Speech delivered by Roberto Morales Ojeda, member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Party, at the commemorative event for the 65th anniversary of the Victory at Girón. Girón, Matanzas, April 19, 2026
Long live the Homeland!
Long live the Homeland!
Comrade Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic;
Comrades who honor us with your presence;
Heroic Cuban people;
Comrades: Once again, Girón calls us together. Girón was not just a battle; it was the irrevocable will of the people that Cuba would never kneel before imperial power. Here, in April 1961, the decision to be free was sealed with blood and courage, a victory that is both present and a commitment to the future.
Sixty-five years have passed since, on these very sands, mercenaries in the service of the most powerful nation in history believed they could crush the nascent Cuban Revolution in a matter of hours. They came with the misguided and doomed notion that they would find a divided people ready to surrender. They were wrong. They disregarded, just as they do today, our unequivocal conviction of independence or death.
In less than 72 hours, the invaders were defeated. The victory at Playa Girón was the perfect synthesis of two inseparable forces: a people transformed into a militia and a leader with the vision of a great strategist who knew how to embody the will to fight. Around twelve hundred aggressors were taken prisoner, almost the entire mercenary force capable of combat, not including their fatalities.
Girón was the moment when the defense of our sacred land merged with a social project and a collective identity. That extraordinary triumph constitutes a permanent declaration of national dignity, a demonstration that Cuba is prepared to respond to any aggression.
In those days of glorious epic, the unity that gave birth to the Communist Party of Cuba was sealed, and is thus symbolically recognized. As Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz stated: “We have achieved this unity through a long struggle, first and foremost in the struggle against imperialism.” This unity was forged in the struggle, and especially in those days at Playa Girón.
Later, on another occasion, referring to the essence of that combative unity, he would affirm: “The Party was not born from a Congress; it was born from revolutionary practice, it was born from the struggle, and it was forged in battles like that of Girón.”
From the beginning of the Revolution, the transformations undertaken have underpinned a policy of justice and constant concern for the people’s problems. In the months leading up to the invasion, for the first time, land was transferred to its rightful owners with the Agrarian Reform Law. Health became a right for all, and the Literacy Campaign, the most significant cultural achievement in revolutionary history, was underway, among other accomplishments.
All of this work, taken together, unleashed the hatred of imperialism, which had spent months, even years, studying how to destroy the dangerous example that this nation represented for its interests. They cut off our credit lines, closed the doors to the source from which the country imported oil, deprived us of our sugar quota, imposed a fierce economic blockade, organized sabotage, acts of piracy, counterrevolutionary groups, and tried to assassinate the leaders of the Revolution on numerous occasions. They tried everything, and everything failed.
Comrades:
The current circumstances of our daily lives are harsh. We know this. We face economic difficulties, enormous challenges, supply shortages, and material limitations, the vast majority of which are a consequence of the blockade. But we do not surrender to these challenges, however insurmountable they may seem to some; The Revolution does not collapse, nor will it ever collapse.
We, more than fifty thousand Cubans, reaffirmed this at the patriotic event on April 16th, commemorating the 65th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Revolution, where a national and international movement was called for to carry the truth about Cuba to every corner of the planet.
We know that the enemy does not abandon its sinister plans. The economic, commercial, and financial blockade has intensified, now transformed into an inhumane energy siege that seeks to suffocate us. Media campaigns, disinformation, diplomatic pressure, threats, sanctions—this entire arsenal is being used against us today with the same ferocity and the same frustration as more than six decades ago.
Now as then, unity and steadfastness are the pillars that cannot be weakened. The urgency of vindicating Cuba and reinforcing the convictions we defend is clearer than ever. This is the essence captured in the Declaration of the Revolutionary Government, “Girón is today and forever,” published in the Granma newspaper this Friday, in support of the words of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
And this is also the collective sentiment of rejection of the threats and defense of our sovereignty that has been made unequivocally evident in the appeal made by Cuban revolutionary civil society organizations, which, together with the Cuban Association of the United Nations, have raised their voices so that solidarity, the sense of justice, and Cuba’s reasons may spread throughout the world.
With the legacy of the Bay of Pigs combatants in mind, we call upon you, starting today and continuing in the coming days, to add your signatures in support of this petition. This will be an unequivocal demonstration of our rejection of the genocide that the blockade represents and an expression of our people’s profound desire to build a prosperous future and live in peace.
“My signature for the homeland,” as this democratic, revolutionary, and legitimate act has been called, is also a commitment to the Cubans who fell in defense of independence, sovereignty, and socialism on these very shores.
We remain steadfast in our struggle. In this centennial year of the birth of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, we reaffirm that the Revolution is not negotiable. As the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, stated at the funeral honors for the heroic combatants who fell in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: “Here we are, not one, but millions of continuers of the work of Fidel, Raúl, and their heroic generation. They would have to kidnap millions or wipe us off the map, and even then, the ghost of this small archipelago, which they had to pulverize because they could not subdue it, would haunt them forever.”
Today we remember the fallen, those compatriots, many of them very young, who gave their lives in defense of the Revolution and socialism, which is to say, in defense of the homeland. Their sacrifice has not been in vain, for as Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, stated on May 1, 1961: “Because of this victory won with the blood of the people and of heroes, the sovereignty of the homeland, the independence and freedom of the homeland remain unscathed, higher and stronger.”
We also remember the innocent victims who suffered the fury of the invader firsthand. Today we are joined by Nemesia, who lived through the nightmare; her dreams, her first and longed-for little white shoes, symbols of a dignified life that was just beginning, were shattered by enemy shrapnel. Such is the terrible nature of hatred and violence when aggression is the only option against those who refuse to surrender. This is the meaning of the war we do not want, but which, should it occur, we will face with the unwavering conviction of a people transformed into a vast hornet’s nest against the aggressor.
We reaffirm our commitment to continue the work that has always defined the Cuban Revolution and which is still evident here today, as the mayor and the teacher expressed, a place that was completely forgotten for many years, mired in the most terrible poverty during the bourgeois governments. Let us remember that Fidel came here to share his meal with the charcoal makers in December 1959. This work endures despite the challenges we face today: the educational network, the essential health services, which are reflected in the zero infant and maternal mortality rates. Furthermore, other vital services have been supported by the installation of renewable energy sources as part of an effort to bring this support to all municipalities in the country.
We are grateful for the immense solidarity of our sister nations that have not abandoned us. Know that Cuba resists and does not surrender. We carry with us the dignified embrace of all those in the world who understand the meaning of sovereignty and are convinced that whoever rises up with Cuba today rises up for all time, as José Martí said. Cuba is not alone. This has been demonstrated by those who recently arrived as part of the Nuestra América convoy, the international solidarity movements that express their support for the cause of our Revolution, and the attendees of the 5th International Colloquium Patria, whose international delegates we have represented here, to whom we say once again: Thank you!
Compatriots: Girón was not just another battle, as Fidel stated. “It was the first great defeat of imperialism in America, and that made it a symbol.”
Girón is also today, because victory is built every day in the defense of the Homeland, in the effort to overcome the complex electricity situation, working to increase renewable energy sources, in food production, raising the quality of services, and confronting speculative prices, indiscipline, illegalities, and manifestations of corruption.
Today’s battle is to overcome difficulties, for the gradual recovery of the economy, and for the improvement of Cuban socialism. And that battle, like the Bay of Pigs, we will win with unity, awareness, creativity, and hard work.
Cuba wants peace and promotes peace, but it knows no fear. I repeat: Cuba wants peace and promotes peace, but it knows no fear!
We will not hesitate to risk our lives and sacrifice them if necessary for the Homeland, the dignity we have won, sovereignty, independence, and socialism.
The nascent Revolution that the imperialists tried to annihilate in 1961 did not advocate war nor was it a threat to the American people. Even so, it was attacked, it defended itself, and it triumphed.
Today, the solid and humanist Revolution is also not a threat to the American nation nor does it want war, but just as then, we will know how to defend ourselves, convinced that we will also triumph. Faced with any aggression, as at the Bay of Pigs, we will prevail!
Long live Fidel!
Long live Raúl!
Long live the Cuban Revolution! ¡Viva la Revolución Cubana!
¡Viva Cuba libre! Long live free Cuba!
¡Socialismo o Muerte! Socialism or Death!
¡Patria o Muerte! Homeland or Death!
¡Venceremos! We will overcome!
