THE first Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, Raúl Castro, and President Miguel Díaz-Canel presided the political act and military ceremony commemorating the 114th anniversary of the death of independence hero Máximo Gómez, in Havana.
During the event, held in the Christopher Columbus Necropolis, Havana City Historian Eusebio Leal stated that all generations of Cubans should know and pay tribute to Máximo Gómez.
He recalled chapters of the Dominican’s participation in Cuba’s independence struggle against Spanish colonialism, noting his incomparable way of fighting, leaving his horse and fighting on foot with a machete, serving as an example for so many.
The historian referred to the merits of Máximo Gómez, who Cuba’s national hero, José Martí, recognized and appointed as head of the Liberation Army.
The historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, described the Generalissimo, as Máximo Gómez is also known, as a “Cuban by right” given his courageous role in the Mambi Liberation wars, even though he was a native of the Dominican Republic.
“A humble son of this people, he was able to become a distinguished, affectionate son of the Cuban people, a right won in Cuba’s struggle for independence, to which he contributed his arm and his machete, his military genius and courage, his remarkable political talent and deeply revolutionary thought,” as Fidel Castro said in August of 1998 upon receiving the Dominican Republic’s Duarte, Sánchez and Mella Order of Merit, in the Grand Gold Plate Cross degree.
(Grsanma)