Cuban Youth to Remake the Route of Che and His Invasive Column

At the zero hours of August 31st, about thirty university students will depart from El Jibaro, an intricate spot of the Sierra Maestra located in the present municipality of Bartolome Maso, Granma and from where Che and his troops began the march 59 years ago.

Raul Alejandro Palmero Fernandez, president of the University Students Federation (FEU) of Cuba, spoke of the initiative as another offering of the "new pines" to Che, on the 50^th anniversary of his death in Bolivia, shortly before traveling to Granma to be part of that first group.

The law student at the University of Havana thanked the support, among others, of the Union of Young Communists, the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution, the ministries of Higher Education and Public Health and the Marti´s Youth Movement; and although the student presence will be a majority, young artists, intellectuals, workers and combatants will also join the troop, which will be renovated in stages along the 612 kilometers across Granma, Las Tunas, Camaguey, Ciego de Avila and Sancti Spiritus, he explained.

The first section will take us all morning to cover the 24 kilometers separating El Jibaro from La Orilla, Palmero Fernandez said, and stressed that the idea of ​​reviving this chapter of history has generated a wide movement, especially among the young people, who enthusiastically await the passage of the column.

The flags of the FEU, the UJC and the July 26^th Movement will preside over the march which, like the "original" one, will last 45 days, until October 15th and will have Cantu Plant as its goal, although on the following days with reinforcements of the three central provinces, the column will go up the hill, in the middle of Escambray, to Caballete de Casa, he said.

As it was, so it will be, said Palmero Fernandez, and referred to this trip to the root as a challenge and an adventure for its protagonists, but above all, as a tribute to the glorious history of the Cuban people and an extraordinary military feat, decisive for the popular victory of the January 1^st, 1959.

Combat, skirmishes, mishaps, every event will be remembered in its natural setting, and tribute will be paid to the fallen during the invasion and there will also be plenty of opportunities for dialogue with residents of those places and veteran fighters of the Revolution.

Recreating what happened as exactly as possible, this trip is all about, said the President of the FEU, and stressed that the presence of members of column number eight at various stages of the route, will be a huge privilege and the opportunity to rebuild the passed with much more clarity, faithfully and vividly.

We want this commitment to leave a deep imprint, not only on the participants, but on the people and, especially, the youth of each place where the column passes, that the relief from province to province is an event and that this is also recognition to those who then helped the rebels, he said.

The re-edition of the route of the Ciro Redondo column is counted among the actions of the University Student Federation on December 20th, when it will celebrate 95 years of its foundation, and salutes the XIX World Festival of Youth and Students, based in the Russian city of Sochi in coming October