Central Cuba pays tribute to 1957 armed uprising

CIENFUEGOS, Cuba, Sep 5 (ACN) The 67th anniversary of the Popular Armed Uprising of September 5, 1957 will be celebrated today in the city of Cienfuegos with a solemn ceremony and a pilgrimage in honor of the heroes and martyrs of the heroic revolt against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

In José Martí Park, one of the main scenes of the uprising, there will be a symbolic seizure of the former San Lorenzo School, the old police station and the municipal town hall, as well as in Cayo Loco, where the Navy base was located.

As befits tradition, the names of the fallen will be called and wreaths will be laid at the tombs of those who gave their lives for the homeland and whose remains rest at the Tomás Acea cemetery.

September 5, 1957 became a historic date when members of the 26th of July Movement and numbers of the dictator’s Navy stormed some key local governmental facilities to get hold of weapons and open a new front in the Escambray Mountains to support rebel fights in the east.

Although the military purpose was not achieved, the combatants of September 5 showed the world the justice of the revolutionary struggle and exposed the major division within Batista's army.