Harry Belafonte on Cuba and Fidel Castro

Harry Belafonte, the renowned African-American singer, actor and civil rights activist who died yesterday aged 96, was a friend of socialist Cuba and enjoyed a close relationship with Comandante Fidel Castro. Some interesting aspects of this long-time relationship are described in his autobiography titled "My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonte", pages 356-366:

"I disagreed with almost every tenet of U.S. foreign policy, from the Cold War freeze on any relations with Iron Curtain countries, to Vietnam and its aftermath, to the backing of right-wing tyrants through Africa and Latin America. But I felt a special frustration with America's stance toward an island close to home: not Grenada, but Cuba. 

Fidel Castro's interview with Barbara Walters, 1977

On May 1977, the legendary leader of Socialist Cuba, Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, gave an interview to ABC's reporter Barbara Walters (1929-2022). It was Fidel's first interview to U.S. television since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Below you can read the full transcript of the interview, accompanied by a video: 

When will your country and my country have normal relations?

Fidel Castro statue to be unveiled in Moscow

A bronze statue dedicated to the legendary leader of the Cuban Revolution Comandante Fidel Castro is scheduled to be unveiled on Tuesday 22 November in Moscow. 

The statue, created by sculptor Alexei Chabanenko depicts Castro in his military uniform standing on a stone with the inscription "CUBA". 

The memorial will be positioned on "Fidel Castro square", near Novopeschanaya street, in northwestern Moscow and the ceremony will be attended by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel who is currently on an official visit in Russia. 

Fidel Castro — NATO’s Genocidal Role

In October 2011, Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz wrote an article, divided in four parts, under the title "NATO's Genocidal Role". In his article, the emblematic Cuban leader reflects on the role of the North Atlantic imperialist alliance on the occasion of the then NATO military intervention in Libya. 

Read Fidel Castro's full article below:

NATO's Genocidal Role

63rd Anniversary of the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution

By Nikos Mottas

The Cuban Revolution inspired and continues to inspire the workers-people's struggles in all over the world, proving the vitality of the Marxist-Leninist worldview and the significance of proletarian internationalism. Figures such as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, Vilma Espin, Fran Pais and others became eternal symbols of the revolutionary working class movement throughout the world.

Under the leadership of Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz and with the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union and other socialist states, Cuba achieved a number of extraordinary – unprecedented in Latin America - achievements in sectors such as Health, Education, Womens' Rights, Culture, Sports, etc. 

Cuba: "Fidel Castro Ruz" Center inaugurated in Havana

On Thursday November 25, precisely five years after the physical departure of the Comandante en Jefe of the Cuban Revolution, the Fidel Castro Ruz Center was inaugurated on a night described by Army General Raul Castro Ruz as the most moving performance he had ever seen.

“I am still excited and, I confess one thing, I have cried like everyone here,” said Army General Raul Castro Ruz to the children of the La Colmenita theatre group who, on the evening of November 25, precisely five years after the physical departure of Cuba’s Comandante en Jefe, had the great responsibility of inaugurating the Fidel Castro Ruz Center.

Fidel Castro — Why we don’t need more than one party

Excerpts from speech delivered by Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, July 26, 1988: 

There is one very essential idea, and that is never to forget where we are situated, which is not in the Black Sea, but in the Caribbean, not 90 miles from Odessa, but 90 miles from Miami, with a border on our own land, in an occupied part of our territory, with imperialism. Our people are in charge in our country; and our Party is responsible for its policy, its line, its defense.

62nd anniversary of the Cuban Revolution - Somos Continuidad!

By Nikos Mottas.

Sixty-two years ago, on January 1, 1959, the rebel forces of the 26th of July Movement, led by revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, seized the capital Havana, forcing dictator Batista to flee. Hence started a long and tumultuous journey of rebuilding a nation based on the principles of socialism.

The Cuban Revolution, the first socialist revolution in the Americas, was one of the 20th century's most significant events. It became - and continues being - a reference point for the workers-people's movement in Latin America and the whole world.

Diego Maradona, the Anti-imperialist

Diego Armando Maradona, one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century and for many people the best football player of all times, died on Wednesday 25 of November at the age of 60.

Born in 1960 in Lanús, Buenos Aires, Diego was the fifth child of a poor, working class family. His father was a factory worker and the early years of young Diego were marked by extreme poverty. Over the decades, alongside his extraordinary career in football, Maradona proved to be a defender of the less privileged, a vocal supporter of Cuba and Latin American left-wing movements and an outspoken critic of U.S. imperialism. 

Nobel Peace Prize 2021 to Cuban doctors: Joint statement by Greek and Turkish friends of Cuba

While the bourgeois classes of Turkey and Greece, alongside their imperialist "allies" U.S-NATO-EU, have turned East Mediterranean into a region of continuous conflict for the interests of their monopolies, the friends and supporters of Cuba in both sides of the Aegean Sea send a message of solidarity and co-operation. 

In a joint statement, on the occasion of Fidel Castro's 94th birth anniversary on August 13th, the Greek Team for the Nobel Peace Prize to Cuban Doctors and the Jose Marti Cuba-Turkey Friendship Association point out that the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize must be awarded to the "Henry Reeve" Medical Brigade for its long-time internationalist activity as well as during its significant contribution to the fight against the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. 

Fidel Castro: "Doctors, not bombs"

During this difficult situation of COVID-19 pandemic, with Cuba being once again a champion of internationalist solidarity, we remember the words of an extraordinary revolutionary, an exemplary communist, leader and man, Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz. 

Excerpts from Fidel’s 2003 speech given at the Law School of the University of Buenos Aires: 

"Since I am an optimist, I think this world can be saved, in spite of the mistakes made, in spite of the immense, hegemonic powers that have been created, because I believe ideas prevail over force...

Remembering Fidel Castro: "The use of nuclear weapons would mean the end of humanity"

Today, when the United States' imperialist aggression against Iran has escalated tensions in the Middle East thus increasing the dangers of a generalized conflict, the words of Fidel Castro Ruz have extaordinarily relevance.

In a message back in 2010, the unforgettable leader of the Cuban Revolution, Comandante en jefe Fidel Castro, was warning us about the grave dangers of a nuclear war:

D. Koutsoumbas: "Solidarity to the heroic people of Cuba who fight to defend their homeland"

Three years have passed since the death of Fidel Castro on November 25, 2016. On this occasion, the memory and political legacy of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution was honored on Saturday afternoon, during an event organized by "New Star cinema" in Athens, Greece.

Speeches about the life and polical activity of Fidel were delivered by the Ambassador of Cuba in Greece Zelmys Maria Dominguez Cortina and the Professor of Contemporary History at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Giorgos Margaritis. 

Two years without Fidel: Cuban people and leadership paid tribute to Comandante

In an event organized at the famous stairway of the University of Havana on Saturday 24 November, thousands of Cubans of every age, mainly young students, paid tribute to Comandante en Jeffe Fidel Castro Ruz, on the second anniversary of his physical dissapearance. 

Alongside with the President of the Councils of State and Ministers Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez -as well as other leaders of the Party, the State, the Government, the Union of Young Communists, the formative organisms, the student organizations and the youth movements- hundreds of thousands of university students gathered in order to ratify the path laid out by the undisputed leader of the Cuban Revolution.

Cuba's new Constitution ratifies the leading role of the Communist Party as the nation's organized vanguard

Τhe draft of the new Constitution ratifies the leading role of Cuba's Communist Party as a fundamental pillar of unity and of the political, economic and social order.

In its article 5, the document submitted from August 13 to November 15 to a popular consultation establishes that 'The Communist Party of Cuba, unique, based on Marti's ideas, loyalist and Marxist-Leninist, organized vanguard of the Cuban nation, based on its democratic character and permanent link with the people, is the highest leading force of society and the State'.

Remembering Fidel Castro Ruz - Quotes on Capitalism

On the occasion of the 92nd birth anniversary of Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz, we remember some of his wise and always interesting quotes on Capitalism, during speeches and interviews between 1989 and 1993: 

"The worker in a socialist system knows why he is working. He is not working just for himself. He is working for his fatherland, society, all the people, his children, the people he most loves, his parents and grandparents, if they are still living. He is working so that his grandparents can also receive medical attention, or have a place to go if they cannot be left alone or if there is no one to tend to them. He is working so that his grandparents can receive a pension so that no one is forgotten. In socialism, a man worksfor himself, his family, and many other things. He is not the worker from the capitalist system. The worker in the capitalist system has no other alternative but to work for money. How can a man be treated like that in socialism?"

Cuba: 65 years since the attack on Moncada Barracks in Santiago

Today is the 65th anniversary of the attack of the July 26th Movement, led by Fidel Castro, against the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Garrions in Santiago de Cuba. Click on  the link to read the historic defense speech "La Historia Me Absolvera" of Fidel during his trial on October 1953.

The following article is an interesting chronicle of the events, published in Cuba's leading newspaper, Granma. 

On July 26, 1953, the assault on the Moncada Garrison in Santiago opened a new stage in Cuba’s national liberation struggle, which concluded with the triumph of the Revolution January 1, 1959.

One gusano less: CIA-trained terrorist Luis Posada Carriles dies at 91

The most infamous terrorist in the Western Hemisphere, Luis Posada Carriles, died on May 23 in Miami, without paying his debts to justice or reparations to a single one of his victims.

The United States protected Posada Carriles until his final days, training him to plant bombs and carry out terrorist attacks against hundreds of Cubans.

According to a press statement by his lawyer, Posada Carriles died on the morning of May 23, at his Miramar home in South Florida. Although the cause of his death is still unknown, he was reported to be suffering from throat cancer.

Miguel Díaz-Canel: The Revolution doesn't end with guerrillas - We shall continue

On the morning of April 19, a historic date on which not only is the first defeat of Yankee imperialism in the Americas commemorated, but Cuba also sees the inauguration of a new government that makes evident the continuity of the new generations with the legacy of the historic generation that founded the Cuban Revolution in the highest leadership positions of the country, compañero Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, offered his first speech as President of the Councils of State and of Ministers of Cuba.

He began by recognizing the leadership of Army General Raúl Castro, the candidate for deputy to have received the most votes in the recent general elections; as well as the Comandantes of the Revolution, “who on being in this room offer us the opportunity to embrace history,” he noted.

He also referred to the “dark attempts to destroy us” of those who have not been able to destroy “our faith.”

Raúl Castro Ruz: "Eternal gratitude to the people of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam"

Speech by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Party Central Committee and President of the Councils of State and Ministers, upon receiving the Gold Star Order of Vietnam, at the Palace of the Revolution, March 29, 2018, “Year 60 of the Revolution”

COMPAÑERO Nguyen Phu Trong, Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam;

Distinguished members of the Vietnamese delegation;