Related videos:
A neighborhood near the Holguín Military Airport reached the goal of 100 blood donations organized as a "commitment to Fidel," according to reported by the official Holguín newspaper Ahora, as part of an initiative framed by the Cuban regime within the extensive propaganda program for the centenary of the dictator's birth.
The campaign was promoted in constituency 212 of Zone 144 under the leadership of the People's Power delegate Jorge Neyra Feria, and the 100th donor was Osmany Rodríguez Rojas, whose participation was highlighted by the state media as a symbolic fulfillment of the objective.
Economic actors in the area provided food items given free of charge to each donor, in addition to donations for children with health issues, which –amid the severe crisis affecting the population– seems to be the real incentive, more so than the tribute to the dictator.
Diana Ricardo Oliver, coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) at the provincial level, described the action as selfless and urged others to replicate it.
"This altruistic gesture would be good for others to emulate, especially in the current circumstances the country is facing," he stated, in a phrase that constitutes an unusual public acknowledgment of the crisis in a state-run media, as hospitals in the country are currently experiencing a severe shortage of blood.
The campaign was neither spontaneous nor brief. The same journalist who signed the article, Elder Leyva, had published another piece weeks earlier titled "Seven donations to meet the goal in the Holguin neighborhood", which shows that the mobilization had been underway for some time before reaching the set number.
The event is part of the "Year of the Centenary of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz," proclaimed by the regime for 2026 at the proposal of Miguel Díaz-Canel and unanimously approved by the Cuban parliament on December 20, 2025.
Castro was born on August 13, 1926 in Birán, a municipality in Cueto, Holguín province, making this province a symbolic epicenter of the celebrations.
The commemorative program includes international colloquiums, artistic exhibitions, university campaigns such as "Here I become a Fidelista" in Holguin universities, and events in neighborhoods and workplaces.
A former bodyguard of Castro walked over 1,500 km across Cuba in honor of the centenary, arriving in Havana in May.
The paradox is evident: in December 2016, Cuba passed a law that prohibits the use of Castro's name and image to designate institutions, plazas, or erect monuments, in compliance with the explicit wish of the dictator himself to avoid the cult of personality.
The regime has systematically ignored that spirit, intensifying the glorification of his figure as an ideological resource to legitimize Díaz-Canel's government in the face of the severe economic, energy, and social crisis the island is experiencing.
The central event of the centenary is scheduled for August 13, 2026 in Birán, Castro's birthplace, while the I International Colloquium "Fidel: Legacy and Future" will take place from August 10 to 13 at the Palace of Conventions in Havana.
Filed under: