Cienfuegos, Camilo

Born in a family of anarchists who left Spain. He studied at the school of art "San Alejandro" , which left due to financial difficulties in the family ^[4] . He worked part time at the clothing store El Arte (his father was also associated with clothes and worked as a tailor).

In 1948, he took part in protests against increasing fares for public transport ^[3] . In 1953 he traveled to the United States in search of work, but returned to Cuba, outraged by the atmosphere prevailing in the United States and working conditions ^[5] .

In 1954 he joined the student struggle against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista . In 1955, during student demonstrations, he was wounded in the leg by soldiers of the government army ^[6] . After some time, he was subjected to political persecution, and was forced to leave the country. In New York, he got acquainted with the ideas and plans of Fidel Castro , then still a student, and decided to move to Mexico , where he joined the Movement on July 26 . Later he participated in an expedition on a yacht Granma with the aim of starting an armed struggle in Cuba .

Together with Fidel Castro , Raul Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara organized and led a guerrilla warfare in the Sierra Maestra mountains . In April 1958 he was awarded the rank of commandant (major) - the highest rank in the Rebel Army. In August 1958, Camilo Cienfuegos led the second partisan column "Antonio Maseo", which marched from the Sierra Maestra mountains to the province of Las Villas , where, breaking up the local garrisons of the Batistovites, it opened another partisan front. Under his command, 700 ^[1] fighters took the city of Jaguahai , which played an important role in the fight against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista .

Camilo entered Havana with his troops on January 2, 1959. A few days later he joined Fidel Castro and took part in the ceremonial entry into the capital of Cuba ^[3] , which marked the victory of the Cuban Revolution.

After the victory, Cienfuegos was appointed commander of the armed forces of the revolution. According to some versions, he did not share Fidel Castro’s aspirations for rapprochement with the Soviet Union and the socialist camp ^[1] , since he was skeptical of communism ^[6] and adhered to anarchist views. Nevertheless, he strongly supported many of Castro’s political decisions. In his last public speech, he stated about agrarian reform: “Even if heaven falls on our heads from this, there will be agrarian reform” ^[7] .

According to the official version, Commander Camilo Cienfuegos died on October 28, 1959 during a plane crash on a CESSNA 310 over the Atlantic Ocean. The wreckage of an airplane piloted by Captain Luisiano Farignas was never found.

The death of Camilo Cienfuegos was the subject of mutual political accusations. The Cuban leadership expressed suspicion that the plane of Cienfuegos was shot down by the US Air Force , or that CIA agents were bombed on board.

Ernesto Che Guevara , who dedicated Camilo his book-textbook “Partisan War”, also adhered to the version that Camilo was killed by the enemies of the Revolution ^[8] :

Despite this, anti-Castro emigration to Miami , on the contrary, claimed that Fidel Castro, who feared the popularity of Cienfuegos, had arranged a sabotage on board the aircraft. 13 days before the disappearance, Cienfuegos practically ceased to manage the army: by the decision of Fidel Castro, a new post of Minister of Defense was established, which was taken by Raul Castro ^[1] . Another evidence of the cooling of their relationship was the arrest of Uber Matos , a comrade in arms of Cienfuegos, and Fidel Castro sent Camilo to detain him. Allegedly, there is evidence of eyewitnesses who observed how soon after the take-off of the plane in which Cienfuegos was taking off, a fighter took off from the same Camaguey airfield. There is a version that at the helm of this aircraft was a personal pilot of Fidel Castro Blas Dominguez ^[1] .

Neither version has yet found documentary evidence. Historians are more inclined to the third version that the pilot of the CESSNA 310 lost control due to bad weather ^[7] . Another legend is alive among the people, according to which Cienfuegos was found alive shortly after the plane crash ^[3] .

In memory of Camilo Cienfuegos on the day of his death, October 28, schoolchildren in Cuba throw flowers into the sea and rivers ^[7] . Several military schools in Cuba are named after Camilo. The portrait of a revolutionary is placed on a 20-peso banknote ^[1] and an anniversary coin in 40 centavos of 1962 ^[9] . In honor of the revolutionary in Cuba, the Order of Camilo Cienfuegos was established . They are awarded participants in the Cuban revolution, military service veterans, as well as foreign representatives who supported Cuba during the armed conflict.

The Cienfuegos Museum operates in Jaguahai. The exposition is housed in the former huts that occupied the troops of Fulgencio Batista during the battle of 1958.

In 2009, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the death of the revolutionary, a portrait bas-relief of Cienfuegos appeared on one of the buildings on the Revolution Square in Havana, made of one hundred tons of steel. The portrait is signed by his famous words: “Everything is fine, Fidel” ( Spanish: Vas bien, Fidel ). This phrase was made by Cienfuegos on January 8, 1959, when Fidel Castro announced that a school would appear on the site of the military barracks and asked his comrade-in-law, “Am I doing everything right, Camilo?”

In 2008, in the film " Che " by Stephen Soderbergh, the role of Camilo was played by Santiago Cabrera .

Camilo named his eldest son Che Guevara, in honor of Cienfuegos, with whom they together went through the entire Cuban revolution and were friendly ^[10] .

• Raid in Las Villas. Field diary
• The hero of the revolution of the island of Liberty. Site about Camilo Cienfuegos