At the Major General Serafín Sánchez Valdivia Revolution Square, 5,000 people from Sancti Spiritus, on behalf of all Cubans, celebrate the 71st anniversary of the attacks on the the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes garrisons.

Salvador Valdés Mesa, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and vice president, who was in charge of the keynote speech, highlighted the consequences of the intensified economic, commercial and financial blockade by the United States Government against Cuba.

He praised the economic and social results of the people of Sancti Spiritus, and said that “like all of our people, they have known how to live up, once again, to the height of their glorious history, which treasures an admirable legacy of tradition of struggle from the colonial period to the present.”

The Cuban vice president noted that “Sancti Spíritus has a prominent place in the war of liberation and in the delivery of its children to the Homeland and the construction of the new society, anticipated by Fidel in the Moncada program.”

Deivy Pérez, member of the PCC Central Committee and first secretary in the province, praised the people’s efforts and pointed out that Sancti Spíritus is a land of mambises who will follow the March, as Serafín, mortally wounded, stated.

“Today we come here to evoke the bravery of our ancestors and reaffirm in the present the commitment to the principles that have guided our heroes and martyrs, like those brave young people who took history by storm,” she said.

She evoked the three valuable sons of this land who participated in the deed on July 26, 1953, when Reemberto Abad Alemán lost his life, while Antonio Darío López and Ricardo Santana survived the action.

The main event on the Moncada anniversary was attended by Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés, among other leaders of the State and the Government.

Also present are a delegation from Vietnam, and members of the José Martí European Brigade of Volunteer Work and Solidarity with Cuba, and the Juan Rius Rivera Brigade, from Puerto Rico, as well as the Venceremos Brigade, from the United States.

There is also a delegation of Cuban-Americans from the José Martí Cultural Society, an Afro-American group of solidarity with Cuba, and foreign students who recently graduated from the University of Medical Sciences in Sancti Spíritus.

This is the third time that the main event for the Moncada anniversary is commemorated in Sancti Spíritus, the homeland of Major General Serafín Sánchez Valdivia, hero of all three independence wars and a personal friend of José Martí.

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