The month of December takes the revolutionary fighter Antonio Fontes Carbajo to remember the year 1956, he remembers how this city supported with various actions the uprising of November 30th and Fidel’s landing in the Granma, however, only those of Santiago de Cuba are recognized.
Of his clandestine group, only he remains to tell us, but he believes it is fair to the memory of his compatriots, to tell these memories of courage and dedication for freedom.
Remembering
In the last weeks of 1956, Fidel’s fight for the island’s freedom returned. Camagüey stood out in supporting him, since November with its Action and Sabotage group. About 20 actions were deployed by the youth brigades under the leadership of Lázaro Artola. Boys between the ages of 16 and 20 risked their lives for the cause.
The Raúl Cervantes brigade was based in the Garrido neighborhood. Some of its leaders had met with Frank País in Santiago to propose that he create a front in the Escambray, but it was not yet the right time. However, they continued their actions and carried out the assault on an armory on Independence Street, the result was not much, the pistols obtained, were of great help to their scarce supplies.
Also supporting November 30th, they sabotaged the fuel tanks in the railway workshops and attacked the fiscal zone where the collections were made in the mayor’s office, to damage the economy of the Batista government.
In those days a firecracker was thrown to intimidate the Governor on duty, who spoke publicly in a derogatory tone of the Camagüey revolutionaries. The detonation was only to scare not to hurt anyone; no doubt the city was on fire.
The result
As reflected in the press of the time, in the newspapers El Camagüeyano, El Mundo, Alerta, and the magazine Bohemia; The Agramontinos supported the Granma landing with volcanic force, but 64 young people were arrested and tried for their actions.
The detention wave continued until February, only the two who were carrying dynamites were sentenced, the rest of the defendants, among them Fontes, were threatened with death if they did not leave the city and then, with one of his companions, he left for Santa Clara, to later join El Che in the Escambray.
His participation
Since the assault on the Moncada barracks, the young revolutionaries of Camagüey were structured; the book ” Volcán Fuerza 6″ recounts how they supported the ideas outlined by Fidel in La Historia me Absolverá and gave their support that December.
For Antonio, reliving them in these days full of revolutionary ephemeris is a well-deserved tribute to so many of his companions who have already passed away, who were decorated by Celia Sánchez in the City of Heroes, with the 20th anniversary medal of the FAR, thus settling a debt with the history, which would make the worth of the many children of Agramonte very clear.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
