The first day of freedom

LUIS BÁEZ & PEDRO DE LA HOZ

IT was night in Santiago de Cuba. Not one more soul could squeeze into Céspedes Park or the surrounding streets. For the first time in quite a while people were breathing easier in the indomitable city – no more sirens announcing crimes, no more mothers mourning in funeral processions through the streets, no more fury unleashed by the dictatorship against youth.

This was the city where five years, five months and five days earlier the struggle for freedom and justice had begun with an assault on the Moncada Garrison. The first city to hear Fidel’s ‘History will absolve me’ speech. The city which rose up on November 30, 1956 to support the expeditionaries landing from the yacht Granma. The city where Frank País stood firm until death.

Shortly after 11:00 pm on Thursday, January 1, a figure emerged on a City Hall balcony, radiating energy and determination, despite not having slept for days, focused on assessing events and making rapid, urgent decisions to secure the triumph of the Revolution.

It was Fidel Castro Ruz, principal leader of the Moncada, hero of the Sierra Maestra. His last name would no longer be necessary among Cubans. He would be Fidel and the invocation of his name enough to move people to follow his steps and recognize him as Comandante en Jefe, brother, father, irreplaceable guide, principled, intimate friend.

Only a few hours earlier, an appeal had been broadcast on radio convoking Santiago’s people to the site. The announcement had been passed from person to person, from house to house, to all corners of the city.

The plot hatched by the Batista military and U.S. authorities to obstruct the triumph of the revolutionary forces was frustrated by the rebel leader’s strategic thinking and the outpouring of popular support for the Revolution.

On December 31, 1958, just as the dictator Fulgencio Batista was departing, the U.S. State Department and the CIA described the 26th of July Movement as an organization "lacking the necessary responsibility and capacity to govern Cuba."

The United States was counting on the complicity of General Eulogio Cantillo who had met with Fidel on December 28 in Palma Soriano, promising he would not allow Batista to escape, not obstruct the evident triumph of the popular insurrection by attempting a military coup and not appeal to the U.S. embassy for mediation. The officer broke his word and lent himself to maneuvers to produce a spurious succession, accompanied Batista to the plane in which he left the island and made agreements with the U.S. in an attempt to thwart the imminent revolutionary victory.

Learning of Batista’s departure, Fidel took firm action. An exceptional witness to the event, Luis Buch, described his experiences in the book Gobierno Revolucionario: primeros pasos (The revolutionary government’s first steps).

"I was at Radio Rebelde, from where certain appeals had been broadcast to the workers and the population in general – to keep calm, not destroy anything that could affect the welfare of the people. It was announced that Fidel would speak shortly. At that moment they were calling from Havana. It was General Cantillo. When Fidel arrived we told him, ‘Cantillo has been calling insistently to speak with you.’ (…) All of us present agreed that Fidel should respond, talk with Cantillo, discuss the situation created. Fidel looked at us and said, ‘I am not crazy. You haven’t noticed that only crazy people talk about nonexistent things? Since Cantillo is not the Chief of the Army’s General Staff, I am not going to talk with the nonexistent, because I am not crazy. The Revolution has all the power.’ (…) I remember that Fidel was holding a draft in his hands and strode around the room for a while, leaning against a piece of furniture, he reviewed the text. (…) That moment, seeing how Fidel managed that historic moment, was when I realized that the Revolution had triumphed."

During the commemoration of the 45th anniversary of the Granma landing and the creation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Fidel recalled, "On the first of January, with your decisive support to the unstoppable advance of the Rebel forces, the oligarchy and imperialism’s last attempt to prevent the triumph of the Revolution was squashed, the coup d’état in the capital. Revolutionary troops were instructed to continue their advance on the capital without accepting a cease-fire and the call for a general strike was the immediate response. The country was paralyzed from one end to the other. Radio stations linked up with Radio Rebelde and broadcast instructions from the Revolutionary command. Thus a devastating counter-blow was delivered to the brazen attempt to derail our victory. Within 72 hours, all of the cities were occupied; 100,000 weapons - a number also to be verified by historians – all heavy military equipment for use on land, sea or air, were in the hands of the people."

Fidel prepared to enter Santiago on the first day of the New Year, He had ordered the columns commanded by Camilo Cienfuegos and Ernesto Che Guevara, which had been victorious in the center of the island, to advance toward Havana and take possession of the country’s capital. Camilo was to take the Columbia base and Che the Cabaña Fortress. Radio Rebelde and all the radio stations joining its transmissions announced, "Citizens of Santiago, the Santiago garrison is encircled by our forces. If at 6:00 pm today they have not laid down their weapons, our troops will advance on the city and take the enemy positions by force.

"As of 6:00 pm today, all air and maritime traffic in the city is prohibited.

"Santiago de Cuba: the dictatorship’s henchmen who have murdered so many of your sons and daughters will not escape as Batista and other criminals have, with the collaboration of officers who led an attempted coup last night.

"Santiago de Cuba: You are not yet free. Still walking the streets are those who have oppressed you for seven years, the murderers of your finest sons and daughters. The war is not over because the murderers are still armed.

"Military officers, organizers of the coup, presume to determine that the rebels cannot enter Santiago de Cuba. Our entrance is prohibited to a city we can take with the valor of our combatants as we have taken many other cities. They would like to deny access to Santiago de Cuba to those who have liberated the homeland. The history of ’95 will not be repeated. This time, today, the mambises will enter Santiago de Cuba."

In fact, in the final stage of the emancipation struggle organized by José Martí at the end of the 19th century, nascent U.S. imperialism intervened to prevent independence. Precisely just outside of Santiago de Cuba, in 1898, the last battles of the mambises and U.S. troops against the defeated Spanish colonial forces took place. Nevertheless, when the time came to enter the city, only the occupying U.S. forces did so. The supreme command of the intervening troops thought the mambises might take excessive action against the Spanish and were therefore not trustworthy. That humiliation was forcefully denounced by Major General Calixto García.

With Fidel in the lead, the mambises of the 20th century did enter Santiago on January 1, 1959 and set about establishing a free and sovereign Republic, based on new foundations.

Without the need for any military action whatsoever, the garrison in Cuba’s second city surrendered. Raúl Castro went to the Moncada, where the regiment laid down its weapons.

Fidel arrived at Céspedes Park well into the night. Comandante Juan Almeida eloquently described the event in the heart of Santiago on the first night of the New Year, "We were in City Hall across from Céspedes Park. Before that we had been at the CMKC radio station. A rumor began to circulate among people in the area. When asked what was happening, they answered that the Chief of Police had been seen, that criminal representative of the dictatorship, that murderer, was wearing a red and black 26th of July Movement arm band on one of his arms. Everything was so strange during those first moments of jubilation… From one of the balconies we saw a Cuban flag being raised and heard the first chords of the national anthem, as was customary during the traditional [New Year’s] patriotic event, which of course had been canceled… Several speakers approached the improvised podium on the City Hall balcony. Representatives of various sectors expressed the popular jubilation welcoming the victory. The Revolutionary Government introduced its cabinet which had been formed just days before while operations were still underway. But everyone wanted to hear Fidel in person, live. ‘At last we have arrived in Santiago! The road has been long and hard but we have arrived,’ were his first words."

Time and again, cheers and ovations interrupted the Comandante en Jefe’s comments. More than a speech, it was a frank and open dialogue with Santiago’s people. Left behind were the days of politicking. A new day had dawned, of direct words, reason and the truth.