They died as they lived, with their heads held high 

Family members of our 32 heroes, combatants, compatriots:
On this solemn morning, the homeland mourns and rises. We gather to welcome home our brothers who fell far from home, but not from their duty.
As we receive their mortal remains, we renew before them our oath of loyalty to the homeland and to the unity of the peoples of Latin America.
We affirm from the outset, with the clarity that history demands: we do not welcome them with resignation, but with deep pride and eternal commitment. Because we know, and the people of Cuba have learned through the hardest of trials, that death does not defeat those who fall with a rifle in their hands defending a just cause.
They do not return to us as shadows; on the contrary, they are a new light that strengthens, inspires, and commits us. They return covered by the flag, and that flag does not represent an absence: it enshrines an eternal presence.
They bring with them the enduring example of dedication, courage, and fidelity to the noblest ideals of man.
When they crossed the sea and the sky to fulfill their mission, they knew that not returning was a possibility; but they were firmly convinced that they would never betray this people, who, following the example of their heroes, learned to share their fate with others.
In those difficult hours, when in the early morning of January 3, aggression and treacherous attacks cast a shadow over Venezuela, our fighters remained loyal to Fidel, Raúl, the Party, and the legacy of internationalism that has marked every stage of the Cuban Revolution.
Venezuela was not a distant land for them; it was a natural extension of the homeland, just as it was for our forefathers. There, Bolívar and Martí, Chávez and Fidel, and all those who dreamed of a united and free America are intertwined.
They fell fighting and ascended forever into history. There, where violence sought to impose silence, their blood wrote once again a truth that no one can ever erase: Cuba does not abandon its children. Cuba does not renounce its principles. Cuba does not give in, even if it has to pay a high and painful price to defend its dignity.
Our brothers fought with the same determination and impetus as the mambises of the Centennial generation, the barbudos, the militiamen in Girón, and the internationalist combatants who demonstrated that one returns from a mission in other lands only with the friendship of the brotherly people and the sacred remains of the fallen.
Compatriots, family members:
We welcome our comrades in arms back to the homeland where they were born, proud to know that they did not give up, did not hesitate, fought until the last bullet, and gave their precious lives in fulfillment of the mission entrusted to them.
Before them, before their families, before history, and before you, Army General, we proclaim that there will never be room for cowardice and betrayal on Cuban soil. Every battle will bear the moral mark of these heroic combatants who gave everything for the dignity of their people.
They died as they lived, with their heads held high. They fell convinced that they were fulfilling a sacred duty, that the peoples of Our America will recognize and forever be grateful for their supreme example of sacrifice and loyalty.
Today, as their names are inscribed forever on the altar of the Homeland, we do not promise them rest, because true heroes never rest. They will continue to march at the forefront of every battle, accompanying every young person determined to serve their people, inspiring every man and woman who does not resign themselves to injustice, giving strength to every revolutionary who knows how to rise up after every blow.
The enemy speaks euphorically of high-precision operations, elite troops, supremacy. We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost their father, their son, their husband, their brother. We speak of girls and boys who will have to grow up without the embrace of those who gave their lives thinking precisely of them.
Before these children, before these mothers, fathers, and wives, from whom a part of their soul has been torn away, we once again make our own the heartfelt words of the Commander-in-Chief: "We cannot say that pain is shared. Pain is multiplied. Millions of Cubans mourn today alongside the loved ones of the victims of this abominable crime. And when an energetic and virile people weeps, injustice trembles!"
The Homeland stands before you with respect and gratitude. Your dead are our dead. That silent pride, knowing that they gave the best of themselves to the most just cause, is also the pride of an entire people.
Before you, before the people, we reaffirm that if this painful page in history has shown us anything, it is that imperialism may have more sophisticated weapons, it may have immense material wealth, it may be able to buy the minds of the wavering, but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people.
Peoples do not become great because of their material wealth, but because of their ability to keep alive the memory of their heroes.
We will never forget them. We will always remember them in every effort, in every challenge, in every victory.
Their example will light the way for the free and just peoples of the world.
Brothers, today we welcome you as heroes; you are an example of honor. You are a lesson for those who waver. You are a warning to those who threaten.
Eternal glory to those who fell in the homeland of Bolívar and Chávez!
Honor and eternal glory to the heroes and martyrs of the Homeland!
The Cuban people embrace you.
Always onward to victory!