Cuban leaders evoke Camilo Cienfuegos on anniversary of his birth

 

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 6 (ACN) On the 93rd anniversary of the birth of Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuba evokes his courage as a guerrilla and his loyalty to the homeland and the Revolution.

In a post on X, President Miguel Díaz-Canel referred to Camilo, a.k.a. the Lord of the Vanguard, as a very Cuban hero of the Revolution whose short-lived passage through life was so intense and exemplary that he still lives on and guides the Cubans.

On his end, Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People's Power, highlighted the late Commander’s impact on both Ernesto Guevara and the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro.
"Che called him 'the most brilliant of all guerrillas', and Fidel said that there are many like him among our people, in reference to their daily heroism”, Lazo Hernandez wrote.

In other messages, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero described Camilo Cienfuegos as an impeccable revolutionary who was always loyal to Cuba, whereas Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Party, quoted Commander in Chief Fidel Castro’s words, to wit, "When I see our young people at the foot of a lathe or a smelting furnace or in a laboratory, when I see them working 10, 12, 13 and 14 hours, I am more and more convinced that there are many Camilos among our people".

Born in Havana on February 6, 1932, Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán joined since he was very young many strikes and demonstrations against the tyrant Fulgencio Batista and, in 1956, the expeditionary force led by Fidel that sailed from Mexico to Cuba aboard the yacht Granma to begin the guerrilla warfare in the Sierra Maestra Mountains.

He excelled for his courage at the head of the Rebel Army, to the point that he earned the rank of Commander in April 1958.

On January 2, 1959, after the triumph of the Revolution, his forces occupied the Columbia Military Barracks in Havana, the main fortress of the tyranny.

He died tragically on October 28, 1959 after thwarting an act of sedition in the province of Camagüey and the small plane in which he was flying back to Havana under a heavy storm disappeared at sea.