Ciudad Escolar Libertad, a military barracks transformed into an educational center, was filled with joy yesterday as it recalled the entrance of the Caravan of Victory to Havana, on January 8, 1959, when Fidel and the bearded men, together with the people, celebrated the arrival of a new dawn on the island.
The flags, the chants, the slogans, the emotions for the meetings and the horns of the trucks accompanied the re-edition of the Caravan that paraded through several arteries of the capital.
That moment was not only the end of a dark era, but also the beginning of a path towards the construction of a free and sovereign Cuba.
Today the Caravan, which remains free and united to close the imperial jaws on the Homeland, stopped at the Julio Antonio Mella grassroots business unit, at the Guido Perez Brewery, and at the April 9 Park, in Cotorro; at the Virgen del Camino, in the municipality of San Miguel del Padron, and also at the old building of the Revolutionary War Navy, and at the Museum of the Revolution, as well as at the corner of 23rd and M, in Vedado.
Alejandro Palmero, first secretary of the Young Communist League (UJC) in Havana, stressed the responsibility of young Cubans in the continuity of the revolutionary epic in such difficult times, and reaffirmed the commitment of the new generations to the legacy of the historic leader of the Revolution and his comrades in struggle.
66 years ago, in the same place, in his historic speech, Fidel affirmed that the Revolution would never fail the people; and Cubans "have never lost faith and confidence in it, nor has the patriotic feeling that runs through us wavered," said Felipe Díaz Ramírez, member of the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution.
The entrance of this Caravan of 66 years of victories was attended by José Ramón Monteagudo Ruiz, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of its Agrifood Department; Liván Izquierdo Alonso, first secretary of the Party in Havana; Yanet Hernández Pérez, governor of the capital; Division General José Antonio Carrillo Gómez, president of the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution; as well as other prominent leaders, members of the UJC, the Federation of High School Students and the Federation of University Students.
