Cuba Assembles Communist Protest at U.S. Embassy for Act of ‘Patriotic Reaffirmation’

The Communist Party of Cuba organized a massive military display shortly after dawn on Friday before the U.S. embassy in Havana to condemn the U.S. government for indicting dictator Raúl Castro on murder charges.

The event featured several high-profile members of the Party, including various Politburo bigwigs and, most prominently, figurehead “president” Miguel Díaz-Canel. Notably absent from the affair was Díaz-Canel’s boss, Castro himself, who is approaching his 95th birthday next month. In response to the indictment against him, the Party has also announced a wave of nationwide events to honor Castro’s 95th birthday, perpetuating the personality cult once controlled by older brother Fidel.

On Wednesday — Cuban Independence Day — the Department of Justice announced that it had indicted Raúl Castro and several other Communist Party underlings on a variety of criminal charges, including murder and conspiracy to kill American nationals, for his role in the 1996