A century after El Comandante Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born, Cuba is honoring his legacy and facing a tough question: Can the Revolution he started survive one of its hardest times?

Fidel was born on August 13, 1926, in Birán, Cuba. He became known worldwide for standing up to colonialism, racism, and U.S. control. He died on November 25, 2016, at 90, but his ideas still influence discussions in Cuba, Africa, and other developing countries.

The Cuban government named 2026 the “Year of the Centennial of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.” From August 10 to 13, Havana hosted an international event titled “Fidel: Legacy and Future,” where experts and leaders discussed his legacy and future.

This commemoration happens during a tough time.  Cubans are dealing with long power outages, shortages of fuel, food, water, and medicine, less tourism, rising prices, and crumbling infrastructure. The U.S. has increased pressure on Cuba, while Cuban leaders acknowledge that domestic mistakes and bureaucracy have contributed to the crisis.

“It is very difficult to express the benefits that the triumph of the Cuban Revolution brought to the poorest,” Helen Cairo told The Final Call.  “In my large family, we were all able to study for free, and access to public health services was free. Life was bearable. My asthmatic son was treated for free.  At this moment, everything has gone overboard.”

Her story shows Cuba’s main struggle: people value the Revolution’s social gains but are frustrated by today’s problems. Many who once benefited from these programs now say they can’t  afford  basic  necessities.

From Moncada to revolution

As a young lawyer against the U.S.-supported dictator Fulgencio Batista, Fidel led the failed attack on Santiago de Cuba’s Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953.  Many who took part were killed, tortured, or jailed.

During his trial, Fidel’s “History Will Absolve Me” speech criticized poverty, landlessness, and the denial of basic services. After being granted amnesty, he went to Mexico, then returned in December 1956 aboard the yacht Granma with 81 others, including his brother Raúl Castro and Dr. Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

After heavy losses, a small group reached the Sierra Maestra and launched a guerrilla campaign. Batista fled on January 1, 1959, and the Revolution succeeded.

The  new  government gave land to the people, launched a major literacy campaign, expanded education, established universal public health care, and took control of foreign-owned industries. For poor and working-class Cubans, this broke down barriers of race and class. UNESCO calls the 1961 literacy campaign a major educational milestone.

Wealthy Cubans, former Batista supporters and other opponents left. Political power was consolidated under a one-party socialist system, and critics accused Fidel’s government of restricting dissent, independent media and expression.

Ninety miles from the U.S.

The U.S. responded with economic pressure, isolation, secret operations, and assassination attempts. Cuban forces stopped a U.S.-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. The embargo, started in the early 1960s, has lasted through many U.S. presidents, limiting Cuba’s access to markets, banking, fuel, technology, and medicine.

Cuban officials call it a blockade because it also punishes foreign businesses and banks that work with Cuba.  Many United Nations member states have repeatedly called for it to end.

Yet sanctions alone do not explain the emergency. COVID-19, collapsed tourism, diminished allied support, an aging electrical system, weak production and a troubled currency reform deepened it. Current Cuba President Miguel Díaz-Canel says defending socialism requires correcting failures, increasing production and confronting bureaucracy, echoing Fidel’s view of revolution as a continuing process.

A friend of African liberation

Fidel’s influence goes beyond Cuba. While he was in charge, Cuba supported African independence movements and sent troops to Angola after apartheid South Africa invaded. Cuban, Angolan, and allied forces fought South Africa’s military at Cuito Cuanavale, which helped the fight for Namibian independence and the end of apartheid.

Cuba sent doctors, teachers, and technicians to Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. When Nelson Mandela visited Cuba in 1991, he thanked Fidel and the Cuban people for helping the African National Congress at a time when Western governments saw the movement as an enemy.

“We have come here today recognizing our great debt to the Cuban people,” said Nelson Mandela during a 1991 visit to Cuba. “What other country has such a history of selfless behavior as Cuba has shown for the people of Africa?

How many countries benefit from Cuban health care professionals and educators? How many of these volunteers are now in Africa? What country has ever needed help from Cuba and has not received it? How many countries threatened by imperialism or fighting for their freedom have been able to count on the support of Cuba?”

For Black Americans, Fidel’s boldness meant a lot. In September 1960, he met Malcolm X at Harlem’s Hotel Thereafter Manhattan hotels refused to host Cuba’s delegation. Their meeting connected the Cuban Revolution, the Black freedom movement, and global resistance to colonialism.

Fidel also met with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, who visited Cuba and often spoke up for its independence and right to choose its own path.

“Please remember what I said to you in our last meeting, that there is no such thing as death for Fidel Castro, for you are an idea whose time has arrived; and that idea is deep in the souls of most of the Cuban people and now in the hearts of many throughout the world. This idea will continue to grow, and you will continue to grow with it from beyond the grave,” wrote Minister Farrakhan in a 2006 letter.

A legacy facing the future

Cuba made it through the Bay of Pigs, nuclear threats, sabotage, sanctions, and the tough “Special Period” after the Soviet Union fell. Now, families face blackouts and shortages, many young people are leaving, and hospitals and schools, once symbols of the Revolution, are struggling.

The challenge now is to use the Revolution’s values, putting people’s needs first, protecting independence, and listening to the public, to face problems Fidel never saw.

Fidel’s first 100 years don’t show a perfect society.  Instead, they show a small country standing up for the rights of poor people to have education, health care, dignity, and independence, even against the world’s strongest government.

Now, Cuba’s future depends on maintaining its social gains, addressing its problems, and withstanding economic pressure without giving up its independence. Fidel Castro‘s legacy goes on. Its meaning is still closely tied to the everyday lives of Cubans.