Walking through the Saratoga neighborhood today I found Noel Fernández Pérez. I have imagined him coming down from his pedestal and going out in search of his companions; in a black suit, elegant and cheerful, he walks the avenues of history.
Hand in hand with his sister Ostelinda, let’s take a look at a little-known side of the hero, at his tenderness and family life, at the affable treatment and nobility of spirit of that young man from Camagüey, only 22 years old, who offered his life to freedom.
How I found about it
About 4 years ago, in a simple public ceremony, we remembered the unfair death of the young man from Camagüey, Noel Fernández.
For the occasion, gathered around the monument that perpetuates his memory on Camagüey Avenue, young people from nearby schools recalled the most audacious action of Camagüey’s revolutionaries against the Batista dictatorship, which was led by Noel: the assault on the Prison Car.
On that occasion, my sight trained to discover details that for some may lack value, led me to notice the martyr’s sister, because in her discreet touch to the bust and with just one gesture, she transmitted so many words that I could not avoid going to your meeting.
We arranged to see each other, but the arrival of COVID-19 put a pause on all our plans. Now, I return to my claim to lower the hero from the pedestal for a short time and return him to his common life, like many other Camagüeyans who retrace their streets and make history with their honest actions.
Ostelinda tells us
Ostelinda Fernández, with her skills as a teacher, takes us to the honest and responsible son who was her brother. He was very young when he joined the revolutionary movement, but he did not deny his ideals to his family and fulfilled the tasks of the July 26th Movement, while helping his father provide for the family.
Since he was a child, he would go on horseback to the farthest places of Colonia Aguilar in the municipality of Vertientes, his hometown, and there he would sell bread and sweets to contribute some money to the household.
From his personal traits it tells us that he was a handsome and elegant man, to buy his suits he paid them in installments, with the money he managed to earn stowing sacks in any store.
He did not have vices nor was he late at home, when he began to be late at night and his parents were worried, he passionately told them about his meetings in the clandestine group; then he participated in trips to the Sierra Maestra to bring supplies to the rebels and thus he was committing himself to his ideals, until misfortune skewed his life.
Character
He was a happy young man, with dreams and plans to live in his free homeland, he had a girlfriend whose family he never knew about, but in those days of clandestine he spent some time with her.
She remembers it very witty, he enjoyed the San Juan festivities with costumes. That ability to dress earned him to circumvent the surveillance of Batista’s soldiers and continue free from prison, organizing the operations of the July 26th Movement.
The suit and suitcase of a traveling salesman helped him get to Oriente by train to send supplies to the rebels. When he was already registered by the authorities of the dictatorship, dark glasses and blond hair allowed him to be confused with the “pimps and informers”, and thus avoid attracting the attention of the night watchmen in the center of the city.
The courage and clarity of his ideals define him as the human being he was, the audacity of his attacks on the enemy go beyond rescuing his fellow revolutionaries Léster Delgado, Alfredo Sarduy and Badito Saker from the prison car.
Many other feats were directed by him, among them an attack on the Caribe Cabaret, the burning of archives in the Audiencia de Camagüey and the placement of a flag in the Church of Charity. But without a doubt, the most striking of all the operations was disarming 9 Batista police officers in just one week, in full view of everyone on Comercio Street, and leaving unharmed.
His last operation, the one that put an end to his life with only 3 months to go before the final triumph, was the fire and derailment of the train that carried the fuel to the power plant; with the purpose of sabotaging the elections that were already being organized.
To perpetuate the memory
We continue talking with Ostelinda in her house. In a small auxiliary room there is a small space where Noel’s photo and another of her parents appear, she has guided me there to show me how handsome her brother was when he died.
In this valuable space, in addition to making crafts, she receives students from nearby schools who are brought by her teachers, to learn about the history first-hand. As she can no longer go to the student center due to hip problems, from home she shares the knowledge, she says that the important thing is that it reaches them; that’s the best she can do for his dear brother.
With great modesty and sweetness, she insisted on the importance of speaking to the youngest about that brave generation, who gave us their blood in exchange for this freedom that we live today: “when some of the children who visit me cry and are moved by my stories , I am satisfied, I know that these values flourish in them”, she said.
At the end
We are still in front of the photograph of Noel Fernández in this meeting, and as she described at the beginning, we have seen him walk through the city, relive his actions and move his sister and the students; I believe that the idea of showing you the least known part of a special man from Camagüey is fulfilled. Our gratitude to his sister for showing us the way. (for September 26, 2022)
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
