SANTA CLARA.— As is customary every December, Elementary school students from Villa Clara toured sites traversed by Che and his men during the epic Battle of Santa Clara, to commemorate the action which made a decisive contribution to Batista’s decision to flee the country and the triumph of the Revolution on January 1, 1959.
250 outstanding students from all municipalities participated in the event, paying tribute to combatants of the Rebel Army which, under the command of Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara, liberated the city of Santa Clara in December 1958.
After invading the Marta Abreu de Las Villas Central University, where Che´s command was based before launching the offensive against Batista’s troops, the students began the symbolic assault on various Batista enclaves. During the activity, the young troops paid homage to the martyrs of the Rebel Army who fell at various locations during the conflict, such as the Public Works building, today the Party provincial headquarters, the Tren Blindado and the Cuartel de los Caballitos, currently the Fe del Valle School.
Similarly, they toured other areas liberated during the fierce confrontation, such as Barracks 31 — now the Fernando Cuesta Piloto teaching center—, the Police Station, Martí Provincial Library, Hotel Santa Clara Libre and the Leoncio Vidal regiment, the final bastion of the dictatorship to surrender. Scheduled as part of the activities was a tribute to the Heroic Guerilla, Che Guevara, at the monument honoring his memory, and soldiers of Las Villas Front, in the mausoleum where the remains of revolutionaries from the 8 Ciro Redondo regiment, the March 13 Revolutionary Directorate and the July 26 Movement are buried.
