By Jorge Ernesto Angulo Leiva on August 6, 2026
Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz responded admirably to the riots in Havana, August 5, 1994 photo: Granma Archives.
No force is greater than that of example. This was demonstrated by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz on August 5, 1994, when he led the response to the riots that broke out in Havana—just as, more than three decades earlier, he had stepped down from that tank at Playa Girón—for throughout his entire life he was always on the front lines of danger.
A tyrant, in a similar situation, would have ordered his men to fire—without hesitation, without remorse—but he demonstrated a character entirely opposite to that of the despicable rulers with whom those who seek to tarnish the moral integrity of his life so often associate him. He ordered his bodyguards to silence their weapons and chose instead to risk any possible harm himself.
Fortunately, the incidents ceased at that moment. The antisocial elements, driven by the hypocritical U.S. strategy of suffocation and the encouragement of migration, vanished like smoke.
However, no one would restore the lost eye of a member of the Blas Roca contingent—one of the Revolution’s most valuable forces that day—nor would they heal those injured by the brutality born of cognitive warfare, in its quest to exploit the irrational side of human nature in the midst of crises.
The boundless respect Fidel had earned over several decades, coupled with the people’s resolute response, returned the streets to their rightful owners—those determined to fight for life, even under circumstances bordering on the impossible.
That date bequeaths us invaluable lessons for the present, when our longtime enemies are once again pushing their immorality to the limit, with the aim of suffocating the entire country, in the style of Valeriano Weyler’s reconcentration.
Aware of the costs of military aggression, they choose to provoke such desperation that we turn on one another and shatter our sacred unity, so that they can then intervene without fanfare while we view our executioners as our saviors. “What a beautiful plan!” they must think.
Under these conditions, there are legitimate expressions of discontent—we are all living in a time of survival—but when demonstrations involve violence and threaten peace and tranquility, our hand must remain steady and our mind serene, just as Fidel did when he appeared with his unwavering example to dispel the worst omens on Havana’s Galiano and San Lázaro streets.
Source: Cuba en Resumen