Perucho Figueredo, the poet who became a soldier, the revolutionary who became a hero, leaves us a legacy of freedom and patriotism that does not fade away. His hymn, his life, his death is a hymn to sovereignty and independence that resonates in the soul of every Cuban.
Beyond the inspiring intonation that defines the son of the legendary Bayamo, the greatness of the hero, of the Major General of the Liberator Army, in his final hour, transcends Santiago de Cuba, where he died standing, dignified, knowing… “that to die for the Homeland is to live”.
And the hymn composed by Perucho Figueredo is nothing more than that: Cuban nationalism, patriotic rebellion, a call to combat.
The wealthy pro-independence man, enemy of the crown, was among the first conspirators who joined Carlos Manuel de Céspedes to march with him to glory or to the scaffold. He was one of the first to set fire to his house, before the imminent fall of Bayamo in Spanish hands.
The manigua welcomes him with libertarian firmness, with nobility, with patriot honor; but he could not enjoy the redeeming work that he had imagined, because an implacable persecution made possible his capture with a typhus disease at the cost.
His state of health, also accentuated by the semi-immobility caused by ulcers on his feet, was not taken into account and in those conditions he was taken prisoner and taken to Santiago de Cuba.
It was in the most Caribbean city, where his death sentence was executed, without giving in, without sullying the honor of the illustrious Bayamese, who did not negotiate his condemnation.
His remains were deposited in a common grave, in an unknown place, but in the cemetery of Santa Ifigenia in Santiago de Cuba, he is symbolically venerated in the monument to the independence martyrs.
But the best tribute to such a distinguished revolutionary is made every day, when a Cuban child, a young man or woman of this Island, sing with devotion the beautiful and patriotic lyrics of his combat hymn.
