Salvadorans and Cubans in Solidarity Against U.S. Terrorism
Published in Diario Co Latino
(El Salvador) on 6 March 2010
by Leonor Cárdenas (link to original)
In a show of solidarity and honor to the victims of American terrorism against the Cuban people, the Cuban Embassy in El Salvador collaborated with members of the Salvadoran “Solidarity with Cuba” Committee to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of thousands of Cubans.
In a symbolic act performed in the courtyard of the Cuban Embassy, located in Colonia Escalón in San Salvador, the Cuban ambassador, Pedro Pablo Prada, commemorated the first great terrorist act that killed a hundred people in the Port of Havana.
According to the diplomat, on March 4 of 1960, the French ship “La Coubre” unloaded the first weapons purchased for the Cuban Revolution to defend Havana against the aggressions to which the city was subjected.
“For us that day was very significant, since the Cuban people were confronted with the first wave of brutality that would unfold against the Cuban revolution,” Prada declared.
Prada explained that the attack came in two separate waves of explosions, with half an hour between them. The second explosion was aimed at the people who rushed to aid the victims of the first explosion. That day, affirmed the ambassador, the Port of Havana turned into a genuine site of mass slaughter.
In spite of these events, declared Prada, the Cuban people were undeterred. Rushing to the scene of the attack, they rescued their wounded comrades, as well as the French sailors who had also been injured or killed in the attack.
“To this day no amends have been made for these calumnies, or the crimes against our people. And those who falsely accuse Cuba need to remember that crimes like the ones we remember today have gone unpunished,” said Prada.
To date, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has not declassified documents that attest to the physical evidence showing the complicity and participation of CIA agents in the attack.
“The physical evidence of the explosives that were used to blow up the ship is also the memorial for the French sailors and our compatriots. When the facts are published, the Cuban people can be vindicated.”
Before concluding the commemoration, the Cuban ambassador restated the celebrated words of President Fidel Castro, in 1960, that freedom now means “our mother country or death.”
In a symbolic act performed in the courtyard of the Cuban Embassy, located in Colonia Escalón in San Salvador, the Cuban ambassador, Pedro Pablo Prada, commemorated the first great terrorist act that killed a hundred people in the Port of Havana.
According to the diplomat, on March 4 of 1960, the French ship “La Coubre” unloaded the first weapons purchased for the Cuban Revolution to defend Havana against the aggressions to which the city was subjected.
“For us that day was very significant, since the Cuban people were confronted with the first wave of brutality that would unfold against the Cuban revolution,” Prada declared.
Prada explained that the attack came in two separate waves of explosions, with half an hour between them. The second explosion was aimed at the people who rushed to aid the victims of the first explosion. That day, affirmed the ambassador, the Port of Havana turned into a genuine site of mass slaughter.
In spite of these events, declared Prada, the Cuban people were undeterred. Rushing to the scene of the attack, they rescued their wounded comrades, as well as the French sailors who had also been injured or killed in the attack.
“To this day no amends have been made for these calumnies, or the crimes against our people. And those who falsely accuse Cuba need to remember that crimes like the ones we remember today have gone unpunished,” said Prada.
To date, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has not declassified documents that attest to the physical evidence showing the complicity and participation of CIA agents in the attack.
“The physical evidence of the explosives that were used to blow up the ship is also the memorial for the French sailors and our compatriots. When the facts are published, the Cuban people can be vindicated.”
Before concluding the commemoration, the Cuban ambassador restated the celebrated words of President Fidel Castro, in 1960, that freedom now means “our mother country or death.”