https://themilitant.com/2019/01/19/cuban-people-know-what-they-are-defending/
‘Cuban people know what they are defending’
Vol. 83/No. 4
January 28, 2019
The following excerpt is from testimony given by José Ramón Fernández
before the People’s Court of Havana, July 12, 1999. It’s taken from the
chapter “The Cuban People, Rifles in Hand, Were Convinced of Their
Cause” in Playa Girón/Bay of Pigs: Washington’s First Military Defeat in
the Americas. Copyright © 2001 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by
permission. Pathfinder also published an interview with Fernández as
part of the book Making History: Interview with Four Generals of Cuba’s
Revolutionary Armed Forces.
BY JOSÉ RAMÓN FERNÁNDEZ
The men and women, the people who in early January 1959 cheered Fidel
Castro in his triumphant tour of nearly the entire island, were the same
ones who on April 17, 1961 — convinced of their cause, rifles in hand,
conscious of the declaration of the socialist character of our
revolution — were determined to resist and repel the U.S. attack.
Over that brief period, the Revolution’s work, and Fidel’s words in
particular, reached deeply into the hearts of the Cuban people, who
identified with the ideas of national sovereignty, social justice,
equality, and dignity. The Revolution had resolved the land question. It
was taking sure, tangible steps to put an end to racial discrimination
and the discrimination against women. It was assuring access by the
masses to employment, education, health care, sports, and culture. The
goal of eradicating all forms of corruption took hold in the collective
consciousness, a concrete manifestation of the economic and social gains
made in such a short period of time. …
In this fight, the Cuban people knew what they were defending, and they
did so with a sense of patriotism and revolutionary fervor. Their firm
support of the Revolution and Fidel was a decisive factor in the
lightning-quick victory over the mercenary invasion.
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Letters
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Jules Verne
“ Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add
nothing to them. ”
― Jules Verne
