Rene Barrios, Director of the Fidel Castro Studies Center, stated that this gathering is taking place in a particularly complex international context, where it is increasingly necessary to revisit the thinking of the Commander-in-Chief.

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 runs until August 13—the revolutionary leader’s birthday—is conceived as a major popular, pluralistic, and diverse celebration with an inclusive and emancipatory spirit; at the same time, it serves as an academic, political, and scientific space for reflection and action.

The gathering, bringing together over 1,500 delegates—including more than a thousand from some 60 countries—will address Fidel Castro’s role as a revolutionary, statesman, and military strategist, as well as his political and social ideology, Marxist practice, and the construction of socialism in Cuba.

It will also analyze his impact on foreign policy, the struggle for peace, and anti-imperialism, alongside his humanist and internationalist legacy in education, science, culture, health, and sports.

Furthermore, the event will highlight his cultural imprint on the arts and popular memory, the continued relevance of his thought in the face of 21st-century challenges, and unity as a strategy for regional integration and cooperation, with an emphasis on social justice, sovereignty, and the self-determination of peoples.

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