Contramaestre deserves all the glory, because his name is an everlasting memory, a living image turned into a Revolution, a legend of sacrifice and humility, when his dreams were cut short in the full bloom of his youth.
He is Rodolfo Rodriguez, one of those martyrs of the homeland with deep-rooted convictions, who at the age of 13 decided to become a merchant and gastronomic worker to help his family, his eternal beloved: Artemia Benitez.
But his love for mechanics consolidated his working life, changing his work tools for the revolutionary rifle.
The clarion call of July 26th still mourns the absence of his son, made in the image and likeness of the movement of action and sabotage.
The former store of “La Libertad” remembers the white, red, green and black flag, symbol of peace, blood, hope and mourning of the nation, which waved for the first time in Contramaestre.
In his backpack of sublime guerrilla, the doctrines of the Master and letters to his mother await him, whose letters still shake the chest of Cubans.
“Look at me mother and for my love do not cry”, is one of the verses of the Apostle in one of the epistles that transcends in the knowledge of students in schools, of workers in local distinctive factory, and in men and women of the people, who live together in neighboring communities.
Of boundless bravery is Rodolfo Rodríguez, who on his way to the gates of Santiago, fell in defense of his homeland, in defense of an island pregnant with injustice, illiteracy, unhealthiness, exploitation, which 38 days later, saw the light of the victorious January, thanks to the National Liberation gesture.
65 years after his departure, Rodolfo Rodríguez Benítez is a symbol and rebellion, a legacy and poetry, a Homeland and conquests, an infinite insurrection, a Revolution in adverse circumstances, a Hero who invites us to the future.
