Fidel Castro Leads Bay of Pigs Anniversary Assembly

Commander in Chief Fidel Castro led the political cultural assembly to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the victory against the Bay of Pigs invasion. He denounced new aggressive plans of the United States government.


Orfilio Pelaez

pelaez@granma.cip.cu


We have high hopes that the new generations will have the same determination as the valuable comrades who died fighting the mercenary aggression, said President Fidel Castro at the political cultural assembly for the 45th anniversary of the victory over the Bay of Pigs invasion, held Wednesday at the Karl Marx Theatre in Havana.


At the beginning of his speech, the leader of the Revolution said he had never seen so much history and glory together. He was referring to the presence of over 3,000 participants in the heroic defense of the island at the Bay of Pigs, which dealt US imperialism its first major defeat in Latin America.


Before Fidel Castro addressed the audience and the nation, three other speakers took to the podium: Bay of Pigs veteran Julio Osvaldo Chaviano, Dr. Antonio Vargas Gonzalez of the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade, and Lisbeth Ruiz Sanchez, student at the Eduardo Garcia Delgado Art Instructors School.


The evening included performances by student Kenia Otano, who recited a poem, musicians Emiliano Sardinas and Hector Gutierrez, actor Jorge Enrique Caballero and troubadour Sara Gonzalez, who sang Giron, The Victory.


Besides the thousands of Bay of Pigs veterans and family members of those who died in battle, also attending the gathering were members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party and Councils of State and Ministers, relatives of the Cuban Five, Juan Miguel Gonzalez and his family including his son Elian, representatives of political parties including Kgalema Motlanthe, secretary general of South Africa’s African National Congress party, and the diplomatic corps.