The 1960 document stood up against the colonialist strategies of the time, political and diplomatic tricks devised to exercise domination. | Photo: @ReynaldoCuba2

This September 2 marks the 61st anniversary of the First Declaration of Havana, in which the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, proclaimed to the world the principles for which his people were willing to fulfill the slogan of "Homeland or Death" -- and his conviction to win.

Rarely in history does a document written six decades ago maintain its principles as valid as the First Declaration of Havana, enthusiastically approved by more than one million Cubans gathered in the Plaza de la Revolución on September 2, 1960.
 
The nine points of the Havana Declaration constituted a proclamation to the world of the guiding concepts of the Revolution, and had immediate repercussions in the progressive movements of Latin America.

The leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, who was the main standard-bearer of this historic document, expressed the urgent need to achieve social, economic and even cultural demands for the Cuban people in the first place and subsequently for the most vulnerable sectors of the world.

"The National General Assembly of the People of Cuba strongly condemns the open and criminal intervention that for more than a century has been exercised by U.S. imperialism over all the peoples of Latin America", declares the First Declaration of Havana against interventionism. 

In this sense, the First Declaration of Havana, published on September 2, 1960, preserves today a relevance that is the cause of important social struggles throughout the world. The island of Cuba erected its new Constitution of 2019 on the basis of this declaration.

1. The right of the peasant to the land.

2. Opportunity of the child and adolescent to free and free education.

3. Primary medical care and assistance for the sick and the community in general. 

4. Maintenance, social security and pension for the elderly and senior citizens.

 "That there be no sick person who does not have medical attention; that there be no child who does not have school, food and clothing; that there be no young person who does not have the opportunity to study; that there be no person who does not have access to study, culture and sports," reads the current Cuban Constitution. 

On the other hand, this declaration fanned the flame of self-determination of peoples and respect for independence, in addition to sovereign autonomy against empires and the intentions of coercive interference of the US.

"That continued and historically undeniable intervention betrays the independence ideals of its peoples, erases their sovereignty and prevents true solidarity among the American countries," he adds.

The Cuban document of 1960 stood up directly against the colonialist strategies of the time, political and diplomatic ruses designed to exercise domination.

The Monroe Doctrine served as an interventionist and emasculating plan based on military superiority, as defined in the First Declaration of Havana, "to extend the dominion of the voracious imperialists in America."