Cuban People Remember Sabotage of the La Coubre

The Cuban people held a solemn act to remember the victims of the sabotage of the French steamship La Coubre that was blown up 50 years ago, and to reassert their firm decision to defend their Revolution and its achievements
 
The steam ship La Coubre was unloading ammunitions in the Havana port on March 4 when it detonated, causing two explosions which took the lives of close to 100 people and injured a further 200.

The act to remember the horrendous assault took place on Thursday at the site of the explosion in the Havana port. The first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in Havana, Mercedes Lopez, spoke during the tribute, “As in those days in 1960 when hundreds of thousands of men and women roared along with Fidel the slogan ‘Homeland or death,’ today, after a half-century of terrorist acts organized and financed by the US government against Cuba, our struggle continues, the Revolution continues to advance.”

Rosario Velasco, the widow of Arturo Garcia, one of the victims of the attack, demanded that the US declassify documents that explain what really happened that 4 of March, 1960.

“We condemn all those who hide behind the US Empire, and we recall all those who died in the vile act of sabotage to our recently born Revolution,” said Velasco.

Floral wreaths in the name of Fidel, Raul, relatives of the victims and of the French people were placed along the Havana docks.

Also present at the act where the Cuban minister of Transportation, Jorge Luis Sierra; leaders from the PCC, the Communist Youth League of Cuba (UJC), and grassroots organizations; relatives of the victims; and representatives of the French people.


By: Ana María Domínguez Cruz
Photo: Roberto Morejón
Source: Juventud Rebelde