The April 9 Strike brought the definitive triumph closer

Wednesday, April 9, 1958 dawned as a sunny and apparently calm day in much of the country, but at 11:00 a.m. the calm was interrupted by an address transmitted over the radio waves, through which the announcer with an excited voice exhorted:

"Attention Cubans this is the 26th of July Movement, calling for the Revolutionary General Strike. Today is the day of freedom. Day of the Revolutionary General Strike. Forward Cubans, from this moment the final struggle begins in all of Cuba that will only end with the overthrow of the Dictatorship, Workers, students, professionals, employers, to the revolutionary general strike, from this moment on (...)"

Thus began one of the most heroic actions that pursued the defeat of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

The hopes that motivated that national uprising were not in vain when 1958 began and the Rebel Army had already consolidated itself as a guerrilla force, such condition was evidenced by the departure on March 1st from Pata de la Mesa, Sierra Maestra, of the columns of commanders Raul Castro and Juan Almeida Bosque to found the 2nd Frank Pais Front and the 3rd Dr. Mario Muñoz Monroy Front, respectively, while Commander Camilo Cienfuegos carried out actions in the plains.

Throughout the country, the clandestine struggle was strengthened, which spread in the towns and cities under the leadership of the 26th of July Movement and the participation of the Revolutionary Directorate March 13th and the Popular Socialist Party, as the main organizations of the resistance.

Great enthusiasm and the decision to turn the new year into the last of the dictatorship prevailed. The Commander in Chief Fidel Castro had met in the first days of March in Altos del Naranjo, Sierra Maestra, with the leaders of the 26th of July Movement and the Rebel Army, and on March 12 the 21-point Manifesto to the Cuban people was elaborated.

In that document it was appreciated that the "visible cracking of the Dictatorship, the maturation of the national conscience, and the belligerent participation of all the social, political, cultural and religious sectors of the nation, the struggle against Batista has entered its final phase" and that "the strategy of the decisive blow is based on the Revolutionary General Strike seconded by the Armed Action".

Fidel always considered that the actions in the cities should have a complete synchronization and serve as support to the combative forces, therefore the project of the General Strike of April 9, 1958 was approved, conceived with coordinated uprisings in the national territory, together with actions of the Rebel Army.

In Havana, Marcelo Salado led the actions that included the assault on the armory on Mercader Street, in Old Havana, the transport strike and other sabotage and propaganda actions in other parts of the city.

But the repressive forces in the capital and in the rest of the country prevailed against the almost unarmed combatants and without sufficient organization of the actions, lack of coordination, difficulties in the preparation of the strike movement and above all the harsh repression of the Batista organs that controlled the urban centers with blood and fire, among other factors.

Marcelo Salado was assassinated at gunshot, when he tried to directly direct the actions and leave his command post in the vicinity of the garage at G and 25th Streets, in Vedado. He was the victim of the denunciation of a traitorous former comrade, who became the crew member of a pursuer that was in the place and surprised the revolutionary.

The actions of the revolutionaries in Santiago de Cuba were outstanding, repeating the epic of the November 30 uprising, while in Sagua la Grande the strikers took the city for 24 hours, while in other localities there were actions such as those carried out in Santa Clara, Matanzas, Ciego de Avila and Camagüey, among others.

In the General Strike of April 9, more than 100 revolutionaries would die with their lives during that day and in the following days, under the repression of the uniformed forces that were living their last months of power.
Although the action failed, it was not in vain and a little more than six months later -as Fidel predicted in a letter to Faustino Perez, one of the survivors of that event-: "I have the firmest hope that in less time than many are capable of imagining, we will have turned defeat into victory".