1958: the decisive battles of Camilo and Che

 In late December 1958, the victory of the Rebel Army and other revolutionary forces in the Battles of Santa Clara and Yaguajay, led by Commanders Ernesto Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, respectively, in central Cuba, was decisive for the final and long-awaited triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1st, 1959.
 
 Both fights were the result of the unstoppable thrust of the struggle that began in the Sierra Maestra Mountains on December 2, 1956, with meager troops that grew up in numbers until they were ready to launch the Final Offensive for freedom, in line with the strategic military plan designed by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro.
 
 By the time the columns No. 2 “Antonio Maceo”, led by Camilo, and No. 8 “Ciro Redondo”, led by Che Guevara, arrived in the former province of Las Villas, Camilo’s mission was to reach Cuba’s westernmost province (Pinar del Rio), just as Maceo did in 1895, whereas Che Guevara was to join other forces deployed in the region, namely the March 13 Students Directorate and the Popular Socialist Party.
 
 One of the main goals was to split the country in two and control the road and railway networks used by the dictatorship to distribute army supplies. Likewise, the move would lift the nation’s revolutionary spirits, motivate more and more people to join the Rebel Army, and prevent Batista's troops from receiving reinforcements or fleeing to the East.
 
It was an extremely hard journey that both columns made towards central and western Cuba through unpopulated and unknown regions, suffering hunger and fierce persecution, but their faith in victory prevailed.
 
The columns headed by Che and Camilo won several victories in many towns and cities, which dented the army’s morale even more and led up to notable desertions of high military commanders, convinced that they had already lost the war.
 
A major battle under Camilo’s command took place in the town of Yaguajay on December 31, 1958 that made more than 350 soldiers of the local garrison to surrender without remedy.
 
 Che Guevara, on his end, liberated the last enemy stronghold in the city of Santa Clara on January 1, 1959 after a heroic battle that included the derailment and destruction of a steel-plated train carrying reinforcements for the army, an action that gave the revolutionaries full control of Cuba’s central highway.
 
Many other battles followed and many other garrisons surrendered to the Rebel Army. By then, the Revolution seemed to be omnipresent and the final victory was a matter of time, despite the bombs constantly dropped from Batista’s planes that killed valuable guerrilla fighters and ordinary citizens who were supporting the revolutionaries from the barricades.
 
This is just a very brief account of two glorious pages of our history.