Cuba Marks 65 Years of Socialism Amid Shortages and U.S. Threats

Hundreds of Cubans gathered in Havana to mark the 65th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s declaration of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution.

Iván Domínguez Rivera, sugar industry union leader, described the event as an affirmation of national unity at a time of economic hardship and renewed threats from Washington.

Participants also condemned the U.S. government’s economic warfare, intensified in recent months by fuel restrictions that have deepened shortages across the island.

“No threat will prevent the unity of these people,” Domínguez said.

TRANSCRIPT

“The people are represented. No one comes here by force,” said Iván Domínguez Rivera, sugar workers’ leader with the Cuban Workers Central Union.

“Everyone comes for their people, for their homeland, to defend it,” Domínguez added.

“We know we are facing hardships,” the union leader said.

“Times are different now,” Domínguez explained.

“65 years have already passed,” he added.

“Today there are weapons being used against the unity of the Cuban people, especially social media,” the labor leader said.

“And from here, those of us who are no longer so young call on the youth, who are the future of this nation, to stay alert, stay in the struggle, because yes, we can lose what we have,” Domínguez stated.

“There is always a saying: ‘You only know what you have when you lose it,’” he added.

“Cuba is not a failed state,” said Miguel Díaz-Canel, President of Cuba.

“Cuba is a besieged state,” Díaz-Canel continued.

“Cuba is a state facing multidimensional aggression: economic warfare, an intensified blockade, and an energy blockade,” the Cuban president said.

“Cuba is a threatened state that does not surrender,” he added.

“And despite everything, and thanks to socialism, Cuba is a state that resists and creates and no one should doubt it, Cuba is a state that will prevail,” Díaz-Canel declared.

“The current moment is extremely challenging and calls upon us once again just as [in the Bay of Pigs], to be ready to face serious threats, including military aggression,” he said.

“We do not want it, but it is our duty to prepare ourselves to prevent it and, should it be inevitable, to win it,” the president added.

“I believe Cubans must understand that today we are in imminent danger,” said another participant at the rally.

“Today there is a madman in the White House who has shown that he does what he believes, what he wants, even when all humanity, or most of the world is against him,” the attendee said.

“We must stay alert,” the participant added.

“And I believe the Revolution is prepared for whatever comes and the Cuban people will be present wherever needed,” he continued.

“We are proving it every day,” the attendee concluded.