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Raul Castro absent from Cuba’s July 26 rally after decades of attendance
President Miguel Diaz-Canel read a message from Raul Castro at the event in Pinar del Río, while Diaz-Canel also pushed back against recent US State Department allegations about Cuba.
Cuba held its traditional July 26 rally to commemorate the 1953 Moncada assault, but former president Raul Castro did not attend for the first time in at least 30 years, according to an Associated Press report published July 27. The rally, held in the eastern city of Pinar del Río, marked the anniversary of the attack led by brothers Fidel and Raul Castro on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes barracks. President Miguel Diaz-Canel read a congratulatory message from Raul Castro to the crowd.
The absence came without any explanation, the report said. It was also noted that Diaz-Canel had recently rejected a US State Department report published last week that accused Cuba of running a leftist espionage and influence network against the United States and Latin America for decades.
Diaz-Canel said the United States issues threats against the revolution and announces new punishments for Cuban companies and officials, while Raul Castro is described as having a strong symbolic role despite no longer holding formal positions. The report also points to Raul Castro being identified as one of the negotiators in talks with the United States after the imposition of a US energy embargo.