68th Anniversary of attack on the Moncada Barracks

Today is a very significant date in the history of the Cuban people in their struggle to throw off the yoke of colonial and imperialist domination. A date which heralded the start of the Cuban Revolutionary period leading to the overthrow of the Batista dictatorship and the assertion of the independence and sovereignty of the Cuban people after centuries of domination, occupation, repression and subjugation.

The Cuban Revolution signalled the dawn of a new stage in the revolutionary transformation of the economic, social, political, cultural and moral life of the Cuban nation. It firmly placed all power in the hands of the revolutionary class, the Cuban working class.

The impact of the Cuban Revolution continues to reverberate down the decades. It still strikes fear into the hearts of the Latin American ruling classes and their imperial puppet masters, the United States and its imperialist allies.

The intervening 68 years has judged the impact of the Moncada attack to have been a transforming act, inspiring and lifting the peoples spirits. History has judged Fidel Castro and his comrades to have been correct. Six decades on, Cuba stand out as a proud sovereign and independent nation. A nation that has been transformed and is a beacon of hope, a beacon of justice. A nation with a deep rich democratic culture.

A nation that has sacrificed its daughters and sons in the struggle to liberate humanity from the scourge of colonial and imperialist domination. It has sent its daughters and sons to work with the sick and oppressed leading by example. Bringing medical assistance to tens of millions of the poor and the oppressed across the planet and even into the heart of the most developed capitalist countries.

Today to we Irish communists, along with tens of millions of people around the world stand alongside the Cuban people to celebrate the 68th anniversary of Moncada. We celebrate and laud your achievements. To the Cuban people we say you are not alone.

A delegation from the CPI visited the Cuban Embassy today (Monday 26th July) to show our solidarity and friendship with the Cuban people and the Cuban Revolution.