Cuban Independence Day – May 20

Florida Governor Charlie Crist said in a statement to local Historic City News reporters, “Cuban Independence Day is a reminder of the long and difficult fight for a democratic republic in Cuba. However, on the 108th anniversary of Cuba’s independence, our Cuban neighbors continue to face another struggle for freedom under the current dictatorship.”

The exiled Cuban community celebrates May 20th as Cuba’s Independence Day. The Republic of Cuba gained formal independence from Spain on May 20 1902 and went on to ratify a new Cuban Constitution.

The current Castro-Cuban regime does not celebrate May 20th, but instead October 10th, as the first declaration of independence and also July 26, the date of Castro’s first attack on Moncada Barracks.

“Here in Florida and throughout our nation, Cuban-Americans continue to demonstrate what a free people can achieve when allowed to follow their dreams, unhindered by tyranny. Along with Cuban families around the world, especially those who call our state home, I pray for a free and democratic Cuba.

Three months ago, Cuban prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, one of the 75 prisoners of conscience imprisoned during the wave of arrests of Cuban dissidents in March of 2003, died in Havana. Zapata Tamayo was in the midst of a two month hunger strike in protest of the Cuban regime’s failure to comply with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners adopted by the first United Nations Congress.

“The passion for liberty in Cuba remains alive, which is why I am honored to join the Cuban community in commemorating this special date,” Crist said. “I firmly believe that freedom cannot prosper and individual potential cannot be realized without a guarantee of personal rights and freedoms.”