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I make a halt in my daily struggle to bow my
head in respect and gratitude to the exceptional
combatant who fell in combat on October 8th,
forty years ago; for the example he passed on to
us as leader of his Rebel Army Column, crossing
the swampy grounds of the former provinces of
Oriente and Camagüey, while being chased by
enemy troops. He was the liberator of the city
of Santa Clara and the mastermind of voluntary
work; he accomplished honorable political
missions abroad and served as messenger of
militant internationalism in East Congo and
Bolivia. He built a new awareness in our
America and the world.
I thank him for what he tried and failed to do
in his home country, because he was like a
flower prematurely severed from its stem.
He left to us his unmistakable literary style.
He was elegant, swift and true to every detail
of whatever happened to cross his mind. He was
a predestinate, but he didn’t know it. He still
fights with us and for us.
Yesterday, we commemorated the 31st
anniversary of the killing of all passengers and
the crew of a Cubana airliner blown in mid-air,
and we are on the threshold of the tenth
anniversary of the cruel and unjust imprisonment
of the five Cuban anti-terrorist heroes. We
likewise bow our heads in respect to them all.
It was with great emotion that I watched and
heard the commemoration ceremony on TV.
Fidel Castro Ruz
October 7, 2007
3:17 pm |
