While Sancti Spíritus remains as dim as the rest of Cuba, the local publisher Luminaria presented a book titled The Lantern That Accompanies Us on Saturday in that city, dedicated to the visits of Fidel Castro to the province. The unintended irony of the title precisely captures the state of Cuba in the year of its centenary: the "lantern" of the Commander illuminates the pages of a tribute while Cubans search for candles to survive the night.
According to the state agency ACN, the presentation took place during the 34th Book Fair held in Sancti Spíritus from August 28 to 30, and the text was described with the enthusiasm typical of someone fulfilling a patriotic task: "With his gigantic figure clad in olive green attire, taking long and confident strides, with his scrutinizing gaze, the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz returned to the stages of the province."
The volume, compiled by Juan Antonio Borrego—who directed the newspaper Escambray for almost 25 years—brings together stories, testimonies, chronicles, and interviews published in that provincial publication about the dictator's visits to the region, from the arrival of the caravan on January 6, 1959, to memorable episodes—according to the official narrative—such as his visit to Jatibonico in December of that year to inspect a record-producing oil well.
The book had its first edition in 2019 under the Verde Olivo label; it now returns in digital format, which is particularly intriguing in a country where reading on a screen requires, above all, access to electricity to charge devices.
Luis Mateo, director of Luminaria, spared no praise: "We're talking about a text of extraordinary value, well worth consulting, and it’s a gift from Luminaria in the year of Fidel's centenary, to whom this grand celebration of printed literature is specially dedicated."
The Spirituan publishing house also presented With the Lights of Giants, Resilience Among Shadows, by journalist Antonio Marín Oliva, whose story revolves around a mother who wrote to Castro "on cartridge paper" to ask for help for her son, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa. The regime naturally presents it as proof of "Fidel's humanism" and the values of Cuban medicine.
The context in which this literary fair takes place could not be more poignant. In August 2026, Cuba recorded a record deficit of 2,411 MW in its National Electric System, with seven total system collapses so far this year and power outages exceeding 80 consecutive hours in some areas of Matanzas.
This presentation is just another piece of the vast tribute operation for the centenary that the regime has rolled out over the year: an international colloquium with more than 1,500 delegates from 63 countries, a gala of the National Ballet dedicated to the dictator, the inauguration of a daycare named "13 de Agosto" in Nuevitas at a cost of over two million pesos, and improvements to Fidel's birthplace in Birán while schools throughout the rest of the country continue to deteriorate.
The official agenda for glorification will extend until December 4, 2026, the tenth anniversary of Castro's burial at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in Santiago de Cuba. Meanwhile, the "candil" that the regime claims accompanies the Cuban people still does not solve the most basic problem: having light in homes.
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