On the occasion of the 99th anniversary, today 13 August 2025, of Fidel Castro’s birth in Biran, former Oriente province of Cuba, and the 72nd of the armed attack on the Moncada Barracks, Santiago de Cuba, on 26 July 1953. “Todo el mundo tiene su Moncada” is a song written in 1969 by Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, founder and the most important figure of the Nueva Trova movement.
Todo el mundo tiene su Moncada
Menos mal que existen
Los que no tienen nada que perder
Ni siquiera la muerte
Menos mal que existen
Los que no miden qué palabra echar
Ni siquiera la última
Se arriman a la noche y al día
Y sudan si hay calor
Y si hay frío se mudan
No esperan echar sombra o raíces
Pues viven
Disparando contra cicatrices
Escuchan, se proyectan y lloran
Debajo
De sus huellas con tanto trabajo
Se mueren sin decir de qué muerte
Sabiendo
Que en la gloria también se está muerto
Menos mal que existen
Menos mal que existen
Menos mal que existen para sernos
Menos mal que existen
Los que no tienen nada que perder
Ni siquiera la historia
Menos mal que existen
Los que no dejan de buscarse a sí
Ni siquiera en la muerte
De buscarse a sí
(Silvio Rodríguez, 1969)
Fidel Castro in 1971 by Yousuf Karsh.
Everyone has their own Moncada
Thank goodness they exist
Those who nothing have to lose
Not even their death
Thank goodness they exist
Those who their words don’t measure
Not even their last
They latch onto night and day
And sweat when it is hot
And when it’s cold they move away
They don’t’ expect
/ to take root or cast a shadow
For they live
/ shooting at one scar after another
They listen, they project themselves, they cry
Beneath
Their footprints left with so much effort
They die without saying from what death
All too aware that in glory
One is also dead
Thank goodness they exist
Thank goodness they exist
Thank goodness they exist to be ours
Thank goodness they exist
Those who nothing have to lose
Not even their history
Thank goodness they exist
Those who never cease searching for themselves
Not even in death
Searching for themselves
(Silvio Rodríguez, 1969)
Featured image: Fidel Castro in October 1953, at 27 years of age, standing next to a framed portrait of José Martí, “the intellectual author of the armed assault on the Moncada Barracks” on 26 July 1953, during the former’s trial for his participation and leading role in the Moncada military action.
Lyrics translated into English by Rolando Prats.
