CAMILO CIENFUEGOS
THE ‘HERO OF YAGUAJAY’ 1932-59, 26 JULY MOVEMENT
The son of Spanish immigrants, Cienfuegos was born in Havana and worked for a short while in the United States before he became a revolutionary. He was radicalised after being shot in the leg by Batista’s police during a student demonstration and travelled to Mexico to befriend Fidel Castro.
A member of the ‘Granma’ invasion of
Cuba, Cienfuegos was promoted to the rank of commandante by Castro and given command of guerrillas in the northern Villa Clara province. The fighting in Villa Clara was extremely gruelling, with Cienfuegos’s men travelling by night to avoid Batista’s soldiers. He won a notable victory at the Battle of Yaguajay in December 1958 against a Cuban Army garrison and became known as the ‘Hero of Yaguajay’.
Cienfuegos went on to help Che Guevara capture Santa Clara and became chief-of-staff of the new Cuban Army. A charismatic figure, Cienfuegos disappeared in a plane crash on 28 October 1959. There has been speculation that Castro was jealous of his popularity and covertly ordered his assassination, but his death was most likely an accident.