The feminine “heart” of the Revolution had stopped beating; an entire people were deprived of the kindness, tenderness, rebellion and simplicity of a woman, everyone’s godmother, who was physically gone, only to become a flower, a breeze, an unforgettable memory, a living presence.

Death is mistaken, if it believes that more than four decades have made a dent in this nation’s memory of Celia Sanchez.

It is impossible to forget the young girl from Media Luna who joined her father Manuel – an honorable doctor – helping to heal the poor. The same girl who climbed Turquino Peak on José Martí’s centenary to honor the Apostle.

It is hard not to remember, today, the young woman who, in the underground battle against the dictatorship, devised ingenious plans like placing messages wrapped in cigarettes, even inside a cake; or inventing a pregnant woman’s belly to outwit authorities.

The same young woman who organized life-saving support for the Granma expeditionaries; the first woman to wear olive green in the Sierra; the person with the foresight to record and collect, on scraps of paper, the history of the war; and became light for Fidel, not a shadow.

The imprint of her efforts is indelible wherever the Revolution’s new ideas took shape, in Lenin Park, the Coppelia Ice Cream Palace, the Convention Center, the Council of State’s Office of Historical Affairs, schools and workshops, just to mention a few.

She was a National Assembly member who took better care of her people than her own health. A member of the Party Central Committee who won the affection of millions with her work, humility and unparalleled dedication.

If “detail” needed a name it would be hers. If “modesty” needed a name it would be hers. If serving as an example could be measured, it would be enough to think of her life.

Although we refer to her in many ways, Heroine of the Sierra and the Plains, Cuba’s most autochthonous flower, tireless guerrillera, it is enough to say Celia, to make clear that she is simply eternal.

(Taken from Granma)

During the event held at the monument to the heroine of the Sierra and the underground, Teresa Amarelle, secretary general of the FMC and member of the Party Central Committee, emphasized the contributions of Celia, whose values and efforts constitute an example for Cuban girls, adolescents and

The documentary presents the mischievous child, the sober adolescent and the bold, intelligent woman, capable of disguising herself to trick the dictatorship’s soldiers and hiding in a field of spiny marabou to evade them.

Its 57 minutes fly by quickly, as the film portrays the role of Celia’s father in her development; her critical contribution as the underground combatant who organized the human network needed to save several revolutionaries after the landing of the yacht Granma; and how she became the first woman incorporated into the Rebel Army.

After the premier in the cities of Bayamo and Manzanillo, the documentary will be presented today, the 11th, in Media Luna and Pilón, and broadcast on national television to commemorate the 36th anniversary of her death, January 11, 1980.

(Darelia Díaz Borrero, Granma)