Such a declaration was made during the funeral honors for the victims of the US bombing of several targets in Cuba. That air attack was the prelude to the mercenary invasion by Playa Giron, known as the Bay of Pig Invasion, a territory located in the central province of Matanzas, in 1961.

Before a crowd gathered near the Cristobal Colon cemetery in Havana, Cuba’s supreme leader, Fidel Castro, said, “This is the socialist and democratic Revolution of the humble, by the humble, and for the humble.”

“And for this Revolution of the humble, by the humble, and for the humble, we are willing to give our lives, he added.

A crowd of militiamen with their weapons raised expressed their determination to defend the homeland, which is why the date came down in history as Militia Member Day.

On April 15, 1961, planes camouflaged with the simbols of the Revolutionary Air Forces attacked the airport of Ciudad Libertad in this capital, the air base of San Antonio de los Baños, southwest of Havana, and the airfield of the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.

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