On a day like today, we Cubans mark a new anniversary of Granma cabin cruiser landing and the resumption of struggles for the definitive independence of the people of Cuba.

This way, 58 years ago the 20th-century “mambises”, the so-called Ejercito Rebelde (Rebel Army) would write a new national and modern epic when they re-took the pathways leading to the Sierra Maestra in eastern Cuba and faced the powerful military machinery of Fulgencio Batista's regime, which received the unconditional backing of the US Government.

The whole people’s involvement in the insurrection gave the guerilla movement the opportunity to become an impregnable stronghold in that struggle, and facilitated them to repeat the invasion towards the West of the country that once the mambises had done in the 19th century. After 25 months of heroic fighting, Fidel Castro’s pledging of “we’ll be free or martyrs” was certain.

A splendorous and radiant sun arose in the morning of January 1st, 1959. This would be a new beginning for the people of Cuba; measures and works for the benefit of the people were on the way, as it had become customary in the mountainous lands of eastern Cuba and in other territories freed by the Rebel Army.  

It is worth to reiterate that the crystallization of Fidel Castro’s ideas, outlined in the Moncada program -known as The History Will Absolve Me-; have had a faithful cultivator firstly in the Ejercito Rebelde (the guerrilla) and then in the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

There are no work done for the economic benefit of Cuba where the role played by FAR hasn’t been crucial.

However, such way of doing things has gone further, even beyond our national borders. There is no shortage of examples in countries where Cuban combatants have built schools and other buildings while they also fought in defense of the sovereignty and independence of those countries.

Fifty-eight years after the landing of Granma yacht, the birth of the Rebel Army and consequently the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces it is time to remember Fidel Castro’s quote when he said “Imperialists, you'll never, ever have Cuba” and the valuable lesson left by Raul when he said “the war that we best win is that of being well prepared to avoid it.”