Today Cuba dawned with the sun. Although there are many Cubans who every day gain hours to the dayligh, this is a different day.
We do not arrive late to the square, not when our dearest companion is waiting for us, the one who every year parades by our side; or the enthusiasts of the conga, or the boss who is also a friend and counts on his people, because he has been preparing everything for days, together with the union leadership.
Many are on their way to the rally almost without sleep, because some anxious child, going for the first time with mom or dad, or both, spent the night like clockwork asking hour after hour: Is it dawn already? Are we leaving yet? Or maybe the grandparents, who perhaps no longer parade, but who are aware of everything, turned on the radio very early in the morning to know "how things are going", and for fear of their children and grandchildren, they gave the family a "standing ovation".
More and more people are seen, and more and more, and those who fell asleep "hit" a race because "their block" is going away. If someone thought it would be otherwise, if someone expected deserted streets and apathy, that someone does not know the Cubans.
This beautiful tradition is much more than a mere "comply". It is about being loyal to feelings too deep that move us, and there is no patriotic heart that can bear to stay at home, when it knows it is part of a message that is better said with deeds than with words.
Today is May 1st, today we beat the sun and, by the time it "rises", as the peasants say, we will have told the unbelievers that there is no force capable of breaking our loyalty.
