On the demise of comrade Fidel Castro the Central Committee of the Portuguese Communist Party expresses its deep sorrow and conveys to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and through it to all the communists, the people of Cuba, to comrade Raúl Castro and the rest of Fidel's family, heartfelt condolences and solidarity of the Portuguese communists.
In this moment of sadness for the communists, revolutionaries and progressive people from all over the world, the PCP pays tribute to his exceptional figure as a patriot and communist revolutionary, evoking the example of a life fully devoted to the ideals of freedom, peace and socialism in which, with his comrades in arms, in an epic that went from Moncada and the heroic guerrilla of the Sierra Maestra, liberated Cuba from a cruel dictatorship and, facing the aggression and blockade of the US, united and mobilised the creative energy of the workers and the people to build a new society liberated from imperialist exploitation and oppression, a socialist society, in solidarity with the liberating struggle of all the peoples of the world. Fidel's struggle, action and inspired word have encouraged and will continue to encourage the struggle of progressive and revolutionary forces on all continents.
Fidel leaves us at a time when, after important advances of sovereignty and social progress in Latin America and the Caribbean, inseparable from Cuba's example and internationalist solidarity, imperialism and reaction went on the counter-attack, seeking at all costs to reverse achievements and recover lost positions. But it is our deep conviction that, with confidence on the role of the popular masses and their organised struggle, and inspired by the example of Fidel and the Cuban Revolution, the imperialist projects will be defeated.
The best way to honour comrade Fidel Castro's memory is to continue the struggle for the ideals and project to which he devoted himself to the end of his life, is to strengthen solidarity with Cuba and its socialist revolution demanding unconditional respect for the sovereignty of the Island of Liberty, the immediate end of the criminal North American blockade and the devolution of Guantanamo to the Cuban people.
