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Cuba celebrates National Rebellion Day with pledge to consolidate socialism

Xinhua, July 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

Cuba held celebrations Tuesday to mark the National Rebellion Day and pledged to introduce all changes necessary to consolidate socialism.

Around 8,000 people turned out at the celebration in the central Sancti Spiritus Province, 355 km east of Havana, to mark the events of July 26, 1953, when Fidel Castro and over 100 of his followers attempted to take the Moncada Barracks.

Moncada was an important military fortress belonging to the regime of Fulgencio Batista. The goal was to seize weapons and start an uprising but the attack failed. Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released and exiled in 1955, prior to his return in 1956 to begin the revolution that led him to power.

At the celebration chaired by Cuban President Raul Castro, Vice President Jose Ramon Machado said that the Cuban government will introduce all changes necessary to make the country more prosperous and sustainable.

"Each of these changes will be the result of the sovereign decision of the Cuban people, and will not yield to external pressure seeking to underhandedly dismantle the revolutionary process," said Machado in a speech broadcast on public television.

Machado, also second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, said transformation to "update" the economic and social model would be characterized by popular participation "of unimaginable scale and depth compared to countries which proclaim themselves as paradigms of democracy."

As part of the widespread public debates since late June, Machado said 704,000 people have participated in about 22,200 meetings to discuss the agreements from the recent seventh Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, related to the future of the country.

Machado also congratulated the leader of the Cuban Revolution and former President Fidel Castro, who will turn 90 on Aug. 13.

The National Rebellion Day is celebrated every year in a different province, and every five years the main event returns to the city of Santiago de Cuba, where the rebellion began. Endi