Juan Almeida Bosque: Revolution, courage and culture

The honorable legacy of a life fully marked by loyalty and courage, becomes an incentive to always extol the imprint of a man who knew how to be a guerrilla, leader, artist and, above all, a revolutionary of integrity.

This February 17th marks the 98th anniversary of the birth in Havana of Juan Almeida Bosque, one of the key figures in the materialization of the revolutionary process promoted by Fidel Castro Ruz since the Moncadist outbreak of 1953.

Almeida stood out for his leadership capacity and military strategy to confront the tyrannical regime of Fulgencio Batista, virtues that led him to reach the rank of Commander and that, enlivened by his historic cry of «Nobody surrenders here!» in the feat of Alegría de Pío, reflected his unwavering warrior spirit and his dedication to the emancipating cause of the Island.

In the political sphere, the audacious champion of Column 3 of the Sierra Maestra, once the Revolution triumphed, assumed important responsibilities such as the leadership of the General Staff of the Rebel and Central armies, member of the Central Committee and the Political Bureau of the Antillean Communist Party, vice president of the Council of State and president, until his death, of the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution.

Beyond his military career, Juan Almeida Bosque was a man of deep artistic and cultural sensitivity. With more than 300 songs and a dozen literary volumes, the author of songs such as «La Lupe», «Este camino largo» and «Mejor concluir», among others, is an important part of the Cuban cultural heritage and his writings offer an invaluable testimony of the revolutionary history from the perspective of one of its protagonists.

On September 11th, 2009, a cardio-respiratory arrest put an end to the octogenarian existence of Almeida Bosque, but the honorable legacy of a life fully marked by loyalty and courage, becomes an incentive to always praise the imprint of a man who knew how to be a guerrilla, leader, artist and, above all, an integral revolutionary.