In a speech delivered on June 6, 1976, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz assured that “This has been a long struggle (…) to defend the Revolution (…) to guarantee the security and interests of the Cuban State, in which the combatants of the Ministry of the Interior have played their most outstanding and heroic role”.
Cuba was celebrating the 15th anniversary of the constitution of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), an organization in charge of directing, executing and controlling the application of state and government policy, ensuring security and order within the country, which has among its most immediate antecedents the Department of Intelligence of the Rebel Army (DIER), which faced the first counterrevolutionary plans of attacks against the main leaders of the Revolution, especially against Fidel Castro.
During the 63 years of its existence, the MININT has aimed at safeguarding the popular conquests, detecting and neutralizing counterrevolutionary actions and guaranteeing the order and peace of the citizens with multiple functions such as the fight against delinquency, penal re-education, protection in case of fires, traffic regulation, national border security, the fight against drug trafficking and human smuggling, among others.
In relation to the role played by this force, the Leader of the Cuban Revolution also said, “The activities of the Ministry of the Interior are very broad and are characterized by this aspect: that of being a continuous struggle of the past, the present and the future.
A protective shield firmly sustained from the beginning by the support and collaboration of the people, the Ministry of the Interior has in its ranks men and women forged by fire, of proven audacity and the clear determination to give their lives, if necessary, in the fulfillment of each mission; combatants who in discreet anonymity carry on their shoulders the sacred responsibility of safeguarding the integrity of the Homeland.
