55 YEARS SINCE THE BAY OF PIGS
Worst U.S. defeat since 1812
On April 17, 1961, a mercenary brigade armed, trained and, transported by the CIA, landed at Playa Girón on the Bay of Pigs, as part of Washington’s plans to defeat the nascent Cuban Revolution. The people in uniform, with Fidel on the front lines, defeated the invasion in less than 72 hours
Author: Gabriel Molina Franchossi | informacion@granma.cu
april 7, 2016 09:04:14

Fidel on the front lines in Playa Girón. Photo: Archivo
General Lauris Norstad, head of Allied Forces in Europe (1956-1963), stated “The Bay of Pigs is the worst defeat of the United States since the War of 1812,” in his analysis of the U.S. government’s failed invasion of Cuba at Playa Girón, on the Bay of Pigs, in 1961.
The War of 1812, unleashed and lost by the U.S. against Canada, was the first attempt at expansion by the 13 colonies which constituted the country in 1776.
Once free of the English, some of the new country’s founding fathers proclaimed that they had been chosen by God to guide the rest of the world, and expand to the west and south.
Playa Girón is related to many of the most important issues of the 20th century, including the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the Churchill-Truman alliance; Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the CIA; anti-communism; the Cold War; McCarthyism; neoliberalism; and the growth of the military-industrial complex. The Bay of Pigs is also linked to the war in Vietnam, those in the Middle East (Palestine, Iraq, Syria) Afghanistan, Ukraine, and the mysterious death of Franklin D. Roosevelt – given his opinions about the use of the atomic bomb, the establishment of Israel, and Churchill, himself.

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Young Cubans call for the return of the territory illegally occupied by the U.S. in Guantánamo
During the 39th edition of the Festival of Political Song, young Cuban artists once again called for the return of our territory, occupied by the U.S. at the illegal Guantanamo Naval Base

Author: Prensa Latina | internet@granma.cu
august 3, 2015 09:08:2

Foto: Juventud Rebelde

CAIMANERA, Guantánamo.—Young Cuban artists participating in the Jornada de la Canción Política (Festival of Political Song) once again called for the return of our territory, occupied by the U.S. at the illegal Guantanamo Naval Base.

During a tour of the communities of Caimanera and Boquerón, bordering the military enclave, participants performed and exchanged with residents, while stating their position calling for the return of this portion of Cuban soil which for more than a century has been occupied by the United States.

The Festival of Political Song, celebrating its 39th edition this year, is the oldest event sponsored by the Hermanos Saíz Association in the country. This year the festival is dedicated to the 55 years of the Casa de las Américas magazine and the local group Frontera, precursors of the professional trovador movement in this area.

The Sunday program also included a performance of the longest trova, starring guest musicians and anyone interested in joining them in this eastern Cuban city.

Tribute from a grateful homeland
March 13, 1957, will continue to be a historic date that resonates with Cubans

Author: Mauricio Escuela | informacion@granma.cu
march 11, 2016 09:03:54

The former Presidential Palace is now the Museum of the Revolution. Photo: Jose M. Correa
March 13, 1957 will continue to be a historic date that resonates with Cubans.
Over the coming days, Cuban university students, members of the Revolutionary Directorate of the time and patriots in general, will commemorate, as they do every year, the assault on the Presidential Palace, on March 13, 1957. José Antonio Echeverría, president of the Federation of University Students at the time, led a group of students from the University of Havana that day, in an attempt to bring down the tyranny of Batista. This feat would clear the way for those who would later, from the Sierra Maestra, eventually bring freedom to the country.

José Antonio Echeverría

Beyond the program of activities, the tribute will speak to the very essence of those members of the Directorate who, as Martí would say, carried within them the shame of many, facing the beast in its own lair and attacking one of the most important and wide reaching radio stations, Radio Reloj.
Scheduled to take place are moments of silence and reflection, announcements, and the playing of the National Anthem. Cuban classrooms will be the perfect space to recall an unforgettable moment in the island’s history. The function rooms of the Museum of the Revolution (former Presidential Palace), will receive those who participated in the assault, who instead of weapons will bring ideas, dreams, concrete plans for the nation and much respect for José Antonio Echeverría, martyr, leader and a man who, together with so many others, never feared retribution and embodied the maxim: “To die for the homeland is to live.”
In the early days of January 1959, following the triumph of the Revolution, Fidel spoke from the balcony of the Presidential Palace, which from that moment ceased to be a space for evil and became the site of many positive actions, benefiting the Cuban people. This was a promise encompassing the essence of Martí’s thought, made reality. March 13 is the day that the grateful Cuban people pay tribute to these martyrs. A white rose symbolizing purity and appreciation will be placed at the statue of the brave José Antonio Echeverria

Esteemed heads of state and government,
Distinguished heads of delegations,
Mr. Secretary General of the United Nations,

Mr. President,
Seventy years ago, on behalf of their peoples, the member states of this organization signed the United Nations Charter. We pledged to protect future generations from the scourge of war, and to build a new type of relationship guided by a set of principles and purposes that could bring about an era of peace, justice and development for all of humanity.
However, since then, there have been constant wars of aggression; interference in the internal affairs of states; violent overthrowing of sovereign governments; so-called “soft coups,” and the re-colonization of territories. All of these perfected with non-conventional strategies and new technology, under the guise of alleged human rights violations.
The militarization of cyberspace, and the covert and illegal use of information and communications technologies to attack other states is unacceptable, as likewise is the distortion of the advancement and protection of human rights used with a selective and discriminatory approach to justify and impose political decisions.
Despite the fact that the Charter calls to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person,” to millions of people the fulfillment of human rights remains a utopia.

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