Manuel Zábalo Rodríguez, Cuban revolutionary combatant, a native of Camagüey, better known as the “Combatant of the Three Mountain Ranges”. He was born on January 30th, 1927.
He was a worker in the transportation sector where he drove a local city service bus. He joins the trade union movement and fights the submissive leadership of the governments of Grau San Martín and Carlos Prío Socarras. When the coup d’etat took place on March 10th, he is one of the first to oppose the coup.
He joins the first insurrectionary groups that are organized in Camagüey, together with leaders such as: Rafael Gil, Carlos Palacio and José A. Porro and other founders of the July 26th movement in the transportation sector.
Due to the difficult situation he already had in Camagüey, he went to the Sierra Maestra, where he reached the ranks of Captain, he was order to move to the Sierra del Escambray to collaborate with the guerrilla organizations, then he must continue to the Sierra de los Órganos in the province of Pinar del Río where a new guerrilla front opens.
He is betrayed and arrested by henchmen of the dictatorship who torture him, gouged out his eyes and pulled out his nails, burned him from the waist down, however they failed to extract a single piece of information from him. His last words were: You, cowards, finish it at once so that you can see how the men from the July 26th movement die. Manuel Zábalo Rodríguez was assassinated on December 28th, 1958.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
