Pure art: In his soul and to the bone, with his pen and his rifle, a piece of paper always in his pocket, that could become a song, while he battled fearlessly, never mind the fatigue or a bullet to the chest, to achieve the free Cuba that his generation dreamed of.
This February 17 is the 95th anniversary of the birth of Juan Almeida Bosque, and it is worth remembering him as Comandante en jefe Fidel Castro once described him: "A black, working class, combative young man, who was, one after another, the leader of a revolutionary cell, a Moncada fighter, a prison companion, platoon captain landing on the Granma, officer of the Rebel Army, Column Commander, founder of the Third Eastern Front, a compañero who shared the leadership of our forces in the last victorious battles that overthrew the dictatorship."
It is also worth mentioning the man who, as he matured, was increasingly eager to turn all the hardships Cubans faced into hope and eliminate discrimination in the poor neighborhoods where he lived, leading him to join the struggle to transform a society that promised only more troubles and vice following Fulgencio Batista's coup in 1952.
Nor can we can fail to remember that he sang to the Revolution, composing music and authoring a dozen books, among them Contra viento y marea (Against the wind and the tide), winner of a Casa de Las Americas Literary Prize in 1985.
The eve of his birthday was an opportune moment to honor him, with Party First Secretary and President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez on hand; as well as Political Bureau members Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People's Power; Manuel Marrero Cruz, prime minister, and Army Corps General Alvaro Lopez Miera, minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, plus Deputy Prime Minister Comandante de la Revolución Ramiro Valdes Menendez; Comandante Jose Ramon Machado Ventura; and other Party and government authorities.
Those present in the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces’ Universal Hall were deeply moved by the video ¡Aquí no se rinde nadie! (No one here is surrendering) featuring Almeida's own voice repeating a phrase of his as legendary as his famous song La Lupe, performed by the children's theater company La Colmenita.
Fidel once said that Almeida himself forgot that he had written more than 300 songs, including Dame un traguito, which Cuban children still sing and was performed by his son Juan Guillermo at the gala.
