Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel. Photo: Presidency of Cuba.
Former Cuban president Raúl Castro attended a tribute event on Saturday for his 95th birthday, marking his first public appearance since the US announced, on May 20, the indictment of the Cuban leader for the downing of two civilian aircraft belonging to the Cuban exile organization Brothers to the Rescue in international waters in 1996.
Castro received praise from President Miguel Díaz-Canel during a ceremony at the Karl Marx Theater in Havana, where the president described Fidel’s brother as a national guide at a moment when “the homeland is living through crucial hours, threatened as never before by imperialism”—referring to the US naval blockade, tightened at the end of January, that is strangling the country as never before.
“In the first five months of the year, Cuba has only received one fuel tanker out of the 40 it would have needed during that period,” Díaz-Canel lamented before recalling a second US executive order, issued in May, “loaded with threats, sanctions, seizures, and fines against any company, bank, institution, or person that trades or invests in Cuba.” For Díaz-Canel, these acts amount to “an act of genocide that imposes terrible limitations on the daily life of our people.”
Against this backdrop of crisis, Raúl Castro emerges as a national symbol. “Raúl is Cuba, and Cuba is untouchable,” proclaimed the Cuban president—”untouchable as long as there remains a single dignified Cuban man or woman alive to place themselves as a shield wherever the enemy tries to fire a bullet.”
President Díaz-Canel closed a speech with historical overtones—which also commemorated the 65th anniversary of the creation of the Ministry of the Interior and the dismantling of Operation Patty, orchestrated by the US to assassinate the Castro brothers — with a call for “peace” and dialogue.
“Cuba does not provoke, aggress, or challenge. We continue to count on a climate of understanding with the United States on the basis of mutual respect, despite our differences, as has been demonstrated to be possible,” the president concluded.
Cuba Accuses US of Weaponizing Smear Campaign Against Raúl Castro as Pretext for Military Invasion
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/CB/SL
Cameron Baillie is an award-winning journalist, editor, and researcher. He won and was shortlisted for awards across Britain and Ireland. He is Editor-in-Chief of New Sociological Perspectives graduate journal and Commissioning Editor at The Student Intifada newsletter. He spent the first half of 2025 living, working, and writing in Ecuador. He does news translation and proofreading work with The Orinoco Tribune.
