“In those days I worked in Havana and participated against the revolt. I remember that when the situation was already critical, there were several injured by stones from buildings and every second the tone rose. We received the news of Fidel’s express prohibition on the exit of the Minint formations, which were ready. Suddenly, a deafening cry from the crowd: FIDELLLLLL!!!!. It was true, just a block from where I was, Father Mayor got out of his jeep and took long strides through the crowd, in the most critical place. That’s where the anger came from!”
So wrote on our website a worker identified as José David who, like so many other patriots, responded energetically to acts of vandalism encouraged by the empire. They did not allow themselves to be snatched from the streets that August 5, 1994, until, as the Commander in Chief expressed, “the people crushed the counterrevolution without firing a single shot.”
As the Internet user pointed out, Fidel prohibited the use of weapons because for him morality was enough, and when a journalist asked him his motivations for appearing in a place where he could run serious risks, he answered without hesitation: “If they were really launching some stones and there were some shots, I also wanted to receive my share of stones and shots. It is nothing extraordinary!”, and stressed “in reality it is a habit: one wants to be there where the people are fighting (…) but, in addition, he had the special interest of talking with our people, to exhort them to be calm, patient cold-blooded, don’t let yourself be provoked.”
The national context in which the disturbances occurred was marked by the hardest part of the special period, by the resurgence of enemy propaganda, by the encouragement of illegal departures, by the hijacking of boats that included the murder of a Police non-commissioned officer Revolutionary National, whose authors were received in the North as heroes…
Fidel’s analysis of what happened remains particularly valid and is part of the arsenal of resources of unconventional warfare that remains. “They want bloody scenes to take place, they want there to be a shootout, there to be deaths, to use them as a propaganda tool, first of all; as an instrument of subversion, and, finally, as an instrument of intervention in our country. The imperialist strategy is to create a situation, create maximum discontent within our country, divide the population, create the most difficult conditions possible and lead our country into a conflict, into a bloodbath. They dream of it, they yearn for it! And of course we have to counter that strategy.”
And when assessing the attitude of those who opposed the provocateurs, he stressed: “in a matter of minutes the entire town took to the streets and established order. His massive presence and spirit alone established order without using weapons at all. Where in the world does that happen?
That’s how it was then 28 years ago and it has continued to be in the face of those who are trying to reverse the course of the Revolution.
Enjoy on the Malecon!
These are scenes that can be captured any day and especially in this hot summer. The Malecón, as always, refreshes Havanans not only with its sea breeze but also with its landscape that motivates the camera lens to keep it as a pleasant memory.
Lovers’ date spot; a meeting place for fishermen who, from very early on, get involved in their tasks; of games; of walks… it is our Malecón, that of Havanans and that of all Cubans, the one that delights visitors, the one that fills our eyes with the combination of the intense blue of the sky and the eternal movement of the sea, the one that identifies us Like a postcard with the imposing presence of El Morro accompanied by La Cabaña, which is enjoyed by those who sit on its walls to extend their view to the other side of the bay.
It is our Malecón, of the people of Havana and of all Cubans, our great balcony to the sea, not the one full of protesters that the (antisocial) networks falsely showed in 2021 in one of their many attempts of their cyber war to distort the Cuban reality, which it was shown to belong to a demonstration that had occurred 10 years earlier in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria.
Ours has indeed overflowed with people but not to protest against the Cuban regime, as those who oppose us so much want, but rather to the contrary. On many occasions, it has been the scene of formidable marches to support the Revolution and socialism, such as that rally that in July of last year brought together more than 100,000 people, with the presence of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz and the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel to demand the lifting of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States and the cessation of destabilization attempts, to defend our sovereignty and once again tell the empire that Martí’s homeland is not negotiable.
The images that we show today are current and anyone can check it by going to the Malecón one of these days. If it is a weekend, I assure you that you will find a much larger audience and perhaps some orchestras to liven up the summer.
It is the most eloquent example of something as precious to Cubans as citizen tranquility and our ability to fight to be happy even in the midst of difficulties. (Alina Martinez Triay)
August 5, 1994: when the Malecón shouted Viva Fidel!
August 5, 1944. In the Cuban capital, the hot summer made one sweat profusely. The day seemed calm. There was an intense stage, called Special Newspaper, in which blackouts reached up to 14 hours, food, medicine and basic necessities were notably scarce. Transportation was virtually non-existent, leading to a proliferation of bicycles imported from China. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had collapsed and the echoes, with singular force and influence, reached the largest island of the Antilles.
In Miami they did not waste time and there were no expressions of solidarity. It “rained” the manipulations of the existing situation in Cuba, the exhortations for the riots to take over the streets and to do everything indescribable to diminish the Revolution and try to overthrow the government, based on the shortcomings and regrets.
Since before that day there had been a proliferation of kidnappings of boats in areas near the port of Havana, events encouraged from Florida.
But on August 5, the iceberg and the Malecón became the scene of protests, riots and vandalism. Enraged people, many of them young, blew up garbage containers, threw stones and bricks that broke windows and glass in various hotels and other facilities. The screams were getting louder.
But as in Cuba ─although the contras outside and inside never want to believe it─ the streets belong to the revolutionaries, the people bravely mixed with the protesters and confronted them and despite the barrage of stones, they repeatedly heard: Long live Fidel! Long live Fidel!
A group of journalists who presided in the country’s provinces of the professional organization that brings us together (Upec) were that afternoon in the office of a senior leader of the Revolution. We had been in the Cuban capital for several days, “maturing” the long-cherished effort to put together a special newspaper on the creations that appeared in the different territories of the country to face part of the shortcomings imposed by the economic situation, such as an excellent organic garden in the municipality from Villa Clara from Caibarién, what they achieved in agriculture in Cumanayagua, the productions they obtained in a unit of the Western Army… And also to appreciate how the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) were prepared to defend the country in case of enemy aggression. Privilege size!
We talked animatedly, or rather, we listened to the leader who kindly welcomed us and carefully explained every detail. At one point he changed the expression on his face, he briefly explained what was happening on the Malecon and suggested that we go to the hotel. “I ask you not to go to the Malecón,” he said with the tenderness of a father.
We got on the bus that was transporting us and a colleague said firmly: “Pa’l Malecón driver”. Who attended us was full of explanations for the sake of fulfilling the request ─or rather the order─ given. “We are going to the Malecón”, the journalist energetically reiterated.
Our hosts had no choice but to lead us to where the riots were taking place. We got off at the corner of San Lázaro and Galeano, in front of the Hotel Deauville. At the entrance you could see the pieces of bricks and stones that affected the windows of the lobby. We all continue together and reach the Wall. The members of the distinguished and seasoned, ─I would add─ Blas Roca Calderío Contingent, were sitting there. They were wearing white pullovers with a red badge and letters ─if I remember correctly─ on the upper left side and some held sticks in their hands.
How is the situation?, we ask. “The Commander in Chief has already passed by here and everything is under control,” replied one of the workers. Another added that they immediately stopped, as if by magic, the stones and bricks in the air. “Anyone could reach him, but no one tried, he only received support and respect,” a very tall and firm-faced builder told us.
“I came then because I had to come, it was my most basic duty to be with the people, at a time when the enemy had worked for a long time to create disorder. A disorder! It cannot be said that this was even an attempt at rebellion, they were actually disorders. These disorders were created around groups that mobilized to steal boats with which to move to the United States, where they were received as heroes,” Fidel said at the event on the occasion of the youth march against the blockade, held in La Punta, in Havana, on August 5, 1995.
A neighbor, a tireless reader, always warns me that “reversal cannot become victory.” But when I think about what happened that day on the Malecón in the capital, it was actually a reverse attempt designed by enemies of the Revolution, but it turned into a total victory for the people, with their maximum leader at the forefront. (Ferran Barriers)