Havana, Cuba.- The participation and popular joy was evident today in different parts of the country in celebration of International Workers’ Day, which was attended by Army General Raul Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, and Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic.

Meeting on Havana’s Malecon, residents from five municipalities of the capital city attended the event full of flags, posters and laughter, along with the awakened eyes of many who waited for the arrival of the appointed date.

In spite of the atypicality of the occasion, since in view of the fuel contingency the parade did not take place in its customary location of the Revolution Square and the behavior of the meteorological variables in several territories caused the postponement of the commemoration, the main event constituted an authentic demonstration of reaffirmation and of the majority support of Cubans to the socialist process.

In line with this dynamic, squares and parks throughout the national territory served as open tribunes to denounce the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States, the main obstacle to the realization of the development programs conceived by the revolutionary project.

The workers’ festival in Cuba is not an event exclusive to the inhabitants of the island, but every year it is enriched with the presence of solidarity friends from other latitudes as in the case of Sofia Shapiro and Luis Malik, members of the Hands off Cuba Committee from the city of Los Angeles, United States.

Both told the Cuban News Agency how they were able to appreciate the impact of the sanctions and pressures imposed by their country on the most basic aspects of the lives of the people of the Caribbean nation and how the experience commits them to continue in their demands for the cessation of the criminal policy and to help more of their compatriots to know the reality of the Cubans.

In the United States, as citizens’ rights and labor guarantees deteriorate, the groups of activists fighting the blockade and imperialism are growing, so with more organization and political education there are possibilities of making solidarity felt there and demanding changes in the government’s behavior towards Cuba from within, they added.

From 7:00 a.m. onwards, the people participated simultaneously throughout the country in the demonstrations and events planned in the municipalities and localities, in conditions of austerity and rationality, in correspondence to the limitations with the availability of fuel in Cuba.