Cuba commemorates the 131st anniversary of the Necessary War

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba, February 24 (ACN) A floral offering on behalf of the Cuban people was placed before the crypt that holds the remains of National Hero José Marti in the Santa Ifigenia Heritage Cemetery, in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, on the occasion of the 131st anniversary of the resumption of the struggles for independence, which the Apostle called the Necessary War.

The tribute serves as a homage to Marto for his role as the main promoter and organizer of the independence struggle, which began on February 24, 1895, with the signing of the Order of Uprising in Manzanillo and other locations in eastern and western Cuba.

The ceremony was presided over by Niurka Bell Calzado, member of the Provincial Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC); Waldi Gonzalez Peinado, Vice Governor; and Brigadier General Luis Prieto Lazo, head of the Santiago de Cuba Military Region.

In addition, representatives from political and mass organizations participated, as well as workers and guests from different sectors of society. Attendees also placed flowers at the tomb of Mariana Grajales and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, Mother and Father of the Nation, respectively, and at the stone that holds the ashes of the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

Meanwhile, Beatriz Johnson, First Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the PCC, and Manuel Falcon, Governor, led the tribute in Baire, a town in what is now the municipality of Contramaestre, where the famous cry of "Independence or Death!" was uttered.

There, together with residents of that town, and in a pilgrimage to the cemetery, floral offerings were placed at the tombs of Major General Jesus Rabi, Major General Florencio Salcedo, Colonel Juan Joaquín Urbina, and General Saturnino Lora, patriots with outstanding careers in the struggles for independence.

What happened that Sunday, February 24, 1895, at the cockfighting arena in Baire, with Saturnino Lora at the head, is known as the beginning of the War of '95, although, in the same way, there were many and significant uprisings developed in other parts of the archipelago.