On the path to the centenary of his birth on 13 August 2026, Fidel remains a reference of honour as we remember milestones of his stature as a leader. His humility, fortitude, and love for the humble people of our land…

On 14 September 1960, while Mr Eisenhower was President of the United States, a meeting took place in that country, on which occasion the leader excluded Fidel as a guest from a lunch he offered to the Latin American presidents.

An unethical act driven by his visceral hatred of the Cuban Revolution, referring to the fact, the Cuban leader, in response to a journalist's question, stated: it seems fine to me and I wish those who attend it a good appetite. I will have lunch in the Harlem neighbourhood with the humble. I belong, he emphasised, to the humble people.

Fidel in Harlem, due to the personalities and North American leaders he received, overshadowed the high-profile conference. The city's Black neighbourhood and its leaders are far better known to the ethical and civilised world. Nikita Khrushchev and Malcolm X, present with Fidel in the neighbourhood among others. This after he had been evicted from the hotel where he was staying with his delegation.

On 3 February 1962, Eisenhower's successor, John F Kennedy, as president, signed the law for the embargo (blockade) on trade with Cuba. His subsequent opinions related to Cuba, still unclear, cost him his life, in one of the blackest pages of that empire with the deaths of the Kennedys, John and Robert. The case appears murky in the declassified documents so far, as far as is known.

Fidel Castro stated: A revolution can only be a child of culture and ideas. Speech delivered in the main hall of the Central University of Venezuela on 3 February 1999.

In the written speech text, Fidel expresses that those who have the kindness and patience to read this material, it has a special meaning for me

On the back cover, one can read: no people becomes revolutionary by force. Those who sow ideas do not need to repress the people.

The weapons in the hands of the people are to fight against those from within and without who try to snatch away their gains.

He expressed, we are a bunch of countries with common interests. We must work, persuade, fight, and persevere. Never be discouraged.

One day when the golden light
Was appearing on the horizon
Wanting to embrace the mountain
A silent ship came.
To put an end to an evil one
Inspired that reason.
The Five Cubans are
Sons of that journey.
Cuba with Fidel as its guide
Sowed them in its heart.