Havana, August 16 (RHC) -- The president of Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power (Parliament), Esteban Lazo Hernandez commemorated Wednesday the 98th anniversary of the founding of the first Communist Party on the island by Julio Antonio Mella and Carlos Baliño.

The also president of the Council of State pointed out on the social network X, formerly Twitter, that this fact is one of the historical antecedents of the formation of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), an expression of unity and continuity.

For his part, the secretary of organization of the PCC, Roberto Morales Ojeda stressed on the same platform that the event represents an embrace of two generations; a historic struggle for independence and social justice.

On August 16, 1925, Mella and Baliño founded the first political organization of communist denomination in the country, born to defend the interests of the working class and popular sectors.

Since its creation, the communist organization faced fierce repression, so it went underground 15 days after its foundation and until 1938.

A year after the return to legality, it adopted the name of Unión Revolucionaria Comunista (Revolutionary Communist Union), and in 1944 it became the Partido Socialista Popular (Popular Socialist Party). Its actions were always linked to the interests of the working class and in particular to the Confederation of Cuban Workers.

After the revolutionary triumph of January 1, 1959, the process of unity led by Fidel Castro Ruz (1926-2016) led to the merger, in 1961, of the leftist political groups with the July 26 Movement and the Revolutionary Directorate, in the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations.

This served as a precedent to constitute the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba, which in 1965 adopted the name of Communist Party of Cuba.