At the National Capitol Building, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, presided over the parliamentary session commemorating the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Local Organs of People’s Power, in the “Year of the Centenary of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.”
The president emphasized that People’s Power constitutes “the most authentic expression of socialist democracy” and called for revitalizing citizen participation, strengthening social justice, and defending national sovereignty.
Radio Havana Cuba reproduces below the speech delivered by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, at the parliamentary hearing of the National Assembly of People’s Power, in the National Capitol Building, on February 24, 2026, “Year of the Centenary of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.”
Dear Comrade Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and of the Council of State;
Comrades:
Today, February 24, we are gathered for a date that transcends the calendar. In the history of Cuba, this day is laden with profound meanings that intertwine like threads of the same fabric: that of our sovereignty.
On February 24, 1895, the necessary war was restarted with the cry of independence or death, thus fulfilling Martí’s vision. On this very day in 1899, General Máximo Gómez victoriously entered Havana, and in 1956, José Antonio Echeverría founded the Revolutionary Directorate.
Two years later, in 1958, Radio Rebelde began broadcasting from the heart of the Sierra Maestra mountains; and in 1976, the first socialist Constitution of the Americas was born. In 2008, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz assumed the presidency of the Councils of State and Ministers. And in 2019, the people ratified the new Constitution of the Republic at the polls.
Exactly half a century ago, on this very day, the Local Organs of People’s Power were established. With them, an essential principle of the Revolution took concrete form: that power emanates from the people, is exercised in their name, and is accountable, before anyone else, to their needs and hopes.
It was and remains the most authentic expression of socialist democracy and the will for citizens, from their communities, to decide the destiny of the nation.
This is a day to look back with profound respect, but above all, to look forward with the clarity that these times demand, because in today’s world, a 50th anniversary celebration can never be an exercise in nostalgia; it must be, first and foremost, a call to action.
The historic decision of 1976 was not an isolated act; it was the organic continuation of a tradition of struggle and participation, rooted in the independence struggles, in resistance against adversity, and in the deepest conviction that the nation’s destiny is built with the voice and action of the people. It is a concrete expression of the political thought of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.
The Organs of People’s Power were created to be schools of citizenship, spaces for debate, and for collective solutions. For five decades these bodies have been the direct link between the aspirations and demands of each neighborhood and the policies of the State.
Half a century ago, we set in motion a profound idea: that power, to be legitimate, must originate from the neighborhood, the People’s Council, the block, and the community.
Our local bodies are not simply an administrative design of the chosen form of government. They are our answer to the essential question of how to build a democracy where the people are the true and undisputed protagonists of their own destiny.
We celebrate half a century. May these many years of hard work not be a burden that favors inertia, but rather a motivation that propels us toward the future we deserve! We want a People’s Power that is more agile, more participatory, bolder, more inclusive, and younger. A People’s Power that has the capacity to listen to even the faintest whisper of its citizens and the sensitivity to act swiftly in response to their legitimate demands.
The people do not ask us for miracles. They ask us for honesty, effective management, and above all, that we never lose their step, that we march together, shoulder to shoulder, through thick and thin. We live in a complex national context, marked by economic difficulties, within a turbulent global scenario.
There is accumulated suffering in our neighborhoods, legitimate discontent, and impatience burdened by the weight of the intensified criminal blockade and our inclusion on a spurious and manipulated list of countries that supposedly support terrorism; the maximum economic pressure to suffocate us, the application of unilateral coercive measures, the aggressive pressure of hatred as a fundamental component of the incessant media war that seeks to discredit and divide us; the issuance of a genocidal Executive Order that aims to deprive the country of vital energy supplies, and, alongside this long list of attacks and threats, our own errors and shortcomings that we are obligated to acknowledge and correct without excuses, because what is first confronted directly and with complete honesty can only be transformed.
We will fight, we will struggle, we will resist, we will transform, and above all adversities and imperial threats, we will rise and triumph!
The anniversary we celebrate invites us to reflect on the enduring relevance of that project of love for the nation, based on unity. It reminds us that democracy is not an abstract concept, but a daily practice strengthened by the active participation of all and for the good of all, with transparency in governance and shared responsibility.
People’s Power is, in essence, the certainty that no problem is too great if faced with unity, solidarity, and confidence in our own strength.
Celebrating these 50 years is also about renewing our commitment to the future. It is about recognizing that the Cuba we dream of is built from the ground up, from each People’s Council, from each delegate who listens and acts, from each citizen who contributes ideas and effort.
It is about reaffirming that social justice, equity, and dignity are inalienable values and fundamental guides on the path to the prosperity we deserve.
In accordance with this commitment, this Solemn Session is called to transcend the well-deserved act of remembrance and tribute. It cannot be a mere succession of slogans. It must be, above all, an exercise in awareness and commitment.
Today we pay tribute to the founders, to the delegates of these five decades, to those who, almost always without resources and tirelessly, have knocked on doors, listened to complaints, stood up in difficult assemblies, and defended, from the modest constituencies of their districts, the grand idea that no one can be left to their own devices in a revolutionary and socialist state.
And the best tribute we can offer them is not a diploma or applause, but the will to do better what we are called to do now.
What do 50 years of People’s Power mean at this moment in our history? First: it means valuing the essence of closeness.
During these 50 years, the delegate has not only been a representative, but also the voice of a small community within the larger statistics. In today’s Cuba, that role is more vital than ever.
In the delegate, citizens should find not a facilitator of paperwork, but a community leader who decisively and boldly spearheads the fight against common problems, from the anxieties about missing supplies at the bodega, to potholes in the street, transformer failures, or the worries about young people who are neither studying nor working, and the elderly without close family support.
Our strength lies not in grand pronouncements, but in the ability to resolve the small, yet enormous and always challenging, everyday issues.
Second: it means understanding that participation is not just another name on the list of attendees at an event. It is the engine of collective progress.
For too long, we have sometimes confused People’s Power with a mere transmission belt for decisions already made. The 50th Anniversary demands that we take a qualitative leap beyond this narrow interpretation of a genuine, quintessentially Cuban work, one that is greater than ourselves.
We need the municipalities, the true guarantors of the rights enshrined in our Constitution, to exercise their autonomy. The country is saved from the local level, from the capacity of each territory to find its own solutions, to foster its own initiatives, to manage its culture and economy creatively and without unnecessary constraints.
Third: it means honesty in analysis and courage in criticism. We cannot look back on the path we have traveled without questioning our shortcomings. We suffer greatly from the consequences of formalism and improvisation, which frequently distort and undermine strategic planning.
And we are still held back too much by centralism, that is, the excessive centralization that stifles the creative initiative of individuals, collectives, and municipalities. Recognizing this is not weakening us; it is strengthening us. The true revolution is one that constantly critiques itself to avoid becoming obsolete.
Fourth: it means safeguarding hope. In the midst of external hostility, the blockade that seeks to suffocate us, the noise and manipulation that aim to weaken us, the work of People’s Power is the most effective antidote.
Because when a delegate manages, when neighbors participate, when a community organizes to clean a vacant lot or restore a daycare center, we are demonstrating that here there is a project of social justice capable of constantly renewing itself with its own strength.
We are not a democracy for show; we are a democracy of the trenches, built with enormous sacrifices, it’s true, but also with impressive creativity and unsurpassed dignity in the heat of the most difficult battle: the one fought day by day, hour by hour. In this context, the call is clear.
To the delegates: It is not enough to be elected; you must be elected every day with the respect and trust of your fellow citizens, who are your neighbors.
You must be more out in the streets than behind a desk, more in the queue than in the meeting, more listening than speaking. You must transform every complaint into concrete action, every criticism into a proposal, every problem into an opportunity to unite wills and move forward, to move forward tirelessly.
We will not always have resources, but we can always have the sensitivity and will to change what needs to be changed. And the truth, even when it hurts, always builds more than silence or automatic justification.
To local administrations: People’s Power is not a mere formality or a signature at the end of a resolution. Government management must be aligned with the priorities emanating from local bodies, municipal assemblies, people’s councils, and direct analysis with the community.
We cannot allow bureaucracy, routine, or lack of oversight to render agreements born from the popular will meaningless. Serving the people means governing transparently, providing accountability with data and results, explaining when necessary, and correcting mistakes.
To our people: Today, it is also our responsibility to look inward. Participatory democracy is not limited to voting when the polls are set up. It is exercised in accountability assemblies, in volunteer work, in neighborhood meetings organized to maintain peace and quiet, and in mobilizing to support the most vulnerable.
Criticism is necessary, but it is more powerful when accompanied by a willingness to get involved, to propose, and to collaborate. The power of the people is not an abstract concept; it is built with names and faces, with concrete individuals, with hands that get to work, hands that are all the more valuable the more adverse the circumstances.
Fifty years later, we can proudly say that the system of People’s Power has been a genuinely our own creation, the fruit of the experience and political thought that sustains the Revolution, of Martí’s legacy, and of the ideas of the Commander-in-Chief and the General of the Army.
But we must also humbly admit that it is an unfinished work, one that needs to be perfected and adapted to the challenges of our time: population aging, migration, new technologies, new forms of participation, and the new ways in which human groups form their opinions and expectations.
The Local Organs of People’s Power must be able to engage in dialogue with a country that is not the same as it was in 1976, and to do so without abandoning their founding principles.
Let this 50th Anniversary be a turning point, not the end goal. A moment to reaffirm that we will not renounce the idea that the people should decide, control, demand, and participate.
A moment to say, calmly and firmly, that we are willing to change everything that needs to be changed in the way institutions function, as long as it strengthens social justice, equity, and conscious participation.
In the name of all those who have dedicated their lives to public service in their districts, all those who have shouldered the concerns of their neighborhoods, all those who have opened their doors in the early hours to attend to the emergencies of others, let us reaffirm today a simple yet profound commitment:
Never lose touch with the people.
Take on the pain of others as our own. Let us not settle for explanations that do not solve anything. Let us insist on solving the problem.
Let us not relinquish the ideal that, despite the difficulties, power in Cuba should continue to belong to the people.
Honor to those who began this path fifty years ago!
Responsibility to those of us who continue it today.
May history, fifty years from now, look back on this moment and recognize that we rose to the challenge.
May this anniversary, then, be a call to revitalize participation, to defend sovereignty, and to keep alive the hope for a better tomorrow.
People’s Power is not just a structure. It is the expression of a people who, with their history and their will, continue to be the protagonists of their own destiny.
For these fifty years of shared history; for the delegate who walks the neighborhoods daily, transforming spaces and mindsets, tirelessly working under the scorching sun; for the people who are the sole sovereign:
Long live People’s Power! (Exclamations of: “Long live!”)
Long live Fidel and Raú! (Exclamations of: “Long live!”)
And so that it may always be so, let us reaffirm our unwavering conviction:
Socialismo o Muerte! Socialism or Death!
Patria o Muerte! Homeland or Death!
Venceremos! We will overcome!
[ SOURCE: AGENCIA CUBANA DE NOTICIAS ]
