Cubans Rejoice for 61 years of Revolution

By Elio Delgado Legon

HAVANA TIMES – On January 1, 2020, the Cuban Revolution turns 61 years old. It hasn’t been smooth sailing. Throughout these years, the Cuban project has had to navigate a rough sea of US imperialism’s attacks, obsessed with ending a revolution that could be taken as an example by other Latin American countries.

A lot has been written about the methods used to try and reach this end, and they are quite well-known, but it’s important to always remind people of them so that nobody forgets and so that people who didn’t know learn the truth.

Ever since the beginning, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) hasn’t skimped on efforts or money to try and make the Cuban people abort their revolutionary process. It armed and funded every counter-revolutionary it could recruit among the Battista dictatorship’s former militarymen, civilian collaborators of the overthrown regime, some people affected by the first revolutionary laws and many others who didn’t know why they opposed a revolution, which was heading towards Communism according to Imperialism’s propaganda.

Thousands of armed insurgents received ammunition and supplies, as well as money, from the US government via the CIA. They committed all kinds of atrocities such as the murder of farmers, teachers, young literacy teachers, while they sabotaged the national economy.

At the same time, they trained and armed a contingent of mercenaries so they could disembark on the Cuban coast, with the plan of taking a bit of land and deploying a puppet government that would ask for US military intervention.

However, those plans failed when they were neutralized and beaten by the revolutionary forces, the Rebel army and a Havana police squad, in less than 72 hours, when they tried to land on Giron Beach, at the Bay of Pigs, in the south of Cuba. Everybody knows how this take-over attempt ends.

Insurgents in the mountains and countryside in every province, gradually declined and some managed to escape to the US, where they were given a hero’s welcome. After these armed actions failed, the CIA’s war against Cuba resorted to terrorism; let’s remember the Cubana aeroplane that exploded mid-flight near Barbados, with 83 people on board, bombs placed at Havana’s hotels, one of which took the life of an Italian tourist, to name a few.

In their naive belief that if they did away with Fidel Castro then the Revolution would end, over 600 attempts were made on the Revolution leader’s life, but they all failed. Some would have devastating results such as blowing up an auditorium full of students at Panama University, when meeting with Fidel.

While all of this (and so much more that I can’t fit into this article) was happening, the US government was imposing an economic, commercial and financial blockade, whose sole mission is to cause shortages, hunger, disease and desperation amongst the Cuban people so as to overthrow the revolutionary government and then intervene and establish a new US-capitalist backed government in the country.

However, this plan also failed and former US president Barack Obama admitted this when he reestablished diplomatic relations with Cuba.

The rapprochement process came to a standstill when Donald Trump’s government came into power, which has tightened the blockade and made it harsher than ever before. Persecution of Cuba’s financial and commercial operations is relentless.

This year, they have even gone so far as persecuting oil tanker ships traveling to Cuba, in an attempt to leave us without fuel and paralyze the country. These are desperate measures, the result of so many failed attempts in the past, but the Cuban Revolution will celebrate 61 years with great rejoicing and celebrations in every corner of the country. We have orchestras and bands to play over the entire country and to get every Cuban up dancing on their feet, thus proving that even though they tried to kill us and our spirits this year, we are very much alive and kicking.