REFLECTIONS BY COMRADE
FIDEL
THE STRATEGIC VICTORY
In a few days the book,
under the title "The Strategic Victory," in which I recount the
battle the small Rebel Army waged against extermination, will be published.
I begin with an introduction
explaining my doubts about the title I would give it "... I did not know
whether to call it 'Batista's last offensive' or 'How 300 defeated 10, 000,' which
might have seemed like a science fiction story.
It includes a short
autobiography: "I did not want to wait for the day they publish the answers
to countless questions about my childhood, adolescence and youth, stages that
turned me into a revolutionary and armed combatant."
The title I finally decided to give it was:
"The Strategic Victory."
It is divided into 25
chapters, containing many photos of the quality possible to achieve in those
circumstances, and relevant maps.
Finally, there are some graphic sketches
on the types of weapons used by both sides.
In the final pages of Chapter 24 of the narrative
I made statements that were prescient.
In the last dispatch I
wrote to be read on Radio Rebelde on August 7, the day after the conclusion of
the final battle of Las Mercedes, I said:
"The offensive has been defeated. The biggest military
effort that has ever been made in our Republican history, ended in the most
terrible disaster that the arrogant dictator could have imagined; his troops
are in full flight, after two and a half months of defeat after defeat, signaling
that the days of his odious regime come to an end. The Sierra Maestra mountain range is now
completely free of enemy forces."
The book on "The Strategic Victory"
literally explains:
"The defeat of the enemy offensive,
after 74 days of relentless fighting, meant the strategic shift in the war. From that moment the fate of the tyranny
was finally cast as its imminent military collapse became clear. "
"That same day I wrote a letter to
Major General Eulogio Cantillo, who led the enemy campaign from the command
post in the area of operations, based in Bayamo. I confirmed to Cantillo that in the
custody of our forces were around 160 prisoners, including many wounded, and we
were willing to establish the relevant negotiations immediately for their
return. After
complicated negotiations, this second return of prisoners took place several
days later in Las Mercedes.
"During those 74 days of intense
fighting to reject and defeat the great enemy offensive, our forces suffered 31
fatalities. The
sad news never daunted the spirit of our forces, but it tasted a bitter victory
many times. Still,
the loss of fighters could have been much higher, taking into account the
intensity, duration and violence of the land actions and air strikes, and if it
wasn’t so, it was due to the
extraordinary expertise achieved by our fighters in the rugged nature of the
Maestra and the solidarity among the rebels. Many times, some
seriously wounded saved their lives, firstly, because their comrades did the
impossible to move them to where they could be treated by the doctors, and all that
despite the rough terrain and the whistling of bullets in the crossfire.
"Throughout these
pages I have been mentioning the names of the fallen, but I want to bring all
their names again here to offer at once the whole picture of our martyrs,
worthy of eternal memory of respect and admiration of all our people. They are:
"Commanders: Andres Cuevas, Ramón Paz
and René Ramos Latour, Daniel.
Captains: Ángel Verdecia
and Geonel Rodríguez.
"Lieutenants:
Teodoro Banderas, Fernando Chávez, The
Artist, and Godofredo Verdecia.
"Combatants: Misaíl Machado, Fernando
Martinez, Albio Martinez, Wilfredo Lara, Gustavo;
Wilfredo González, Pascualito, Juan
de Dios Zamora, Carlos López Mas, Eugenio Cedeño, Victuro Acosta, El Bayamés;
Francisco Luna, Roberto Corría, Luis Enrique Carracedo, Elinor Teruel, Juan Vázquez, Chan Cuba; Giraldo Aponte, El
Marinero; Federico Hadfeg, Felipe Cordumy, Lorenzo Véliz, Gaudencio Santiesteban,
Nicolas Ul, Luciano Tamayo, Angel Silva Socarrás and José Diaz, El Galleguito.
"Collaborating
farmers: Lucas Castillo, other members of his family, and Ibrahim Escalona Torres.
“Eternal honor and glory,
infinite respect and affection for those who died then.
"The enemy lost
over a thousand men, including more than 300 dead and 443 prisoners, and at
least five large complete units of their forces were wiped out, captured or broken
up. We captured 507 weapons, including two tanks, ten mortars,
several bazookas and twelve 30-caliber machine guns.
"We must add to all
this the moral effect of this outcome and its importance for the progress of
the war: from that time on the strategic initiative was definitely in the hands
of the Rebel Army, the sole owner also of a huge area that the enemy would
not even try to re-enter. The
Sierra Maestra was, in fact, freed forever.
"The great victory
over the enemy offensive in the summer of 1958 marked the irreversible turning
point of the war. The Rebel Army, triumphant and extremely strengthened by the
huge quantity of arms captured, was able to start its final strategic
offensive.
"These events
opened up a new and final stage in the liberation war, characterized by the
invasion of the central part of the country, the opening of the Fourth Eastern
Front and the Camagüey Front. The
fighting spread throughout the country. The final major
offensive of the Rebel Army led, with the lightning campaign of Oriente and Las
Villas, to the final defeat of the Army of the tyranny and, therefore, to the
military collapse of the Batista regime and the capture of power by the
victorious Revolution.
"The victorious counter-offensive in
December of that year decided the victory with about 3,000 men equipped with
weapons seized from the enemy.”
"The columns headed by Che and
Camilo advancing across the plains of Cauto and Camagüey arrived in the center
of the country. The old Column
One trained over one thousand new recruits
at the Minas del Frio School, and with leaders that emerged from their own
ranks, took the towns and cities on the main road between Bayamo and Palma
Soriano. New
T-37 tanks had been destroyed, and the heavy tanks and combat aircraft could
not prevent the taking of cities a hundred times bigger than the hamlet of Las
Mercedes.
"In its advance, Column One was
joined by forces with the Frank País Second Eastern Front. So, we occupied the town of
"Exactly on January 1st, 1959 - the date specified in
a letter to Juan Almeida immediately before the last offensive by the
dictatorship against the Sierra Maestra -, the revolutionary general strike,
decreed through Radio Rebelde from Palma Soriano, paralyzed the country. Che and Camilo were ordered to advance
along the central road to the capital city, and there were no forces that could
pose any resistance.
"Cantillo, in a meeting with me,
Raul and Almeida, admitted that the dictatorship had lost the war, but a little
later, in the capital, he made coup, counter-revolutionary and pro-imperialist maneuvers,
breaching the conditions agreed to for an armistice. However, in three days a hundred thousand
guns, and the boats and planes that had supported and enabled the escape of the
last battalion that entered the Sierra Maestra, were at our disposal.
A
tireless team of staff with the Historical Affairs Office of the Council of
State, the Creative Design Group of Casa 4, under the direction of the
assistantship; with the cooperation of cartographer Otto Hernandez, Brigadier
General Amels Escalante, Cartoonist Jorge Oliver, young designer Geordanis
Gonzalez, under the direction of Katiuska Blanco, a journalist and brilliant
and indefatigable writer, are the main actors in this feat.
I thought this book could take months to
be published. Now I know that in early August it will be already on the
street.
I, who worked
for months on the issue after my serious illness, am now encouraged to continue
writing the second part of this story to be known, if the team does not suggest
another title, “The Final Strategic Counter-offensive.”
Fidel Castro Ruz