CUBAN President Raul Castro led commemorations for the 50th anniversary of the death of his comrade Che Guevara on Sunday.

The ceremony was held at the mausoleum of the Argentinian-born ‘Heroic Guerilla’ in the central city of Santa Clara — the day before yesterday’s anniversary of his 1967 execution in Bolivia.

Santa Clara was the site of the last battle in the Cuban revolution in 1958, when two columns led by Che and Camilo Cienfuegos attacked the city, derailing an armoured train carrying troops sent by dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Around 60,000 residents of the province attended the ceremony.

Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel reiterated Cuba’s defiance of US imperialism despite more than half a century of economic blockade.

“The example of Che grows huge and multiplies in our people, who will not surrender and will always defend the revolution,” he said, insisting: “We decide on the necessary changes in Cuba.”

Referring to recent bizarre US allegations of “sonic attacks” on embassy staff, Mr Diaz-Canel said: “These events are clear evidence of what Che alerted us when he said you cannot rely the least on imperialism.

“These are difficult times,” the vice-president warned.

“Powerful interests of domination and conquest prevail, there are frequent wars of intervention, danger grows of a nuclear war.”

He said the imperialist order “repeatedly resorts to destabilisation and regime-change policies against legitimately established governments” — a clear reference to recent opposition riots in Cuba’s ally Venezuela that left 124 people dead.

“The processes taking place in Latin America are an evident expression of those colonising plans and, in our case, express the marked interests of a political and economic reconquest that opens the way to brutal capitalism.”