The grateful people accompany you and will always remember you, Commander Fidel, with that wise decision to declare the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution on April 16, 1961, in the historic speech at the burial of the victims of the bombing of three airports in the country.
That enemy attack, regardless of the pain and deaths it caused, gave the indication of an imminent operation of greater magnitude against the nascent revolution, as our Commander figured: “Three simultaneous attacks at dawn, at the same hour, in the city of Havana, in San Antonio de Los Baños and in Santiago de Cuba, three points distant from each other (…) carried out with airplanes of the Cuban air force, which were not only the most powerful of the three airports, but also the most powerful of the three. ) carried out with B-26 type bombing planes, with the dropping of bombs of high destructive power, with the dropping of rockets and with strafing over three different points of the national territory. It was an operation with all the characteristics and rules of a military operation.
Later in his speech Fidel said: ¨Because what the imperialists cannot forgive us is that we are here, what the imperialists cannot forgive us is the dignity, the integrity, the courage, the ideological firmness, the spirit of sacrifice and the revolutionary spirit of the Cuban people¨.
And that we defend that socialist Revolution with those rifles; and that we defend that socialist Revolution with the courage with which yesterday our anti-aircraft gunners riddled the aggressor planes with bullets” (…) “And we do not defend that Revolution with mercenaries; we defend that Revolution with the men and women of the people”.
Choosing socialism as the only path was the best tribute to those who offered their lives in the bombing of the airports the day before; with that decision in Cuba a leap was made in the political consciousness of the people who decided their destiny: socialism and bet on a more dignified future for the Homeland, which motivated the resolute support in several parts of the world.
During that day of pain and glory, militiamen and soldiers, representatives of the working people, with rifles raised, approved the words of their leader, and made it clear that they would defend the revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble, to the last drop of blood.
In the historic act Fidel denounced the US government, “which arms mercenaries and pays them to come and assassinate young people of sixteen and seventeen years of age in a surprise and treacherous attack against a country whose shame, dignity and courage they cannot forgive”.
Choosing socialism as the only path was the best tribute to those who offered their lives in the bombing of the airports the day before; with that decision in Cuba a leap was made in the political conscience of the people who were deciding their destiny: socialism and betting on a more dignified future for the Homeland, which motivated the resolute support in various parts of the world.
The Cuban people still continue to follow the path chosen then as it place the people in the center of the economic and social life of the nation and they will continue to defend the national sovereignty and independence as they did during the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
Related article
For that beautiful freedom… it was necessary to give everything
