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      Letter from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro


      Miraflores, July 26, 2015

      Commander Fidel Castro Ruz
      Father and Maestro:

      From the hearts of the people of Bolívar and Chávez, I want to convey our respect, admiration and warmth when today 62 years has passed since the attacks on the Moncada and the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks. On this glorious anniversary, we celebrate your beloved presence and the pleaant reference you embody. We fete the Father and Maestro of all the revolutionary men and women of Our America and the world; the Father and maestro of his beloved child, Our Everlasting Commander.

      We fete the champion who led a handful of brave, a group of women and men mobilized by what Martí called homeland decorum, what would end by turning into a true assault for the future.

      That July 26, 1953 heroism and sacrifice shone in the heights since the vindication of the brilliant and undying legacy of José Martí was attempted. No wonder in that memorable speech which is History will Absolve me, you noted that the mastermind and maximum leader of this deed was the Apostle and nobody else.

      Some 62 years have elapsed since the attacks on Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, however, today we feel more than ever the fire of liberation alive which burned that day in all Our America and beyond, indicating a path followed by generations, still today and in the future.

      From 1953 to this day, the spirit of many Moncadas has encouraged and is encouraging the struggle of the peoples of the Great Motherland for the definitive independence. We can affirm that July 26th will live on. And as the great Cuban singer songwriter Noel Nicola stated: There’s a calendar full of 26s.

      Haydée Santamaría, Melba Hernández, Raúl Gómez García, Boris Santa Coloma, Abel Santamaría, Giraldo Córdova Cardín, Juan Almeida, so many are those who are not today among us but they continue to illuminate from somewhere so beautifully expressed by that immense Cuban voice of Fina García Marruz: ...where the light does not forget its warriors.

      Every July 26, when the attack returns to life, Commander, memory is radiating again to warn us, who have thrown in our lots with the revolution that only through sacrifice we can conquer the future.

      Believe me, Commander, the indelible memory of Moncada is reflected on us as the uppermost revolutionary commitment. We are the continuers of Bolívar, as well as José Martí, Fidel and Che Guevara. Certainly the true Revolutions are not a copy, as Mariátegui said, they are the heroic creation of every People, but we are aware that the Cuban Revolution is the cornerstone within the historic evolution of the Great Motherland.

      Homeland is an altar rather than a pedestal as Martí said. That fighting confirmation of the Moncada Barracks Attack, seen from the distance, is the historic embodiment of the sacrificial stone envisioned by Martí, in front of which the very best of the human soul is delivered for subsequently expectant revelations. And that was a collective revelation erupting that July 26th : a victorious Revolution.

      I guess when that 1953’s decisive hour resounded in you, Commander, that great certainty of Martí: ...A true man does not seek the path where advantage lies, but rather the path where duty lies, and this is the only practical man, whose dream of today will be law of tomorrow.

      In days like this of dignity and victory, the presence of our Giant can be felt with higher intensity.

      Nearer, Fidel, today for you I recall your words since I identify with them and make them all mine: I want to pay tribute to Fidel and on his long path through our peoples, awaking us. Fidel is a soldier, a dreamer, a doubtless example for us all and for the entire Latin-American and Caribbean generations and fighters around the world.

      With the greatest revolutionary fervor, receive the strongest and endless embrace from one who feels like a Moncada attacker of these days of Latin-American and Caribbean Revolution.

      ¡¡¡Chávez lives, the homeland goes on!!!,

      ¡¡¡Until victory forever!!!,

      ¡¡¡Independence and Socialist Homeland!!!,

      ¡¡¡We’ll live and we’ll overcome!!!,

      ¡Long live to the Cuba-Venezuela brotherhood!

      ¡Long live Chávez!

      ¡Long live Fidel!





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