Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, and Miguel Díaz-Canel, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and President of the Republic, led today’s commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the first PCC Central Committee and the adoption of the organization’s current name.
Due to its importance, Radio Havana Cuba brings you an English-language translation of the full speech given by the Cuban president at the event, which took place this Friday in the Universal Hall of the FAR (Army of Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces) in Havana.
Speech given by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the constitution of the first Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and the adoption of the organization’s current name, the 60th anniversary of the reading of Che’s farewell letter, and the creation of the newspaper Granma. Universal Hall of the FAR, October 3, 2025, “Year 67 of the Revolution.”
Comrade Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution and present protagonist of the events we commemorate here today;
Dear Machado and Ramiro:
Comrades from the leadership of the Party, the State, the Government, the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, the Union of Young Communists, and the mass and social organizations of our country;
Comrades of the Historic Generation present;
Comrades:
October 3rd is a date laden with symbolism. On that day in 1965, four events of significance for the history of our Party and, therefore, for the history of the Cuban Revolution coincided in time and place. Remembering them and interpreting their significance in light of the 60 years that have passed is the reason that brings us together today. But first, I would like to share with you, in this regard, a recent experience.
One of the most gratifying moments of our recent visit to the People’s Republic of China was a tour of the impressive halls of the Museum of the History of the Chinese Communist Party, which is, in reality, the history of that admirable nation over the past 80 years.
China’s remarkable prosperity, which dazzles and inspires today, is inseparable from the history of the Chinese communists’ struggle to overcome the burdens of feudalism and the widespread poverty and famine that the revolutionary leaders, led by Mao Zedong, encountered upon coming to power after 14 years of war against the Japanese invasion.
Walking through those spacious, modern halls, one understands why the museum’s name cannot be any other: the prosperity of modern China is neither magic nor a figment of the imagination. It is the triumph of the socialist ideal, tailored to Chinese characteristics, but always under the guidance of the Communist Party. Without that determination, without that central purpose, without that essential unity, the history of China would be different.
The one-party system, which is above all the Party that unites all forces interested in the well-being of the nation, has been condemned for more than a century by the enemies of socialism.
The Chinese experience, and also that of Vietnam, to cite two examples, refute the theories of our adversaries and confirm the centrality of the one-party principle in eight decades of socialist practice, particularly in the face of challenging reform and opening decisions.
Our Communist Party reaffirms this every day. Six decades of resistance to the cruel onslaught of a blockade, now intensified in its quest to completely suffocate the Cuban socialist system, cannot be explained without the existence of the one-party system that was born from the unity of the political forces that made the Revolution.
Furthermore, our Party has a history strongly linked to independence and anti-imperialism from its origins. Last August, along with the moving commemoration of the birth of our Commander in Chief, we celebrated the centennial of the first Communist Party founded by, among others, Carlos Baliño, who came from the Cuban Revolutionary Party, founded by José Martí to guide the Necessary War and establish a Republic “With all and for the good of all.” That first Communist Party of Cuba, whose most brilliant founders included the very Martí-inspired and radical anti-imperialist Julio Antonio Mella, is the precursor to the Communist Party that guides and convenes us today, which acquired its current and definitive name, Communist, on October 3, 1965.
That the revolutionary and progressive forces of a society that had just emerged from six decades of colonial dependence, which included permanent subjection to a deep and widespread anti-communist campaign, decided to integrate into a single political organization defined as communist is, without question, an extraordinary historical event.
From those formidable roots and the unity built step by step by Fidel, emerged, together with the Party of Revolutionary Unity, the first Central Committee of our Communist Party of Cuba.
This date, therefore, marks a second fundamental event in the consolidation of the unity of the forces that made the Revolution and united to achieve victory.
The election of the Central Committee was the culmination of a process of integration that began in 1961 with the formation of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI), with the July 26th Movement, the Popular Socialist Party, and the March 13th Revolutionary Directorate, which would immediately give way to the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba, known as PURSC.
That first Central Committee had a unique and deeply significant composition. According to Fidel, on that memorable day, an effort was made to elect those who most fully represented the history of our Revolution and the merits of its children, those who, both in the struggle for the Revolution and for its consolidation, defense, and development, worked and fought tenaciously and tirelessly.
It was composed of women and men from all walks of life: workers, peasants, intellectuals, youth, and veterans of the struggle, who shared a common purpose: to build a free, democratic, and socialist homeland. This diversity did not dissolve unity, but rather strengthened the Party and confirmed that there is strength in unity.
Its constitution consolidated the Party’s organizational structure by establishing grassroots bodies, agencies, and organizations throughout the nation and within the revolutionary armed forces.
The essence of that historic Central Committee is the same that informs its members today: absolute commitment to the people and to the socialist cause and to progressive forces, regardless of borders and the circumstances and conditions of each historical moment.
On that October 3rd, in a true crucible of talent, dedication, and loyalty, comrades united, bearers of the voice and sentiment of the entire people. Together, they formed the highest symbol of revolutionary unity, not only as a political act, but as an ethical and moral decision that still inspires through dedication and example.
We will always remember October 3, 1965, because it was a day filled with other symbols that have not lost their relevance, such as the creation of the newspaper Granma, the official organ of the Cuban Communist Party, named after the yacht that brought the 82 expeditionaries from Tuxpan to eastern Cuba, determined to be free or martyrs.
Juan Marrero, the newspaper’s founding journalist and one of the tireless defenders of the profession’s memory, recalls that day in his book Two Centuries of Journalism in Cuba:
“For the revolutionary press, 1965 was another momentous year. October 3 marked the culmination of the unification process among the main revolutionary forces that participated in the struggle against Batista’s tyranny. The Communist Party of Cuba was established, and the newspaper Granma emerged as an organ of its Central Committee […].
“Revolución and Hoy, until then the organs of the 26th of July Movement and the Popular Socialist Party, respectively, disappeared. Shortly before, Combate, the organ of the March 13 Revolutionary Directorate, had ceased publication. The human resources, machinery, and facilities were concentrated into a new and unique political newspaper that would be published every morning.
“Unite all these resources and create a new newspaper that will bear the name Granma, a symbol of our revolutionary vision and our path,” Fidel Castro would remark when making the announcement. Granma has been the main spokesperson for the revolution ever since […], the flagship of the Cuban press.”
In that same book, Marrero recalls Fidel’s constant presence in Granma, guiding work, writing editorials and sections himself, staying up-to-date, and engaging with executives and journalists until the early hours of the morning, as he did in his time with the newspaper La Calle.
As a truthful and solid press outlet, which has since positioned itself as a must-see for both Cubans and those interested in Cuba’s reality beyond our borders, Granma today faces a renewed challenge: to once again become the “flagship” of Cuban journalism, in a time of multimedia platforms and an intensified media war.
Let’s now talk about a momentous moment that shook and shook the country on that October 3rd. In the final minutes of his historic speech introducing the Central Committee, Fidel made Che Guevara’s farewell letter public. It was the only way to explain the absence of the exemplary combatant and minister from the list of members of the newly created Central Committee.
The solemnity of the moment, the content of the letter, and the emotions conveyed by the document itself and its reading remain, 60 years later, one of the most transcendent and moving events in revolutionary history on a continental scale.
The words of the Commander in Chief, visibly moved, as a preamble, still resonate in the memories of those who witnessed that reading: “Those who speak of revolutionaries, those who consider revolutionaries as cold men, insensitive men, or men without heart, will find in this letter the example of all the feeling, all the sensitivity, all the purity that can be contained in the soul of a revolutionary.”
After reading the historic letter, the intrigues, lies, and manipulations that the enemies of the Revolution had woven around Che’s absence from the list of those elected to the Central Committee were undone.
Thus, an atrocious defamation campaign was extinguished, very consistent with the actions of the empire’s lackeys, which has changed little or nothing to this day, when manipulation and lies reach grotesque levels, finally colliding with the solid truth and irrefutable arguments we defend.
Comrades:
The first Central Committee of the Party was like a synthesis of the best of Cuban society at that time, called to build on new foundations the sovereign, just, and supportive future.
Such was and must continue to be our Party: an inclusive, open, and united Party, capable of uniting forces from all generations, from all sectors of working and social life, and from all Cuban revolutionary thought.
But above all, it must continue to be a vanguard Party, one that honorably displays its communist, Marxist, and Leninist ideology, Fidel’s legacy, knowing that our enemies, who are the enemies of the people, will always try to muddy and weaken those convictions.
This is nothing new. Fidel already warned at that early moment we now commemorate: “The imperialists, as if they were going to offend us, or as if it were an offense, speak of the communist government of Cuba, just as they also used the word ‘mambí’ against our liberators as an offense, so they also try to use the word ‘communist’ as an offense, and the word ‘communist’ is not an offense to us, but an honor.” (Applause).
Today more than ever, it is our duty to preserve and exalt that history and the ideas that sustain it, with coherence, modesty, ethics, and a sense of duty, always keeping in mind that the Central Committee is not an abstract entity, just as the Party itself is not an abstract entity.
It is a vocation, an action, and the definitive expression of militant participation from the grassroots, from the communities, from every neighborhood and every workplace. Its formation taught us that diversity and inclusion are essential to strengthening the single Party, which is to strengthen the Revolution.
As Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, has defined, this, our only Party, represents the guarantee of the unity of our nation, which we must cherish like the apple of our eye (Applause).
If we are consistent with the ideal that “the most revolutionary aspect of the Revolution is and must always be the Party,” it is up to us, as militants, and especially our cadres, to live up to the commitment we have to the past and the present, but above all to the future of the country.
The 9th Party Congress, convened for April of next year, is the closest and most important opportunity to reaffirm the founding principles we recall today and to mobilize the nation around the great tasks that must lead us, in the shortest possible time, to improving the living conditions of the population, providing solid support for the social advances of the Revolution and overcoming the enormous obstacles imposed on us by the war, the empire, and our own mistakes and shortcomings.
Compatriots:
Just as we advance toward the centennial of our Commander-in-Chief, may this anniversary of the First Central Committee of the Party be another call to revolutionary unity, to boundless dedication, and to the deepest commitment to the Cuban people, a glorious motivation and support for our work.
Long live the Communist Party of Cuba! (Shouts of: “Long live!”)
Long live Fidel and Raúl forever! (Shouts of: “Long live!”)
Homeland or Death! (PATRIA O MUERTE!)
Socialism or Death! (SOCIALISMO O MUERTE!)
We will win! (VENCEREMOS)
