26 July Celebrations
26 July is the most important date on Cuba’s revolutionary calendar. Patriotic and revolutionary fervour grips the nation, and streets are covered with communist banners, posters and official graffiti. The date is the anniversary of Fidel Castro’s ill-fated 1953 assault on Santiago de Cuba’s Moncada Barracks, and also the birth of Cuban writer and patriot Jose Martí. Fidel’s attack in 1953 failed and the dictator, Batista, was not actually overthrown until 1959. However, the date is when the movement started that eventually became the Cuban Revolution. At the Moncada barracks in Santiago, the names of the martyrs of the revolution are read out and guns are fired. Speeches from Cuba’s leaders are broadcast on all national television stations.
