In search of someone close to this little-known man from Camagüey, to tell a better story, I found how it is repeated in popular knowledge that he was a revolutionary from the three Cuban mountain ranges, some say he was a local transport driver and only the neighbors close to the plaques that commemorate him, one on Martyrs Avenue and the other at the entrance to San Clemente Street, can say something about the value of this young man: Manuel Zabalo Rodríguez.
To do justice to his memory and bring to the present all his dedication to the cause of the Cuban Revolution; I share some notes that should not be forgotten.
His path within the Revolution
He joins the trade union movement and fights against the sell-out leadership of the governments of Grau San Martín and Carlos Prío Socarras.
When the coup d’état took place on March 10th, 1952, he was one of the first to oppose the coup. He joins the first insurrectionary groups that were organized in Camagüey.
Later he would go to the Sierra Maestra, where he obtained the rank of Captain and later he would support the rebels in the Escambray and in the Sierra de los Órganos, in Pinar del Río, where they planned to open a new guerrilla front.
Sad ending
It is in that attempt, in the western zone when he is captured by the enemy. In the Sierra de Guajaibón, he was imprisoned by the henchmen of the dictatorship, who mercilessly tortured him to death on December 28th, 1958.
The greatest proof of his determination and confidence in the process that was already so close to victory, was minutes before he was assassinated, because in those moments of pain he said to his executioners: “Cowards finish once and for all so you can see how the men of from the July 26th movement die”.
The memory
A bust in the park that bears his name immortalizes him with the image that reminds them of the bus drivers’ guild. The uniform and the cap show the simple worker who left for the three Cuban mountain ranges to conquer justice and freedom. A few hours after his death, the new dawn would come for Cubans, with the triumph for which he fought, so his fall was not in vain.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
