23 de enero de 1959
- Departs from Columbia Airport on his first visit abroad as Head of the Cuban Revolution. He is accompanied by Pedro Miret, Celia Sánchez, Paco Cabrera, Violeta Casals, Luis Orlando Rodriguez and other comrades.
- Before landing in Venezuela, he broadcasts a radio message via several stations to the people waiting to welcome him.
- The plane carrying the leader of the Cuban Revolution lands at 1:25 pm at Maiquetía Airport.
- The caravan travels the highway route from Maiquetía to Caracas, cheered by thousands of people with Latin American flags and signs supporting the Cuban Revolution.
- The Governing Junta hosts a luncheon for him at the elegant El Pinar Restaurant.
- He takes part at the People’s Ceremony, attended by thousands at the Plaza Aérea del Silencio de Caracas. Press reports calclate there are more than 300,000 people present. Fabricio Ojeda, Wolfgang Larrazábal, Gustavo Machado, Jovito Villalba (top leader of the Unión Republicana Democrática-URD), union leaders José González Navarro and Jesús Carmona, and Sierra Maestra combatants José Enrique Mendoza, Orestes Valera and Luis Orlando Rodríguez speak. Thunderous applause preceeds Fidel Castro’s speech: for 2 hours he talks about the liberation struggle in Cuba and defends the right to apply revolutionary justice.
23/01/1959