By Sergio Rodríguez Gelfenstein
May 29, 2026
The author is a Venezuelan diplomat and military officer who was in his youth a junior officer in the Cuban Armed Forces, and whose writings we have often published in Workers World. This commentary, which expresses the feelings of millions of people who feel solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, appeared May 27 in Spanish on his blog (sergioro07.blogspot.com/). Translation: John Catalinotto
Cuba will win!
Various sources announce the imminent U.S. military attack against Cuba. Once again, the national anthem calls to battle: “To battle, run, people of Bayamo, for the homeland looks upon you with pride. Fear not a glorious death, for to die for the homeland is to live.” [Bayamo is the capital of the province of Granma in Cuba’s east and was a historic center of the island’s liberation struggle.]
And in this context, I cannot help but recall [the lyrics of Cuba’s illustrious singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez]: “They say they will drag me over rocks when the Revolution comes crashing down. That they will crush my hands and my mouth, that they will tear out my eyes and my guts.” That is Washington’s plan; Cubans knew it long before Silvio spoke of it.
As early as the late 19th century, Bonifacio Byrne, in his poem, “My Flag,” pointed the way that had already been charted on the battlefields by the freedom fighters led by Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez, under the strategic vision of the Apostle José Martí: “If my flag should ever be torn into tiny pieces, our dead, raising their arms, will still know how to defend it!”
I confess that when it comes to Cuba, I am an atypical foreigner. I set foot on the island for the first time at age 16. Barely two weeks had passed and I was already studying at a pre-university institute. My new classmates welcomed me with overflowing solidarity and affection, knowing that I came from Pinochet’s Chile, where my father had been imprisoned.
In that high school, I was not only able to continue my studies; I began the university of a life grounded in values, principles, and behaviors that would shape my own principles and values: solidarity, concern for others, the value of the collective, and the possibility of building an existence beyond the individualism and consumerism −− these latter attitudes characteristic of capitalism.
Just a year and a half later, at my own request and taking advantage of the circumstances, I entered the military academy and received training as an artillery officer. From then on, and for eight years, I served in the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR). In 1979, alongside a group of leftist militants from various countries and thanks to the long-term vision of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, I had the opportunity to ascend to the highest pinnacle a revolutionary can aspire to: that of being an internationalist fighter.
In my personal case, it was a prize I dedicated to the memory of the Liberator Simón Bolívar, the first internationalist fighter in the Americas.
To be part of Cuba
So I did not get to know Cuba as a visitor who arrives at a hotel and is shown the country, but as part of it: I was a member of the Federation of Secondary School Students (FEEM), I stood guard in a Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), I participated in volunteer work, I stood in line to get food that was distributed equally to everyone, I got on and off crammed buses that carried workers, employees, and students, I marched and went to the Plaza de la Revolución to listen to Fidel and on September 28. I went to the Malecón to throw flowers at Camilo [Cienfuegos]’s statue.
And why not say it, I had my first loves, we went to the beach, the movies, and clubs where we listened to music, danced, and furtively shared the affection that overflows in teenagers.
When I joined the armed forces, I was already “grown up.” I was 18 years old. A new phase began: first studying, then serving in military units, commanding troops, participating in exercises and maneuvers, responding to combat alerts, and standing combat watch—where we had to remain fully combat-ready in the face of imperial threats and provocations.
In 1978, while the World Festival of Youth and Students was taking place, I was deployed at a combat command post east of Havana, helping to ensure the successful conduct of the event in which dozens of young people my age from all over the world were participating. While they were enjoying themselves, I stood guard out in the open in a trench where that command post was located.
If I speak of all this, it is not out of personal boastfulness. I only want to convey that at that time I was just another Cuban defending the revolution and carrying out — like millions — the tasks entrusted to me. Without being in Cuba today, I know perfectly well what is happening: The armed forces are in full combat readiness, the people, organized politically and militarily, are occupying — or are ready to occupy — their combat posts. As always, from the very beginning, under the leadership of the Party, of Raúl Castro, and of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba is preparing for battle.
Recently, the director of the CIA went to Cuba — for what purpose? Without knowing it, Silvio already told us back in 1991: “They’re coming to invite me to repent. They’re coming to invite me to not lose. They’re coming to invite me to define myself. They’re coming to invite me to all that shit.”
Knowing Cuba, its people, and its armed forces, with Silvio I say: “I do not know what destiny is. Walking, I was what I was. Leave it to God, whatever will be divine. I die just as I lived.”
Until victory always! Cuba will win!
