Cuba entered a period of national mourning this week, marked by two consecutive days of solemn tributes and mass demonstrations following the return of the remains of 32 soldiers killed in the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela on Jan 3.
The national tribute began on Thursday with the arrival of the soldiers' remains at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport.
The urns with the remains of the soldiers were wrapped in Cuban flags and taken to the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces on army jeeps, as thousands of Cubans lined the streets despite a heavy downpour to pay their respects.
"I believe that those comrades who fell in Venezuela fell for a cause and an ideal, an ideal they instilled in us from a very young age. And what are we here today representing? The people of Cuba, and it is to this that we aspire for the Cuban people to respond," said a Havana resident.
"We are deeply moved and sad, so we pay tribute to our heroes and extend our support to their families with the entire situation they are experiencing right now, both in our country and elsewhere," said another resident.
On Friday, Cubans held massive rallies across the island, including a demonstration in Havana, where President Miguel Diaz-Canel called on Cubans to remain united in the face of U.S. pressure.
Later, demonstrators marched along Havana's famous Malecon seafront avenue near the U.S. embassy in support of Cuba and Venezuela and to condemn the U.S. strikes on Jan 3.
Cubans honor soldiers killed in US raid in Venezuela
