At Jose Marti Airport in Havana this morning, Cuban Revolution leader Raúl Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel led the first posthumous tribute to the 32 combatants killed during the U.S. military aggression against Venezuela.
Also present at the tribute were the families of the deceased, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba, and high-ranking officials and military personnel from the Caribbean nation.
In a solemn military ceremony, the remains of the heroes were received. They were part of an internationalist mission responding to a request from counterpart organizations in the Bolivarian nation.
During the ceremony, Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez affirmed that “death does not defeat those who fall with rifles in hand defending a just cause,” and emphasized that the combatants “do not return as shadows; on the contrary, they are a new light that strengthens, inspires, and commits us.”
He recalled that the combatants died in the early morning of January 3, “when the aggression and treacherous attack cast a shadow over Venezuela,” and stressed that they were there “loyal to Fidel, to Raúl, to the Party, and to the legacy of internationalism that has marked every stage of the Cuban Revolution.”
“Venezuela was not a distant land for them; it was the natural extension of their homeland, just as it was for our heroes. There, Bolívar and Martí, Chávez and Fidel are intertwined,” he emphasized.
Álvarez reaffirmed that “Cuba does not abandon its children, Cuba does not renounce its principles, Cuba does not surrender, even if defending its dignity requires paying a high and painful price,” and proclaimed that “on Cuban soil there will never be room for cowardice and betrayal.”
He added that the combatants, “when they crossed sea and air to fulfill their mission, knew that not returning was a possibility, but they were firmly convinced that they would never betray this people who, following the example of their heroes, learned to share their fate with others.”
After the ceremony, the remains of the combatants were transported on gun carriages along Rancho Boyeros Avenue to the headquarters of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), located next to Revolution Square, where the people will be able to pay their respects.
People from all walks of life are lining outside the Ministry building to pay their respects at the coffins, which will lay in state until the end of the day.
The day before, a group of Cuban combatants wounded in the same attack arrived in Havana, accompanied by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez.
Authorities reiterated that the 32 deceased, aged between 26 and 60, died defending Venezuelan sovereignty and internationalist solidarity.
Tomorrow, Friday, the people will pay tribute at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune and in all provinces, before the burial in the Pantheon of the Fallen in Defense.
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA / AGENCIA CUBANA DE NOTICIAS ]
