Since winning its independence from Great
Britain at the end of the American Revolution
in 1783, the United States government has
set its sights, not on liberating the Americas,
but instead on playing a reactionary role in
attempting to dominate the region and its
peoples. As Cuba fought valiantly for its
independence from Spanish colonialism, the
United States intervened with the Spanish-
American War in 1898. When the war was over,
Spain withdrew from Cuba, and an American
occupying force remained for three years until
Cuba’s formal “independence” on May 20,
1902. It was a so-called “independence,” that
did not mean Cuba was independent at all!
In fact, before withdrawing their occupation
troops, the U.S. government forced the new
Cuban government to agree to the Platt
Amendment. According to Encyclopedia
Britannica, “the Platt Amendment […]
specified the conditions for
American withdrawal. Among
those conditions were (1)
the guarantee that Cuba
would not transfer
any of its lands to
any foreign power but
the United States, (2)
limitations on Cuba’s
negotiations with other
countries, (3) the establishment of
a U.S. naval base in Cuba, and (4) the U.S.
right to intervene in Cuba to preserve Cuban
independence.” May 2018 marks 116 years of
the Platt Amendment, which is the supposed
legal cover the U.S. continues to use for its
illegal occupation of Guantanamo Bay with its
torture prison and naval base. Cuba has been
demanding the U.S. return Guantanamo to
Cuba since the triumph of the revolution on
January 1, 1959.
Cuba truly won its independence in 1959
with the triumph of the revolution. The
revolutionary government led by Comandante
Fidel Castro expropriated companies and
land owned by wealthy Cubans and American
corporations, which were stealing the resources
of the Cuban people to line their own pockets.
The United States government sought to
overthrow the Cuban revolution and regain
its profit-making industries and lands with the
Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17, 1961.
On that day, over 1400 right-wing Cuban
mercenaries, who had fled Cuba after the
revolution, invaded the island with the backing
of the U.S. government and President John F.
Kennedy. However, due to the popularity of the
revolution and the exceptional organization of
the counter-offensive led by Fidel Castro, the
revolutionary Cuban people and government
defeated the well-funded invasion in less than
72 hours. The Bay of Pigs invasion was the
first major defeat of U.S. imperialism in the
Americas and left a mark on the American
government, who promised to invade Cuba
again. Nevertheless, over the past 57 years
since the attack, the U.S. has not dared a direct
invasion of Cuba again.
On April 19, 2018, as Cuba celebrated the
57th anniversary of their victory at the Bay
of Pigs and the defeat of U.S. imperialism
on its shores, Cuba’s newly elected National
Assembly met for the first time in Havana. The
National Assembly's major task was electing
the country’s new President, as well as Cuba’s
First Vice President, and five Vice Presidents,
as well as the leadership of the Assembly itself.
Elected by Cuba’s 605 member National
Assembly were:
• Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez,
President of Cuba
• Salvador Valdés Mesa, First Vice
President of Cuba
• Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, Vice
President of Cuba
• Beatriz Jhonson, Vice President of
Cuba
• Inés María Chapman, Vice
President of Cuba
• Gladys María Bejerano Portela, Vice
President of Cuba
• Roberto Tomás Morales Ojeda, Vice
President of Cuba
• Esteban Lazo Hernández, President
of Cuba’s National Assembly
• Ana Maria Mary Machado, Vice
President of Cuba’s National Assembly
• Miriam Brito Sarroca, Secretary of
Cuba’s National Assembly
This executive, like the newly elected National
Assembly, is a diverse group of Cubans.
Meet Cuba’s new President, Miguel Díaz-
Canel
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel
Bermúdez is 58 years old and was born after
the triumph of the Cuban revolution, like 530
out of the 605 members of the new National
Assembly. As many news outlets have reported,
his presidency marks a generational shift in the
leadership of the Cuban revolution.
Díaz-Canel is a well-established figure in
Cuba for many years. He has been Cuba’s First
Vice President since 2013, as well as a member
of the National Assembly and Political Bureau
of the Communist Party of Cuba.
He is also known for previous leadership roles
in the Union of Young Communists of Cuba,
the Cuban Communist Party in the provinces
of Villa Clara and Holguin, as well as Minister
of Education.
Díaz-Canel attained an electrical engineering
degree in 1982 and then fulfilled his military
service. He was also part of an internationalist
mission in Nicaragua.
In their April 16, 2018 article, “Who is Miguel
Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s likely new president? A
look from those who know him”, NBC News
interviewed many Cubans, mostly living in the
U.S., who knew or grew up with Díaz-Canel.
Many of the interviews are positive but tinged
with mainstream media’s overt bias against
Cuba and the Cuban revolution. Interestingly,
they interviewed Ramón Silverio, the creator
of a famous LGBTQ+ friendly nightclub in
Santa Clara, El Mejunje. According to NBC,
Silverio says he did establish El Mejunje in
1984 “to provide a safe space for LGBTQ+
people, as well as artists, bohemians and
rockers.” Silverio recalled to NBC how Díaz-
Canel was one of the community leaders who
helped keep the space open, even taking his
two young children to the kid-themed events
held at El Mejunje. Silverio explained, “He
was one of those people who went to the
theatre because he loved it, not because he had
to comply with a political task.”
While NBC makes El Mejunje sounds like
kind of an underground space, it is one of the
most popular nightclubs in Santa Clara, one
of Cuba’s largest cities. As an activist from
Canada on the 2008 Che Guevara Volunteer
Work Brigade, I went there several times. Each
night has a different theme, including their
weekly LGBTQ+ night, Sunday afternoons
for seniors and families, as well as ongoing
cultural activities both at night and during the
day. It is a staple of the city, for people from
all walks of life. Far from being an isolated
voice in Cuba, Ramón Silverio received a
prize from the President of Cuba’s National
Centre for Sex Education (Centro Nacional
de Educación Sexual - CENESEX) and Raul
Castro’s daughter, Dr. Mariela Castro Espín.
As well, the Union of Writers and Artists of
Cuba (Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas
de Cuba - UNEAC) regularly supports and
praises his cultural
work. Either way,
Silverio is very positive
about his interactions
with Díaz-Canel saying, h e i s
“advanced in his thinking.”
Miguel Díaz-Canel in International
Headlines
The mainstream bourgeois media across
the U.S. and Canada are mostly spinning
the same tales about Cuba and Cuban
President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
First, they explain that Raul Castro is
staying as the head of the Communist Party
of Cuba, and thus Díaz-Canel will hold little
to no power.
Second, they explain that Díaz-Canel will
be confronting some immediate challenges,
mostly related to Cuba’s economy related
to what they refer to as “stagnation” and the
challenge of unifying Cuba’s dual currencies,
the CUC and the Peso. They also cite the
deterioration of U.S.-Cuba relations under
President Trump.
Third, they call Díaz-Canel names, like
“right-hand man to outgoing leader Raul
Castro,” “bureaucrat,” “little-known,” “an
uncharismatic figure,” and “ a problem-solving
party loyalist.”
It seems few media outlets paid much
attention to the issues Cuban President
Miguel Díaz-Canel presented to the Cuban
people and the world in his first formal
address at the National Assembly on April 19,
2018.
Miguel Díaz-Canel’s first speech as
President of Cuba
First, he responds to the discussion about who
holds power in Cuba, by speaking about the
responsibility of all members of the National
Assembly to the Cuban people that elected
them. He said, “If someone wanted to see a
microcosm of Cuba in a group of citizens,
due to its age, racial, gender and occupation
composition, it would be enough to look
and study the composition of our National
Assembly.” He continued the “representation
of women, blacks and mestizos, young people
and senior citizens who occupy decisionmaking
positions in the highest levels of
government, almost is in the same proportion
as statistically make up the nation. However,
the most important thing is not, how much
we resemble the country. What we can not
forget for a second, as of this moment, the
commitment we have made to the people and
the future.” Then he concluded, “All deputies,
the leadership of the Assembly, and the
members of the Councils of State and Minister
- our main reason for being is the systematic
connection with the population, which forces
us to deepen our analysis of the problems that
concern the whole of society and the daily life
of Cubans,” and “fostering a broad and sincere
debate and encouraging all possible ways to
solve or mitigate the impact of the problems
with the participation of those involved, either
because they are affected or because they have
the possibility to solve them.”
He also acknowledges the responsibility of
the role he is taking on, “I am aware of the
concerns and expectations at the moment
like this, but I know the strength and wisdom
of the people, the leadership of the Party,
the ideas of Fidel, the presence of Raúl and
Machado."
At the same time, he did not shy away from
the important role that Raul Castro will
continue to play in the Cuban government.
He said, “Raul [Castro] is a political leader
who has constantly promoted debate for the
improvement of partisan work, connected to
the people, with ears listening to the ground,
called on us with integrity to prove that “Yes,
we can.” [...] Knowing the popular feeling, I
affirm to this Assembly, the supreme organ of
State power, that the comrade General of the
Army Raul Castro Ruz as First Secretary of
the Communist Party of Cuba, will continue
leading the most important decisions for the
present and the future of the nation.”
Second, in response to those talking about
Cuba’s economic challenges he explained,
“In this Legislature there will be no room for
those who aspire to capitalist restoration. This
Legislature will defend the Revolution and
will continue the improvement of socialism.
To face the difficulties at the internal level is an
opportunity to emphasize that the priorities
are defined in the documents approved
in the 7th Congress of the [Communist]
Party, backed by the Parliament, after being
subjected to a broad process of popular
consultation. They recognize that politicalideological
work, the struggle for peace, unity
and ideological firmness, closely linked to
the development of the national economy,
ensuring the conscious, active and committed
participation of the majority of the population
in the process of updating the economic and
social model, is the fundamental mission. It
is up to us to simply enforce it and carry it
forward.”
While Díaz-Canel did not expressly call
out the United States, the first meeting
of the National Assembly was expressly
called on the historic date of the victory at
the Bay of Pigs. Also, Díaz-Canel stated,
“No country has resisted for so many years
without surrendering to the type of economic,
commercial, military, political and media siege
that Cuba has faced. But there is no miracle
in this feat. There is, in the first place, an
authentic Revolution that emerged from the
depths of the people, a consistent leadership
that never put itself above the people.”
These words give us an idea of who Díaz-
Canel is and what he represents, more than
any of the petty comments made to slander
him. Díaz-Canel has been elected for a 5-year
term, and according to Cuban law, he can be
elected for a maximum of a second
5-year term before he will need to
pass the torch to a new President.
Of course, more important than
his words will be his actions.
Many in Cuba and around the world are
looking forward to understanding the role his
leadership will play in the developments of
the Cuban socialist revolution.
Elián González comments to CNN
CNN recently interviewed Elián González,
who became famous in 1999 when his mother
kidnapped him from his father and fled
Cuba by boat to Miami. The boat capsized,
killing Elián’s mother and the 5-year-old was
rescued by a Florida fisherman and delivered
to his mother’s family in Miami. The family
in Miami refused to return Elián to his
father in Cuba. After a huge battle
for the return of Elián, in which Fidel
Castro and the Cuban people mobilized
across the island alongside Elián’s father,
the U.S. government intervened to return
him to Cuba. Elián is now 24 years old.
He explained to CNN about life in Cuba
today, explaining, “Many people say ‘when the
Castros’ mandate ends’ but I don’t believe the
ideology will end; not what they have taught
us, nor the ideas of the Castros. […] Cuba is
more than its government.” As someone who
has been offered money and status to defect
from Cuba and become a member of the
opposition, Elián González remains a crucial
voice for young Cubans who are defending the
Cuban socialist revolution and its important
gains for poor and working people.
Of course, the leadership of those who
fought in and won the Cuban revolution
will never be replaced in the minds and
hearts of revolutionary Cubans. However, as
coming generations take up the responsibility
of continuing to build and develop Cuba’s
socialist project, they will face the same (and
possibly deepening) challenges that were
faced by the leadership that came before
them. However, Cubans continue to take to
the streets, to mobilize in their communities
and their popular mass institutions, to defend
the gigantic gains they have made so far. The
future is bright and full of new advances of
this revolution of workers and farmers “by the
humble, with the humble, and for the humble”
as Fidel Castro said once.
Follow Tamara Hansen on Twitter: @THans01
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