Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, proclaimed the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution in the mourning farewell to the victims of the bombing of several Cuban airports the day before by warplanes from United States territory,

In the mass rally carried out at the intersection of streets 23 and 12, in Vedado, near the main gates of the Colón Cemetery, Fidel remarked:

“What the imperialists cannot forgive us is that we are here, what the imperialists cannot forgive is the dignity, integrity, courage, ideological firmness, the spirit of sacrifice and the revolutionary spirit of the Cuban people.That is what they cannot forgive us, that we are right there under their noses and that we have made a Socialist Revolution right under the very noses of the United States!

And that we defend this socialist Revolution with those rifles! And that we defend this socialist Revolution with the courage with which yesterday our anti-aircraft gunners riddled the attacking planes with bullets!"