Battle of Ideas, the largest mass mobilization ever to take place in Cuba

The Battle of Ideas carried out by our people under the leadership of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro began on December 5, 1999, 23 years ago, when Cuba denounced to the world the pain suffered by a humble Cuban father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, whose six-year-old son, Elian, had been kidnapped to be taken to the United States illegally in a shipwrecked boat, although miraculously the child did not die.

When he was rescued on November 25, 1999, he was taken to the home of relatives in Miami, who, by mutual agreement with Cuban-American mafia groups, refused to hand him over to his father, who lived on the island.

The Marches of the Combatant People, the Open Forums and the Mesas Redondas demanding the return of the child were held daily all over the country. This was joined by an international campaign in which honest people from many nations and the U.S. itself, advocated for the infant to join his father.

The movement that developed in Cuba, which had among its main activities the systematic rallies demanding the return of Elian, was later recognized in a speech delivered by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, on March 31, 2001, in the Havana municipality of Playa.
Fidel presented basic concepts on what he considered the largest mass mobilization ever known in the history of our homeland, initiated to demand the return of the child Elian.

He specified that there were tasks for many years and called to deepen the cultural and educational battle and its expressions in projects such as the University for All, the Mesas Redondas, the development of the Schools of Art Instructors, libraries within the reach of every citizen and the massive use of audiovisual media.

It is important to remember that when the Battle of Ideas began, the nation was at the gates of a new century, and in the face of all the predictions of its defeat, it was arriving at its first decade of successful resistance to Washington after the disappearance of socialism in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

The Cuban people became fully involved in the campaign for the return of Elian Gonzalez, which was the first episode of a much broader struggle that would be reflected in the Baragua Oath on February 19, 2000, read by the Leader of the Revolution in the historic place where the Bronze Titan rejected the Zanjon Pact.

On that occasion, Fidel expressed, "What would the simple return of this child be worth if tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, any day of any week, any month or any year, another Elian, dozens of Elians, hundreds of Elians, thousands of Elians, may disappear among the turbulent waters, be taken to the United States illegally, separated from one or both parents without their authorization or any possibility of recovering them legally?"

The Baragua Oath outlined what would be the historic objectives for the next generations against the expressions of the Cuban Adjustment Act, the Helms-Burton Act, the Torricelli Act, against the blockade and the criminal economic war, the terrorist campaigns and for the return of the national territory illegally occupied by the Guantanamo Naval Base.

Fidel reiterated that: "Our struggle will adopt a thousand different forms and styles. The masses will always be ready; the transmission of the message will be permanent, the forces and energies will continue building up and saving themselves for every necessary or decisive minute".
After a campaign that involved honest people from all over the world and a constant battle, Elian returned to the Homeland hand in hand with his father Juan Miguel Gonzalez through Jose Marti International Airport on June 28, 2000.

The unity of the Cuban people in their just claim, the international accompaniment and the good will of sectors in the United States made it possible for justice to prevail.

More than twenty years after those events, the nation faces a redoubled attack of the traditional aggressive policies of The Union, with subversive actions of all kinds, and strategies in the scenario of culture, education, cyberspace and social networks, against which it is necessary the integration of the revolutionary forces, of study, permanent preparation and fidelity to the principles of the Battle of Ideas, conceived, initiated and developed by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro.