Cuba marks Africa Day with ceremony tying island to liberation history

Cuba used Africa Day at the Palace of the Revolution to push a message bigger than ceremony: its ties to Africa were presented as political capital, not just memory. The main event took place in Portocarrero Hall in Havana, with Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez attending as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic.

The observance marked the 62nd Africa Day and recalled the founding of the Organization of African Unity on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The African Union says 32 heads of independent African states signed the charter creating the OAU, whose original goals included ridding the continent of colonialism and apartheid and promoting unity and solidarity. The AU, launched in 2002 as the OAU’s successor, now represents 55 member states.

Cuban official coverage framed the date as a statement about identity and diplomacy. Granma described the commemoration in terms of gratitude and passion, while Juventud Rebelde highlighted the central ceremony in Havana. Díaz-Canel said Cuba had accompanied several African countries in their struggles for freedom through Fidel Castro’s vision, opening the way for durable cooperation in health, science, technology and education. That was the clearest sign that Havana wanted the day read as a living political relationship, not a ceremonial nod to heritage.

The African dimension also reaches deep into Cuba’s own history. UNESCO says slavery in Cuba lasted for almost four centuries, and it has documented sites of memory across Havana, Matanzas, Granma and Santiago. That legacy helps explain why Cuban leaders so often place Africa Day inside the broader story of Cuban nationhood, Afro-descendant heritage and revolutionary solidarity.

The diplomatic message did not stop in Havana. In a separate statement from Pretoria on 25 May 2026, the Cuban Embassy in South Africa said Cuba-Africa solidarity is “not history; it is the present and the future.” In a week shaped by pressure from Washington, that line captured the point of the ceremony in Portocarrero Hall: Cuba used Africa Day to argue that it still has allies, a political tradition and a wider place in the world than its current crisis might suggest.