The July 26, 1953, bold assaults led by Fidel Castro on the Moncada barracks in Santiago and the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks in Bayamo were an attempt to “storm the heavens,” Raúl Castro said. The revolutionaries failed in their objective to take the garrisons and spark a mass revolutionary insurrection; more than 50 of the young combatants were captured, tortured and murdered by Batista’s forces. “But exactly five years, five months and five days later, on Jan. 1, 1959, we were passing through the main entrance of the city to demand the unconditional surrender of the garrison there, made up of more than 5,000 men.”

The celebration was attended by the heads of state or high-ranking government officials from Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Dominica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Venezuela, and Uruguay. In brief speeches several spoke about the interconnected legacy and ties among the nations of the Caribbean and the deep social and political impact the 1959 Cuban Revolution had on the region. Government representatives also highlighted the role revolutionary Cuba has played in standing up to U.S. imperialism and in providing medical aid and other assistance to Latin America, the Caribbean and other semicolonial countries around the world.

— SETH GALINSKY