56th Anniversary of the Homeland or Death Slogan

This continues being at present the only solution where the Cuban dignity and the Cuban national integrity lie

The painful farewell to the victims of the sabotage to the French ship “La Coubre” on March 5, 1960, was like the renewal of the claim for independence by the liberating army nearly a century ago.

“Freedom or Death” was the determination taken by the patriots who showed their courage and weapons in the insurgent jungle, because to achieve the independence of Cuba no other option was possible other than fighting until breaking the chains of colonialism or giving their own life in this determination.

However, on the occasion of the “La Coubre” sabotage, it was different. Hearing the dramatic dilemma in the voice of the eternal leader, the undefeated warrior of the attack on the Moncada barracks, whose landing at Las Coloradas repeated the emancipating purpose by the Titán de Bronce in Duaba, and that of the Apostle in Playitas de Cajobabo; the man who made true the dreams of redemption of the precursors of the independence of Cuba. The freedom of Cuba has been definitely conquered; but it was precisely to defend it with the life from that moment on.

And from that moment on, the alternative to live in a free homeland or dying for preserving its sovereignty was much more than a single slogan: it meant a profession of faith for the entire Cuban people. That people of Homeland or Death who shed their courage in the sands of the Bay of Pigs. That people of Homeland or Death who faced up to the nuclear holocaust with courage and calm during the October Crisis. That people of Homeland or Death who during more than 50 years have resisted the shortages caused by the blockade, which is the most prolonged

Genocide recorded in the history of humankind.

So, this slogan, where the Cuban dignity and the Cuban national integrity lie, continues being the only choice at present; the only alternative that will make up the Cuban people worthy of the precursor gesture made by the fighters of the independence army: to live in a free country or dying to preserve its sovereignty.

Translated by ESTI