Today we honor the Father of the Homeland, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, on the 149th anniversary of his death in San Lorenzo in the Sierra Maestra.
On February 27, 1874, he fought his last and solitary combat against a party of five Spanish soldiers who were on their way to capture him, four months after his unjust dismissal in the town of Bijagual, then belonging to the jurisdiction of Jiguaní.
Evil against Céspedes
The intrigues of divisionism, caudillismo, extreme regionalism, envy and bitterness, in short, betrayal, triumphed over the decorum that Céspedes had, like many other patriots, and he was unjustly accused of nepotism and dictatorial methods.
However, neither the pettiness of those who betrayed him nor the attempt of the Spaniards to wipe out his great merit of giving the first cry of independence on October 10, 1868, were able to kill his example, his ideal of freedom for the long-suffering Homeland eager for the right to have a dignified nation.
More than his death, it is his decision to fight for the independence of Cuba and forge a free nation that endures, that never languishes; and it is what serves as a spur for us, together with the legacy of Martí and Fidel, to continue fighting battles and emerging victorious, without losing one iota of the glories achieved until today, despite the great difficulties and challenges that the Homeland is facing.
