The triumph of the Revolution consolidated on January 8, 1959

January 8, 1959 was a memorable date in the history of Cuba. On that day the triumph of the Revolution consolidated with the entry of Fidel Castro into Havana at the head of his José Martí Column One of the Rebel Army in the Caravan of Freedom, which had departed from the eastern region 6 days earlier and crossed the Island amidst the cheers of people in towns, cities and highways.

This is how a newspaper described the atmosphere in Havana back then: "All the sounds of the city merged with the roar of the crowds: ship sirens, church bells, car horns, factory whistles… Twenty-one salvoes were heard from two Navy frigates… The people's throat went hoarse as they shouted, ‘Long live Fidel! Long live Free Cuba! Long live the Revolution!’.”

Upon entering Havana on January 8, the caravan welcomed Camilo Cienfuegos, who had led his own column and, together with that of Ernesto Che Guevara, had seized the main fortresses of the city a few days before.

Thus it was fulfilled the declaration of victory pronounced shortly before by the revolutionary leader right after the city of Santiago de Cuba was liberated, when he said that this time the mambi fighters had indeed entered Santiago. The rebels would do the same now in Havana, despite every political chicanery and betrayal.

A great surprise, devised by Camilo, awaited Fidel at a pier by the seawall avenue: docked there was the yacht Granma, which the maximum leader boarded, surely bringing back memories of when he and the other members of the expeditionary force reached Cuban shores and only 12 of them were able to regroup, but they managed to start the guerrilla war.

When they arrived in the Columbia garrison there was a ceremony and the last speaker was Fidel, who said: "...this is a decisive moment in our history. The tyranny has been overthrown. The joy is immense. However, much remains to be done. Let us not fool ourselves into believing that from now on everything will be easy, perhaps in the future everything will be more difficult..."

His words were prophetic. He had to lead a people for more than 50 years, facing all kinds of military aggressions, terrorism, a blockade and smear media campaigns that could not topple a Revolution right under the nose of the U.S., whose current government uses the most innovative subversive strategies of the digital and real worlds and yet only manages to reap defeat over and over again.

Fidel’s speech, which also conveyed a pledge of loyalty to the people, concluded with his assurance that he would never contemplate such an event as that day’s (except on another occasion)... "(…) when they have to take us to the grave, that day, there will be a crowd as large as this one here, because we will never let our people down!"

Many years later, on November 25, 2016, the Commander in Chief departed to eternity, and once again did his Caravan of Freedom march, albeit in the opposite direction, to carry his ashes through the same towns and cities, where the people gathered as they did in January 1959, but this time to bid him a last farewell in his journey to his eternal resting place in the Cemetery of San Ifigenia, alongside those of his comrades who had fallen in Santiago de Cuba.