Santiago de Cuba Dawned Red and Black this July 26

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba, Jul 26 (acn) An atmosphere of celebration, joy and patriotism reigned on Sunday in this villa that just celebrated the 500th anniversary of its founding, and its children confess it's always that way when they celebrate their most important date: that of the heroic deed of Moncada Garrison.

The city downed alert; the red and black, white and blue colors abounded on the streets, in the clothes of its inhabitants, in homes and public buildings, Cuban and 26 of July flags flew, and chants ennobling revolutionary fervor were heard.

Again, participants in the attack on the Moncada Garrison reunited with history, and heroes and the people joined in one embrace in the morning of Saint Ana at the site of the July 26 School City, where at 5:12 a.m. the traditional symbolic attack was carried out and the main rally for National Rebellion Day was held.

The July 26 Monument Area, remodeled for the occasion, was in all its finery, with its Abel Santamaria park-museum, the old Saturnino Lora Hospital and the Lawcourts, sites that keep a piece of the heroic deeds lived in 1953 by Santiago de Cuba by locals and youth of the Centennial Generation.

For journalist and retired combatant Manuel Antonio Rodriguez, the indomitable spirit of the inhabitants of this land is reaffirmed in such a significant date for the country, when the struggle for national sovereignty, which brought about the dawn of January 1959, was restarted.

We are proud, he said, in a city that is a symbol for its history, culture and people, with a notable work and full of deeds; yesterday in emancipation, after winning the definitive freedom; today, working hand to hand to make this piece of Cuba grow in stature.

Teacher and Labor Hero Rolando Beltran runs a school named after martyr Abel Santamaria, where there is no better prize and reward, he says, than educating men and women of the same lineage.

He highlighted the spirit of his countrymen, capable of rising to the challenge of creating after the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, following the example of the Moncada attackers, of its heroes and martyrs.

Whenever another July 26 arrives even the appearance of Santiago de Cuba changes, and the patriotism of its population of nearly 500,000 people increases as a reserve of values that seduces those who live in the city and visit it.
July is peculiar month to those born in this part of the archipelago, who live days of homage, of holiday and work, with streets filled with singing and folklore of people expressing unceremoniously all the joy harbored in their hearts, all the strength coming from their ancestors.

This is a people of love and virtue, a people that honors the rebelliousness and bravery of his city every July 26 is as if the shots and the light of Moncada had shaken Santiago de Cuba again and the city shook and throbbed with more verve to the beat of all Cuba.