“Get up, the invasion is here…!”
This voice, with the sum of desperation and epic that it implies, went from house to house in the towns closest to the landing site.
It must also have been heard in other places far from Girón, in the Zapata Swamp, because for days the country had been living under the threat of disembarkation and aggression.
Many Cubans declared themselves militiamen and demanded weapons and ammunition to resist and confront the mercenaries.
Many Cubans went to their first battle to face the danger of a well-organized enemy, armed, with good support, fully equipped and with an elaborate plan.
But in addition to patriotic fervor and justice, they had ideals to defend and a cause for which they were willing to give their lives.
The invaders, on the other hand, had nothing to die for, because they had no purpose, as José Ramón Fernández, the protagonist of the epic, said.
They did not fight with the courage and spirit of victory of the revolutionary forces. In short, they had no morality to appeal to, only perversity.
On the other hand, in the most critical moments of the struggle, in the most violent and hardest moments, the unity of the people, the true mass of the people defending the homeland, was decisive.
The delirious dream of conquering a piece of Cuban land to justify the real purpose, the direct military intervention of the U.S. armed forces, did not last long.
The presence of Fidel in Girón, with his example and integrity, aggravated the grief of the mercenaries, who, barely 72 hours later, recognized their failure and surrendered en masse.
Despite the bloodshed and the pain of death, Girón proclaimed the victory as a feat, a triumph that astonished the world and that, because of its symbolism and importance, preserved the Revolution and “made the peoples of the Americas a little freer.”