Taken from: prensa-latina.cuFidel, in the same place where 40 years earlier proclaimed the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution.From the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the radical transformations that favored the new government affected the interests of Washington, which responded with aggression of all types to a people who were known to be masters of their destiny and was preparing to defend with arms the freedom achieved on January 1, 1959.
Past noon on April 16, 1961, a sea of people accompanied the funeral procession of the victims of the bombing of aircraft to various points of the island, on the previous day.
The enemy was focused on the airports in Ciudad Libertad, San Antonio de los Baños and Santiago de Cuba, with the objective of destroying the few resources available to the country for its defense by air.
Despite the surprise, the attack was rejected by the anti-aircraft fire from the militia and rebel soldiers. It was the prelude to the invasion.
To the front of the crowd, the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz was stopped at the corner of the streets 23 and 12, in front of the Colon Cemetery, in the Vedado neighborhood of the capital, and from a makeshift rostrum dismissed the duel from the compatriots killed during the bombing.
In a moment of his emotional speech, Fidel said the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution.
"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 people of Cuba.
"That's what they cannot forgive us, we are there in their noses and we have made a socialist revolution in the noses of the United States.
"Fellow workers and peasants, this is the Democratic and Socialist Revolution of the humble, with the humble and for the humble. And for this Revolution of the humble ones, by the humble and for the humble, we are willing to give our lives."
Just a few hours later, on April 17, there was the invasion of Playa Girón, in the western province of Matanzas, planned and paid by the US.
Those who fought and in less than 72 hours defeated the mercenaries preserved not only the independence of Cuba, also defended socialism as a social project, which to this day continues to build its people.