Cubans commemorate today the 59th anniversary of the landing of the Granma Yacht expedition, a feat that contributed to achieve the dream of the national liberation.
Cubans commemorate today the 59th anniversary of the landing of the Granma Yacht expedition, a feat that contributed to achieve the dream of the national liberation.
Led by the leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, some 82 men arrived in Las Coloradas beach in 1956, with the objective of continuing the armed struggle in the mountainous area of the island.
At 01.30 local time on November 25, 1956, with the lights off, under rain and with the ban on navigation due to bad weather, the Granma Yacht set sail from Tuxpan, Veracruz, for the Gulf of Mexico, to go later to the Caribbean waters towards the southeast Cuban coast.
According to preliminary calculations, the Granma Yacht , which sailed a great part of the tour in bad weather, should reach the eastern Cuban coast on the fifth day of its departure from Tuxpan.
The November 30 uprising in Santiago de Cuba, organized by the 26 de Julio Movement, would also support the landing.
Almost out of fuel and very little food on board, the ship entered the Niquero canal, to get blocked in Los Cayuelos, about two kilometers from Las Coloradas beach, northeast of Cabo Cruz.
It was 06:00 local time on December 2, 1956, when the landing began, but the expeditionaries were seen by a cabotage vessel and a sand boat, and the military authorities were alerted.
Among young people who traveled to the island on that yacht were Argentine-Cuban guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara, current President Raul Castro, Camilo Cienfuegos and Juan Almeida was also found, among other fighters.
In an interview with Jorge Martin Blandino, officer of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, on occasion of the 45th anniversary of the landing of the Granma expeditionaries, Raul Castro said, "because we comply with the public promise made from Mexico by Fidel: In 1956, we will be free or be martyrs."
Historians state that the feat of Granma was a new starting point for the continuation of the struggle for the national sovereignty, which materialized by experience in confronting an enemy greater in weapons and forces, failures and victories, culminated with the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution in January 1959.
Source: PL