Grant Raúl Castro the title of Distinguished Son of the city of Santiago de Cuba

July 27, 2020

The title of Illustrious Son of the city of Santiago de Cuba was awarded to Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), for his outstanding trajectory as a revolutionary, military strategist and statesman.

The recognition was received by Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, at the Symbolic Assault commemoration for the 67th anniversary of the Assaults on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, in the early morning hours of July 26.

The act was presided over by Central Committee members Lázaro Expósito Canto, first secretary of the province, and Beatriz Jonhson Urrutia, provincial governor.

Yaneidis Hechavaria, president of the Municipal Assembly of People's Power, expressed to those present that it is a great honor and a special opportunity from within the walls of the old Moncada Barracks to grant this award to Raúl Castro, who has worthily represented the province as a deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power.

Raúl is the man from whom we learned to walk without haste, but without pause, with our ears to the ground, who taught us that if it was possible, it is possible and it will be possible, a man from Santiago by conviction, firm and faithful to the Homeland and to Fidel, she emphasized.

A roll call of the martyrs of the glorious feat was held and the poems We are now in combat, by Raúl Gómez García, and the Morning of Santa Ana, by indio Nabori, were recited.

Cuban flags and July 26 flags were carried by young people to the rhythm of the march of July 26, by Agustín Diaz Cartaya.

Subsequently, Valdés Menéndez and the highest authorities of this city paid tribute to the martyrs and heroes of July 26 at the Altar of the Martyrs, at Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, where floral offerings were placed in the name of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of Cuba, as well as of the Council of State and the People of Cuba.

Later, in the company of Commander of the Revolution Guillermo García Frías, they laid wreaths of flowers to the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, to the National Hero of Cuba, José Martí, and to the founding fathers of the nation Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and Mariana Grajales.