International Colloquium Dedicated to Fidel Castro Opens in Cuba

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel is taking part today in the opening of the First International Colloquium "Fidel: Legacy and Future," dedicated to the historic leader of the Revolution.

The director of the Fidel Castro Studies Center, René Barrios, stated that this gathering is taking place in a particularly complex international context, in which returning to the thinking of the Commander in Chief has become increasingly necessary.

Also participating in the opening ceremony are the president of the National Assembly of People's Power, Esteban Lazo; the prime minister of the Republic, Manuel Marrero; the secretary of Organization of the Communist Party of Cuba, Roberto Morales; as well as other leaders representing social and mass organizations.

The event, which will run through August 13 — the centennial of the revolutionary leader's birth — is conceived as a major popular celebration, plural and diverse in character, with an integrating and emancipatory vocation. At the same time, it constitutes an academic, political, and scientific space for reflection and action.

The gathering, which brings together more than 1,500 delegates, including over a thousand foreign participants from around 60 countries, will address the figure of Fidel Castro as a revolutionary, statesman, and military strategist, his political and social ideology, Marxist practice, and the building of socialism in Cuba.

Likewise, discussions will examine his imprint on foreign policy, the struggle for peace and anti-imperialism, as well as his humanist and internationalist legacy in education, science, culture, health, and sports.

The colloquium will also highlight his cultural imprint on the arts and popular memory, the continued relevance of his thinking amid the challenges of the 21st century, and unity as a strategy for regional integration and cooperation, with an emphasis on social justice, sovereignty, and the self-determination of peoples.