Florida, Oct. 26 – It was Monday, October 26, 1959, when during a mass rally in protest against the aggressions coming from the US territory, Commander in Chief Fidel Casto Ruz proclaimed the creation of the National Revolutionary Militias (MNR) as a voluntary military force of the people subordinated to the Ministry of the Armed Forces against the onslaught of the internal and external counterrevolution.
One and a half million people gathered in front of the Presidential Palace that day in response to the call against foreign aggression, in defense of national sovereignty and in support of the revolutionary government.
In the act of reaffirmation, the main leaders of the Revolution took the floor: Ernesto Che Guevara, Fidel and Raúl Castro Ruz, Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado, Rolando Cubela Secades, Juan Almeida Bosque and especially the Hero of Yaguajay, Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán, who for the last time addressed the people of Cuba to denounce the intensification of the bombardment of the country by planes coming from the United States.
The brief speech delivered by Camilo Cienfuegos on October 26, 1959, is considered his revolutionary testament when, among other things, he said: «We will kneel down once, and once, we will bow our foreheads… and it will be the day we reach the Cuban land that holds twenty thousand Cubans, to tell them: «Brothers, the Revolution is done, your blood did not come in vain!