Martyrs of the insurrectional struggle
Cesar Modesto Rodríguez Alayón was born at the "Las Martinas" farm in Amarillas, on January 12, 1911. Son of Sixto Rodríguez and Maria Alayón, he studied primary school through sixth grade at the Amarillas Public School.
He worked as an agricultural worker on farms around Manguito and other jobs in Havana. César had great devotion to Antonio Guiteras, established friendly relations with communist leaders. Militant of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, obtains a position in the Ministry of Communications.
When the coup of March 10 took place, he stopped attending the ministry and devoted himself completely to revolutionary tasks. He actively cooperated in the sabotage and transfer of weapons along the north coast from Havana to Las Villas.
In the preparation and organization of the attack on the "Goicuría" he looked for men, weapons and vehicles and personally intervened, under the leadership of Reynaldo García in the assault on this barracks on April 29, 1956. He came out alive from the assault on the barracks, but he is captured with his partner Jorge Armengol and taken to the Castillo de San Severino.
When the bloodthirsty Pilar García learned that some fighters were prisoners in the castle, he ordered them to be taken to the "Goicuría" where they were interrogated and tortured, and Captain Milián was later commissioned to liquidate them. The cold murder occurs at midnight on April 29, 1956 on the Yumurí highway, and the bodies were cynically exposed at the barracks as dead in the assault.
Nelson Sánchez Caballero was born on October 9, 1939 in Manguito. He was the son of Gilberto Sánchez and Hortensia Caballero, having completed his first education in a public school in his hometown.
Young, with noble sentiments and civic concerns, he was fundamentally a man of action, which is why when he surprised the Cuban people the coup of March 10, when he was only thirteen, he demonstrated his repudiation of the hateful regime, actively joining the revolutionary movement that was beginning to develop. Due to his extreme youth, his companions were afraid to assign him certain responsibilities, but his attitude and conduct demonstrated his firm decision to follow fully the path of the Revolution.
High school begins at the College "Varela" and continues until the fourth year at the Academy "Cespedes" in the city of Colon, joining the July 26 Movement in that town. She is a member of the National Revolutionary Movement led by Rafael García Bárcena, promotes a demonstration in her town in 1953 against tyranny, attends student demonstrations in Havana of the same character and interacts with prominent leaders. Engaged in a case for subversive propaganda, in Manguito, he is tried and acquitted.
Detained on several occasions, his situation becomes unbearable in this region, so he goes to Havana looking for contacts to climb the Sierra Maestra. He manages to get to Santiago de Cuba for that purpose and remains there for some time without achieving his goal. Arrested on suspicions in union with several comrades by the Santiago police, they were released after failing to prove any guilt.
After returning to Havana, on October 12, 1957, he headed to Miami in order to join an expedition. He makes new contacts there, raffles weapons, works incessantly and joined an expedition that is apprehended before leaving, for which he is arrested and sentenced to a fine. Finally he achieves his purpose and arrives on August 21, 1958 on the north coast of the Matanzas Province, aboard a boat with weapons and a park. He makes connections with fellow revolutionaries from Manguito and Havana.
It joins a front that operated in the Cordillera de los Órganos, in the province of Pinar del Río. There he loses his young and impetuous life on September 26, 1958. The circumstances of his death are unknown.
Guillermo Ignacio Llabre Romaní was born in Amarillas on January 30, 1941; but most of his life was spent in the town of Banagüises, in the municipality of San José de los Ramos. In the latter place were his parents who were small merchants: Ignacio Llabre Sacre, of Lebanese descent and María Teresa Romaní Albrech, both of Cuban nationality.
He studied, first at the "Padre Várela" school and later at the Céspedes de Colón school, until reaching the first year of business; As he was still a student, he did not get to do any kind of work. He was of strong build, restless and rebellious temperament; his favorite sports were fishing and hunting.
Incorporated into the July 26 Movement, he was one of the first to display that flag in San José de los Ramos. His revolutionary activities led him to be arrested on one occasion, although he was later released by the efforts of some institutions and friends of his parents. Considered an enemy of the regime and threatened with death by the army of the tyranny, he had to leave the town. In mid-1958, he joined the guerrilla commanded by the infamous Benito Campos who operated in the Corralillo area in the Las Villas province.
Guillermito was a complete revolutionary, and very soon realized that the leader of this guerrilla did not respond or act in accordance with the purposes of the insurrectional struggle, so on one occasion he argued with said leader about the immediate need to initiate action. combative against the forces of the dictatorship. Benito Campos, an unscrupulous man and fearful of being discovered as a bandit disguised as a revolutionary, decided to eliminate the young and honest fighter.
On the night of September 28, 1958, on a mission assigned by Campos himself, Guillermo Llabre Romaní was terminated, and the high command was informed that he had died in an encounter with enemy forces. The truth was that by that date no meeting had taken place in that area. After the revolutionary triumph, the place where his remains were found, which were transferred on January 6, 1959 to the Banagüises cemetery, was discovered.
Martyrs of the fight against bandits
Pedro Julio Sotolongo Noda was born at Finca Pozo, in Amarillas, on June 19, 1931, being his parents Pedro Mateo Sotolongo Noda and Juana María Noda.
At the age of eight, he began to go to school, which was at Finca El Pino. Pedro Julio was only able to attend said school for two years due to lack of a teacher and having to help his father in the work of agriculture, however, during the Literacy Campaign he joined it reaching the fourth grade.
On May 28, 1955, at the age of 25, he married companion Leopoldina Pérez Miranda. From this marriage three children were born; two females and one male, plus he only knew the two females, as he stopped seeing his wife when she was 4 months pregnant. During all this time, he lived in a house built on the paternal "site".
During the insurrectional process, along with his father, he was a great supporter of the movement, collaborating to the aid of a revolutionary who was being persecuted by Batista's henchmen. On January 1, he shared with his parents and other family members the immense joy of the insurrectional triumph.
In 1961 he joined the Bon 219, with which he participates in the second cleaning of the Escambray and shortly thereafter in the Matanzas clean-up, fulfilling missions with fellow DSE in cave records and serving as a guide for the troops.
While in these activities and fulfilling a mission of the DSE, a band of counter-revolutionaries appeared at his home, who captured him along with his father, on February 1, 1963 at 7:30 p.m. After torturing him, they murdered him along with his father Pedro Mateo Sotolongo Noda, a very short distance from where his mother, pregnant wife and two daughters were. He was 33 when he died.
Pedro Mateo Sotolongo Noda was born at Finca Limones, in Amarillas, on September 21, 1908, with his parents Julio Sotolongo and Luisa M. Noda.
From an early age he had to join the agricultural work with his father, which prevented him from going to school; so he learned to read and write during the Literacy Campaign, reaching third grade.
In 1920 the family moved to the Finca Santa Domitila, in Calimete, Municipality of Manguito, where Pedro began his primary studies again, which the father paid to a private teacher, and stopped receiving these classes after two months because the teacher left the place.
At the age of 20 years, he married the companion Juana M. Noda Amador on November 29, 1928, going to live the marriage in a house that he built himself on the farm, dedicating himself to planting less fruits and to work in the cane as a day laborer. This marriage had nine children: 5 females and 4 males.
During the Insurrectional process, he was a strong sympathizer of the same and helped risking his life to escape a revolutionary who was doggedly persecuted by the assassins of tyranny, thus preventing him from falling into the hands of criminal henchmen.
On January 1, 1959, the family joyfully celebrates the triumph of the Revolution. The following year, Pedro joined the National Revolutionary Militias, making guards in the sugar cane fields that were already the target of counter-revolutionary anger at that time, even his small crop had been burned on three occasions. During the period of fighting against bandits, and as he was knowledgeable about the site, he collaborated with the revolutionary force, serving as a practical man in search of the caves where the rebels were hiding.
On February 1, 1963, at 7:30 p.m., when he returned from the winery, a gang of counterrevolutionaries, under the command of Gervasio Cabrera, raided his house. After turning the house over in search of weapons, and without finding any, they tortured him along with his 33-year-old son, Pedro Julio Sotolongo Noda, and murdered them both, a few meters from the house. When he died, he was 55 years old.
Martyrs of Girón
José Alfredo Sosa Morales was born on the "Gallarda" farm in Calimete, on April 14, 1938. His parents, Raúl Sosa Prado and Zoila Morales Morales, humble and hard-working peasants in the area, knew how to give their children the best example of civic conduct.
Alfredo completed his primary studies at the rural school of the batey "Los Indios", studying until the fifth grade. From the age of ten, even when she was attending classes, she began to help her family in agricultural work and since then her life's activity was limited to hard and poorly paid work in the fields.
When the victory was achieved on January 1, 1959, he was one of the first to join the National Revolutionary Militias when they organized, belonging to the 219th Combat Battalion of the Colón Regional. After passing a Militia Instructors School at the “La Conga” farm in Matanzas, at the beginning of 1961, he participated in the Escambray Clean, where on his merits he was appointed chief of reconnaissance of a company until the completion of operations.
On April 17, 1961, the attack by the mercenary forces, led by imperialism in the Bay of Pigs, Bon 219 was immediately mobilized. Advancing with their companions during the combat with the mercenaries, when they reached kilometer 7 of the Central Australia highway towards Playa Larga, a B-26 disguised with the Cuban insignia caught sight of them, machine-gunning them.
His body was transferred by his companions to Jagüey Grande and buried in the cemetery of said town on April 18, 1961. Later, his remains were exhumed and today they rest in the Pantheon of Veterans of the War of Independence of the Calimete cemetery.
Julio Padrón Armenteros was born in Melones, Amarillas, on April 19, 1941. He studied until reaching the fifth grade. His father, Antonio Padrón, instilled socialist ideas in him from a young age.
He always had a great sympathy for Fidel and for the Revolution. On some occasions he used to say to the father: "Dad, now we are going to be happy. Just as you told me it would be when our Cuba was entirely free." He belonged to Battalion 219 third company.
On April 16, 1961, Julio left his house to join his Unit, in the city of Colón. His family had previously planned to celebrate Julio's birthday, which would be on the 19th. When his father, who had returned from Havana, came home and did not find his children, he decided to bring dinner to him and his brother who were in Colón. . On this occasion, Julio said to him: "Dad, I am going to fight for my people. If I die, you and my brothers will take my place. My sister who is in Havana should continue to improve herself in school. Above all, don't forget to take care of Silvito. "
Silvito was the younger brother and Julio loved him very much. The father tried to stimulate him by saying, "Why are you trying to talk like that? Nothing is going to happen to you. Those mercenaries are cowards." To which Julio replied: "Dad, when I return I will get married. Pick me up some portraits that I left in the photograph and keep them for me"
The son did not return. On April 17, early in the morning he was shot down by the bullets of the enemy planes, on a section of the road that connects Central Australia with Playa Larga.
Andrés Olano Álvarez was born on the “El Copey” farm, in Amarillas, on December 10, 1921. His parents, humble peasants, were Pablo Olano and Teresa Álvarez. Since he was a child he has to help his father and siblings in the work in the fields, but he attends the school on the “La Angelita” farm until completing fifth grade. Today that school bears his name as a tribute to the martyr.
The abuses of the Batista army, the lack of work and the exploitation of which the humble citizens were victims, led Andrés to feel an intransigent hatred against the tyranny and to become a determined revolutionist. His fight against the Batista regime began in 1953 and he was persecuted every year for having refused to vote or to give up his electoral certificate, for which he had to hide. In hiding he sells bonds of the July 26 Movement and carries out other revolutionary activities.
Upon the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, he joined the National Revolutionary Militias and participated in the Escambray cleanup. He is at the same time a competent and enthusiastic agricultural worker in the "Enrique Noda" cooperative.
During the burial of the victims of the 1st attack on the FAR, Fidel called all the soldiers and militiamen to join their combat units to await orders, Andrés did so immediately. Militiaman of Battalion 219, before leaving he sees his brother at the Central Por Fuerza (today Jesús Rabí) and said to him: “My brother, you may not see me anymore, but remember that if I die it is because of doing my duty, with my conscience… We have to defend the Revolution, it doesn't matter if I die fighting ”.
On April 17, 1961, a mercenary plane with the Cuban symbols painted to perpetrate its crimes with greater impunity, made a raid on the road that goes from Central Australia to Playa Larga and carried out the machine-gunning directed against the militiamen who were marching through kilometer 8, and among the fallen was Andrés Olano.
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