By Angélica Paredes López
Playa Girón - On the sands of Playa Girón, at one of the geographical points of the Zapata Swamp -- where mercenaries attempted to take over the country and were defeated on April 19, 1961 -- more than one hundred young people experienced another encounter with history this Saturday.
The First Secretary of the Party Central Committee and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, spoke with young women and men from Havana, Mayabeque, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Villa Clara, who these days commemorated the epic experience experienced by Cubans 64 years ago, when they defeated imperialist aggression in just a few hours.
Sitting a few meters from the sea, under the shade of the coastal vegetation, the president and the young people remembered the heroes and martyrs who faced and annihilated the invasion, an event marked by victory, the heroism of the Cuban people, and the leadership of their undisputed leader, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro.
Nemesia Rodríguez's testimony was immensely moving. Her family's experience during the mercenary aggression, as a victim of the bombings, inspired Jesús Orta Ruiz, known as Indio Naborí, to write his iconic verses "Elegy of the Little White Shoes."
After the heartfelt words spoken by Nemesia, "a charcoal flower," as the poet called her, the young people spoke. They reaffirmed that there is no better kind of history than to learn it at the scene of the events, and even more so when it can be told by its own protagonists. The young people referred to today's heroic deeds, to the daily battles, to the epic struggle of a people who remain threatened in their speeches.
And in the final minutes of the meeting, President Díaz-Canel called on everyone "to continue being revolutionaries of these times," committed to history and to the new challenges facing the nation.
The president reviewed the background to the events of April 1961, the invaders' objective of destroying the Revolution, its significance for the country and the region, and the international legacy left by the first defeat of US imperialism in the Americas, which believed itself invincible.
The Head of State reflected on the current challenges for Cuba because "the Revolution continues to be under attack." Díaz-Canel called on the youth to understand their space and mission in these difficult times, to safeguard unity in the face of the Empire's constant aggression, and to have a sense of this historic moment.
And he stated, with the passion of a revolutionary, that "Girón taught us once again the value of unity, and of never renouncing independence, sovereignty, and self-determination."
"As at Girón, the Revolution will always win," asserted the president, who invited young people to multiply these gatherings throughout the country.
To close the day, the young people took photos with the President of Cuba, in the same sands where 64 years ago, the Revolution defeated the aggressors.
