On the path to the centenary of Fidel’s birth, a pledge was made to preserve his legacy

«In this historic Stairway of the University of Havana (…) we once again seek the essence of who we are,» stated Meyvis Estévez Echevarría, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and First Secretary of the National Committee of the Union of Young Communists, during the evening for the ninth anniversary of the physical disappearance of the Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.

In the presence of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, she recalled that, in this institution of higher learning, Fidel discovered his destiny and forged his revolutionary and socialist vocation, under the guidance of José Martí.

Beyond his departure almost a decade ago, she expressed to him, on behalf of all the grateful and committed: your light will never leave. It will not leave the gaze of your youth, it will not leave any corner of the world, it will not leave the heart of your people.

«We recall the living certainty that peoples, when they rise up, can change the course of the stars,» she affirmed. That name – which signifies «the triumph of hope over fear, of dignity over submission» – becomes a battlefield and demonstrates how a united people can write history for themselves.

«We will arrive at our Ninth Party Congress not as spectators, but as conscious heirs of the battles waged, convinced that we are the guardians of this collective dream. Therefore, amidst tensions and challenges, we assume the Government Programme as a roadmap for the construction of socialism, even in times of ‘war economy’,» she summoned, with certainty of success in the face of these challenges, as the leader assumed every task.

Before the memory of his warning about the possibility of destroying the Revolution by ourselves, and under the gaze of the Apostle from a wall of the Alma Mater, she raised an oath: «not to let the leader die, on his centenary, just as he did not let the Master die.»

The motto One Hundred Years with Fidel appeared on screens, emblazoned on some sweaters and printed for so many years in that region of the soul where truth is written without words.

The atmosphere was accompanied by the phrases that emerged in those days of November and December 2016, when several young people reaffirmed the decision of their lives: «I am Fidel» and a multitude gathered in the Plaza de la Revolución responded «Here» to Daniel Ortega’s question about the whereabouts of that universal father for all times.

Also presiding over this evening of evocation were members of the Political Bureau and the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party, other leaders of the Party and the Government, representatives of mass organisations and of the Union of Young Communists. Also present were members of the FAR and the Minint, and relatives of the Commander-in-Chief. Specially invited was the Commander of the Rebel Army José Ramón Machado Ventura.