It was one o’clock in the afternoon of March 4, 1960, when the unloading of the armament brought from Belgium by the ship La Coubre began in the Havana harbor, armament that had the purpose of reinforcing the defense of the nascent revolution, heavily besieged by the government of the United States.
The personnel on board did not suspect that the prevailing tranquility would be tragically interrupted by a terrorist attack planned by American imperialism. At 3:15 p.m. the first of two explosions occurred on the steamer La Coubre. The horrendous explosion caused dozens of deaths and wounded, twisted the heavy beams and thick steel plates of the ship.
In Contramaestre, Victor Arzuaga Rodriguez, a security guard aboard La Coubre, tells that he suffered the consequences of the first explosion when he was seriously wounded and unconscious; and alleges that he survived thanks to his companion Israel Galan who, upon realizing that he was alive, took him to where he could be rescued.
At 3:45 p.m. the second explosion occurred in La Coubre, described by witnesses as being as terrifying or even more terrifying than the first one, which sowed a new trail of death and destruction, given the number of people who had come to the rescue of the victims of the first explosion.
On that March 4, 1960 – 63 years ago today – the shattered bodies of humble men, the result of barbaric acts of State terrorism against Cuba, also destroyed hundreds of homes and thousands of relatives who still cry out for justice.
The savage attack was organized by the U.S. government and executed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), with the aim of terrorizing the people who massively supported their young revolution, and thus prevent access to weapons for the defense of the Homeland.
La Coubre and the motto “Fatherland or Death!”
Terrorist acts like that of La Coubre, contributed to consolidate the anti-imperialist sentiment of the Cuban people, and to radicalize the revolutionary process, something that was evident in the burial of the victims, who were accompanied by an impressive funeral procession to the Cristobal Colon necropolis. It was at the farewell mourning that Fidel, then Prime Minister, exclaimed for the first time the slogan “Fatherland or death!
When we return to this and so many other terrorist acts perpetrated by U.S. imperialism against Cuba, a big and logical question arises: How does the U.S. government have the holy “values” (to put it decently) to include Cuba in the list of countries that sponsor terrorism? When the Cuban Revolution the only thing it has done from its beginnings until today, is to fight for the good of humanity; it is to practice solidarity and altruism with many peoples of the world; it is to share what it has (not what it has left over); it is to save human lives in the face of epidemics and natural disasters all over the world.
However, all the terrorist acts of the United States against the Cuban people are still unpunished.
