Prime Minister Manuel Marrero called, to “convert the people’s efforts into tangible results”, without saying how.
14ymedio, Havana, 26 July 2025 — Cuban Television, which broadcast the event this morning — always reserving time to make whatever cuts may be necessary — with all the usual fanfare, marked by tearful evocations of the failed assault on the eastern barracks of Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in 1953.
There was no shortage of mournful images of Fidel Castro, Miguel Díaz-Canel’s shiny skin, or dramatisations – both on stage and off – to satisfy the few “historical figures” remaining in the Revolution. Ramiro Valdés and José Ramón Machado Ventura were other representatives of the old guard who attended an event that this year has been subdued and required people to be transported in from neighbouring provinces.
At 94 years of age, Raúl Castro prefers to leave his comfortable retirement only on special occasions, when he takes the opportunity to pat Díaz-Canel on the back, applaud his management and pretend that the country is not falling apart. And the event in Ciego de Ávila was no exception.
There was no shortage of the usual sanctimonious theatrics over the ’blockade’, but there was also self-criticism in the ’show’.
There was no shortage of the usual hand-wringing over the blockade, but there were also some self-criticisms in the performance that fell this year to Prime Minister Manuel Marrero — a role that the year before had been assigned to Salvador Valdés Mesa — since, from 2023 onward, the president prefers not to take centre stage.
According to Marrero, the country faces “enormous challenges” as never before, but he says he is convinced that continuing to do the same thing will bring different results this time: “Yes, we can, thanks to the determination, hard work, intelligence and commitment of the Cuban people.” The “annoying power cuts” that affect citizens so much were brought up, although during the ceremony the power did not go out once in Máximo Gómez Báez Square.
He also mentioned other shortcomings such as problems with food supplies, drinking water, transport and medicines, as well as rampant inflation, and stressed the urgency of “removing obstacles, correcting deficiencies and turning the people’s efforts into tangible results”.
As for the “imperialist enemy,” Marrero assured that “it does not rest in its efforts to destroy the Cuban Revolution” and that it seeks “to take advantage of any internal difficulties to sow discouragement, divide, and provoke social unrest that would justify intervention.” He also called for “defeating any attempt at subversion” with “historical experience, unity, political awareness, and morality.”
The crisis was quickly buried by the great “efforts” that the government made this year in Ciego de Ávila.
However, the crisis was quickly buried by the great “efforts” that the Government made this year in Ciego de Ávila, which in practice translate into painting and using tar to cover potholes: seven solar parks built in nine months; achievements in sports and tourism; renovation of a hospital; 22 health centres; 16 schools; the theatre; a home for children without parental care; the agricultural market; 702 electrified farming areas and 25 new water pumping services.
Sancti Spíritus went through the same experience last year, when it was similarly renovated, but today it looks as if the streets have not seen a lick of paint or a single sack of cement.
As for Díaz-Canel, in his brief speech he fulfilled expectations with his usual rhetoric full of clichés and bellicose tones, with phrases such as “Turning setbacks into victories”, “We live under a hegemonic imperialism that encourages wars” and “Through solidarity we resisted the attacks of imperialism”.
The night ended with applause for Cuba’s friends – the same 500 foreigners who march every year on May 1st or participate in political events – who travelled to support the celebration, with leaders dancing to the salsa rhythms of Arnaldo y su Talismán, and with Raúl and his cohort waving Cuban paper flags at full speed and leaving the stage to the Marcha del 26 de Julio.
Translated by GH
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