By Daily Sánchez Lemus on January 1, 2026
foto: Bill Hackwell
Not everyone trusted that the Rebel Army would defeat the constitutional, armed and prepared Army. Perhaps they did not calculate that the rebels’ convictions made up for any lack of ammunition… Raúl would say it in the year 1959 himself: a soldier without a reserve in his brain is like a useless rifle. In this lay the essence of the triumph, since Fidel kept his faith in victory, even in the most difficult moments, and the strength to defend a just ideal, and he knew how to transmit it to his fellow fighters.
The Rebel Army and the clandestine fighters of the cities, united under the banner of the July 26 Revolutionary Movement, showed the people that the impossible is possible. That is why this has always continued to be the Revolution without impossible things, that of the man who did not believe in setbacks and much less in defeats; that of the young man who could have been anything else, whatever he wanted, and yet decided to be a guerrilla of his time, as Katiuska Blanco beautifully defined it.
Cuba has the joy of starting each new year with the happiness of the triumph of the Revolution, celebrating anniversaries and giving special meaning to the beginning of the new return to the sun. Since 1959, every January 1st has been a tribute to Martí, to our brave mambises, to our clandestine fighters, to all the revolutionaries who had to fight without seeing victory, but as they always knew: they were doing it for the future.
We are that future they fought for, but a future that still has to be better; a future-present that has the obligation to grow, not to be transplanted or fertilized with artificial or artificial powders, but to continue living in this same land full of essences and traditions that are the only ones that have allowed us to get here… because our reason for being, the passion of so many who gave their lives, is the Homeland, it is Cuba.
Fidel, foto: Roberto Chile
In 2026, Fidel turns 100 years old, and ten years of multiplying over time. And although we know that being with him is already a decision of the humble, which does not respond to dates or celebrations, but to the dictates of the heart and justice, the year of his centenary is a new reason to draw fire from lazy souls and to know who joins or departs from the difficult but necessary path of the Revolution; who is committed to unity that has as its center the flag of sovereignty and socialism and who is not afraid to defend the values that guide us at the price of any sacrifice.
Fidel’s Martian way of making revolution, which has an invariable ethical value in personal example and which considers justice as a basis and the exercise of power as a constant practice of modesty, is a maxim for all of us who are active on the side of those who love and “play in Fidel’s novena.”
Fidel is in the culture that reached the most intricate places and in the athlete who dedicated his triumphs to him out of gratitude and in recognition of the work of the Revolution; in the little schools, hospitals… and in the development of those great economic plans that covered livestock, rice fields, citrus fruits, coffee, sugar… and the people who happily mobilized to work to produce their food know that in a country – blocked by a powerful enemy – that has in its own efforts the only possibility of prospering economically. The Fidel who was, until the last minute of his life, researching and experimenting with protein plants to improve the diet of the people, who launched gigantic plans not only for material resources, but for the human strength and convictions that moved him towards the task. A man not only of ideas, but of facts and results turns 100 years old.
The Fidel of oblivion does not exist. For us, revolutionaries, the recognition of the work that precedes us in the economic, social and political sphere is not only historical justice, but also a source to learn from what was done well and can continue to be done well. That common good that brings us together around the Party of Martí and Fidel. The enemy only divides us from ignorance, from our inabilities, and those are the gaps that we have to seal once and for all.
Jose Marti, foto: Bill Hackwell
The Fidel who in June 1958, after bombs of American origin fell in the Sierra Maestra, confirmed that the longest and greatest war would be the one that would come after the revolutionary triumph, and it would be against Yankee imperialism… and he prepared us for this throughout his life… The insurgent Fidel who does not rest on photos or flowers, but fights from every writing or speech we read and sometimes it seems that he encourages us and other times that he severely alerts us.
In 2026 his speech on the closing day of the Party Congress turns 10; a speech that then was more about the future than about the present; a speech whose value has grown and is essential for today, where more than calling to “change everything that must be changed” – he expressed 16 years before that date -, he proposed “we will perfect what we must perfect”, in a necessary recognition of the achievements of the Revolution, which only have to be maintained and improved; and also as a warning to always watch over them.
Neither before, nor during nor after 2026 can we fail him, nor the Revolution. It would be failing our dignity, our sovereignty and therefore, Cuba.
And remembering the verses that led that generation of Martí’s centenary, led by Fidel, to write their highest dreams on the walls of Moncada; for those who continued that fight until it was crowned and then went on to create a new homeland of the humble that would be inadmissible to hand over to the enemy; for us and our children, who are the future, and because we are not the “lazy generation” who will let their achievements be taken away; because Fidel’s centenary represents one hundred more years of struggle and of Martí and Fidelista continuity: we are still in combat.
For the honor of Cuba…
Source: Cubadebate, translation Resumen Lationamericano – English