The Cuban Embassy in Santiago, Chile, conducted a solemn memorial ceremony to honor combatants who fell in defense of their nation’s sovereignty. The tribute coincided with emotional farewell proceedings in Havana, where citizens lined Rancho Boyeros Avenue to witness horse-drawn carriages transporting the remains to the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces headquarters.
Embassy staff observed a minute of silence in a ceremony characterized by its simplicity and profound emotional resonance. First Secretary for Political Affairs Rosario Rodriguez delivered an excerpt from revolutionary leader Fidel Castro’s historic speech during the Playa Girón martyrs tribute, invoking the poetic words of Nicolás Guillén: “Let us not call them dead, but rather say they live more than ever, eternally present in every Cuban’s heartbeat.”
Cuban Ambassador to Chile Oscar Cornelio Oliva referenced Castro’s 1976 eulogy for victims of the Barbados bombing, emphasizing the multiplier effect of national grief. “Pain is not shared—it is multiplied,” Oliva reiterated, noting that when a resilient people mourn, “injustice trembles.” The ambassador clarified these statements constituted neither empty rhetoric nor exaggerated pronouncements, but rather a definitive warning to adversaries of the Revolution that Cuba remains prepared to defend its independence and sovereignty against all threats.