From Nicaragua, the home of revolutionary leader Augusto César Sandino, President Daniel Ortega and Coordinator of the Communication and Citizenry Council, Rosario Murillo, sent messages of congratulations in which they described Fidel as a visionary and courageous person who has always worked for the good of humankind. They also recalled his solidarity efforts, victories, keen foresight and ingenuity toward changing the world.

On behalf of the Nicaraguan people, the messages also highlighted his efforts and great struggle against imperialism, as well as his eternal commitment to achieving peace, citizen security and the complete independence of all countries.

For his part, Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, expressed his respect and admiration for Fidel Castro, “Our big brother, who is turning 90 this Saturday.”

Fidel accompanies us and will continue to accompany us because he is the true representation of the peoples, noted Morales. Our best tribute is the unity of our peoples, he added.

On behalf of the members and leadership of the Communist Party of Bolivia (PCB), sympathizers, friends and the working people, we transmit to you our best wishes on your birthday, being celebrated by Latin American, Caribbean and global revolutionaries, read a statement signed by Mendoza Pizarrom, PCB first secretary.
Meanwhile, former President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández, stated “In regards to politics there are no longer words to describe him, it seems to me that he has definitively entered into history through the front door.”

Fernández also sent “A big hug to the Comandante, his family and all Cuban men and women on this particularly important day.”

Likewise, Argentine and Cuban artists held a cultural gala in the Leonardo Flavio Hall of the country’s Congressional Library in celebration of the Comandante’s birthday.

Argentine representative to Parlasur (Mercosur Parliament) Julia Perié (FPV) noted that “For all us militants and social activists, Fidel represents a clear effort and example of dignity as to how we should act every day.”

Meanwhile, a photographic exhibition featuring 40 exclusive images from Prensa Latina, and another 18 from the book Fidel, which contains photos by Osvaldo Salas, Liborio Noval, Roberto Salas, Pablo Caballero and Alex Castro, was inaugurated in El Salvador in honor of Fidel’s birthday.
The country’s President, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, highlighted the example of the Comandante for regional and global struggles led by the people, and specifically that of Salvadoran efforts toward achieving social justice.

In a statement, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) emphasized the strong links of friendship between the outstanding politician and leader of the Cuban Revolution.
”Fidel Castro is a man of unbreakable principles, a beacon who has guided entire generations along the revolutionary paths of hope, dignity and equality,” the document read.

As part of the tributes, the University of El Salvador organized a cultural gala recalling the contribution made by the Cuban leader to the peoples of the world across the most diverse spheres, including health care, education, sports, culture and science.

From Ecuador, Vice President Jorge Glass stated that Fidel is “A necessary reference for all Latin Americans. Best wishes to the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro on his birthday,” during a broadcast of the weekly television program “Enlace Ciudadano.”

Glass’ message was one of many other gestures of affection sent by members of the Ecuadoran government, institutions, cultural figures and social organizations to the Cuban leader.

Since November 2012, Cuba has been hosting Peace Talks between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) and the Colombian government, aimed at putting a definitive end to the over 50-year conflict. Given this reality, the FARC-EP offered the possibility of peace as a gift to the leader of the Cuban Revolution on his 90th birthday.

Meanwhile, the guerrilla organization highlighted the important and historical role of the Cuban Revolution in the political and civilized process toward peace, taking place in Havana.
In this sense, Colombian human rights activist Piedad Córdoba emphasized the dignified and resilient example of the Cuban leader during a ceremony held in the Cuban embassy in that country.

The Eloy Alfaro Association, composed of Ecuadoran doctors who have graduated from Cuban institutions, celebrated the occasion in Quito with a cultural activity.

During the event, the organization’s President, Martín Quevedo, noted that “Fidel always argued that revolutionary processes are only truly revolutionary if they are led by the people.”

In Santiago de Chile, Mireya Baltra, former Labor minister under Salvador Allende, presented a commemorative copper plaque – a gift for Fidel – on behalf of the people of Chile, to the Cuban Ambassador to the country, Adolfo Curbelo.

Fidel’s 90th birthday was also celebrated on the continent of Africa, a prime example of Cuban solidarity.

The photographic exposition Fidel is Fidel was inaugurated at the Agostinho Neto Memorial. The 35 images included in the exhibition were taken by photographer and documentary filmmaker Roberto Chile.
For her part, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, expressed her country’s eternal gratitude for the support offered by Cuba at difficult times and described the Comandante as a father.

Meanwhile, the African National Congress noted that it was joining in festivities in celebration of the 90th birthday of this global icon “for his commitment to the internationalism and solidarity of the nations of the Global South.”

Activities organized by the South Africa-Cuba Friendship Association to celebrate August 13 included an exhibition of 90 rare photos of Fidel, displayed in Pretoria’s Freedom Park Museum.

Messages of congratulations for Fidel’s 90th birthday also arrived from Asia. In a letter presented at the Cuban Embassy in China, the country’s President Xi Jinping highlighted the leadership of Fidel, as well as the affection, admiration and respect with which he is remember by the Chinese people.

The Head of State also recalled the efforts of the Cuban leader to establish diplomatic relations with the Asian nation.

In honor of Fidel’s 90th, Pak Chang Yul, ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on the island, presented Salvador Valdés Mesa, a vice president of Cuba’s Council of State, with a gift for the Comandante from Kim Jong-un, supreme leader of the DPRK.

Cuban and Vietnamese citizens celebrated the leader of the Cuban Revolution’s 90th birthday with a touching exchange of personal anecdotes.

During an event held at the Cuban Embassy in Vietnam, officials and members of the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Association and Vietnamese nationals who studied on the island, among other guests, recalled their encounters with the Cuban leader over the 55 years in which relations have been maintained between the two countries.

Meanwhile, since August 10, an exhibition of 20 photographs, organized by the Vietnamese News Agency, recalling moments during the three visits made by Fidel to the country, as well as those by Vietnamese officials to Cuba, has been on display.
Another photographic exposition was organized in New Delhi, India, featuring the Cuban leader with various officials, including Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first Prime Minister following independence.

“You have been our Comandante for 56 years and we follow you in all trenches,” read a statement by the France-Cuba Friendship Association in honor of Fidel’s 90th birthday.

According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, it is hard to overstate Fidel’s personal contribution to the development of relations of cooperation and friendship between Moscow and Havana.
After congratulating his “dear friend,” Putin praised the Comandante’s “dedication to the people of Cuba…you enjoy great respect in Russia as an outstanding Statesman who has dedicated his entire life to the service of the Cuban people.”

In a statement, the Cuba Solidarity Network, an alliance of over 40 solidarity groups in Germany, noted: “Your historic achievement and those of the Cuban people and of its Revolution inspire us – progressive forces, leftists, socialists and communities in the imperialist North – to struggle for a better world.”
Meanwhile, on its official webpage, the Communist Party of Germany highlighted that Fidel has always played an important role in the struggle of the communist parties to preserve their Marxist-Leninist identity.
Solidarity with Fidel was also professed on the streets of dozens of cities around Germany and Switzerland in the form of 160 micro-screens reading “Happy 90th birthday.”

Likewise, Alberto Garzón, leader of Spain’s United Left Party, took to his Twitter account to congratulate Fidel on his 90th birthday, writing: “Happy Birthday compañero and comrade, ¡Hasta la victoria siempre!”

Secretary General of the Communist Party of Spain, José Luis Centella, conveyed heartfelt congratulations to Fidel on his birthday, in a letter written on behalf of himself and Party members.
The national and international press also reported on celebrations in honor of the occasion, as well as the numerous messages of congratulations and activities which took place to commemorate the Comandante’s 90th birthday.

(Granma)

On one occasion I accompanied my father to Pinares de Mayarí. I was eight or nine years old. How he enjoyed talking when he left the house in Birán! There he was the proprietor of the land where sugar cane, pasture and other agricultural crops were planted. But in Pinares de Mayarí he was not a proprietor, but a leaseholder, like many Spaniards, who were the owners of a continent under the rights granted by a papal bull, of whose existence none of the peoples and human beings of this continent were aware. Already, the knowledge transmitted then was largely treasures of humanity.

The altitude rises to approximately 500 meters, with inclined, rocky slopes, where the vegetation is scarce and at times hostile. Trees and rocks obstruct transit; suddenly, at a certain height, a vast plateau begins which I estimate extends over approximately 200 square kilometers, with rich deposits of nickel, chromium, manganese and other minerals of great economic value. From that plateau dozens of trucks of pines of great size and quality were extracted daily.

Note that I have not mentioned the gold, platinum, palladium, diamonds, copper, tin, and others that at the same time have become symbols of the economic values that human society, in its present stage of development, requires.

A few years before the triumph of the Revolution my father died. Beforehand, he suffered a lot.

Of his three sons, the second and third were absent and distant. In revolutionary activities both fulfilled their duty. I had said that I knew who could replace me if the adversary was successful in its elimination plans. I almost laughed about the Machiavellian plans of the presidents of the United States.

On January 27, 1953, after the treacherous coup by Batista in 1952, a page of the history of our Revolution was written: university students and youth organizations, alongside the people, carried out the first March of the Torches to commemorate the centenary of the birth of José Martí.

I had already reached the conviction that no organization was prepared for the struggle we were organizing. There was complete disorientation from the political parties that mobilized the masses of citizens, from the left to the right and the center, sickened by the politicking that reigned in the country.

At the age of 6 a teacher full of ambitions, who taught in the small public school of Birán, convinced my family that I should travel to Santiago de Cuba to accompany my older sister who would enter a highly prestigious convent school. Including me was a skill of that very teacher from the little school in Birán. She, splendidly treated in the house in Birán, where she ate at the same table with the family, was convinced of the necessity of my presence. Certainly, I was in better health than my brother Ramón – who passed away in recent months – and for a long time was a classmate. I do not want to be extensive, only that the years of that period of hunger were very tough for the majority of the population.

I was sent, after three years, to the Colegio La Salle in Santiago de Cuba, where I was enrolled in the first grade. Almost three years past without them ever taking me to the cinema.

Thus began my life. Maybe I will write, if I have time, about this. Excuse me for not having done so before now, it’s just I have ideas of what a child can and should be taught. I believe that a lack of education is the greatest harm that can be done.

Humankind today faces the greatest risk of its history. Specialists in these areas can do the most for the inhabitants of this planet, whose number rose, from one billion at the end of 1800, to seven billion at the beginning of 2016. How many will our planet have within a few years?

The brightest scientists, who now number several thousand, are those who can answer this question and many others of great consequence.

I wish to express my most profound gratitude for the shows of respect, the greetings and the gifts that I have received in recent days, which give me the strength to reciprocate through ideas that I will transmit to the members of our Party and relevant organizations.

Modern technical means have allowed for scrutiny of the universe. Great powers such as China and Russia can not be subject to threats to impose the use of nuclear weapons. They are peoples of great courage and intelligence. I believe that the speech by the President of the United States when he visited Japan lacked stature, and it lacked an apology for the killing of hundreds of thousands of people in Hiroshima, in spite of the fact that they knew the effects of the bomb. The attack on Nagasaki was equally criminal, a city that the masters of life and death chose at random. It is for that reason that we must hammer on about the necessity of preserving peace, and that no power has the right to kill millions of human beings.

Fidel Castro Ruz

August 12, 2016

10:34 p.m

The event, dedicated to the leader of the Cuban Revolution, will be held at the WSF’s headquarters at the University of Quebec, in Montreal.
The WSF is the largest gathering of civil society to find solutions to the problems of our time. Launched in Brazil in 2001, every year the Forum brings together thousands of individuals from around the world, who participate in numerous activities.

With the support of over 200 civil society organizations across Canada and the world, the proposal to hold the 2016 edition of the Forum in Montreal was formally accepted by the International WSF Council during the previous edition of the event, held in Tunisia, March 2015.
This year the forum is taking place for the first time in the northern hemisphere. To date, 12,506 individuals from 20 countries have registered to participate in the event, under the maxim “Another world is needed. Together it is possible.”

The first of the two panel sessions in honor of Fidel will be led by Dr. Claude Morin, retired History professor at the University of Montreal, where he worked in 1973 and 2006. His main research areas were Mexico during the colonial period and 20th century Cuba and Central America. He has written seven books and 30 articles and book chapters. In 2006 Morin participated in the Memory and Future International Colloquium: Cuba and Fidel, held in Havana, in honor of the leader of the Cuban Revolution’s 80th birthday. Morin will present the topic “Fidel, the leader and his people.”

Meanwhile Arnold August, Canadian journalist and author of Democracy in Cuba and the 1997–98 Elections and more recently Cuba and its neighbors: Democracy in Motion, who also participated in the 2006 Memory and Future International Colloquium, will head the second discussion, “Fidel, the anti-imperialist combatant.“

According to WSF Montreal 2016, this August 13 “Fidel celebrates 90 years of a life he has assumed as few men on this planet. His stature as champion of human development and international solidarity has made Cuba a significant player on the world stage.

”His longevity has made him the most experienced leader in the world, a tireless fighter for all the causes that have universal value (education, health, peace, solidarity, justice, environment protection, against hegemony, plunder, and neo-liberalism). Fidel certainly stands among men of exception. This anniversary calls upon us to explore certain aspects of his work and personality.”

(Granma)

I believe those of us who accompanied him then were far from fully understanding his words. Three years later, in October 1965, we fully appreciated their meaning.

Ever since his student days and as a recent university graduate, Fidel Castro was a born communicator who used the media to denounce the official practice of appropriation, particularly in papers such as the daily Alerta, led by Ramón Vasconcelos which, despite inconsistencies, understood the exceptional civic values and patriotic and revolutionary spirit that always drove the young journalist: “Since the beginning of his government a voracious appetite for land took hold of Carlos Prío Socarrás)… An incredible and unprecedented case: the Prío family acquired in just one year, in a single municipality, 15 farms… in three years, in three municipalities, in a single province, a staggering 34 farms,” (Prío Socarrás was President of Cuba from 1948-1952). (1)

Fidel, undisputed leader of the triumphant Cuban Revolution, ever since the struggle in the Sierra Maestra, was the main and most inspiring host of relations with the mass media, both national and international.

At the dawn of January 1, 1959, three combative dailies represented the leading revolutionary organizations: Revolución, the official voice of the July 26 Movement, founded during the struggle against Batista and which from the beginning became the official voice of the revolutionary government; Hoy, the official voice of the People’s Socialist Party, which, representing Cuban communists had been closed down during the dictatorship; and Combate, the clandestine voice of the March 13 Revolutionary Directorate, organized by students, professionals and workers supportive of the Federation of University Students (FEU). In 1961 Combate had merged with two other evening newspapers.

Two years after that visit to Pravda, in October 1965, the Communist Party of Cuba was created and Hoy and Revolución merged to establish Granma, the official voice of the Party. The announcements were made during the historic evening in which Fidel broke the silence, after long months of uneasiness, revealing that Ernesto Guevara was no longer in Cuba and reading his moving farewell letter: “Other nations of the world summon my modest efforts.”

Fidel Castro in an animated conversation with workers at Granma. Photo: Valiente, Jorge
I think everyone present jumped up like victorious athletes when Fidel revealed the secret that had sparked all kinds of speculation about the disappearance of the heroic guerrilla fighter during those long months, which the media enemies of Cuba took advantage of. Certain dailies in the U.S. and other countries mistook their hopes for reality, claiming that Che had been politically annihilated in Cuba.

Speculation regarding his whereabouts continued even after the revelation of his farewell letter, read by the Comandante en Jefe in Havana’s Karl Marx Theater. The media went on to hypothesize as to where Che was, while acknowledging that both he and Fidel were among the most famous men in the world. However, the U.S. news agency UPI, which had not hesitated in claiming that Fidel was killed in the Sierra Maestra after disembarking in 1956, ten years later was more careful and limited itself to noting that: “in Daar es Salaam it was rumored that Che had passed through Tanzania.”

Among such significant events that day, the founding of the daily Granma almost went unnoticed. Later that night, Fidel conversed with Blas Roca and Faure Chomó, leaders of the People’s Socialist Party and the March 13 Revolutionary Directorate, respectively, as well as leaders of the new Communist Party of Cuba including Osvaldo Dorticós, Juan Almeida, Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, Ramiro Valdés, Armando Hart, and Isidoro Malmierca, the new editor of Granma.

They all then traveled to the headquarters of Hoy, led by Blas, on the corner of Prado and Teniente Rey streets, where Fidel spoke about the Cuban Revolution and the Venezuelan revolution. I barely had time to write, as quickly as possible, the first note on this important event, which I did not sign as was the custom, as I did not consider myself entitled to so great a distinction. I confess that this weighs on me today.

Almost immediately that night the first steps were taken to realize the relatively new task, such as the adoption of a banner for the name of the newspaper, a task assumed by the late caricaturist Horacio. It was a way of honoring the courageous fighters who landed on the Granma yacht alongside Fidel to secure the dream of freedom.

Those first steps were started by Malmierca and those of us who worked with Blas in Hoy, located on Prado Street, where the first edition was put together. The next day we moved to the Revolución building, in the Plaza of the same name, where we joined the other founders from this paper to begin the task of organizing the new daily, with both of the existing staffs.

On March 13, 1959, the second anniversary of the assault on the former Presidential Palace, I had first come into contact with the figure who most marked my life – Fidel Castro. I believe that Fidel and José Martí are the public figures who have most impacted Cuba’s history.

In fact the Hero of the Moncada assault revived in us the best of our historic ideals. His resolute courage that July 26, 1953, touched young students across the country. In particular those at the University of Havana who, led by José Antonio Echeverría, contributed so much to securing Fidel’s release.

However, the police thwarted the welcome on the steps of the university following his release, by cutting the power. They did the same during a planned interview at his sister Lidia’s house in Vedado and continued in this way until he was forced into exile.

Contacts multiplied until unity was achieved. In 1959, after some misunderstandings, that aspiration was consolidated for the first time, and the March 13, 1957, assault on the Presidential residence by the Revolutionary Directorate (armed wing of the FEU), which shook Havana, was commemorated. The revolutionary organization assigned me the task of presenting the speakers on the balcony of the Presidential Palace.

The assault stemmed from the commitment made by José Antonio Echeverría, FEU president and founder of the Directorate, to Fidel in the so-called “Letter from Mexico”, in which the leaders of the July 26 Movement and the Revolutionary Directorate, meeting in Mexico on August 30, 1956, coordinated plans regarding the armed struggle to overthrow the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. The courageous attack on the Presidential Palace that March 13, 1957, cost the lives of the militant student leader and several of his collaborators.

During the second anniversary commemoration, I presented Raúl Castro, Faure Chomón and other compañeros without problem, but when the then Cuban President Manuel Urrutia was set to speak, I was surprised as those gathered demanded to hear from Fidel.

I attempted to explain that the Comandante was scheduled to speak regarding the events that same night at the University. But the crowd refused to leave without hearing from Fidel.

The revolutionary combatant Osmel Francis strove to convince the crowd but they ignored him. Fidel then stepped forward, to please the crowd, and began speaking jokingly, defusing the situation as everyone laughed.

Together with Fidel, the then Comandante Huber Matos had appeared (2), who attempted to get his attention, insisting that this was a day of mourning. Fidel paid him no attention and Matos insisted such that it reminded me of the assemblies held at the university’s School of Law, when opponents of the candidature of student fighter René Anillo tried to divert his attention with malicious interruptions and we attempted to stop them.

Fidel continued speaking in the same tone, without even glancing at Matos, and as he concluded, he noted that he had began his speech that way as March 13 was not a mournful date, nor was July 26. He asked the crowd, “Do you think that October 10 is a day of mourning?” “No,” the people shouted back.

Fidel added emphatically that this was not a day of mourning, but rather a day of celebration as it was the beginning of the struggle for independence, and, since the revolutionary triumph, it was a day of celebration. He noted that both March 13 and July 26 were a cause for celebration and, raising the tone, stated that July 26 should be declared a national holiday. Thus Fidel turned the tirade launched by the later renegade into a cheerful proposal met with the most widespread support that anyone could dream of.

That day I witnessed Fidel grow. His calm faced with the attempted interruption convinced me. I already knew of his power, but I was unaware that he also monopolized the talents of Martí and Maceo. A truly exceptional leader.

(By Gabriel Molina Franchossi/informacion@granma.cu)