José Ramón Fernández, the Hero of the Republic of Cuba, was one of the first people to know about the mercenary landing at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, through a call from Fidel to the Military Camp of Managua, south of Havana; from that moment on, he was on war foot, with the express order of the head of the Revolution to march with the School of Militia Officers of Matanzas to repel the aggressors.
From before and located in the so-called Point 1, a house in the Havana neighborhood of Vedado, Fidel gave the first orders to the different military chiefs, being in his hands the whole strategy to defeat the mercenary Brigade, armed, financed and supported by the United States, in an effort to destroy the Revolution.
Fidel, challenging risks
The headquarters of the Cuban troops was located in the central Australia, only a few kilometers from the coast of the Ciénaga de Zapata and from where constant communication was maintained with Point 1, but what would not be the surprise of Gallego Fernández when he saw Fidel arrive there on April 17, but he did not delay in advancing to Palpite, a settlement located a little more than two kilometers away from the combats.
Incorporated into the tank crew, he advanced to the main stage of the military aggression. At the end of the afternoon, the last redoubt of the mercenaries fell.
The Cuban people, under the guidance and example of Fidel, inflicted on the Yankees their first great military defeat in Latin America and undoubtedly, together with the protagonism and leadership of the leader of the Revolution, the strategy and the direct participation of Jose Ramon Fernandez in the combats also marched.