CAMILO CIENFUEGOS

Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán (February 6, 1932 – October 28, 1959) was a Cuban revolutionary born in Lawton, Havana. Raised in an anarchist family that had left Spain before the Spanish Civil War, he became a key figure of the Cuban Revolution, along with Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Juan Almeida Bosque, and Raúl Castro. In 1940 Camilo enrolled in the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro", but soon after had to quit his studies due to financial problems. During this period he started working as an apprentice in the "El Arte" fashion store in downtown Havana. Around 1948 he started to get involved in political issues, taking part in the popular protests against the rise of the bus tariffs. In 1954 he became an active member of the underground students movement against Dictator Fulgencio Batista. This involvement led him to be wounded by firearm on December 7, 1955, during a popular protest organized to honour Cuban independence hero Antonio Maceo. After being harassed by police and without a job, he decided to leave Cuba and travelled again to the U.S., in particular to New York. He was later expelled from the U.S., when his residence permit expired, and relocated to Mexico. During his stay in Mexico, Camilo met Fidel Castro, who was organizing a revolutionary expedition that would return to Cuba to fight Batista. Thereafter Cienfuegos was one of the 82 revolutionaries who set sail aboard the boat Granma in November 1956. Allegedly, he was the last one to board the boat and was only allowed to join because of his thinness The Granma arrived in Cuba on December 2. After a three day nightmare of swamps and mangroves, the rebels were surprised by the Cuban (Batista's) army at Alegría de Pío. The surviving rebels escaped in small dispersed groups, wandering for weeks in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Camilo was one of the twelve who survived the attacks and executions carried out by Batista's forces not long after they landed. He was able to rejoin Castro in the Sierra Maestra a month later. In 1957 he became one of the top leaders of the revolutionary forces, appointed to the rank of "Comandante". In 1958, with the defeat of Operation Verano (Summer), Cienfuegos was put in command of one of three columns which headed west out of the mountains with the intention of capturing the provincial capital city of Santa Clara. Che Guevara was in command of another column and Jaime Vega was in command of the third. Jaime Vega's column was ambushed and defeated by Batista's forces. Cienfuegos and Guevara's two columns reached the central provinces, where they joined efforts with several other groups. Cienfuegos's column fought the Battle of Yaguajay in December and, after a fight, forced the garrison to surrender on December 30, 1958. This earned him the nickname "The Hero of Yaguajay". With Yaguajay captured, Cienfuegos's column was able to advance against Santa Clara in conjunction with Guevara's forces, and the other non-Castro forces from the Escambray front. Together, the two columns captured Santa Clara on December 31; most of the defending soldiers gave up without shooting. Batista fled Cuba the next day, and the guerrillas were victorious.[1] Later, Cienfuegos would serve in the Cuban Army's high command, fight anti-Castro uprisings, and play a role in agrarian reforms