Cubans Launch Granma Yacht Replica Into the Sea

On Thursday, the Youth Communist Union (UJC) and the cultural project "Our America" launched a symbolic replica of the yacht Granma into the sea to honor Fidel Castro, who arrived on this boat from Mexico with 81 revolutionaries in 1956 to fight Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship (1952-1959).

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"We remember the Granma expedition members because we have faith in the Revolution's continuity," 30-year-old UJC militant Giselle Armas stated. Before performing the symbolic act, activists marched from Quijote Park to the seawall of Havana City with banners that read “Thank you, Fidel” and “Long life to the Revolution.”

The yacht replica, which Cuban plastic artist Alexis Leyva "Kcho" created, also read "Homeland or Death." The Portugal-Cuba Friendship Association, the Canadian brigade "Ernesto Che Guevara," and the XXXI Caravan of Shepherds for Peace joined the march and threw red flowers into the sea to honor Fidel on his fifth death anniversary.

"We are here to represent a diversity of international organizations that wish that the U.S. government lift the blockade against Cuba and end the smear campaign against its Revolution," the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) Director Gail Walker stated.

On Thursday, Cuban diplomats paid tribute to Fidel at the Cuba-Mexico Friendship Museum in Tuxpan City, from which the Granma Yacht expedition departed. Argentine troubadour Paula Ferre also premiered a song dedicated to the Cuban leader with an audiovisual piece by documentary filmmaker Martin Adorno on social networks.

"Fidel deserves the recognition of the artists of Argentina. His political ideology, which inspired several social movements in our America, still stands in the revolutionary spirit of hundreds of our citizens," Ferre stated.

In Cuba, the Children Theater Company “The Little Beehive” staged a play to inaugurate the center of Fidel Castro, which will be destined to the study and diffusion of this leader’s actions and ideology.