The noted Nova Scotian jazz artist Jeff Goodspeed leading the acclaimed youth music group Los Primos was there at Victoria Park (just off Spring Garden Road) celebrating with everyone. Ambrose read some poetry for the crowd and guests brought their good wishes to all. This free event was organized by the Nova Scotia Cuba Association.
July 26th, 2008 marks the 55th anniversary of the act that is annually celebrated all over Cuba as the beginning of the movement and struggle that paved the way for the Cuban Revolution.
Download Moncada Day Commemoration 2008 video
This video by Ryan Alexander Neily is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Canada License.
The 1959 Newsreel is in the Public Domain.
On July 26th, 1953, a group of courageous young men and women -led by Cuba's former president, Fidel Castro - attacked the Moncada Barracks in the city of Santiago de Cuba, and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Barracks in Bayamo, in an attempt to overthrow the dictator Fulgencio Batista.
The attacks were carried out by an organization that was created in 1952, under the leadership of Fidel Castro and Abel Santamaría, and comprised of young workers, students, artisans, peasants and landless farmers. It had around 1,500 members and affiliated itself with previous historic Cuban national liberation figures such as José Martí and Antonio Maceo. Around 120 youths were part of the attacks, approximately 70 of whom were killed, with many being tortured and executed after the attack. The survivors, including Fidel Castro, were subsequently put on trail and given lengthy prison sentences. Most, including Fidel Castro, were released after an amnesty in May 1955. This amnesty was the result of the mass mobilization of Cubans in support of the imprisoned rebels.
While the attack failed in fulfilling its immediate objective, it is considered by Cubans to be a major contribution to their struggle for national affirmation and social emancipation. Cubans have always placed Moncada in a broad historical context, viewing it as a crucial link in the centuries-long striving of Cuba to, first, free itself from colonialism and then, second, establish authentic independence. At his trial Fidel Castro delivered a speech that eventually became the manifesto of the movement to overthrow the Batista tyranny. It was published as Historia Me Absolvera (History Will Absolve Me) and laid out the national and social goals of the revolutionary movement that eventually triumphed on January 1st, 1959. Today, the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes barracks are now a school and a museum.
The commemoration of Moncada Day is a reflection of the long and growing relations of mutual respect that have existed between Cuba and Canada since the 19th century. At present, more than half a million Canadians (with many Nova Scotians among them!) visit Cuba each year. Currently, there exist numerous institutional and personal relations between Nova Scotia and Cuba. NSCUBA is one of the manifestations of this reality. It was established in 1989 by a group of students, professors, and activists following the highly successful Halifax conference on Cuba sponsored by the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Development, Saint Mary's University and Dalhousie University.