The Suarito-Radio Camagüey station would have turned 54 on March 20th, if some events related to the July 26th movement had not changed its future. Located on Finlay Avenue, the former frequency broadcast a varied program with half-hour segments dedicated to Tango, Spanish music and Bolero.

The call to strike on April 9th, 1958, from its cabin, with the recording of a speech that came on tape from Santiago de Cuba to all the provinces, forced it to close its doors.

The protagonists

The three revolutionaries from Camagüey in charge of the risky operation, under the nose of a soldier of the Batista dictatorship were: José Bueno Días Arce (Pepín Bueno) from the sound, on the microphones Laureano Céspedes and Héctor Enríquez Izquierdo, was in charge of raising the flag of July 26th, from the transmission towers of the station.

I had the good fortune to learn about the story of two of these brave radio broadcasters and as we commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the strike, I think it’s fair to share them with you.

Pepín Bueno

In 2017, this radio lover and faithful to his tapes and sound equipment, welcomed me into his home to talk about that moment of revolutionary effervescence and long-awaited wishes for social justice, a few months after Pepín died.

The one who broadcasted the call for the April 9th Strike on the player was him. At 89 years old, he remembered every detail and was excited to narrate the scenes.

As he told me, arriving at 11:00 in the morning, they played the danzón of the Aragón orchestra: Nena, to mislead the police and put on the air the recording that called the Cuban workers to stop their workday and go out into the streets on behalf of the July 26th.

Pepín and Laureano ran off, jumped over the back wall, and hid in an empty house near the station. For a long time, they did not know the other’s whereabouts, as he continued to flee over the Saratoga Bridge and there he took refuge in several houses of friends and family until he managed to leave for Santa Clara. Laureano removed his mustache, changed his hairstyle, and also managed to escape to the capital.

Pepín commented with some regret that the station remained on the air a few months later and then closed. Luckily, with the revolutionary triumph and until his retirement, he remained in the radio union, in which he was always admired.

As a gift to his work and dedication, when Pepín retired, he took home his beloved tape machine, from the room that was his home in the Sánchez building on Martí Street, it is a symbol of perpetual homage.

The story of Héctor Enríquez

To the revolutionary speech that Pepín Bueno broadcasted from the master’s control, it also occurred a feat that many Camagüey people today clearly remember although 63 years have passed, I am referring to the July 26th flag, which he waved from the transmission tower at the top; while the heroes of that story escaped from the enemy.

The daring bullfighter, driver, audio operator and many other things within that environment, Héctor Enríquez Izquierdo, was the one who climbed as high as he could and exposing himself to the sight of the neighbors, placed the flag of revolutionary honor, which from the red and black called for action.

Many years later, when this story was no longer a secret and his son Rolando was old enough to understand it, Hector would proudly tell it several times. That is how it came to me in a formal way, since I had already known it since I began my life as a radio operator, around twenty years ago.

His humble origins and his upright character in the face of injustice, would soon make him join the movement against the dictatorship, he found support for his ideas in his radio group and nothing prevented his recklessness to hang the July 26th flag, behind the back of the Batista’s army policeman, who with a tobacco in one hand and a shotgun in the other, sitting in the doorway, guarded the station.

Then he left the place through the back door and went to a house next to the Principal Theater, where a noble woman supporter of the cause hid him for several months until members of the clandestine movement in Camagüey moved him to a safe place.

Rolando says that his father would always remember with pleasure those days of the Revolution, which did not stop with the triumph, since he was in charge of leading the mobile unit of Radio Cadena Agramonte, which took the programs to various places in the capital of Camagüey and its municipalities, then continued doing other jobs related to the profession until his retirement.

Two revolutionary stories from the radio

Although the strike did not materialize, it served to connect all the revolutionaries involved in the action and continue working in secret for definitive freedom.

By bringing these two life stories linked to the radio and recalling that daring participation of the people of Camagüey in the strike of April 9th from Suarito-Radio Camagüey, we show once again the importance of the media to accompany the audience in all moments of life and we pay tribute to Pepín and Héctor Enríquez, who undoubtedly lived proud of their profession and of the 1959 triumph.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García