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PATRIA Y HUMANIDAD

MEMORIES OF COURAGE AND INTEGRITY

MEMORIES OF COURAGE AND INTEGRITY

By Luis Sexto
 

Yesterday I read a book that looks at Havana from a pretty much forgotten,
or at least for many, unknown perspective. Only a few among those who live
in the seductive Cuban capital will recognize certain names, references to
places, businesses and people. «They took me to the Decima,» or «coming into
the El Encanto,» or «Carratala told me,» or «Miguelito the Niño hit me.»
What do these names mean to most people? Almost nothing, I guess.

That’s why this book was written, so that these memories do not vanish with
the passing of time. They are memories, memories that ooze blood, pain,
doubt, fear, anguish and, especially, integrity and heroism. In
Clandestinos: heroes vivos y muertos (Clandestine fighters: live and dead
heroes), author Gaspar Gonzalez-Lanuza, a great promoter of culture and the
arts who also fought in the war against oppression, keeps alive the actions
and dedication of those people in Havana who rebelled against the injustice
and corruption during the Batista administration, putting their lives in
peril by supporting the Rebel Army, fighting in the mountains. The
clandestine struggle was a paradoxical front rearguard of the guerrillas.

I like memories. It is a pleasure to know about the lives of people who, yet
unknown, tell us about their participation in events that have always been
summarized by historians, trapped in generalizing. Memories and anecdotes
are the most important and attractive part of history.

Gonzalez-Lanuza —son of a renowned internationalist fighter in
Spain— brings
alive his participation in the
Cuba’s 1950s revolutionary struggle,
subordinating his exploits to those of collective action. The author
minimizes his personal story, highlighting the actions of his partners and
leaders; people who demonstrated exceptional degrees of courage and
sacrifice.

Among the books highlights are previously unpublished details that greatly
impacted fighters, such as the murders of
Lydia and Clodomira Acosta.
Gonzalez-Lanuza was in a privileged position; he had the mission of
protecting
Lydia. But all his experience in the clandestine struggle, his
care and concern were unable to prevent the tragic and heroic end of the
clandestine messengers. With his proximity and links to both women,
Gonzalez-Lanuza provides the reader with great detail of the tragic event
and the final resting spot of their bodies.

Clandestinos: heroes vivos y muertos is a good and enjoyable read. While
maybe not an example of high prose —the author is not a professional
writer—, the book is neither a dry account, characteristic of reports. At
times the style tries to be objective; at others, lyrical, trying to show
the intimate circumstances surrounding the clandestine fighters. And the
author achieves this intimacy, especially in the final chapter where he
tells us about his arrest and tortures. When we write, we must try and find
the most impacting effect to try to captivate the reader. I would have liked
to have read the chapter entitled «En la Decima Estacion (At the tenth
station)» at the beginning of the book. It is the best of all chapters
because it is the most personal one.

 

This book, published this year by the Ciencias Sociales Publishing House,
revives a
Havana that has already vanished with the passing of time and one
which is important to remember. It brings us closer to a stage in history
when the best of the Cuban people reached an instant of glory, opening the
road for future successes; a stage which we should never forget.
 

3 comentarios

Fabian Pacheco Casanova -

>>>>>Otro intelectual mas que sale en defensa de la verdad y la NACION CUBANA; ES GLORIA PARA TODOS VER LO FINO DELICADO DEL ESCRITO DEL PATRIOTA, UNO MAS CONSENTIDO COMUN Y SUFRIMIENTO CIUDADANO QUE SE NOS UNE, Y ESTO ES MUY IMPORTANTE.....Fabian Pacheco Casanova....EX-preso politico # 27088....Torturado conjuntamente con mi familia por los esbirros Castristas....F/P/C/.

Fabian Pacheco Casanova -

>>>>La causa de muerte, maltratos y sacrificio por la lucha contra el golpista militar; PREGUNTA.- justifica la desgracia cubana que por mas de 48 anos aterroriza a un pueblo noble????....Para sacar de enfoque la tetrica situacion por la que atravieza CUBA dirigida por estos traidores ROJOS, nos tienen que retrotRaer a epocas que los mejores luchadores por lo que la lucha FUE, (rescatart la CONSTITUCION DEL 1940, DONDE EQUILIBRIO, LIBERTAD Y DEMOCRACIA PARA TODOS SIN LUGAR A DUDAS REFLEJABAN SUS LEYES Y ESENCIA JURIDICA DE LA MISMA)., Repito los mejores luchadores, fueron detenidos encausados, condenados y muchos fusilados y otros el camino del ostracismo forsoso al exilio, por la insanidad de un endiosado que nunca en su pueblo creyo y mucho menos equilato, para entregar CUBA y sus ciudadanos a una potencia extranjera La Union Sovietica, bajo un regimen tiranico esta potencia, sin que la inmensa mayoria del pueblo se lo pidiera, solo por sarisfacer el ego del que todo lo queria bajo su sucia, cochina bota.........UNA VEZ MAS, estos son siempre los que culpan al anterior, al interior y al exteriror de sus robos, crimenes y garrafales equivocaciones....Fabian Pacheco Casanova...

chucho -

If we, the intended readers of this book- should want to go beyond disagreement with its author and try to identify the causes that animated him to write it, then he or she will not just be quarreling with the author. We will be defiling the memory of two women that
died for what they considered to be a honest cause.