Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel opened the first International Colloquium "Fidel, Legacy and Future" in Havana on Monday, drawing 1,500 delegates from 63 nations to mark the centenary of Fidel Castro's birth. The four-day conference at the Convention Palace runs through Aug. 13.
Portuguese Communist Party leader Paulo Raimundo began a four-day visit to Cuba to attend the colloquium, following a conference the party held in Lisbon in April on Castro's legacy. Walter Baier, president of the Party of the European Left, told attendees that Castro's legacy "is not a memory, it is a responsibility."
The summit comes as Cuba endures a severe energy crisis worsened by a U.S. oil blockade imposed in January. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Cuba on Friday there would be no "pressure relief valve" from Washington.