The student movement in Camagüey, under the direction of its undisputed leader, Jesús Suárez Gayol, in the fight against Batista, he undertook various actions such as strikes, sabotage, demonstrations.

Don’t let the Master die

Precisely one of them is the one carried out on January 28th, 1956, in commemoration of the birth of the apostle, in the old San Francisco Square (today José Martí Park), where at that time the henchmen of the tyranny were waiting.

Students from the Professional School of Commerce and the Secondary Education Institute of the province participated in the march, including Noel Sánchez, Paco Cabrera from the former and Álvaro Morell.

The truth can’t be hidden

As documentary evidence of such an event, there were some photographs that, without a doubt, are part of the visual memory of the struggles and student role in the territory. In this way, it transcends the particular circumstance in which they were registered to become a true social document.

In one of them, Jesús Suárez Gayol is perched on the shoulders of his friend Noel Sánchez, surrounded by the plethora of young people who defied the dictatorship. According to the words of one of his classmates from the institute, Eduardo Rivero Pozas, that young man harangued to continue the fight before the astonished gaze of the henchmen.

The response of the henchmen was immediate, as can be seen in another of the photos, as they were vicious with the protesters: they beat Gayol and injured Álvaro Morell Álvarez in the forehead, another of the leaders of that generation of fighters.  Who was taken by two other young people from the anti-Batista struggle to “La Colonia Española” clinic to receive first aid and medical assistance. Therefore, the methods of action of the tyranny and the way of handling the young protesters are exposed.

Eddy, as his colleagues also called him, says that Elpidio Lezcano Ágreda, another of the protesters, carried a rolled-up cloth that said: “Freedom is the essence of life,” a right of every human being.

Conclusions

The march led by students in the province, in commemoration of the birth of the National Hero, is part of a set of actions aimed at overthrowing the Batista tyranny. This is how the images that captured the moment become a text that enables the understanding of a period.

Bibliography

Atiénzar Rivero, Enrique. Jesús Suárez Gayol en tres tiempos. Cubadebate.

González Cueto, Danay y Antonio Vidal Ortega. La fotografía como documento histórico. El rescate de la memoria visual del siglo XX en el caribe colombiano.

“Jesús Suárez Gayol, ejemplo vivo a 54 años de su caída en Bolivia”. Adelante newspaper, April 10, 2021.

Materials provided by the Jesús Suarez Gayol Museum.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García