July 30: special day to remember the martyrs

Acknowledging the exceptional merits of those who gave their lives to achieve full liberation and preserve sovereignty, Cubans devote themselves all July 30 honor all those who once affirmed the essence of Marti's thought and placed their homeland in a venerable altar.

This recognition can not be separated in the memory of the Mambises who fought the Spanish colonial forces. They are integrated in historical continuity with those who later realized the definitive independence of Cuba led by Fidel Castro.

On July 30, 1957, 61 years ago, the revolutionaries were murdered Frank País, leader of the July 26 movement in Santiago de Cuba, and his combat partner Raúl Pujol. At the same time in 1958, René Ramos Latour, Frank's successor in the revolutionary leadership, who commanded Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra, died in action.

Particularly, every 30th of July, Frank País' admirable personality traits are recalled, to constitute the paradigm of the young revolutionary, detached and sincere.

Upon learning of Frank's death, the people of Santiago de Cuba descended on the streets, defying the repression of the guards of the dictatorship. At the appointed time, the funeral took place.

Frank was dressed in the olive green uniform and the black and red bracelet of July 26. On his chest they placed a beret and a white flower, and he was decorated with three stars as a general of the revolution.

René Ramos Latour (Daniel) was a leader of the July 26 movement in the "Nicaro Nickel". Later, he went to Sierra Maestra in the first reinforcement group. Back in the plain, he puts into practice Frank's idea of ​​creating urban militias. He participated in the preparations for the April 1958 strike and led the attack on the Boniato Barracks. Back in the Sierra, Fidel gave Ramos Latour the command of a new column. On July 30 of the same year, in the area known as "El Jobal", a mortar shell stripped it of its existence.

Frank País García, irreplaceable

In a trial initiated from the prison, between May and June 1955, the Revolutionary Movement of July 26 under the command of Fidel Castro arises, moncadistas, to whom they come from the figures

A new stage of the revolutionary struggle has been opened. Among the people incorporated, there was Frank País García, student leader and teacher of the Normal School for Teachers of the East, who would become the national leader of the Action and sabotage of the Movement of July 26th.

Coming from a humble family, Frank experienced from an early age, privation and sacrifice; he realized the objective needs of his country; evils that have afflicted her, trampled by her most basic administrations by successive administrations in Cuba since 1902, and realized that the only way possible for the full sovereignty of the people was the armed struggle

. the creation of a common front to fight against the tyranny of Fulgencio Batista, and the core of truly revolutionary elements. He was the architect of the clandestine movement; the one who laid the foundation for the guerrilla struggle in the indomitable eastern mountains and the one who forged the rearguard of the heroic rebel army that emerged in the Sierra Maestra. Frank cemented his political ideology in José Martí's thought and translated it into an awareness of the discipline of struggle and sacrifice. Organized the direction of the movement of the 26 of July of the base, formed the civic resistance and restructured the general strike and their thought evolve towards more and more radical ideas. On July 30, 1957, shortly after noon, Frank País García and his revolutionary comrade, Raúl Pujol Arencibia, were brutally murdered by the forces of order at Callejón del Muro, in Santiago de Cuba. His burial was the greatest manifestation of popular mourning ever seen in this heroic province.

His downfall, as Ernesto Che Guevara said, was "… the greatest loss of the Revolution". Today, at the altar of grateful country, Frank Pais remains the irreplaceable companion of all battles, whose example of abnegation and sacrifice is compromised and binding. Admittedly, July 30th of each year is a special day for Cubans: Day of all martyrs.

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