Farmers were one of the decisive sectors in the revolutionary triumph. From the self-defense plea “History Will Absolve Me”, Fidel defines eradicating the problem of exploitation of this social group as one of the fundamental objectives of the revolutionary project.

According to historiography, 85% of small Cuban farmers were paying rent and lived under the perennial threat of eviction. More than half of the best cultivated production land was in foreign hands.

A little history

Several steps were taken to hold the First Farmers Congress in Arms. The guerrilla was consolidated and in the liberated zone of the Second Eastern Front it was held on September 21st, 1958, in Soledad de Mayarí Arriba, with the presence of Fidel and Raúl.

Several towns were represented: San Luis, Mayarí, Sagua de Tánamo, Yateras, Baracoa, Guantánamo and Alto Songo. The objective was clear and was to promote a policy of unity to incorporate the broad rural sectors into the fight against the dictatorship, in addition to creating the conditions for, after the victory, which was already in sight, to begin the radical transformations of the Cuban countryside. These would begin on May 17th, 1959 with the signing of the Agrarian Reform in the Sierra Maestra, a deed that would fulfill Fidel’s promises.

In the main report, José (Pepe) Ramírez, leader of the farmers, exposed the evils that afflicted his class, victims of large estates and the exploitation of landowners who condemned thousands of farmer families to live without the most basic living conditions, lacking medical care, educational services and exposed to the repression of the rural guard at the service of national and foreign exploiters.

Their objectives

Not only did they meet to document their agreements, they also prepared a Declaration of Principles of the farmers’ movement in favor of the Rebel Army, in order to leave their first organizational structures in place. The grassroots leaders were elected, all of which was the starting point for the founding, after the triumph, of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP, by its acronym in Spanish) in 1961.

The First Farmers Congress in Arms not only put the Revolution as a priority, but also the need to completely transform the countryside, giving farmers the benefits and place they deserved in the history of the Revolution.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García