A Tribute to Fidel by Raúl y Díaz-Canel
Two beautiful bouquets of flowers dedicated to Fidel, by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, and the President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, were deposited two years after the physical departure of the undefeated Commander in Chief, before the rock monument that treasures his ashes in the patrimonial cemetery Santa Ifigenia, in the city of Santiago de Cuba.
The members of the Central Committee of the PCC, Lázaro Expósito Canto and Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, first secretary of the PCC in the province, and vice-president of the Council of State and president of the government in the territory, respectively, were in charge of the tribute charged with love, respect and admiration, which hundreds of local people, Cubans from all over and foreign friends also paid him.
Always very visited, the altar of the homeland that together with the monolith of the Historical Leader of the Revolution also houses the funeral monuments of Martí, Céspedes and Mariana Grajales, dawned this Sunday much more crowded, because even though the sun had not yet dawned, there were already young people in it who at night had evoked the legacy of Fidel, in front of the walls of the former Moncada barracks, today Ciudad Escolar 26 de Julio (“July 26th School City”).
Also among the first ones were the 38 workers of the Wilfredo Peña Horticultural Company, from Holguín, on behalf of whom Filiberto Piñero Sarmiento said that they had come two months after the death of the Commander and in the first year, since the entity has the commitment to return with its plans fulfilled in each anniversary of the greatest man in history.
The Argentines Fabio and Alejandra offered their flowers to Fidel with great emotion, “because he is an example, we admire him and it is a challenge to say everything he represents for the world,” she said with tearful eyes, who had been in Cuba on another occasion “when happily he was still alive.
On the other hand, with a Ché Guevara flag in their hands, a group of students from the No.1 School of Medicine from this city arrived. According to Mónica Oliva Pascual, they belong to the Student University Federation (FEU) project “Guevariana Brigade,” and they could not miss this day, because the group who follows the ideas of Ché is equally faithful to those of Fidel.
Runners of historical dates, children of all ages with their parents, combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Internal Affaris Ministry (“MININT”), and others gratefully bowed before the rock, because in the words of the poet Isidro Portuondo Despaigne: “With the courageous spirit that the Commander taught us, with a militant attitude, Cuba has dignity and feels stronger, with the machete in hand of the twentieth century mambí.
On the eve, songs, poems and other initiatives evoked Fidel’s legacy in the vigil called by the Young Communist League ( UJC) and the Universidad de Oriente at the foot of Gate-3 of the Moncada, while flowers from all municipalities, and especially from La Gran Piedra, filled the central Plaza de Marte, in the provincial flower shop gathering dedicated to his memory.
(Taken from ACN in Spanish)
Written by Radio Grito de Baire
