17 de abril de 1961
- At 3:15 a.m. Fidel is briefed at the Command Post about combat in Playa Girón and Playa Larga, where US-financed and trained mercenary troops have landed.
- Around mid-morning, Cuban radio stations simultaneously broadcast Communiqué No. 1 of the Revolutionary Government signed by the Commander in Chief who, in the face of the mercenary invasion, calls on the people to “respond with iron and fire to the barbarians who despise us and expect us to once again become their slaves.”
- Fidel and President Osvaldo Dorticós denounce before the world that “US imperialism has launched its cowardly aggression against Cuba” and calls for “the solidarity of the peoples of the Americas and the world.”
- Around 2:00 p.m., Fidel tours around the area where Cuban revolutionary militia have begun combating mercenaries at Playa Girón and sets up his command post at the Australia sugar mill, at the entrance to the Ciénaga de Zapata swamp (province of Matanzas.)
- That night, Fidel meets with the head of the Cuban Revolutionary Militia School, Captain José Ramón Fernández, in the town of Pálpite (province of Matanzas) Fernández details Fidel on the defence strategy being used to combat mercenary troops.
17/04/1961