He won the affection of a nation with his personal sacrifice, simplicity, his smile, and impeccable character forged in the Sierra and during a few months of Revolution following the victory.

He is ours forever, because Camilo Cienfuegos was more than a rebel and Granma expeditionary, more than the unconditional friend of Che and Fidel’s man of confidence; he was more than the leader of the Antonio Maceo Column 2, and the Hero of Yaguajay. Camilo was, is and will be “the image of a people” who found, in this young man of 27 years, the paradigm of a revolutionary committed to honor, truth and a sensitivity very much his own, which won him the hearts of all.

History tells us of the complete guerilla who would not fire on the barracks of the dictatorship’s troops because there was a young girl inside; who gave whatever money he had to a few young rebels so they would not be obliged to visit their mothers empty-handed, and loved culture as the Homeland itself, being the first to take the ballet out of the theater and into the mountains, and the promoter of the Revolution’s first documentary, Nuestra Tierra, exposing the outrages of the rural guard against the peasantry.

Loyal to the ideas of Maceo, Martí and Fidel until the last day of his physical presence, before getting on the plane that took him to eternity, that fateful October 28, 1959, Camilo never stopped surprising us, even leaving us in the least suspected way, when no one was ready for his departure.

Fifteen days of exhaustive, but fruitless search, left us without a last farewell to the Comandante of the wide-brimmed hat. That October afternoon he was stolen from us forever, but he left us the hero and the memories, already etched in the essence of the Revolution, the one to whom we can say today: Cuba is doing well, Camilo!

(Taken from Granma)

Camilo has defeated death and the years to remain indelible in our memory, as he was in his life as a revolutionary. His example and glorious name were key to the creation of our school, said Claudia Alfonso Torres, a third-year student year at Camilo Cienfuegos Military Academy in the municipality of La Lisa.

“For Camilitos (cadets) and young Cubans, he represents an irreplaceable guide in the forging of integrity and dedication, qualities that summon us to be better revolutionaries,” she stated, adding, “The Hero of Yaguajay is present in those who today on the island contribute to building for the good of all… a Cuba worthy of its history,” said the young woman.

The ceremony was presided by Political Bureau members Army Corps General Álvaro López Miera, first deputy minister, Chief of the General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, general secretary of the Federation of Cuban Workers; as well as Víctor Gaute López, member of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee and head of its Ideological Department; in addition to Party and government authorities in Havana.

(Granma)

At 6:00pm on October 28 that year, a small CESSNA 310 No.53 departed from Camagüey’s airport, heading to Havana, with Camilo Cienfuegos and his two companions aboard. They never reached their destination. The massive country-wide search that ensued was ended on November 12, without discovering the fate of the 27-year-old revolutionary, who after years in the guerilla struggle, lived only 310 days of the triumph.

This 28th of October, Cubans across the entire country will throw flowers into the sea and rivers to honor Camilo, though few know of the tradition’s origins.

Just three days after Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro announced the end of the unsuccessful search, the people of Cardenas marched along the city’s central Céspedes Avenue to the coastline, to express their deepfelt loss of the man Ernest Che Guevara described as absolutely loyal to the people.

The municipal band led the march which included members of the Youth Patrol and veterans of the July 26th Movement. A Navy ship carried numerous floral offerings brought by the people out into the bay, a gesture recalling Camilo’s presumed disappearance into the sea.

María Teresa Clark, president of the Cuban National Union of Historians, emphasized in the magazine Bohemia’s May 19, 2000 issue that it was Celia Sánchez who heard of the event, and proposed that it become a national tradition, moving the date to October 28.

(Granma)