit of universal social justice, are not just a personal milestone — they are a gift to the entire Cuban nation. “To reach 95 years of age still actively committed to public service, with an unmatched legacy of sacrifice and service to the Homeland, to regional and world peace, to multilateralism, and to the dreams of social justice for millions of human beings, is not his good fortune — it is ours,” Díaz-Canel wrote. He closed the tribute by emphasizing the deep mutual affection between Castro and the Cuban people, noting that the enduring love the revolutionary leader has extended to his compatriots has been returned a thousandfold in the warm wishes that greet him on his birthday. No animosity from external or internal critics, he asserted, can ever pierce the thick, protective shield of widespread public affection that surrounds Castro. The tribute, originally reported by Cuban state-owned newspaper Granma, was accompanied by an official photo produced by Estudios Revolución, and has been circulated widely across social media platforms among Cuban political circles and supporters of the revolution.

  • To say Raúl is more than enough

    To say Raúl is more than enough

    On June 3, 2026, Cubans across the island marked a milestone that is more than a birthday: the 95th birthday of Raúl Castro, a revolutionary leader whose legacy has been woven into the very identity of the Cuban nation. For Cubans, his name carries a uniquely intimate weight, comparable to that of a beloved father or brother, earned through a lifetime of service and sacrifice rather than title alone.

    Raúl’s journey into the pages of Cuban history began as a young man, when he accompanied his older brother Fidel to Havana. What started as a move to continue his studies evolved into a shared dream: dismantling the systemic injustice that defined Cuban society at the time. That revolution was never an easy, quick victory. It demanded the ultimate sacrifice from thousands of Cubans in their youth, who set aside personal ambitions to fight for collective freedom that would open the door to opportunity for all generations that followed.

    Raúl stood among the core leaders who delivered that new dawn for Cuba. Even as foreign imperial narratives have sought to undermine his contributions, his life’s work remains unblemished in the eyes of the Cuban people. His legacy is rooted in quiet simplicity, a trait of genuine modesty that has come to define his iconic status, rather than the grandeur often claimed by leaders of global revolutions.

    His courage was proven in some of the revolution’s earliest, most dangerous moments: during the 1953 Moncada Barracks attack, he charged the leading officer of the regime’s forces in the Palace of Justice, wrested away his weapon, and saved the lives of his captured comrades. When the revolution’s core leadership was forced into exile in Mexico, it was Raúl who took on the logistical work to prepare the Granma yacht expedition, the 82 revolutionaries that sailed back to Cuba to launch the guerrilla war that would overthrow the Batista tyranny.

    After landing, Raúl led one of the fractured groups that broke through government sieges to reunite with Fidel in Cinco Palmas. He fought in the decisive battles to seize the La Plata and Uvero barracks, founded the iconic Second Eastern Front named for fallen revolutionary leader Frank País, and took on the role of Chief of Oriente Province immediately after the revolutionary triumph of 1959.

    Even amid the brutal uncertainty of guerrilla war, when death could come at any moment, Raúl kept a detailed diary of key events, never lost his characteristic sense of humor, and never wavered in his unshakable faith in Cuba’s future. Beyond the battlefield, he has been defined by personal loyalty: he kept a promise to fallen comrade José Luis Tasende, raising Tasende’s young daughter as his own after Tasende died in combat. He was the devoted husband of Vilma Espín, a legendary revolutionary figure who remains etched into national memory, a loving father to his children, served as Cuba’s Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces for nearly 50 years, and holds the highest honor of Hero of the Republic of Cuba as General of the Army of the Cuban Revolution.

    When Fidel Castro stepped back from national leadership due to illness in 2006, Raúl stepped forward to guide the nation. In 2008, the National Assembly of People’s Power appointed him President of the Councils of State and Ministers, and he was later elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. On the global stage, he emerged as a leading voice for unity and peace across Latin America and the Caribbean, and led the historic process of normalizing diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States after decades of tension. Domestically, he has long been a dedicated advocate for the well-being of Cuban children, particularly those living with disabilities, and has frequently joined them at events at the Solidarity with Panama School. After Fidel’s death in 2016, it was Raúl who carried forward his brother’s revolutionary vision, ideas, and unfinished work.

    When he stepped down from his role as head of the Communist Party of Cuba in 2021, he left the world a lasting phrase that still defines him today: he remains at 95, rifle in hand, “with his foot in the stirrup”, ready to answer the call to serve his nation whenever it is needed.

    Across Cuba today, the simple phrase “Raúl is Raúl” circulates widely as birthday tributes pour in. For a people who know their Army General well, this simple repetition is no redundancy. It is a recognition that his name itself is enough to sum up a lifetime of revolutionary service, sacrifice, and unwavering commitment to the Cuban people.

  • Legacy and contribution

    Legacy and contribution

    On the occasion of Raúl Castro Ruz’s 95th birthday, a new reflection from Granma journalist Daily Sánchez Lemus honors the Cuban revolutionary leader’s decades-long, deeply rooted connection to the island’s younger generations — a bond that has always stretched far beyond the formal obligations of his decades of public office. As the piece highlights, Raúl has never been merely a senior leader guiding youth; he has always carried the spirit of a young revolutionary himself, one forged in the earliest struggles for Cuban independence from tyranny.

    The article opens with a powerful, enduring quote drawn from Raúl’s 1990 speech ahead of the Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, delivered on the anniversary of the Protest of Baraguá. In these words, Raúl frames the core test of Cuba’s ideological work: can younger generations stand ready to carry forward the revolutionary legacy, answering the fundamental questions that define Cuban national identity: Who are we? Where do our roots lie? To whom do we owe our freedom? What legacy must we prove worthy of? What contribution do we owe to the homeland?

    These words are not just abstract political guidance — they are drawn from Raúl’s own lived experience as a young revolutionary. A member of Cuba’s Centennial Generation, Raúl stood alongside his older brother Fidel in the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, turned 25 in Mexican exile while planning the invasion that would overthrow the Batista dictatorship, and spent years of his youth away from family, fighting for a just cause. He spent New Year’s celebrations imprisoned on the Isle of Pines in 1953 and 1954, in exile in 1955, and waging guerrilla war across Cuba’s mountains from 1956 to 1958. By the age of just 28, he was serving as a young minister in the new revolutionary government, a role he poured his entire self into for decades. In his guerrilla campaign diary, he even noted that a wartime Valentine’s Day was dedicated entirely to his love for Cuba.

    Bold, unapologetically Marxist, fiercely loyal to the Cuban people, quick-witted, and deeply sensitive to systemic injustice, Raúl carried that youthful revolutionary spirit across decades. Even as his hair grayed, he remained young at heart among both veteran revolutionaries and new generations of activists just beginning their own revolutionary journeys.

    In that same 1990 speech, Raúl laid bare the persistent threat facing the Cuban Revolution from global imperialism. He warned that at the time, Western powers were pushing a narrative of irreversible socialism in crisis, and were counting on Cuba — geographically close to the United States and long targeted by Washington — to collapse and surrender. “Blinded by their triumphalist intoxication, they calculate that Cuba, seemingly isolated in its geographic proximity to the United States, will not be able to resist and will have to surrender,” he said. “They lie in wait for the slightest crack to launch an attack against our homeland and thus fulfill one of their dearest imperial dreams: to crush the Cuban Revolution, eliminate its example, and forever subjugate the people who dared to defy them.”

    This persistent external pressure, the article emphasizes, makes investing in youth development and ideological continuity all the more critical. The revolutionary struggle that Fidel Castro once called the “true destiny” of Cuban revolutionaries must be carried forward by each new generation, and preparing those generations to defend Cuban sovereignty is the only way to protect the project of social justice launched in 1959 — the realization of Cuban national icon José Martí’s long-held dream.

    Across all of his senior roles, from head of Cuba’s Armed Forces to Second Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee, Raúl’s connection to young people has always been personal and authentic. He has continuously sought to learn from new generations, collaborate with them as equal team members, stand alongside them in shared labor from cutting sugarcane to mountain expeditions, support global solidarity efforts with other marginalized peoples across the world, evaluate new strategies without abandoning core revolutionary principles, and ensure the movement itself never loses the urgent, courageous momentum of the guerrilla struggle that has held imperial aggression at bay for more than 60 years. For Raúl, just as for Fidel, it is non-negotiable that younger Cubans know their nation’s full history, so that they can love it and defend it with conviction.

    Raúl stands as a mentor to young Cubans and emerging revolutionary leaders, teaching core values through consistent example: that a legitimate, lasting revolution is built through collective sacrifice and independent struggle against the enemies of national sovereignty. He has long emphasized that for the people of Latin America, often called “Our America” in revolutionary discourse, veneration of the United States powers that have repeatedly intervened to oppress the region is a mark of deep national and human degradation — a truth proven by long centuries of history.

    As Cuba prepares to mark Raúl’s 95th birthday, the article argues that his early guidance on youth and revolutionary continuity remains a compass for the current moment. Today, as the nation marks the centenary of Fidel Castro’s birth, it calls on all Cubans to embrace the shared legacy of unity, anti-imperialism, national independence, and social justice that Raúl continues to defend alongside the Cuban people, just as the young mambí independence fighters who stood with General Antonio Maceo at Baraguá did more than a century ago. In keeping the revolutionary legacy alive, every Cuban must contribute the same level of sacrifice and love that the nation’s long history of struggle deserves.

  • The stoicism of a Hero

    The stoicism of a Hero

    As June 3 approaches, one of Cuba’s most iconic revolutionary figures, Raúl Castro, is preparing to mark his 95th birthday. Turning 95 is a rare milestone that demands a rare combination of good health, unyielding resilience, and that signature stubborn determination deeply rooted in Cuban identity — a milestone that can only be described as a profound blessing. For Raúl, these 95 years have not been decades of quiet living: they have been 95 years of unbroken commitment to the revolutionary cause, a lifetime spent standing firm in the struggle, much like the legendary Cuban independence fighters Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez who came before him.

    Even young Cuban schoolchildren know the deeply personal, approachable side of the man who has shaped their nation’s modern history. Journalist Pastor Batista Valdés, author of this tribute, notes that in every public appearance among working-class Cuban people, Raúl has consistently prioritized connection over ceremony. He is often seen lifting children into his arms, exchanging warm, witty banter with them — a habit he formed back during the tense, decisive days of the Sierra Maestra guerrilla campaign, where a famous photo still captures him crouching gently to speak with a young peasant girl. He also regularly gives away his own pens to young Cubans, once telling a small child named Denisbel in Guayabal, Las Tunas, that the gift was so they could write a letter to Fidel Castro once they learned to read and write.

    This lifelong warmth is paired with a lifetime of unwavering loyalty. From the earliest days of the revolutionary movement, Raúl stood as Fidel’s closest and most reliable companion. While still a young man, he bore the full weight of the guerrilla struggle’s harshest hardships with a steady wisdom beyond his years. It is no exaggeration to say that no leader has ever held more firmly to a vow: Raúl vowed he would never fail the Commander-in-Chief, because failing Fidel would have meant failing all of Cuba, failing his own parents Lina and Ángel, and failing himself — a vow he has kept for decades.

    That vow carried him through every turning point of the revolution: he stood on the front lines of the 1953 Moncada Barracks attack, gave everything he had to the cause through the subsequent imprisonment, the exile in Mexico, the cramped, dangerous voyage of the Granma yacht alongside 81 other rebel fighters, the brutal early guerrilla engagements in the mangroves of Las Coloradas, Alegría de Pío, and Cinco Palmas. When Fidel entrusted him with command of the Segundo Frente (Second Front) in eastern Cuba, Raúl turned the territory into a model of revolutionary governance, a blueprint for the island’s future after victory.

    Few heads of state or military leaders around the world can claim the same depth of grassroots admiration, respect, and affection that Raúl holds among the Cuban people. For Cubans across past, present, and future generations, he will forever be remembered as the people’s Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces — a leader with an innate martial spirit and strategic skill, profound human empathy, sharp distinctly Cuban humor, and a charisma that cannot be weakened by hostile foreign pressure. Even as a hostile foreign empire continues its unrelenting, increasingly unsteady attacks on Cuba and its leaders, Raúl’s example remains unshaken: a reminder that true courage and unwavering commitment will never be defeated.

  • Cuba is not a threat; it is a victim of terrorism

    Cuba is not a threat; it is a victim of terrorism

    On the anniversary of Cuba’s formal legal proceedings against the U.S. government seeking compensation for human harm from decades of anti-revolutionary terror, the full scope of the violence that has shaped the island nation’s modern history remains a raw, unhealed wound for generations of Cuban families.

    This history of state-sponsored aggression began within months of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, when U.S. authorities viewed a sovereign socialist government 90 miles from its shores as an unacceptable threat. Under the Eisenhower administration, the U.S. government formally approved a covert action program against the new revolutionary government in March 1960, allocating substantial funding to build armed opposition networks and carry out destabilizing attacks across the island. That decision planted the roots of widespread terrorism that would cost hundreds of lives and leave irreversible pain across Cuban communities for decades.

    The casualty list of this anti-revolutionary campaign includes dozens of innocent civilians, many of them children, cut down in unprovoked attacks by U.S.-funded armed gangs. In January 1963, 11-year-old Yolanda Rodríguez Díaz and 13-year-old Fermín Rodríguez Díaz were murdered by a counter-revolutionary gang operating in Matanzas’ southern region at the La Candelaria farm in Bolondrón. The previous year, 22-year-old Andrés Rojas Acosta was killed by a mercenary gang in San Nicolás de Bari, hanged with the same rope he had used to tie his pig. In October 1960, 22-month-old Reynaldo Núñez-Bueno Machado and his mother were gunned down by Gerardo Fundora’s gang during a roadside attack on a passing civilian jeep between Madruga and Ceiba Mocha. By March 1963, 10-year-old Albinio Sánchez Rodríguez was shot dead by Delio Almeida’s gang as retaliation for a defeat the group suffered at the hands of Cuban National Revolutionary Militia forces.

    These child killings are not isolated tragedies, but part of a broader pattern of violence that targeted even young Cubans working to advance the revolution’s social goals. The murders of volunteer literacy teacher Conrado Benítez García, young literacy worker Manuel Ascunce Domenech, and fellow educators and peasant organizers who worked to eradicate illiteracy across the island remain a defining reminder of how U.S.-backed terror targeted everyday Cubans working to build a better future. Even the 1961 Playa Girón mercenary invasion, a large-scale covert aggression, left a generation of families shattered: 13-year-old Nemesia Rodríguez Montalvo watched her mother die and her young siblings wounded from U.S.-supplied shrapnel, while 176 people were killed and more than 300 wounded across the island in the fighting.

    By the time counter-revolutionary gang activity was fully suppressed in 1965, the death toll from U.S.-sponsored terror had already reached 725 people, including civilians, active-duty troops, and militiamen, with hundreds more left permanently disabled and traumatized. Beyond the killings of civilians, the U.S. campaign included widespread economic sabotage and attacks on critical infrastructure designed to destabilize the new government. In February 1960, a U.S.-tied small plane set fire to 1.5 million arrobas of sugarcane across four major mills in Camagüey, striking at the heart of Cuba’s core export economy. The 1960 sabotage of the French freighter *La Coubre* in Havana’s port remains one of the most brutal early acts of state-sponsored terror: the ship carried a legal shipment of arms purchased by Cuba from Belgian industry, and the blast killed 101 people and left hundreds injured.

    Other high-profile attacks targeting civilian infrastructure followed throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In April 1961, the country’s largest department store, El Encanto, was burned to the ground by a CIA-linked terrorist, killing salesclerk Fe del Valle Ramos and injuring 18 other workers. A month earlier, an attack on the Hermanos Díaz refinery in Santiago de Cuba killed 27-year-old on-duty sailor René Rodríguez Hernández and left 19-year-old Roberto Ramón Castro permanently disabled. In May 1961, terrorists set fire to a crowded cinema in Pinar del Río during a children’s matinee, injuring 26 children and 14 adults. By 1963, an air strike on Santa Clara killed teacher Fabric Aguilar Noriega and wounded three of his four children. A 1971 machine gun attack on the coastal town of Boca de Samá, carried out by terrorist vessels launched directly from U.S. territory, killed two civilians and wounded multiple residents. Two years later, terrorists attacked two Cuban fishing vessels in the Florida Straits, murdering fisherman Roberto Torna Mirabal and stranding his crew on rafts without food or water.

    The deadliest and most infamous of these attacks came in October 1976, when a Cuban civilian airliner was blown up in mid-flight, killing all 73 people on board—including 24 members of Cuba’s youth fencing team, who had just swept all gold medals at the Central American regional championships. Beyond attacks on civilians and infrastructure, terrorist operatives backed by the U.S. also carried out hundreds of assassination attempts against revolutionary leader Fidel Castro Ruz, totaling more than 600 plots that were all foiled by Cuban security agencies. The campaign of aggression also extended to biological warfare: in 1981, the deliberate introduction of hemorrhagic dengue fever by U.S. operatives killed 158 people, including 101 children, and required the hospitalization of more than 116,000 Cubans.

    Six decades after the first anti-revolutionary terror attacks began, the Cuban people formally marked their collective claim for justice in two landmark legal actions: a 1999 lawsuit seeking compensation for human harm caused by U.S.-sponsored terror, followed by a 2000 filing for economic damages stemming from decades of aggression. Even after 67 years, the pain of these losses remains raw for the families of the victims, who have watched as successive U.S. administrations have maintained a hostile policy that has made Cuba the longest-running primary target of American state-sponsored aggression in modern history. Today, the lawsuits stand as a permanent historical record of the heavy price Cuba has paid to defend its sovereignty and right to exist as an independent nation.

  • Craft of the Homeland

    Craft of the Homeland

    Every June 1, as the world marks International Children’s Day, a quiet, joyful scene unfolds in a local neighborhood park opposite a small elementary school in Cuba. Bathed in early morning light, the open space transforms into a living canvas, dotted with children in bright white shirts, vivid red skirts and shorts, and striking red and blue scarves. As the day stretches into afternoon, the park remains alive with laughter: whether it’s the same group of kids or new faces joining in, children fill the space with energy, chasing each other through generations-old traditional games and testing new pastimes. For generations, these community green spaces have been more than just playgrounds — they are fertile ground where childhood dreams take root, grow, and thrive alongside one another. It is impossible to imagine what this vibrant scene would become if a single, cruel stroke erased the peace that makes it possible.

    Looking back at the generations of children who grew up running across this same park grass, many now-adult Cubans carry small, quiet marks of the care their country extended to them from birth: faint vaccine scars that stand as reminders of universal public health investment. They recall fond memories of school camping trips and special holiday assemblies, and many still credit their biggest life achievements to dedicated teachers, who despite limited resources, still opened the door to lifelong knowledge and opportunity for every child.

    But this peaceful Cuban childhood stands in sharp contrast to the harsh realities faced by millions of children across conflict zones and crisis-hit regions of the world, realities Cubans only witness through news reports. In these forgotten corners of the globe, children have been forced to trade the soft weight of storybooks and plastic toys for the heavy burden of weapons. For them, accessible schools are nothing more than distant fairy tales, and functioning hospitals are mythical chimeras that do not exist in their broken communities. Where neighborhood parks should be, children wander across hot asphalt littered with rubble and the debris of missile strikes, surrounded by destruction instead of play.

    Nowhere is this injustice more acute than in Palestine, where the youngest generation has grown up believing that learning the alphabet and mastering multiplication tables is a privilege they are not allowed to have. Conflict has not spared even the most vulnerable in other regions either: in areas of Iran and Ukraine, school buildings full of young students, backpacks, and dedicated teachers have been reduced to smoldering ash and crumbling rubble. In war, no bomb falls at random: cutting off an entire generation’s future, permanently, is a deliberate, calculated military strategy.

    Even in wealthy, stable nations like the United States, childhood safety cannot be taken for granted. American media is flooded with repeated stories of children who leave for school in the morning, and never come home alive — gunned down by heartless attackers in school shootings that steal the lives of promising young students before they have a chance to build their futures. And on the U.S. southern border, another child rights crisis plays out: thousands of children separated from their parents by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement make headlines regularly, the bitter, harmful legacy of harsh deportation and immigration policies inflicting lasting trauma on vulnerable young people.

    Against this global backdrop, the simple, peaceful joy of the local Cuban park takes on deeper meaning. Even with all its imperfections, the park offers safety: a pregnant woman can sit calmly on a bench waiting for her prenatal appointment, and parents can drop their children off at the adjacent school knowing they will return home safe and alive at the end of the day. On this International Children’s Day, the quiet hum of playful laughter in this neighborhood park sends a clear message: even when weariness and hardship weigh on communities, there is no more important global duty than protecting children — our shared global future — for every child, no matter where they are born.

  • Raúl Castro Ruz: Coherence made words

    Raúl Castro Ruz: Coherence made words

    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.