“We call for a May Day that will stir us as a nation through unity and a commitment to making a difference” 

Following a day of volunteer work focused on food production, as an expression of the defense of food sovereignty, the Cuban Workers’ Central (CTC, in Spanish) and its unions called for the celebration of International Workers’ Day on May 1st, 2026.
Led by members of the Party’s Central Committee—Liván Izquierdo Alonso, First Secretary in the capital, and Yanet Hernández Pérez, Governor of Havana—as well as other members of the Union of Young Communists and local Party leaders, Osnay Miguel Colina Rodríguez, president of the organizing committee for the 22nd CTC Congress, urged that in the face of growing threats from the U.S. government—reinforced by the executive order that adds an energy blockade to the already intensified embargo—"there is nothing more important and decisive today than working together and growing as a country."
He affirmed that celebrating May 1st is a demonstration of the unity of Cubans and their patriotism, "it is to break the circle once again, as Maceo did in Baraguá when he refused to accept peace without independence," and to evoke the ideas of José Martí and the concept of Revolution by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz expressed on May 1st, 2000.
The call includes celebrating the date with parades and events in every work collective, town, municipality, and province, while rationally adhering to the imposed restrictions. People are urged to defend the country from the fields, factories, classrooms, scientific centers, thermoelectric plants, hospitals, culture, and sports— "from every combat trench."

Likewise, this call extends to Cuba’s friends around the world to join, as they do every year, in the celebration of International Workers’ Day.
"The Homeland Must Be Defended" will be the slogan accompanying this date, promoting the priorities defined by the Party, led by the First Secretary of the Central Committee and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
"Workers, people of Cuba, with the vibrant colors of our flag, with joy and patriotism, we call for a May Day that will stir us as a nation, through unity and a commitment to be of service. And to contribute to and defend the vision that Martí dreamed of and Fidel brought to fruition," declared Colina Rodríguez.
The volunteer work days organized by the CTC on weekends this year have become, according to union leaders, a demonstration of unity alongside other organizations, reviving the creative idea championed by Che Guevara in the 1960s as a powerful tool to generate and sustain the vitality the country needs to grow and move forward in the face of the genocidal blockade.
CALL FOR MAY 1st, 2026
Dear Cuban workers:
In the face of growing threats from the U.S. government—reinforced by the executive order issued on January 29, which added an energy blockade to the already intensified economic, commercial, and financial blockade that has been imposed on us for more than 65 years simply because we seek to build a dignified, sovereign, and independent nation—there is nothing more important or decisive today than working together and growing as a country.
Amid this situation, the Cuban Workers’ Central (CTC), its national unions, and the National Association of Innovators and Rationalizers (ANIR, in Spanish) call for the celebration of May 1st, International Workers’ Day, under a central and mobilizing theme: The Homeland Must Be Defended.
Celebrating May Day is a demonstration of the unity of Cubans and their patriotism; it is to once again “break the circle” as Maceo did at Baraguá when he refused to accept peace without independence; it is to evoke the ideas of José Martí in his speech “Los Pinos Nuevos,” a momentous declaration of unity among several generations of Cubans around the cause of independence; it is to defend, in the centennial year of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, the concept he expressed on May 1st, 2000.
We urge everyone to celebrate with parades and events in every workplace, work camp, town, municipality, and province, while exercising the prudence required by the restrictions imposed by the intensified blockade. 
It is a call to defend the country—from the fields, factories, classrooms, scientific centers, thermoelectric plants, hospitals, culture, and sports; from every front line of the struggle.
We invite Cuba’s friends around the world to join us, as they do every year, in celebrating International Workers’ Day. We thank them in advance for their solidarity and for having the courage to share our fate in the midst of a real military threat, which, far from intimidating us, makes us repeat, with optimism and confidence in victory, the glorious verse of our National Anthem: To die for the Fatherland is to live.
“Together we build Cuba” is the conviction that will guide us on this day, driving the priorities set by the Party; for whom we prepare ourselves in the defense of the Socialist Homeland; we work to transform the energy matrix; we contribute to food production; we seek solutions to problems every day; it is the conviction of the doctors and teachers who do not give in and continue to defend life; of those of us who are part of the Revolution, not out of dogma or fanaticism, but out of conviction, ideas, and action.
Workers, Cuban people: 
With the vibrant colors of our flag, with joy and patriotism, and inspired by the teachings of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, just months before the final sessions of our 22nd Congress, the CTC, its national unions, and the ANIR call for a May 1st that will stir us as a nation through unity and the commitment to be useful, to contribute, and to defend the project that Martí dreamed of, Fidel fulfilled, and that under the leadership of the Party, headed by First Secretary Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez alongside the workers, we will not allow to be taken from us.
Long live the Cuban Revolution!
Fatherland or Death! We shall overcome!
SEE YOU ON MAY 1