Yuri Gagarin traveled to Cuba in July 1961, months after stepping into space and becoming the world's first cosmonaut. However, traveling to the cosmos did not seem sufficient and 100 days after this feat Gagarin arrived in Havana to continue fulfilling ...
Yuri Gagarin traveled to Cuba in July 1961, months after stepping into space and becoming the world's first cosmonaut. However, traveling to the cosmos did not seem sufficient and 100 days after this feat Gagarin arrived in Havana to continue fulfilling dreams. The entire island was prepared for its arrival: portraits of the cosmonaut with flags of the then Soviet Union (USSR) adorned the main avenues of the Cuban capital. Gagarin had been invited to the multitudinous act that every July 26 the Cuban Government celebrates every year in the Plaza de la Revolución.
A persistent downpour greeted the Soviet hero at the José Martí airport, where Castro was waiting for him in person, accompanied by then-president of Cuba Osvaldo Dorticós and other members of the government, according to a publication by the Cuban Council of State. A military guard performed the welcome honors and Gagarin descended the Aeroflot ladder dressed in impeccable white and smiling. Hundreds of capitals greeted the visitor gathered along Rancho Boyeros Avenue that connects the airport with the city center.

His arrival made the Cubans feel part of that April 12, 1961 when Gagarin in the small Vostok 1, made reality the conquest of space, one of the dreams most desired by the powers of those times.

The fact was recognized worldwide as an extraordinary achievement of Soviet technique and science, 16 years after the USSR defeated fascism. The Soviet press reflected Gagarin's interest in Cuba after his return to 'mainland' as if the cosmos were a minor ambition.
In Cuba, the Soviet hero met with students from the University of Havana and visited the wounded of the invasion of Playa Girón, a military operation organized by Cuban exiles and the United States Government to invade the island, days after Gagarin will conquer space. On July 26 he attended the commemorative ceremony of the 8th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, in the Plaza de la Revolución. There, President Dorticós honored Gagarin with the highest distinction existing in Cuba until that moment: the National Order Playa Girón.

"In carrying out the historic feat that consecrates him as the first cosmonaut in the world, he has contributed with exemplary heroism to the progress of humanity and peace," said the Cuban president. According to the publication, Yuri took the microphones to express his gratitude and in the presence of Castro spoke of another wish: "I am sure that the time is not far away when the Cuban cosmonauts will fly to the cosmos, (...) for this branch to contribute to the progress of humanity. "

However, Gagarin died on March 27, 1968 during a training flight, without seeing his wish fulfilled. The news so moved Castro that in September of 1980, when the first representative of Cuba and America in the cosmos, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez returned from space, he was ordered not to handle a military plane again.
Since then Tamayo can only take commercial flights as a passenger, however, the smile of this cosmonaut when he talks about his trip to space is the closest thing to Gagarin that Cubans have.