Havana, Cuba.- The Latin Americanist and unity legacy from the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro (1926-2016), was present today in the parade on the International Workers’ Day held in this capital.
The slogan ‘I am Fidel’ and posters with his photo were borne by participants in the mass mobilization that gathered about 900,000 people in Havana and more than 1,400 guests from 66 countries.
Participants evoked the leader who said onece: ‘May 1st has become (…) a preponderant and decisive factor in the political life of the country, because the working class brought about the general strike that the Rebel Army promoted, the coup de grâce to the plans to take the people to victory at the last minute, as had been done before.’
This is also a scenario to honor Fidel Castro and to ratify the firm determination to comply with the concept of Revolution he left us, the general secretary of the Cuban Workers’ Confederation (CTC), Ulises Guilarte, said.
Addressing the people gathered at Havana’s Revolution Square, Guilarte stated that trade unions will be making transcendental commemorations on May 1st, as an expression of the heroic traditions of struggle that dignify the history of Cuba.
Among these are the 165th birthday of National Hero Jose Marti, the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the wars of independence, the 65th anniversary of the attack on the Moncada and the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes barracks and the 60th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution.
Presided over by the Cuban leader Raul Castro and President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the mass mobilization also brought together activists from the 13th International May 1st Solidarity Brigade from Latin America, Europe, Asia and the United States.
During the parade on the International Workers’ Day, the Cuban labor movement reaffirmed its condemnation of the economic, commercial and financial blockade the United States has imposed on the Caribbean island for more than 50 years.
The workers also demanded the return of the territory illegally occupied by the naval base in Guantanamo, in eastern Cuba, against the will of the people and the government.
Cuban workers also ratified their solidarity with the just causes of the peoples of the world, especially the progressive governments of Venezuela and Nicaragua.