honor exalts
Raúl and Díaz-Canel arrived with the relatives of the fallen. “Our deepest condolences and support to you at this time,” the Head of State told them. In front of them, with his hand on his chest, the Army General nodded at the president’s words, as an expression that he also accompanied them in their pain.

Author: Ventura de Jesus | ventura@granma.cu

August 19, 2022 23:08:04

 
After the solemn tribute, Raúl and Díaz-Canel arrived with the relatives present there.

MATANZAS.– Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, together with Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, paid tribute this Friday, in the last goodbye, to those who fell in the line of duty at the Super Tanker Base.

This last gesture of respect was joined by the members of the Political Bureau, Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power; Army Corps General Álvaro López Miera, Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and Division General Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, Minister of the Interior.

After the solemn tribute, Raúl and Díaz-Canel arrived with the relatives present there. “Our deepest condolences and support to you at this time,” the Head of State told them, reported the website of the Presidency of the Republic.

In front of them, with his hand on his chest, the Army General nodded at the president’s words, as an expression that he also accompanied them in their pain.

Previously, other high political and state leaders did so, as well as the highest authorities of the province.

On a momentous day for the country, marked by deep pain, the people of Matanzas, representing all of Cuba, and in a disciplined and solemn manner, paid tribute to the brave, who faced the huge disaster that occurred in the Industrial Zone of the city .

It was a sad evening, but also one of honor and glory, in which there were many expressions of admiration and respect, and that, as in other difficult times and in the face of adversity, Cubans were one in pain and solidarity. .

It also became a day of accompaniment from an entire country to the relatives and friends of the fallen, overwhelmed by sadness and memories.

The tribute began at ten in the morning at the Firefighters Barracks Museum, a legendary building through which some 15,000 people from Matanzas passed, a crowd that made an endless line to reach the Plaza de la Vigía, with the purpose of offering love and peace. .

The line of people seemed endless. Many workers were seen, parents who came with their children, intellectuals, families who came to show their respect for just a short minute, some of them with a flower in their hand, without preventing the tearing by the pain of loved ones.

Floral offerings from Raúl and Díaz-Canel accompanied the urns in the funeral honors on this hard day, with a sense of tribute.

Wreaths also arrived on behalf of the National Assembly of People’s Power, the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution, family members and the people.

The pain is great, as is the heroism displayed by the brave; and so immense has been the solidarity of an entire nation and of other latitudes.

These sad hours show us, at the same time, a people that makes unity the pillar of its greatness, said Leo García, first vice president of the National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists in Matanzas.

Shock was reflected on all faces. Few could stop the tears for the brave, eternal symbols of our country. Day of hugs, tears and encouragement, in which neither the suffocating heat nor the rain could interfere.


On a momentous day for the country, marked by deep pain, the people of Matanzas, representing all of Cuba, and in a disciplined and solemn manner, paid tribute to the brave.

Despite the anguish of loved ones, of that pain that hurts so much, what I appreciate most on a day like today is the pride of being Cuban, capable of feeling the sadness of others as my own, acknowledged Ercilio Vento Canosa, city historian .

This sad situation has aroused in the citizens a great feeling of solidarity, which shows the quality of the good Cuban, commented the notable researcher. “Here is a heroism impossible to forget.”

The testimonies and stories of the protagonists of the incident attracted attention. One of them, with indelible marks on his face, was Dionisio González, from the support forces against the fire.

“I can’t say much, only that I came here to offer the last hug to those brave men, who fought like true heroes and offered their lives to save Matanzas,” he said.

Candles of different colors and sizes, various flowers, in the midst of an atmosphere in which the shock was visible in each of the faces. Some could not hide the pain, once inside the Museum, and the feeling that overwhelmed them was evident.

The walls of the Firefighters Museum, the Sauto Theater, the Palacio del Junco Museum and other venerable buildings located in that founding site of the city, seemed to silently revere the fallen.

Some wondered what the sublime poet Carilda Oliver Labra, with her sensitivity and genius, would have written about such an unfortunate incident, so epic in itself. She who sang to Fidel, to the city, and to many heroes and martyrs.

I am here to accompany my people of Matanzas in this difficult hour, and I only hope that all this sum of solidarity and love alleviates a little the sorrows of those families, observed the singer-songwriter Raúl Torres, visibly moved.

Thinking of the people who stayed there, who risked their lives to save the people of Matanzas, is something very hard. His example and legacy will remain in the memory of the people of Cuba, and especially of Matanzas, he said, after acknowledging that they will also serve as a stimulus to continue promoting life and progress.

At the conclusion of the honor guards at the Firefighters Museum, where the people expressed their feelings of honor and solidarity, the funeral procession left for the Pantheon of the Fallen for Defense, in the local Cemetery, where the ceremony of family burial.