“Socialism or Death!”: KNE-Odigitis Festival honors Fidel Castro, reaffirms solidarity with socialist Cuba

The revolutionary legacy of Fidel Castro and the struggle to defend socialist Cuba against US imperialist aggression were at the centre of a major political discussion held during the 52nd KNE-Odigitis Festival, organized by the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) in Athens.

The event, marking the centenary of Fidel Castro’s birth, brought together a large audience to discuss the historical significance of the Cuban Revolution, proletarian internationalism and the challenges facing Cuba amid Washington’s escalating economic pressure and imperialist threats.

 

Fidel Castro's position on Perestroika and the Counterrevolution in the USSR

Intervention by Eliseos Vagenas, member of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and head of the Party's International Relations Section, at the 1st International Colloquium “Fidel: Legacy and Future”, which took place in Havana from 10 to 13 August.  Translated from Rizospastis (here in Greek): 

"We thank the organizers for the invitation to participate in the 1st International Symposium “Fidel: Legacy and Future.” From this platform as well, we wish to express the profound solidarity of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), and of all communists in Greece, with the heroic people of Cuba, who for decades have been in the crosshairs of U.S. imperialism.

Fidel Castro at 100: History Has Absolved Him!

By Nikos Mottas 

“Socialism is and will be the hope, the only hope, the only path for the peoples, the oppressed, the exploited, the plundered. Socialism is the only alternative"  — Fidel Castro Ruz

A century after the birth of Fidel Castro Ruz, on 13 August 1926, the hatred directed against him has hardly diminished. Nearly ten years after his death, the same vocabulary is repeated with remarkable persistence: “dictator,” “tyrant,” “totalitarian.” Fidel is vilified, the Cuban Revolution is slandered, its achievements are denied or reduced to inconvenient footnotes, while the Cuba that existed before January 1959 is carefully pushed out of sight.

KKE highlights Fidel Castro's revolutionary and internationalist legacy at Havana Colloquium

The First International Colloquium “Fidel: Legacy and Future” is underway in Havana, bringing together around 1,500 participants from across the world in the run-up to the centenary of the birth of Fidel Castro Ruz on August 13. 

 

The four-day gathering, held from August 10 to 13 at Havana’s Convention Palace, is devoted not simply to commemorating the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, but to examining the continuing relevance of his revolutionary thought and action in the struggles against imperialism, exploitation and capitalist barbarism.

 

Miguel Díaz-Canel at the 24th IMCWP: “Socialism remains the only realistic and humane alternative to capitalist barbarism”

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel delivered a forceful closing address to the 24th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties (IMCWP) in Havana, denouncing the deepening crisis of capitalism, the resurgence of fascism, the U.S. economic war against Cuba and the urgent tasks facing the international communist movement.

Speaking in the context of the centenary of Fidel Castro’s birth, Díaz-Canel described Cuba as an “island of dignity and historical resistance” against imperialism and fascism, warning that humanity is passing through one of its most uncertain and dangerous periods in decades.

 

Communist and Workers' Parties from across the world gather in Havana for the 24th IMCWP

The 24th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties (IMCWP) begins today, 7 August, in Havana, bringing together communist and workers’ parties from around the world at a particularly difficult moment for Cuba and the international communist movement.

Hosted by the Communist Party of Cuba, the meeting will continue through 9 August under the theme: “We defend and honor the legacy of the Cuban Revolution on the centenary of Fidel Castro; we deepen our solidarity with socialist Cuba; we strengthen our joint actions and unite our forces for peace and against imperialist aggression”.

KKE marks Fidel Castro's centenary with mass rally in support of Cuba

A massive political rally organized by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in the western Athens district of Peristeri sent a clear internationalist message on Monday evening: "Hands off Cuba! Cuba is not alone."

The event, organized by the KKE's Attica Party Organization under the slogan "100 Years Since the Birth of Fidel Castro – We Strengthen Solidarity with Cuba for a World Without Wars and Exploitation, for Socialism", gathered large numbers of workers, youth and supporters who filled the square in front of Peristeri City Hall.

15 Times Fidel Castro Blasted U.S Imperialism

By Nikos Mottas 

When U.S President Donald Trump openly threatens Cuba and Latin America—reviving the language of siege, punishment, and imperial entitlement—he is not improvising. He is speaking the native tongue of U.S. imperialism. What appears today as vulgar bravado is, in fact, the unfiltered expression of a system that has always treated the region as a backyard, its peoples as expendable, and sovereignty as a privilege granted only to obedient regimes.

Speech by Nikos Mottas on the commemoration of the ninth death anniversary of Fidel Castro

Speech (here in Greek) by Nikos Mottas at the event commemorating the ninth death anniversary of Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz, at Studio New Star Art Cinema, Athens, Greece, 27 November 2025: 

"Ladies and gentlemen,

there is something I believe we must clarify from the very beginning: today we are not holding a political memorial. We have not gathered to nostalgically recall revolutionary glory of the past, nor to praise history as a harmless icon placed on a shelf. We are here to draw strength — and to extract conclusions — from an example that is more relevant than ever. To look at the world as it is — and as it can become, based on what history has already proven possible. 

Fidel Castro's Greatest Speech at the United Nations General Assembly in 1979: "I speak on behalf of the..."

Read below the extraordinary address by Comandante Fidel Castro, President of Cuba and President of the Non-Aligned Movement, at the 34th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York City, on 12 October 1979:

"Very esteemed Mr. President; Distinguished Representatives of the world community:

I have not come to speak about Cuba. I do not come into the heart of this Assembly to air a denunciation about the aggressions our small but dignified country has suffered for 20 years. Nor do I come with unnecessary adjectives to wound our powerful neighbors here in their own house.

What should we do on Fidel Castro's centenary?

By Sissi Abay Díaz*

On August 13, 2026, it will be a century since the birth of an indispensable man for the history of his country. Heir to the most genuine of revolutionary thought, promoter of socialist society and undisputedly responsible for a small Island, 90 miles from the United States, to have managed to build a society different from the stigmas established for the so-called Third World nations.

We will celebrate his life and main legacy: example. We will return to Fidel with poems, songs and tributes. We will fill public spaces and media with images and activities. But will it be enough? 

Mexico: Mayor of Cuauhtémoc orders the removal of the statues of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara

Supporters of PCM at Fidel and Che's sculptures

In a completely unjustifiable decision, the mayor of Cuauhtémoc Municipality in Mexico City, ordered the removal of the sculptures of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara which had been placed in 2017 in Tabacalera gardens as a reminder of their first meeting in 1955.

In a report, the official gazette of the Communist Party of Mexico (PCM) "El Machete", stresses out that the argument put forward by Mayor Alessandra Rojo de la Vega was the lack of formal permits for its placement, despite the fact that the work had been there for several years and was recognized by residents and passersby. 

Fidel Castro and the concept of Revolution, a look 25 years later

Today marks the first quarter of a century of the concept of Revolution outlined by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz. Perhaps no other of his definitions took such a historical dimension as the one pronounced in the Revolution Square, on May 1st, 2000; in the words of Army General Raul Castro Ruz: "the quintessence of the political-ideological work".

But what makes this conceptualization so transcendent?

Mijaín Lopez: The Cuban hero of the Paris Olympics who loves Fidel Castro

By Nikos Mottas

The hero of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games isn't Tom Cruise, Armand Duplantis or Novak Djokovic. The hero is Cuban and his name is Mijaín Lopez.  

The son of Leonor and Bartolo, went beyond all possible limits. If any human work comes close to perfection, it is the one he has just closed here, with his fifth consecutive gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling. Wrestling has remained, with Mijaín, in the golden paradise of the five rings since 1992, when Héctor Milián won the gold medal in Barcelona. Since then, he has never failed to reach the top of the podium in any edition.

KKE and the Communist Party of Cuba reaffirm strong fraternal relations during Koutsoumbas' visit in Havana

The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) reaffirmed their strong, fraternal relations during a meeting in Havana, within the framework of the visit paid by KKE General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas on the island. 

More specifically, as Granma reported,  the member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party, Roberto Morales Ojeda, received on Saturday 13/7 Koutsoumbas and the delegation accompanying him.

Seven years without Comandante Fidel Castro

Today, 25 November, marks the 7th anniversary since the death of Comandante en Jefe, Fidel Castro Ruz.

🇨🇺 Seven years without #Fidel, the communist leader who embodied the revolutionary consciousness of a whole nation. His name will live on through the centuries, reminding the world's oppressed that they can break the shackles of exploitation #FidelPorSiempre! — Nikos Mottas pic.twitter.com/LeYaxChx4e

— In Defense of Communism © (@id_communism) November 25, 2023

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