Defense Nation-Wide Exercise Bastion 2016 Starts in Cuba

The first strategic military exercise took place in 1980 in the face of increasing aggressiveness towards Cuba by the Ronald Reagan administration and since that point in time

The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Interior Ministry and other components of the nation´s territorial defense system are involved till November 18 in a nationwide military exercise Bastion 2016, which concludes with a large participation of the people in two National Defense Days on Saturday and Sunday.

The military drill aims at training command centers and structures in charge of the country’s national and territorial defense, particularly in the organization of actions to increase readiness of the troops and the people to face different enemy actions.

The exercise includes movement of troops and war materials, flights by war aircraft and explosions in areas stipulated in the program.

In his closing speech of the 7th Communist Party Congress last April, president Raul Castro announced that the Bastion military exercise would take place this month and he ratified the military doctrine known as the All People’s War as the base of Cuba´s
defense.

The first strategic military exercise took place in 1980 in the face of increasing aggressiveness towards Cuba by the Ronald Reagan administration and since that point in time, the Bastion defense drills have been carried out every four years as an action
to dissuade those who try to topple the Cuban Revolution and to prepare the military regions, armies and defense zones on the island.

Cuban Revolution leader Fidel Castro has said that the defense must not only develop to face an aggression, but also to avoid it, and it is not only tested in war, but in peace time while preserving peace is always a victory.