January 11 will mark the 42nd anniversary of the death of Celia Sánchez Manduley, known as the Heroine of the Mountains and the Plains, who died of cancer at 59; however, those intense years of life were enough for her to make and indelible impression on Cuban history.
Celia Esther de los Desamparados was born on May 9, 1920 in the town of Media Luna, in what today is the province of Granma, to Acacia Manduley and the rural doctor Manuel Sánchez Silveira, who had 9 children.
Her mother died when Celia was a child, and since then she followed her father, who was an example of the best of the first republican generation of highly patriotic professionals who advocated Marti's roots, which he passed on to his daughter as he devoted himself to rural medicine, without thinking about social climbing by profiting from his profession.
His great activism to spread the work of the Apostle earned him the placing of his bust atop the Turquino Peak in the year of his centenary in 1953, so it was not surprising that Celia became an early member of the 26th of July movement, founded by Fidel, after the attacks on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks in the cities of Santiago de Cuba and Bayamo, respectively.
Celia's organization of networks of peasant collaborators to support the landing of the yacht Granma was essential for the survival of the expeditionary force led by Fidel, Raul, Almeida and Ernesto Che Guevara, among others, who despite the large-scale persecution of tyrant Batista’s forces would form the nucleus of the Rebel Army that would make possible the Revolutionary triumph of January 1, 1959.
She was the first woman to join the ranks of the Rebel Army on April 23, 1957, and since then she became Commander in Chief Fidel Castro’s most faithful aide, staying by his side until her decease while in charge of important responsibilities at the level of the State and the Communist Party of Cuba.
One of her most relevant works was the organization and development of the Office of Historical Affairs of the Council of State, where she devoted herself to preserving the historical heritage of the Revolution—especially whatever was related to the work of Fidel—hearing and solving ordinary citizens’ problems, and spearheading projects of great social and economic usefulness under the guidance of the leader of the Revolution.
On the sad afternoon of January 11, 1980, at the memorial service to bid farewell to the departed fighter, Armando Hart, one of her closest and dearest comrades, said about her words that today have full validity to remember that slender and brave young woman from Media Luna who is still and forever will be an inspiration to whole generations of revolutionaries:
"Our pain is immense, but even greater is the task that Celia encourages us all to carry out. This is what Celia would want from us! This is what we will accomplish to do right by Celia!"
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