Faustino Pérez (**)
(...) That day, people fought and died throughout the country. It would be practically impossible not only to list, but even to know the number and diversity of actions of every type and magnitude—the strikes and attempted strikes, the acts of sabotage and combat—which, while failing to achieve the proposed objectives of overthrowing the tyranny, demonstrated once again the unyielding resolve for struggle and sacrifice of our revolutionary people and their will to win.
Not to mention the numerous actions by the guerrilla fronts in support of the strike, which included the intrepid presence of Camilo Cienfuegos in the plains of Cauto, we can highlight the following as the most significant events across the country:
The storming of national radio stations and the broadcast of the call for a revolutionary general strike over their channels; the storming of the armory in Old Havana; the blowing up of electricity substations; the work stoppages and acts of sabotage at various transportation terminals; the burning of gas stations and vehicles; the disruption of traffic entering and leaving the capital; sabotage, actions, and work stoppages in Guanabacoa, El Cotorro, and Madruga; the assault on the Matanzas radio station led by Enrique Hart, the derailment of trains in Jovellanos, the attack on the Quemado de Güines barracks and the disruption of the Central Highway in Manacas, the actions in Condado, Santa Clara, the paralysis and absolute control of Sagua la Grande, the assault and sabotage of the Vicente power plant in Ciego de Ávila, various actions in Camagüey, and the virtually complete paralysis of the entire Eastern region through the combined action of guerrilla forces and the underground, including the attack on the Boniato Barracks by the Santiago de Cuba militias led by René Ramos Latour, Daniel—Frank’s replacement in the National Action Headquarters in the Sierra Maestra during the Movement’s final battle—who later fell heroically against the tyranny’s offensive.
An immediate consequence of the events of April 9 was the formation of new guerrilla columns such as the Pepito Tey, which, following the victorious battle of Ramón de las Yaguas, joined the Frank País Second Front under the command of Comrade Belarmino Castilla, and the column led by Víctor Bordón, which began operating in the Escambray Mountains. Likewise, dozens of poorly armed groups remained in revolt, and many gradually joined the various guerrilla fronts. We must also note, despite its subsequent failure, the arrival of an expedition on the coast of Pinar del Río, comprising, among others, Jesús Suárez Gayol, who had fallen fighting alongside Che in the Bolivian jungles.
The shock felt throughout the country by the events of April 9 was intensified by the brutal repression unleashed by the regime, which left a painful toll of more than a hundred fallen combatants, including Marcelo Salado, the field commander in the capital at that time and one of the most valuable and promising cadres of the July 26 Movement.
The failure to achieve that objective placed the revolutionary movement in one of the most difficult moments of the entire process.
Why, given that climate of revolutionary insurgency, those political and organizational conditions, and even the precedent of the spontaneous strike following Frank’s death, did the strike fail to fully materialize?
Evidently, there were many and varied factors behind the failure, and it is not easy to determine the relative weight of each in that costly setback. Personally, I believe that the greatest responsibility lies with the errors of judgment and leadership committed by those of us who had the most immediate task of directing and unleashing those events.
Major setbacks perhaps express, better than victories, the magnitude of the struggle. As great as the setbacks, even greater is the will to turn them into victories. On the Cuban people’s upward path, no setback has ever been or will ever be definitive; it has never brought paralysis, nor has it ever meant abandoning the struggle. The darkness of the setback has never extinguished the revolutionaries’ certainty of victory. (…)
The harsh setback of April 9 is no exception to that rule of our century-long struggles, but rather is part of those critical moments when, through the fighting spirit of our people, the heroism of the combatants, and the sure leadership of the Commander-in-Chief, defeat was once again transformed into victory. (...)
(*) Excerpts taken from the book Semillas de fuego (Seeds of Fire), Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, Havana, 1989.
(**) Commander of the Rebel Army.
Published in Granma, April 9, 2013
