Santiago de Cuba-The leader of the Cuban Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, presided over on Saturday March 18, at the foot of the Mícara mountain, in the Sierra Cristal, the political act and military ceremony in salute to the 65th anniversary of the creation of the Second Frank País Eastern Front, of which he was its founding leader.
Early in the morning, in the mausoleum where the remains of the combatants of this guerrilla front, fallen in the war of liberation or deceased after the revolutionary triumph, rest, the National Anthem tore the silence of the mountain range and began a ceremony led by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez; the Commander of the Rebel Army and founder of the front, José Ramón Machado Ventura, and the Commander of the Revolution and Vice Prime Minister, Ramiro Valdés Menéndez.
Next to the eternal flame, the lighted heart of one of the sacred sites of the Homeland, three floral wreaths were placed on behalf of Raul, Diaz-Canel and the Cuban people, a continuation of the tribute that was also attended by members of the Political Bureau and the Central Committee, leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of Interior, the highest authorities of the Party and the Government in the eastern province, and a representation of the people of Santiago de Cuba from the municipality of Segundo Frente.
Three gun salutes, the silence, the salute to the officers, non-commissioned officers, cadets, sergeants, sergeants, soldiers, students of military schools, combatants of the Ministry of the Interior and the Territorial Troops Militias, followed by a resounding "We shall overcome," were the preamble of a symbolic roll call to the fallen.
Here, was the word that sealed each mention, synthesis of the Marti's principle that goes that "death is not true when the work of life has been well accomplished."
The combatants of Manuel Ameijeiras Delgado Column 6, of the Rebel Air Force, José Tey Column 19, Abel Santamaría Column 17, Antonio Ñico López Column 18, Gustavo Fraga Column 20, and Enrique Hart Column 16, as well as the Departments of Health, Education, Justice, Propaganda, Finance and Construction and Communications, all founded in that initial stage that planted the seed of the country's institutionality, were evoked in that order.
Also mentioned were the combatants of the Agrarian and Workers' Bureau and the Front Headquarters, whose work made it possible to materialize the strategic thinking of the Commander in Chief, to expand the theater of operations to other areas of the eastern territory, and turned this guerrilla front into a decisive bulwark to achieve victory.
The performance of the song of El Mambí, by the Santiago-born troubadour Eduardo Sosa, was the cultural touch that followed the evocation of all those who were and still are "ready to ride and fight for freedom again," especially the Army General, who, when commanding the Second Eastern Front, showed, according to Fidel, "remarkable abilities as a leader and organizer, a great sense of responsibility, a lot of revolutionary firmness, doing a great political work among the peasants and developing a very positive influence on all the cadres and all the leaders".
Next, Licet Batista Martínez, a ninth grade pioneer of the 11 de Marzo urban elementary school, spoke of the pride of having been born in these hills and growing up in the midst of so much history. In her words, she spoke of the access to Education and Culture, rights that the Revolution conquered, "with all and for the good of all".
On behalf of the Cuban youth, Naybel Rizo Santana, a first-year cadet of the Armament specialty of the General José Maceo Inter-arms School, Order Antonio Maceo, spoke, expressing her commitment to the Revolution and the defense of women's rights present in all spheres of society. In this regard, she highlighted the example of Vilma Espín, guerrilla fighter of the Second Front, "an example of dignity, a symbol marked by love and duty".
The keynote, in charge of the first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Party in Santiago de Cuba, José Ramón Monteagudo Ruiz, recalled the more than six decades of the rebel stronghold, those that began to be built when a handful of men, with a young man of 27 years old at the head, recently promoted to Commander, arrived at Piloto del Medio on March 11, 1958, after ten long days of journey, with the purpose of extending the guerrilla struggle to the north of the province of Oriente.
Belonging to the current territories of Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin, the front came to cover 12,000 square kilometers and, in just nine months and 22 days of campaign, its combatants participated in more than 250 war actions, took 31 barracks or garrisons, caused more than 1,970 casualties to the enemy and occupied more than 1,500 weapons.
It would be enough to affirm, as the Commander in Chief expressed, that "the 2nd Frank País Eastern Front was a model of organization and efficiency and played a role of extraordinary strategic importance in our war".
In his speech, the Santiago leader made reference to the epic of the bearded men, as Fidel and the men in the Rebel Army were also known, to the victories that definitively marked the course of events, to the economic and social transformations promoted by the Revolution, and to the challenges imposed by the current context to continue revaluing life in the hills.
If yesterday there was the struggle to achieve freedom and build a just society, he said, today's battle is to work hard to perfect and grow that work.
According to Monteagudo Ruiz, "the current situation demands to increase the levels of production, mainly of food, to advance in territorial self-sufficiency, to achieve greater efficiency and savings, to provide a higher quality service and to raise the demands, order and discipline in the fight against crime and illegalities".
Earlier, as part of the commemoration day, the Army General had delivered to the mausoleum of the Second Eastern Front a diploma, signed in his own handwriting, in recognition of the work carried out in the preservation of the memory of this guerrilla group. It was the reserve colonel Alberto Vazquez Garcia, director of the Historical Complex of Museums, and founder of the front, who received the distinction.
The march in review of the troops ended the political act and military ceremony, and gave way to a closer tribute to the combatants who rest there, in perennial custody of the palms and red caliphs.
Raul, together with Diaz-Canel and the other participants, placed gladiolus before the eternal flame and, after a brief tour of the mausoleum, came the tribute to the heroine of the mountain and the plain.
On the stone that keeps the ashes of Vilma, tireless woman, woman country as she was also called, the General of the Army placed a bouquet of flowers, symbol of love and respect to the history that, in life and in the struggle, they wrote together.
Translated by ESTI
