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| Volume 56 Number 23, August 1, 2026 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
Radio Habana Cuba - July 27, 2026
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel in Pinar del
Río
"Dear people of Pinar del Río, on this July 26, please accept my affection and recognition for having earned, through your effort, dedication to the revolutionary cause, and creative work, the great honour of hosting the central commemoration of the 73rd anniversary of the attacks on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, National Rebellion Day. A warm embrace to all, Raúl Castro Ruz."
With this heartfelt message from the Leader of the Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, began his speech at the National Commemoration of July 26.
The Cuban president emphasised that "Cuba is waging a historic battle today, a new Moncada", and recalled Fidel Castro's words when he described the Moncada attack as the small engine that later powered the great engine that is the Revolution.
Díaz-Canel insisted that today Cubans are fighting "fiercely and stubbornly for our sovereignty and our right to freely choose how to govern ourselves, with the same passion with which José Martí set out to achieve complete justice".
In his remarks, he recalled the example of Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, who remained true to his ideals until the very last moment of his life.
Once again, the President referred to the displays of everyday heroism, among which he highlighted the results of the Maternal and Child Health Programme in Pinar del Río, with 4.8 live births per 1,000 live births and zero maternal deaths, "amid blackouts and shortages of all kinds". He also acknowledged other elements that were essential to the results the province boasts today, such as food production, tobacco production, and the food industry supply chains.
He also highlighted the work in science and innovation, cultural development, and heritage protection. The province also has a work system that has fostered greater engagement with communities. "Congratulations to Pinar del Río for its heroism and achievements," the President said. He also commended Matanzas and Villa Clara, outstanding provinces, and recognised the achievements of Guantánamo and Sancti Spíritus.
Díaz-Canel reflected that the historical adversaries of the Cuban nation "launch a threat against the Revolution every day, and every week announce a new punishment for Cuban companies and officials, even for those, whether Cuban or foreign, who dare to send an oil tanker or invest in Cuba". He especially condemned as infamous the arguments for the sanctions targeting Cuban Public Health entities and officials.
"They have declared a world war against the left and against Cuba, as the capital of Communism in the 21st century," the President said, adding that they are not only criminalising protest, but also opportunistically seeking a new excuse to justify their genocidal policy against Cuba, which the world condemns. "Let Cuba live in peace," he affirmed, adding that "Cuba is not a threat to the United States, nor to any other country on earth."
He also spoke of the merits of our island in terms of international solidarity, highlighting that, despite the difficulties, Cuban universities have graduated more than 30,000 professionals, more than 300 of whom come from other countries. He emphasised that, among them, 23 were Palestinian doctors and five were Americans. "Is this what they call terrorism? Is this what they call a threat?" he questioned.
"The only threat to security in the region, the true and real threat to world peace and to human life, is the policy of aggression that causes famine, impoverishment, disorderly migrations, chaos, instability, and tens of thousands of deaths worldwide," he stated.
The President firmly declared: "From this platform, I denounce that Cuba is the victim of a coldly calculated genocide. The United States government has consciously designed and implemented a policy of maximum economic strangulation against the Cuban people. It has intensified its six-decade-long blockade policy, imposing an energy and financial embargo, causing a profound crisis in the electrical power system that results in blackouts lasting more than a day, the paralysis of industries, and the impact on tens of thousands of workers."
He also denounced statistics that reveal the suffering of Cuban families, such as deaths due to a lack of medicines that were always free in the country; more than 100,000 surgeries that cannot be performed because hospitals cannot be protected from unexpected power outages during the already frequent failures of the National Electric System (SEN) and due to the lack of fuel for backup power plants. More than 118,000 cancer patients, including 1,200 children, are unable to receive first-line treatments and are forced to resort to second- and third-line alternatives. "And what is just as, or even more, painful, the infant mortality rate has risen to 9.3 per 1,000 live births, compared to 4.5 in previous years. Those numbers include the faces of children who never saw life as a consequence of the blockade," he said, adding that it is illegal and criminal to torture a people simply to provoke them to rebel against their government.
"The blockade is a weapon of war and causes deaths," he stated, adding that the blockade only works because of the complicity of those who fear Washington's power more than the judgment of history. "This is a new call to the conscience of the world: do not become complicit in another genocide."
"Before it was Gaza, Lebanon, Iran; today it is Cuba." "Tomorrow it could be any other nation," he said, recalling that international solidarity arrived too late for thousands of Gazans, including more than 21,000 children. He emphasised that, for this reason, solidarity with Cuba cannot wait, and therefore thanked those who risk everything to bring their solidarity to the island and the governments that voted in favour of the Cuban resolution against the blockade at the UN, despite the pressure.
Díaz-Canel said that 2026 has special significance not only for Cubans, in that "the centennial year of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, has universal resonance," he affirmed, adding that Cubans honour his memory not only with words, but also with deeds, with work, with unity, with dignity, and "with sufficient clarity and determination to implement, in the shortest possible time, the transformations that the moment and the nation demand of us".
He told young Cubans that they are the present and the future, saying, "You are the youth of Fidel's centennial; you are called to lead this moment from every neighbourhood and every corner of this island."
Towards the end of his remarks, the President said, "The call now is to action, not to wait, not to lament, not to be complacent, to think as a nation, to seek alternatives with boldness and creativity, to care for every resource as if it were the last, to produce, to substitute imports, to develop our potential, to trust in our own strength." He called on every Cuban to be a protagonist of the moment we are living through and said that "today's call is to hope".
"May each dawn find us standing ready to fight," he concluded.