High-ranking Cuban government officials, including President Miguel Diaz-Canel, recently conducted a five-day festival of concerts, art exhibits, and educational colloquiums to celebrate what would have been Fidel Castro’s 100th birthday on Aug. 13. He died in 2016.

On August 1, 1953, in the mountains of Cuba, a Rural Guard squad led by Lt. Pedro Sarria found Castro sleeping in a hut. The soldiers wanted to kill the guerrilla leader, but Sarria thought law should prevail. After a couple of years in prison, Castro was released, and a few years later, in 1959, he led the revolution that installed him in power. Among the many words Castro spewed forth in seven-hour speeches before the masses, a single line delivered in 1961 captures his essence: “The revolution is all; everything else is nothing.”