Antonio Maceo surely would have had him in his troop, and not because that amalgam of muscle impressed the enemy, but because, like the Bronze Titan, he is a warrior who does not know defeat or measure danger, and because his loyalty is his true giant stature. His mother, Leonor, said, after his third Olympic title, in 2016, that he "is more patriot than champion."
Another undefeated, just like him, like few others embodies the mother of the Maceo family. Her lineage, her conviction in the face of adversity and the deep love for her daughter Erika, who is her inspiration; for her husband, Noleisis Bicet; for Adis, her mother, who has also been for her little girl, are the sum of her indestructible faith in triumph.
"President Díaz-Canel says that I am history, but what I really am is the fruit of the history of my country, of my Revolution, and of the humble cradle that my parents and my family gave me," he told us in Paris, when his fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal was already gleaming on his chest.
"I will never tire of saying that I am a Fidelista, the Commander -in-Chief will always be the first promoter of sports. We are here because of that. Therefore, I owe myself to him and to my people. I love my homeland and I will be faithful, as a woman and a Cuban, until death", she assured, 11 times Paralympic champion, after her three victories in the City of Light. She has put her will and her determination for her homeland, despite her progressive loss of vision, which already demands to be operated, so that it does not become more critical.
The two of them got into the manigua of the sport competition, he with 42 years old and she, passing over her own physical integrity. That is why yesterday, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Mijaín López Núñez and Omara Durand Elías received the Replica of the Machete Mambí of Major General Antonio Maceo Grajales, symbol of struggle and bravery, which is expressed in the talent and sacrifice with which they have exalted the name of Cuba.
Another Hero, the Hero of the Republic of Cuba, the member of the Political Bureau and Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, General of the Army Corps Alvaro Lopez Miera, gave them the undefeated machete. And he himself put on his chest, to the guide of Omara's triumphs, to Yuniol Kindelán, the medal of the combative Fraternity, because that is precisely what her legs described on the tracks since 2015, next to her.
There were the children, the mothers, the husband, but also the doers, those who educate by devoting themselves to her care and polishing each medal: their coaches Miriam Ferrer and Raúl Trujillo.
