March 13, 1957: the youth leading the way

Time further enhances the value of the commitment to the altar of the Homeland, carried out on March 13, 1957, by the revolutionary commando led by Jose Antonio Echeverria, fallen in action, with the aim of executing the tyrant Fulgencio Batista in the Presidential Palace itself, and then, from the University to give weapons to the people to start a massive popular armed struggle that would put an end to the dictatorship.

Echeverria, an outstanding university leader who was studying Architecture, was then the courageous president of the University Student Federation (FEU), founded by Mella in 1922, in those convulsive and radical moments. He had also created the Revolutionary Directory as the armed wing of the organization of the progressive and combative student body of the Alma Mater.

The daring action coordinated by the tireless Manzanita, affectionate nickname with which his friends knew him because of the color of his facial complexion, included the seizure of the national radio station Radio Reloj, located in Vedado, somewhat distant from the main venue which was the den of the assassin who since 1952, by means of illegal and violent methods, had been ruling the country.

With the action of March 13, if everything went according to plan, they also intended to take other points of the city such as the Police Master Headquarters to get hold of his large arsenal and then occupy other police stations and barracks until they dominated the capital.

A year before conceiving that plan, Jose Antonio had traveled to Mexico where, along with Fidel Castro, head of the 26th of July Revolutionary Movement, by then forced to live in exile, he signed a document of commitment for the collaboration between the two vanguard organizations, inscribed in the history of Cuba for their forceful patriotism. It was the so-called Letter of Mexico, vertical and honest as its makers.

March 13, 1957 ended up being a day of immense pain due to the massacre of the beloved youth leader and the failure of the action from the military point of view. As a consequence, other participants were killed.

But like all bitter setbacks of genuine fighters, it was also an event that served the moral growth of the nation, for it made clear what its youngest and bravest sons were determined to do to achieve the nation's freedom. A process of popular adherence to the cause was underway.
They will always resound, as they did then, one of Jose Antonio's last phrases when he said: "If we fall, may our blood pave the way to freedom".

They decided that they would also march on the path of armed insurrection, because tyranny, the national oligarchy and foreign domination had denied the people the way to win their rights.

Every March, the remembrance of that heroic deed reaffirms that it was not a useless offering. It made people understand that Cuba was still awakening, without fear of bloody repression, and this time the revolutionary movement would not stop, uniting students and people once again.
The action organized for March 13 began early in the morning with the enlistment of a small armed detachment of about 50 men who went to the Presidential Palace around 3:00 p.m. to assault it. It was a very daring action, but not thought out lightly.

Not everything could have happened according to the plans. There were coincidences or circumstances that became strong barriers for the revolutionaries. The youth commando that penetrated the place with relative ease, due to the surprise factor, and reached the Hall of Mirrors, was confused to see that the tyrant was not in his office, as usual, at that time.

Another negative element was that the programmed support never arrived: an armament truck, to be used as a backup to the combat that was quickly engaged. In addition, the Presidential Garrison quickly confronted the assailants. Carlos Gutiérrez, one of the young revolutionaries, was mortally wounded.

At the moment when Jose Machado (Machadito) realized how difficult his situation was, with no possibility of success, he called for a retreat. But he had to return to the interior of the Palace in order to rescue his companion Juan Pedro Carbo Servia, when he realized that he was lost within the building.

Without knowing the unfortunate course of events, Jose Antonio and another leader of the Directorate, Fructuoso Rodriguez, went to Radio Reloj. The transmission of their vibrant speech was interrupted and its content could not be heard by the population, but it was recorded for history. Today it is a shocking testimony of that boundless patriotism of young Cubans.

Outside the radio station, in the midst of a maelstrom, Jose Antonio heads for the University, where there must have been other students. Unexpectedly, the car in which Manzanita was traveling collided with a patrol car that came out to cut him off.

As expected, the young man, without backing down, confronted the assassins with his pistol, who shot him with greater skill and knocked him down. There they cowardly killed him. It was a street near his beloved University of Havana, the place that received his brutally killed body.

Cubans honor every anniversary and always the beloved Jose Antonio and all the martyrs immolated in their youth related to the heroic events of March 13, 1957. As he predicted, their message marked us indelibly, and their beautiful lives inspire a whole people, who do not forget them.