“The moral values that this people have accumulated and their willingness to fight cannot be underestimated. And whoever fights wins; there is no one today, no matter how powerful, capable of defeating a people determined to fight”. Fidel Castro
Havana, Aug 5 (Prensa Latina) More than a “popular uprising against the regime” as the Western press said then, the events of August 5, 1994 reaffirmed the support of the majority of the Cuban people for their Revolution.
Those events, unprecedented in the country after the triumph of January 1, 1959 over the tyranny of Fulgencio Batista (1952-1958), also demonstrated the enormous leadership of Fidel Castro and the validity of his political thought.
Because the unity of Cubans and their patriotic sentiment -insistently promoted by Fidel Castro-, even in the midst of the enormous difficulties and shortages suffered by the population in those fateful days of the so-called Special Period, were decisive factors for the victory over the attempts to destabilize the country.
As will be remembered, the people responded immediately to those who tried to loot stores and premises amid the tumult in the streets of the center of the capital and on the Malecón, but the appearance of President Fidel Castro changed the landscape completely and many who until then They gave free rein to their anger, they ended up shouting ¡Viva Fidel!
The riots were diluted without the police forces firing a single shot, which did not prevent the most right-wing press, especially in the United States, from talking ad nauseam about “repression”.
They were extremely hard times. Cuba was seeking to survive a deep economic crisis after the disappearance of socialism in Europe and the Soviet Union, which led to the loss of practically all of its trade, including almost all of its oil supply, all kinds of raw materials and food.
In a short time, the economy shrank to almost half of its 1989 volume, the island was one step away from total paralysis and was practically left alone facing an enemy, turned into a hegemonic power, just 90 miles from its shores. .
In Washington, the government on duty rubbed its hands betting on the fall of the Revolution “in a matter of days”, and from Miami, base of operations of the counterrevolution, not a few packed their bags to triumphantly return to their privileges.
And as could be expected, the United States tightened the blockade with the promulgation in 1992 of the Torricelli Act, which years later would be reinforced with the Helms-Burton Act.
In the midst of the critical situation, the propaganda campaigns against the island also intensified, promoting illegal departures from the country by any means and under any conditions, and even destabilizing or openly terrorist actions.
Twenty-eight years after those events, Cuba today faces a difficult economic situation -although not as acute as the Special Period-, caused largely by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and its ravages on the world economy, to which the island has not been alien.
But above all due to a strengthening to unsuspected levels of the economic, financial and commercial blockade of the United States, determined to close all the doors, anywhere on the planet, that allow the island to advance in its development.
And no less important, the enormous technological development since then has caused media campaigns against the Cuban social model to jump from the traditional media to cell phones and computers through social networks.
But like 28 years ago, another factor prevails even in the midst of difficulties: the decision of the majority of Cubans to continue, against all odds, aspiring to a country where a better life for all can be possible.
Proof of this is, for example, the forthcoming referendum on the Family Code, a legal text that, if approved, will mean more inclusion, justice and equity for all citizens without distinction.
Certainly, Fidel Castro is not physically present, but a new generation of leaders -and ultimately the people- are trying to make his legacy last, and the words of the historic leader after the protests of August 5, 1994 resonate as if they were said right now:
“The moral values that this people have accumulated and their willingness to fight cannot be underestimated. And whoever fights wins; there is no one today, no matter how powerful, capable of defeating a people determined to fight”.
By: Rafael Calcines Armas
Latin Press