Have you heard of the hero of the three mountains? Surely you also know of a kindergarten and a park called: Manuel Zabalo, but about the man that he was and the virtues that accompanied his short life we know very little.
For this reason, as the 94th anniversary of his birth approaches, I think it is fair to look at his work in the struggles against the Batista dictatorship, the life and death of this man from Camagüey, who showed courage until his last minutes.
Manuel Zabalo
The courage of the young worker in the transportation sector, who spoke out against the Coup d’état of March 10th, 1952 and who later joined the insurrectionary groups created in Camagüey, was born in this city on January 30th, 1927.
He was a worker in the transport sector where he drove a local service bus.
Revolutionary work
He joins the trade union movement and fights the unpatriotic governments of Grau San Martín and Carlos Prío Socarras.
When taking place on March 10th, 1952, the Coup d’état, he is one of the first to oppose the coup. He joined the first insurrectionary groups that were organized in Camagüey.
Then he would march to the Sierra Maestra, where he was appointed Captain and later he would support the rebels in the Escambray and in the Sierra de los Órganos, in Pinar del Río, where it was planned to open a new guerrilla front.
In the Sierra de Guajaibón, he was arrested by the dictatorship’s henchmen, who tortured him to death on December 28th, 1958.
As proof of his determination and confidence in the process that was brewing, he said before being assassinated: “You, cowards, finish it at once so that you can see how the men of July 26 die.”
The tribute from his land
Such a hymn immortalizes it …
Author: Martha Ochoa.
Manuel Zabalo example and value
of our land and nation
you are pride of Camagüey
fought in the mountains, fought in the plains
He was the Cuban that Martí dreamed of
He was the Cuban that Fidel forged
all firmness, all dignity
He fought for our country and its freedom.
Zabalo was only a few hours away from seeing his dream come true, to see Cuba free of abuses and murders, but his death was not in vain and although not everyone knows about the hero of the three mountains, his sacrifice and short life is remembered.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
