On October 26, 1959, during a mass act in protest of the aggressions from the United States, Fidel Castro Ruz proclaimed the creation of the National Revolutionary Militias (MNR by its Spanish initials).
Their objective was to defend the island from threats of military aggression and the protection of civilian objectives against the actions of terrorist groups that acted both in Cuba and from the United States and other Caribbean countries.
The top Cuban leader explained: “Because our cause is just, because we do not want to harm anyone and no one has the right to harm us. From today we proclaim that we fear nothing or anyone, that we do not fear the measures that are being plotted against us, nor do we fear the measures that we have to take to combat those who want to destroy us”.
Commander Camilo Cienfuegos spoke for the last time to the Cuban people, before getting lost forever at sea with the pilot and the escort of the plane in which he returned from that province on October 28. In his words, the Hero of Yaguajay expressed: “To stop this Cuban revolution, an entire people has to die and if that were to happen, the verses of Bonifacio Byrne would be a reality: “If it is torn to shreds, it will be my flag one day… our dead raising their arms will still be able to defend it!””
The MNRs, first organized by social sectors, in work centers would enter a rapid process of improvement and little more than a year later, with the arrival in the country of large quantities of armaments from the USSR and the socialist area that learned to handle the fledgling militiamen in record time, combat battalions were formed which, together with the Rebel Army and the Revolutionary National Police Battalion, defeated the mercenary invasion of Playa Girón in April 1961.
“This is the Mambisa, revolutionary, Marxist-Leninist tradition that our militiamen have inherited and enriched together with the combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior. It is our duty to continue making the greatest efforts to achieve the maximum of combat preparation and military efficiency in the cadres and in the troops of our glorious militias”, Fidel Castro, said.