In a message broadcast on Twitter, the Venezuelan president assured that this great step of brotherhood marked the union in Latin America.

It is the Bolivar-Marti Agreement, signed by commanders Hugo Chavez (1954-2013) and Fidel Castro (1926-2016), which represents ‘the ultimate demonstration that it is possible to build a better world,’ Maduro said on the digital platform.

On October 30, 2000, the Comprehensive Collaboration Agreement between Cuba and Venezuela was signed in Caracas, a rapprochement through which various agreements and exchange projects arose in areas such as health, education, sports, culture and production.

As part of this alliance, more than 1,400 exchange projects have been signed so far, with emphasis on health services, drug supplies, counseling and human resources training in educational, sports, cultural and productive programs.

(Granma)

Camilo has defeated death and the years to remain indelible in our memory, as he was in his life as a revolutionary. His example and glorious name were key to the creation of our school, said Claudia Alfonso Torres, a third-year student year at Camilo Cienfuegos Military Academy in the municipality of La Lisa.

“For Camilitos (cadets) and young Cubans, he represents an irreplaceable guide in the forging of integrity and dedication, qualities that summon us to be better revolutionaries,” she stated, adding, “The Hero of Yaguajay is present in those who today on the island contribute to building for the good of all… a Cuba worthy of its history,” said the young woman.

The ceremony was presided by Political Bureau members Army Corps General Álvaro López Miera, first deputy minister, Chief of the General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, general secretary of the Federation of Cuban Workers; as well as Víctor Gaute López, member of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee and head of its Ideological Department; in addition to Party and government authorities in Havana.

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This challenging question weighs heavy in the hearts of conscious individuals, well aware of the living force of Ernesto Guevara’s impeccable example.

It is clear, first of all, that this is not a question for everyone, since he does not mean the same thing for everyone. A man becomes a symbol only for those who share his dreams, while for others he is simply an historical figure, albeit a renowned one.

Che speaks to us in many ways, as a legend, a leader, soldier, companion, father, a natural man.

Nothing in his life or work needs an explication to defend its value. He did not need it when he was alive, when his posture and acts spoke for themselves, even as a developing young man. Much less later, after his ascension from the world of the living, to that of those who live forever.

From Rosario’s boy to Bolivia’s guerrilla leader, he constantly took on colossal challenges. He responded to his asthma by climbing mountains. To heal the sick? He swam across a jungle river. To understand the pain of his people? He rode a motorcycle across the feverish continent. To help remedy this pain? He gave himself in battle, embarked on an overloaded yacht, fought, and succeeded, making the Revolution that would begin the continental rebellion, in which he already knew he would die.

His unreachable, impossible goals were as legendary as the man, but nonetheless, for mortal revolutionaries who understand him, he left an ample legacy of challenges for daily practice, a framework for the human and the virtuous.

Fidel posed the question: “What do we want our children to be?” – those who we are now, and our own. “We want them to be like Che.”

This is the issue today: Asking ourselves if we are or will be like him, is to understand that the question is not to choose today or tomorrow, but to always be frank, bold, industrious, supportive, critical, decisive, and of course, sensitive dreamers committed to the common good, because seeking individual happiness in itself is not genuine. It is only true when, like the world’s eternal guerrilla, it has a collective soul and a vocation for humanity.

(Granma)

China’s ambassador in Havana, Chen Xi, conveyed a message from the country’s President, Xi Jinping, thanking Cuba and expressing his commitment to further strengthening the historic ties shared by the two nations.

Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa insisted that “Present and future generations of the Cuban and Chinese people will preserve the valuable legacy of our friendship,” recalling the 60 years of uninterrupted diplomatic relations and cooperation the two nations have maintained.

Among the cultural performances presented at the event was one by the Cuban School of Wushu.

(Granma)

China’s ambassador in Havana, Chen Xi, conveyed a message from the country’s President, Xi Jinping, thanking Cuba and expressing his commitment to further strengthening the historic ties shared by the two nations.

Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa insisted that “Present and future generations of the Cuban and Chinese people will preserve the valuable legacy of our friendship,” recalling the 60 years of uninterrupted diplomatic relations and cooperation the two nations have maintained.

Among the cultural performances presented at the event was one by the Cuban School of Wushu.

(Granma)

He came from a humble family, the second of 12 siblings, raised in the Havana neighborhood of Poey. By nine years of age, he was helping his parents support the family. He cleaned shoes, held a spoon like a bricklayer and scissors like a barber.

He was among the young rebels who assaulted the Moncada in 1953; went into exile in Mexico after being imprisoned with Fidel, returning on the Granma to fight in the Sierra Maestra.

He is the same modest, Black man who, in the battle of Alegría de Pío responded to a call to give up, shouting: No one here surrenders! The revolutionary who left a deep mark among those who lived through the war with him, inhabitants of Santiago’s eastern mountains, who had him as their delegate of the Party Political Bureau in Oriente; on his subordinates in the Central Army; on the men and women of the Party and deputies, in short, on everyday Cubans who identified him as what he was: Hero of the Republic of Cuba.

The humanity that always accompanied him, his guerrilla spirit, his books and songs, that penetrated deeply into the cultural heritage of Cubans, mean that he is, and will always be, in the hearts of our people.

(Granma)

With a sea of people in streets, plazas, and parks, Cienfuegos commemorated the 62nd anniversary of the armed uprising and Party First Secretary Army General Raúl Castro honored those who fell in battle sending a floral wreath.

Julio Camacho Aguilera, Party Central Committee member, attended the event, and first secretary in the province, Félix Duartes Ortega, delivered the main remarks.

As is traditional, once the commemoration ended the province’s highest leadership headed the people’s march to the obelisk in Tomás Acea Cemetery raised in memory of the martyrs and heroes of the uprising.

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Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, a Council of Ministers vice president, highlighted the sense of ownership and the devotion of professionals at the Center, who have specialized in providing services of excellence for events, congresses, exhibitions, fairs and other academic, scientific and political meetings, with the participation of prestigious personalities and government leaders from around the world, including the 1979 Non Aligned Movement Summit and many Party Congresses. The National Assembly of People’s Power has met here for years.

(Granma)

The profound point of view that characterized the leader of the Cuban Revolution’s analysis of the United States was noted by Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Gabriel García Márquez, when he stated: “The country about which he knows the most, besides Cuba, is the United States. He understands in depth the nature of its people, its power structures, the ulterior motives of its governments, and this has helped him deal with the never-ending storm of the blockade.” This is part of the answer to a frequent question asked by millions of people about how Fidel was able to resist and overcome the aggressive policies of more than ten U.S. administrations.

I

Based on a deep understanding and assimilation of the lessons provided by Cuban and world history, as well as the thought of José Martí, one of Fidel’s great obsessions, since he began his revolutionary struggle in the Sierra Maestra, consisted of avoiding by all possible means any scenario that would facilitate or lead to a U. S. intervention in Cuba, that would frustrate the rebel’s victory over the Batista dictatorship, and thus ensure that the history of 1898 was not repeated, when the victory of the Cuban Mambises was cut short by a Yankee intervention.In the final months of 1958, this danger became even greater when several incidents occurred, evidently fabricated by the dictator Fulgencio Batista and the U.S. ambassador, with the intention of generating a situation that would justify the Marines landing in Cuba. There were several provocations developed on this order, but the Commandante never fell into the trap, with great tactical ability he managed to evade these pitfalls and dangers.After the revolutionary triumph of 1959, the leader of the Cuban Revolution’s mastery in avoiding any circumstance that could serve as a pretext for the United States to intervene militarily was critical, especially at times when significant crises occurred in bilateral relations.Cuba’s great disadvantage facing the power of the United States never led Fidel to a position of entrenchment, avoiding any contact with U.S. society. On the contrary, in addition to encouraging people-to-people exchanges, he himself devoted much time to interaction, with the goal of enhancing our ability to influence U.S. society, to disseminate Cuba’s reality, debunking all kinds of stereotypes, and carefully constructed fallacies, repeated tirelessly by the hegemonic media.

II

After diplomatic relations were broken in January of 1961, the leader of the Revolution did not miss any opportunity to build bridges with U.S. society and politicians in that country, to encourage sectors in favor of changing U.S. policy toward Cuba. For years Fidel dedicated long hours of his busy schedule to receive and attend figures in U.S. politics, the media and culture. The vast majority of these visitors returned to their country with a different vision of Cuba and the leader of the Revolution and, in many cases, became leaders in the fight against the blockade and for the normalization of relations between the two nations.IIIThe leader of the Revolution’s remarkable ability to foresee his adversary’s next move allowed him to defeat the most diverse variants of U.S. policy toward Cuba. It is impressive how, many years before the historic announcements of December 17, 2014, Fidel had predicted in several public comments and interviews that the United States government could adopt a policy of seduction toward Cuba, to achieve the goals they had not been able to accomplish with force. An example of this – not the only one – was his speech on December 5, 1988, in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolucion, when he stated: “Even if one day relations between socialist Cuba and the empire formally improve, this will not mean that the empire has foregone the idea of ​​crushing the Cuban Revolution. And they do not hide this; their theorists explain this, the defenders of the empire’s philosophy explain it… Thus, there is something that must be part of the essence of Cuban revolutionary thought, something that must be totally clear in the conscience of our people, who have had the privilege of being the first to take this path. And this is the awareness that, as long as the empire exists, we cannot lower our guard, or neglect our defense.”IVAssuming and enriching the ideas of Simón Bolívar, Martí and Fidel prioritized the necessary unity of Latin America and the Caribbean, as part of their revolutionary strategies.In his conception, Fidel always saw the Cuban process as part of a larger Revolution, which was to occur throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Hence his constant solidarity and support for liberation movements in the region, denouncing every act of Yankee interference. This position was, in the first place, a reflection of his identity and an inescapable historical duty, but also as a strategic necessity for the preservation and consolidation of the Cuban Revolution.The colossal effort made by Fidel in pursuit of the region’s unity and integration began to bear fruit with the arrival of Hugo Chavez to the Presidency of Venezuela in 1998, and real change in Latin America was on the agenda. In 2004, Chávez and Fidel would create what is now known as the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) and the following year, in Mar del Plata, U.S. imperialism was dealt a major defeat, when the Free Trade Agreement for the Americas (FTAA), an initiative promoted by the U.S. government, was rejected. In 2011, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) would be born in Caracas, and with it, the most precious dream of Fidel and Martí, of Bolívar and other heroes of Our America. This unity is more essential now than ever, as White House hawks are increasing efforts to divide and devour us.Fidel’s thought and political practice in the face of U.S. imperialism constitute an obligatory reference not only for the Cuban people, but for all Latin American peoples, today resisting the neo-colonizing offensive of the “turbulent and brutal North that despises us.”

(Granma)

In a later message, he reported that 1,810,638 persons from Cuba and around the world had made their way to the boulder in Santa Ifigenia Cemetery where Fidel’s ashes rest.

Among the many tributes to Fidel held around the country was the opening of an exposition at the José Martí Memorial in Havana by artist Ernesto Rancaño, with First Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa on hand, while National Assembly President Esteban Lazo Hernández visited the Siboney farm, in Santiago de Cuba, where the Moncada combatants gathered before the assault.

Members of the Union of Young Communists camped out at the historic Castro-Ruz home in Birán, to celebrate Fidel’s life and renew their commitment to his ideas.

(Granma)