“Your example has special significance, as the response of Cuban workers, laborers and professionals, fighting, thinking and working as a country, contributing decisively to the continuity of this beautiful revolutionary work,” stated José Antonio Pérez Pérez, member of the CTC (Federation of Cuban Workers) national secretariat.

At the proposal of the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and CTC Secretary General, the President issued Decree no.237 granting the title of Hero of Labor of the Republic of Cuba to 13 compañeros, including a posthumous award to Vice Admiral Julio César Gandarilla, former Minister of the Interior. His widow Minerva Sarmiento accepted the title from Diaz-Canel.
Photo: Estudios Revolución

Twelve workers were awarded the First Degree Lazaro Peña Order, from different unions and territories; while four former union leaders were granted the Third Degree Lazaro Peña Order and six health and science workers, members of the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Situations of Disasters and Serious Epidemics, were honored with the Labor Achievement Medal.

The honorees were accompanied by members of the Party Political Bureau Manuel Marrero Cruz, Prime Minister; Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Party Organization and Cadre Policy; and the Ministers of the FAR and Interior, Army Corps General Alvaro Lopez Miera, and Brigadier General Lazaro Alberto Alvarez, as well as CTC Secretary General Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, among others.

Heroes & Heroines of Labor:

• Army Corps General Ramón Espinosa Martín

• Brigadier General (R) Marcelo Verdecia Perdomo

• Coronel Nicolás Ponzoa Reyes

• Coronel (R) Eladio Julián Fernández

• Nilia Victoria Escobar Yéndez

• Ramón Conrado López

• Orestes Benítez Fernández

• Héctor Rodríguez Silva

• Alberto Lescay Merencio

• Hilda Reyes López

• Crescencio Ferro Ordaz

• Odel Peña Vázquez

• Vice Admiral Julio César Gandarilla Bermejo (posthumous)

Before the simple tomb of the País García family, in honor of the 62nd anniversary of the murders of Frank and Raúl Pujol, Raúl joined the people of Santiago de Cuba for a special moment recalling the young hero.

Accompanied by Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, a Council of State vice president and president of the Provincial Assembly of People’s Power, the Army General paid his respects to José Martí, laying flowers beside the crypt that holds his remains and then made his way to the giant boulder where Fidel´s ashes lie, depositing a white rose in a simple gesture honoring his brother, the leader of the Cuban Revolution.

(Granma)

At only 18 years of age, he heard the sound of shooting from the Moncada, and tried to reach the garrison to see what was happening, but the guards stopped him. That night he managed to get in and saw the riddled bodies, which he would later describe as “full of blood, bullets, and honor.”

Army General Raúl Castro Ruz would later recount, “”After the assault and the massacre that followed, Frank brought together the best of Santiago’s youth … He wanted to continue the fight… and when the conditions arose most naturally (…) he placed his combatants and himself under Fidel’s orders … ».

Given his great sense of responsibility and undisputed leadership in the underground struggle, Fidel entrusted him with the crucial mission of organizing an uprising in Santiago de Cuba, on November 30, 1956, to support the landing of the Granma expedition.He was a marked man and on the afternoon of July 30, he was surprised and murdered on San Germán Street with his fellow revolutionary Raúl Pujol.Thousands of people in Santiago accompanied their funeral procession. The rose petals thrown from balconies and revolutionary slogans shouted forced the dictatorship forces to withdraw from the scene. They killed the “most valuable, the most useful, the most extraordinary of our fighters,” as Fidel said; one of those men, as Raúl put it, who “penetrates deeply and definitely into the heart of the people.”

(Granma)

A dozen men and three women were presented this Sunday, April 29, with the honorific title of Heroes and Heroines of Labor of the Republic of Cuba, by José Ramón Machado Ventura, second secretary of the Party Central Committee.

The workers we award today summarize an almost anonymous labor of dedication, integrity and altruism, seeking to exalt the homeland, stated Consuelo Baeza Martín, member of the secretariat of the Cuban Workers’ Federation (CTC), during the ceremony held at the Laguito Protocol Hall, in the capital.

It is our duty to recognize those who have spent their lives producing, serving and creating, she added.

Among those awarded was Sarat Martín Iglesias, who has worked in the selection of tobacco leaves in the 13-18 Basic Unit of Cooperative Production (UBPC), in Pinar del Río, for 45 years. “This title is the fruit of sacrifice,” she noted, “and it has given me more strength to continue working and working for as long as I can.”

“I have dedicated my life to harvesting coffee. 12 or 15 cans a day,” noted Alexis Guevara Sosa, of the Manuel Sánchez López UBPC, in Guantánamo. “And while I am healthy, I will continue working for my country,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ramón León Monteagudo, an agricultural worker from Villa Clara stressed: “This is the biggest thing that has happened to me in the 50 years I’ve been working. And it is the greatest thing that can happen to any worker.”

José Ramón Machado Ventura, second secretary of the Party Central Committee, presented Anselma Betancourt Pulsan, professor at the Guantánamo School of Medical Sciences, with the honorific title of Heroine of Labor of the Republic of Cuba. Photo: Endrys Correa Vaillant
Also receiving the recognition were José Rubiera Torres, senior specialist in Meteorology; Eduardo Lozada León, head specialist of special works of the FAR Military Projects and Investigations Enterprise; Ricardo García Acosta, a driver at the Jagüey Grande School Bus Station; Valerio Hernández Pérez, a mechanic from Villa Clara; Juan López Palacio, professor of the Las Villas Central University; Rolando Jiménez Valdivia, a taxi driver in Sancti Spíritus; Francisco Rafael Martínez, typography inspector in Las Tunas; Salvadora López Riera, of the Sea Industry Basic Enterprise Unit in Granma; and the Guantánamo residents Anselma Betancourt Pulsan, professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, and Carlos Veranes Michel, a crane operator.

Ten workers also received the Lázaro Peña Order in the First Degree; a further 18 received the same Order in the Second Degree; and 16 received the Order in the Third Degree. Meanwhile, three workers were awarded the Jesús Menéndez Medal.

Likewise, the workers of the Architecture Projects Enterprise of Matanzas received the Lázaro Peña Order in the Second Degree; and those of the Felipe Herrera Arcia UBPC, the Agribusiness, Forestry and Tobacco Workers Union of Artemisa, the Sergio Soto Valdés Refinery, and the Sancti Spíritus Energy and Mines Union, were presented with the Jesús Menéndez Medal.

The event was attended by members of the Party Political Bureau Salvador Valdés Mesa, first vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers; Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, secretary general of the CTC; Roberto Morales Ojeda, a vice president of the State Council and Minister of Public Health; and Teresa Amarelle Boué, secretary general of the Federation of Cuban Women.

(Granma)

The ceremony, held over the weekend in Havana’s Capitol building, home of the National Assembly, commemorated the 123rd anniversary of the beginning of what National Hero José Martí called Cuba’s ‘Necessary War.’

On February 24, 1895, Marti relaunched the country’s independence struggle, which eventually freed Cuba from Spanish colonial rule.

At the ceremony, the Cuban president honored three revolutionary veterans who fought alongside Fidel Castro and himself to overthrow U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista: Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, current second secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, and Commanders of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés and Guillermo Garcia.

Raúl said: “As a common characteristic of these three liberators of our time, I can cite their loyalty to the Revolution and Fidel, their dedication to work, modesty and humility, which have made them worthy of the recognition and the respect of Cubans.”

All three revolutionary leaders were previously honored with “Hero of the Republic” — Cuba’s highest distinction.

(Radio Habana Cuba)

Compañeras and compañeros:

Today, February 24, we celebrate the 123rd anniversary of the resumption of our War of Independence called for by José Martí.

The profound significance of this date marked the maturity and the crystallization of the project proposed by Martí, who in order to lead it and to make it happen, founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party.

When everything seemed lost, his ability to find an alternative and overcome any setback, led him to summon the people to a definitive effort: the war that he believed necessary when he thought it unavoidable. He continually called for national unity, articulating the best traditions of the past, without overlooking all those who were willing to sacrifice and give their lives for a greater cause.

A month later, on March 25, 1895, in Montecristi, the Dominican Republic, Martí, along with Major General Máximo Gómez, signed the Manifesto which set out the scope and aims of the struggle. Together they left for Cuba to join the liberation struggle, landing at Playitas de Cajobabo on April 11, just like Major General Antonio Maceo had done a few days before at Duaba.

As Fidel stated on the 100th anniversary of the Ten Years War, “Martí gathered up the flags of Céspedes, Agramonte, and the heroes that fell in that struggle and led Cuba’s revolutionary ideas in that period to their highest expression.”

There is no better moment than this to award the honorific title of Hero of Labor of the Republic of Cuba – in fitting recognition of a lifetime of work committed to the Revolution – to three brave compañeros who already hold the honorable title of Heroes of the Republic of Cuba. I am referring to José Ramón Machado Ventura and Comandantes of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez and Guillermo García Frías.

As for Machado Ventura, I could highlight that he joined the struggle against the tyranny as a medical student at the University of Havana, and 65 years ago he participated in the first March of the Torches, in January 1953.

In 1957 he joined the Rebel Army in the Sierra Maestra and served as a doctor and guerilla fighter in various battles. He was a founder of the Second Front; and organized and led the Military Health Department until the end of the struggle, where he was wounded in combat. He developed a broad network of field hospitals and dispensaries which not only offered services to combatants but also, and most importantly, the area’s population, who in many places had never seen a doctor before.

After the triumph of the Revolution he was appointed Head of Medical Services of Havana and of the FAR(Revolutionary Armed Forces) and later Minister of Public Health.

He is a founder of the Communist Party of Cuba and in 1975 was elected as a member of the Political Bureau. He was First Party Secretary in various provinces.
Since 2011, he has served as second secretary of the Central Committee. He is a vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers.

Ramiro Valdés Menéndez joined the revolutionary struggle at a young age. He participated in the March of the Torches in January 1953 and in the attacks on the Moncada Garrison that same year, during which he was injured. He was imprisoned on the Isle of Pines and lived in exile in Mexico, where he joined the Granma expedition.

He was involved in multiple battles in the Sierra Maestra, and participated alongside Che in the invasion of the West as second commander of the Ciro Redondo Column No. 8.

Since the triumph of the Revolution he has occupied important posts, including Minister of the Interior on two occasions, and as a vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers, a position which he currently holds. He is a member of the Party Political Bureau.

A lot more can be said about each one of these figures on this occasion, but in the case of Ramiro, I have always admired him because he is the only one of us who – in addition to those actions taken some months before Moncada, during which we marched in the first March of the Torches led by Fidel 65 years ago – was wounded in the taking of the main post during the Moncada assault; where he was shot in the heel with the bullet lodging itself in his foot. When we met up, or when we were brought together again at the Vivac (prison) in Santiago de Cuba, he showed me his blood-stained socks, but said he didn’t know where the bullet was. The years went by and he began to limp in the Sierra Maestra because of a callus he had on the sole of his foot. On various occasions he was unable to continue marching with the rest of the initial group of the liberation war, until one day, he began to scrape away at the callus with his own knife until the bullet of the Moncada attack appeared, shot by an enemy as he fell to the ground mortally wounded.

There are dozens or hundreds of heroic feats or important acts linked to each one, and which of course were not even recorded in the few campaign diaries that were written. What is more, unlike the rest of us in the liberation war, Ramiro had the good fortune and honor of being the second commander of the Column led by Che to Las Villas.

Guillermo García Frías, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, organized a network of campesinos to help the Granma expeditionaries and take them to the Sierra Maestra. An astute man, he personally led Fidel and the other combatants to Cinco Palmas and recovered various rifles.

He was the first campesino to join the Rebel Army, with an outstanding record, first as a combatant and later as second commander of the Third Front when it was founded in early March 1958, led by then Comandante Juan Almeida.

There are hundreds of anecdotes about Guillermo; of the early days and following the Granma landing, we will only touch on some aspects. It was he who led Fidel and two other compañeros, Faustino Pérez – who was a doctor – and Universo Sánchez, one of which was unarmed having left his rifle behind on treating the wounded in the first clash at Alegría de Pío.

That is to say that Fidel arrived to the Sierra Maestra with two other combatants, only one of which was armed. It was Guillermo García that got them around the blockade on the old road from the Pilón sugar mill to the municipal capital of Niquero; it was he who – fulfilling other urgent missions given him by the Comandante en Jefe, from Purial de Vicana, or Cinco Palmas de Vicana, where they first set up camp – gathered together almost all of us who originally joined up, including Ramiro himself, Almeida, Che, Camilo; and thus the initial group of three, then five more, then eight, gradually reuniting this important group of compañeros.

One of the first actions he took in support of the nascent guerilla force, was the number of rifles he collected in the days following these events of which I am speaking, from the 15th to the 18th, which together with the few we already had weren’t event sufficient to form a platoon, but were enough to launch the first attack; and although it might not have been the best moment to do so, with hundreds of soldiers hot on our heels, Fidel said that, with this first battle, we had to show the people that the guerillas were still here and would continue the war. This was the reason behind the battle of La Plata, barely a few weeks after this initial group, with the help of Guillermo García, were reunited. Other tasks would follow later.

As the first campesino to join the Rebel Army, he was also the first to be promoted. He had an outstanding track record, first as a combatant and then as second commander of the Third Front, under the command of Almeida.

After the triumph of the Revolution, he occupied various positions in the Revolutionary Armed Forces. Later he also served, among other roles, as a Political Bureau delegate in the former province of Oriente; a vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers, Minister of Transport, and President of the Flora and Fauna Enterprise Group, where he has done an outstanding job.

He was a member of the Party Political Bureau from 1965 through 1986, and is currently a member of the Central Committee and Council of State.

Regarding characteristics shared by these three Mambises of our times I can cite their loyalty to the Revolution and to Fidel, their commitment to work, modesty and humility, which have made them worthy of the recognition and respect of the Cuban people.

It is not by chance that we are commemorating this date in the Capitolio building, whose tenacious restoration, has enabled the attributes of one of the most important buildings in the country to be highlighted, and in whose crypt rest the ashes of the Unknown Mambí, before which an eternal flame burns as a tribute of the people to their founding fathers and the glorious Liberation Army, and is surrounded by the flags of nations of the continent.

Today, this building is the headquarters of the National Assembly of People’s Power. It is also irrefutable proof of the care and interest that must always be put into preserving the cultural heritage of the nation.

Let me take this solemn moment to extend a well-deserved congratulations to Havana City Historian, Eusebio Leal, and those collaborators who have been most closely associated with the massive restoration of the Capitolio; including architect Perla Rosales; engineers Mariela Mulet, Yohanna Aedo and Tatiana Fernández; restoration expert Patricia Coma; professor Juan Carlos Botello and his students from the Vocational School; historian Lesbia Méndez; director of the City Historian Office’s Construction Enterprise, Conrado Hechavarría; and German expert Michael Diegmann.

On a day like today, as we honor those noble Cubans who in 1895 returned to the battle field to free Cuba, I repeat Fidel’s words spoken in 1965: “We would have been like them then, and they would have been like us now!” This is the commitment we have upheld and will also be that which guides the present and future generations, in order that the Homeland continues to be free.

Thank you very much. (Applause)

During the political act which took place at the El Cacahual monument complex, the member of the Party Central Committee and Head of the Western Army, Division General Onelio Aguilera Bermúdez, recalled the events and actions that defined Maceo as a man whose loyalty knew no limits, a military strategist with a spirit of sacrifice; principles that have accompanied us in these 50 years of struggle and are emulated by new generations who defend the achievements of socialism.

“As big as the risks may be, no matter how the enemy is disguised, whether he resorts to open or subtle attacks in his permanent war against Cuba, we will continue waving our flags and holding high the machete wielded by Maceo,” Aguilera Bermúdez stated.

The commitment that each contribute the best of him or herself, studying hard and continuing to defend the gains of the Revolution, was ratified on behalf of the children’s José Martí Pioneers Organization, by Alena Isis Acosta, a student at the Conrado Benítez School in Mayabeque.

The tribute was attended by members of the Party Political Bureau, the Army Crops General and Hero of the Republic of Cuba, Ramón Espinosa Martín, deputy minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and Mercedes López Acea, a vice president of the Council of State and first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Party in Havana.

Also attending were leaders of the government, of the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution, of the FAR and the Ministry of Interior, representatives of the diplomatic-military corps in Cuba and various student and mass organizations.

During the event, floral wreaths were laid on behalf of the Cuban people to Antonio Maceo and Panchito Gómez Toro and a tribute was also offered to the prominent Communist Blas Roca Calderío and the Liberation Army soldier, Juan Fajardo Vega, known as the last Mambí.

(Granma)