December 2, 1956, at a point on the southern coast of eastern Cuba known as Los Cayuelos, the men under Fidel’s leadership disembarked, intent upon honoring the blood spilled in the name of independence before them.

It took the expedition members almost four hours to cross the 1,500 meters of swampy mangroves that separated them from the mainland, in a slow, painful march, losing their boots, clothes and valuable war material, but never their confidence in Fidel’s statement upon leaving Mexico: “If I leave, I will arrive; if I arrive, I will enter; if I enter, I will triumph.”

The days that followed were worse. Three days later, with practically no food or rest, the baptism of fire arrived, in Alegría de Pío, leaving the deaths of combatants, the capture of others… the dispersion.

But much more than this setback was needed to defeat the expedition. Just days later, on December 18, at Cinco Palmas, with eight men and seven weapons reunited, Fidel exclaimed: “Now, yes, we have won the war!”

With this conviction they landed on Cuban soil; and this would be the guide for every battle in the Sierra Maestra, until the final victory, and today, 64 Decembers later, it is the same conviction that Cuba holds dear, as we confront new efforts to break us.

Landing on the Granma, in 1956, were not only the utopia of the possible and the homeland imagined by Martí, but also the commitment to sovereignty of a people that does not allow its history to be disgraced, and much less is easily confused.

(Taken from Granma)

Freedom is a human right, but on this island, it is a natural condition. Those who inhabit Cuba, and honor it as their homeland, see its infinite and indomitable destiny as free, like the sea.

That is why we rise up, if Cuba is injured, humiliated, the object of the empire’s desires, our heroes return on the waves, to overcome the offenses and assert the people’s sovereign will.

There is a storm and rough water, but the torment of the homeland is worse and the fierceness of rage is greater. But not even the protection of the mainland offered respite. In a baptism of fire, a high price was paid for their audacity at Alegría de Pío.

Three lives lost in an instant, the rest were pursued, some captured and murdered; but several escaped the massacre and, protected by campesinos, made their way safely to the encounter: Now we have won the war!

Cinco Palmas would return meaning to the expedition. They were not all there, but they were enough. Faith is a deep word with roots.

With each man on the Granma, a seed landed, and fell on fertile ground. And when a life was cut short, a sprout returned bearing the ideal of victory that would overcome hopelessness.

(Granma)