Havana, March 4 (RHC)—Cubans observed on Thursday the 61st anniversary of the explosion at Havana's harbor of the French freighter La Coubre on 4 March 1960 while unloading 76 tons of grenades and munitions.

That action is considered one of the cruelest attacks suffered by the Cuban people since it dared to make a Socialist Revolution 90 mile away from its most bitter enemy, which, as Fidel Castro rightly warned, has made the Cuban people pay with thousands of victims, but has not achieved its purpose of destroying the revolutionary process.

In memory of the hundreds of fallen, mutilated and orphaned left by the blast on that Friday of March 1960, Thursday the authorities of the Party and the Government of Havana gathered at the La Coubre Docks to pay homage to the victims.

In a ceremony held at the docks in Old Havana where the explosion took place, The Communist Party leader in the municipality, Tamara Placeres, highlighted the validity of Washington's actions against this nation.

She recalled that the ship, with ammunition and armaments on board to strengthen the nascent Revolution's defensive forces, exploded while port workers were unloading the cargo in an act planned by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

As a result, almost 100 people died, 34 disappeared, and 400 were wounded, dozens of disabled for life.

According to the official, the incident triggered a milestone in Cuba's history, when, at the burial of the victims, the historic leader Fidel Castro ratified the premise of always resisting and fighting, crystallized in the expression 'Fatherland or Death'.

This event was not the only one in the escalation of aggression to change the course of the Cuban process, as there were others such as the explosion of a plane in mid-flight from Barbados, the attacks on hotels in the country, or the mercenary invasion of Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs), she recalled.

The black and white plaque engraved with the names of those killed in the infamous terrorist act was accompanied by five floral offerings in honor of the victims, on behalf of Raúl Castro Ruz, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party; Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of the Republic; the Council of State; the Council of Ministers; and the Port Maritime Transportation Business Group (Gemar).