Cuba remembers two titans of its history: Maceo and Che

Every 14th of June, Cuba remembers two distinguished men of their history on the date of their births: Antonio Maceo Grajales and Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, Che.

Distancing themselves in their arrival to the world for 83 years, both are united in the historiography and the collective Antillean imaginary for their unwavering attachment to the aspirations of independence and sovereignty of Cuba, and for their heroism in the struggles to materialize them.

83 years away in their birthdays, their commitment to the country, to the people, to freedom, united them forever in the sacred pedestal of History.

The example of Maceo and Che is still valid in the daily occurrence of our battles, in each front of work, in the construction of a prosperous and sustainable socialism, with the new man as protagonist, with the new economic and social conceptions, and in the intransigence against imperialism and its mercenaries.

These are part of the ideology and legacy of two great men, titans in the fighting, of preclear ideas, which materialized in their lives the example for the generations of today and tomorrow, to carry forward to the last breath the feeling of love, of freedom, solidarity and internationalism.

The historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, once said of these heroes: “Maceo was already a legendary character when Che came into the world. If one said that anyone who tried to appropriate Cuba would pick up the dust from their soil drowned in blood if it did not perish in the fight, the other drenched with his blood the soil of Bolivia trying to prevent the empire from seizing America. Both were invaders from East to West; both died in combat; both are today insurmountable symbols of revolutionary courage and intransigence ».

Comandante Guevara himself during the evening of December 7, 1962, commemorating one more anniversary of the fall in battle of the Bronze Titan, said: “Today, we are in the task of building socialism in Cuba, we started a new stage in the history of America, the memory of Antonio Maceo acquires its own lights. He begins to be more intimately bound to the people, and the whole history of his life, his marvelous struggles and his heroic death, acquires the full meaning, the sense of sacrifice for the definitive liberation of the people. ”

The validity and example of Maceo and Che are summarized in the words of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, during the solemn act of homage to the births of Maceo  and Che, in El Cacahual, on June 15, 2002. When referring to them Fidel expressed: “General Antonio Maceo, the Cubans of today, educated in your immortal example, would have shared with you the honor of being with you on the glorious day that you responded to the representative of the Spanish colonial power: We do not want peace without independence” (… )  “Che,  endearing  brother: to all your comrades in the fight we would have liked to fight with you in the Quebrada del Yuro and fight for the liberation of America”.