Diary of a Combatant Page 10
At dawn we again climbed to the camp and waited there until noon; our only movement all day was going up and down Caracas Peak until we reached the hill overlooking a little house we had visited before, but which is now uninhabited. We cooked and spent the day there.
2
Pérez Serantes denies that he is going to the Sierra Maestra. A navy plane was shot down. The bicameral commission has reached an agreement on the drafting of a joint statement that, to avoid friction, eliminates mention of the date for elections. We spent the day peacefully, doing a lot of cooking, thanks to the persistent fog that hid the smoke. At nightfall we went down to the little house and, well-fed—at least as far as the quantity goes (we ate only malanga and beans)—we began the descent. In a short while the vanguard brought us three young peasants they had taken into custody along the way, and another one later. They were identified as people from this area. One of them was allowed to go on to his house, which was higher up, while the men went with the other three—a father, son and son-in-law—to their house, which was on a low-lying sandbank near the river. We drank coffee, and Fidel asked about some details of interest to us.
Later we followed the road until we reached the river (650 meters) and began the ascent up the hill in front of us, whose peak (1,025 meters) we reached at dawn. (We slept in a hut half-way there).Yayo went to look for a rifle that had been left in the home of a guy called Gabriel at the time when we were all dispersed. Today marks the fourth month since the landing of the Granma.
3
Pérez Serantes was interviewed on the radio. He said he was astounded at the report that he was going to the Sierra, something he had never said. However, the North American colony had asked him to do it, and the government is going to allow it, so he’s willing to come, although he still hasn’t made contact. Echevarría was taken prisoner in Purial. He had with him Raúl’s diary, a student manifesto, photos and letters; what we don’t know is whether he gave them to someone before he was captured.
Yayo returned at 3:00 in the afternoon with his rifle and nothing new. At dusk we began a short march until we crossed to the other side of a pair of streams that form the Magdalena. We took prisoner a peasant called Ramírez, who gave us some information, including the identity of the occupant of a nearby house, Bartolo. We went there and were well received; they prepared us a well-seasoned meal. When we finished, I found the bacalao [fish] didn’t agree with me, so I decided to take a spoonful of Tokosima, but unfortunately the Tokosima can was full of deodorant. I swallowed three spoonsful before I realized what it was; but it didn’t do me any harm. We slept until morning.
4
We climbed up to a hacienda where we gathered malanga and plantains. Then we set out up a long incline until we reached the top of Vuelta de Carnero Hill (1,100 meters), where there is a magnificent lookout point over the Caracas area. We cooked there and at 3:00 p.m. we began a long descent until we reached the home of a peasant called Corrales, whom Fidel had already visited. Having sent the vanguard ahead of us, we expected to find a good meal awaiting us, but the peasant thought it would be less dangerous to cook at night and he hadn’t prepared anything yet. While they were cooking the meal I did medical check-ups of the children in the household and a lady with a fever to whom I gave Camoquin. The meal was ready at about 1:00 a.m. and we got up at 5:00. According to the peasant there had been troop movement in the area and several Guards passed by disguised as revolutionaries, and they took prisoner any peasants who offered to help them.
5
We finished the first part of the climb of the bare hill early and entered into the forest-covered mountains to continue our long ascent up what I think is called Pinar. It is 10 meters higher than Caracas (1,260 meters); from the top of the hill we took a main road that goes from Las Vegas3 to La Plata. We walked along it for a stretch, then left it and continued along a slope where we had been before with Crescencio. We made a mistake at one point, but finally we made it to a house that had previously been empty but was now occupied by its owner, a Haitian called Miguel, who didn’t seem too afraid. We asked for Julio Guerrero, but he has taken flight; his house was burned down and nobody could give us an exact explanation. In the Haitian’s house we ate and slept; I was in a bit of discomfort caused by mild asthma. As a note of interest, they told us that 32 soldiers passed by here, and Juan Amador Rodríguez4 announced that he was going to initiate talks with the rebel groups to bring them around politically.
6
Fifty-six Cuban exiles, in a training camp in Santo Domingo, asked for asylum in Miami and revealed that they were virtual prisoners of Trujillo in what was supposed to be a training camp to attack Cuba, but it had become a prison when the pact was signed.
There was no movement all day. We left Miguel’s house early and established ourselves on a hillside where we took some Guards prisoner. Earlier, we had encountered a peasant family, whose head [Ángel Verdecia] had worked with Fidel’s father. He didn’t recognize him until he saw Raúl, and then we were able to send him on a mission to look for Isaac. At night we climbed up to some strategically located small houses where we could sleep in three groups. The only blot on the day was the desertion of two young black guys from La Caridad de Mata, who had already been showing signs of cowardice. We sent 2 Sotomayor to look for them, with the instructions to bring them back by any means.
7
Batista spoke today. He began the speech in the midst of a torrential rainstorm that scattered the crowd; he spoke for three or four minutes without saying anything and then took his leave. The impression is that the event was a failure, a particular fiasco because he had gathered so many foreign correspondents for it. We spent the day at the ranch, awaiting news from the men we had sent out. The squadrons gathered together on the hillside, minus the vanguard and rearguard that stayed at the entrance to the clearing. No one came all day. El Guajiro Luis was sent with 2 Sotomayor to explore and to neuter two beehives, but the hives were empty. They ran into some individuals who were digging a grave and they detained them for the whole day. At nightfall they went down to cook in the hut with all the squadrons returning to the mountain when they had finished eating.
8
Grau is already preparing to give his report to the conciliation council and all the parties will follow him, except the abstentionist Orthodox Party members, whose leader Bisbé5 announced he would reject it, and the students, who consider the Congress to be a farce. The president of the Camagüey court announced today in a radio interview that he is willing to go to the Sierra Maestra, with or without Pérez Serantes, and not only to look for the young gringos but also to initiate conciliation talks, concluding—among other ridiculous ideas—that it was necessary to pacify Cuba before foreign powers decided it was necessary to intervene.
We spent the morning in a hut, and when we had just climbed the hill, the family of the owner arrived and we took them prisoner. The man, whose last name is Peña, came with a nephew of Santiago Gómez, the grocer from Las Vegas, who had been sent out to look for salt and some other things. The owner was really freaking out, but finally he pulled himself together a little. In a little while the peasant Ronel arrived with Isaac and a small bill. Isaac appeared very enthusiastic, but he seemed rather more interested in money and not very brave about committing to bring things. At night Fidel went with Raúl and Jorge to look for some extra merchandise and to talk with Isaac about plans to send him to Manzanillo to collect some money. He returned late, annoyed because we had eaten some rice and things hadn’t turned out as he had hoped.
9
The abstentionist members of the Orthodox Party are joining with Prío’s Authentic Party and the abstentionist Democrats to repudiate the conciliation; they are promising a joint communiqué. Díaz Tamayo is relieved of his position as military chief in Oriente. Grau went to the meeting of the House demanding political amnesty, guarantees, elections in November 1957, new electoral ID cards and the law of [19]43.
Our work for the day
was limited to moving to a new camp some 500 meters away from the previous one, but set between the mountain range and the hill in a way that makes it one of the best camps we’ve had. We have food for approximately three days and we’re waiting for news from the Sotomayors in order to continue on to the other side of Turquino [Peak]. Today we ate rice with shrimp caught in a little stream that runs alongside our camp.
10
There was an uprising in Santa Clara, but it’s not known how big it was.6 Batista is going to send a plane with reporters to Pilón tomorrow, so they can see for themselves that the revolution has been quashed. Today 10 sugar mills finished the harvest. We spent the day in the same place, doing virtually nothing all day, except that at night I went to see the peasant’s wife who was still in bad shape. Ángel Gómez came with the salt that had been sent, but the most important thing was that he brought another peasant called Peña, who is looking for an uncle who had joined the uprising. The man gave us some interesting information, including that there is a warehouse that’s been recently restocked “over there on the hill,” which was attacked by almost 40 men. Another small patrol of the rearguard and vanguard went to look for Popa, the snitch, to give him a scare and take a cow from him. The peasant Peña was sent to Manzanillo to find the reporters and bring them to this or another camp. He’s been told to hook up with Celia Sánchez and, if he can’t find her, with the dean of the journalism college to make the contact.
At night, while I was sleeping in the hut where a peasant lived, the same troops that had gone to attack the well-stocked warehouse passed by. Later on the combined rearguard and vanguard squadrons went by—the same ones who had given Popa a good thrashing and taken a horse; but they came away with the impression that he wasn’t a snitch. They didn’t pay him for the horse, but they promised to do so if he behaved himself.
11
It was almost impossible to hear any news. In the morning I returned to my camp as I realized my asthma was getting worse. I spent the day doing nothing, and when the peasant came looking for me at night, I gave him some medicine and made him tell them that I couldn’t go because I was taking care of a patient. The horse was killed, and everyone rejoiced except the peasants, who wouldn’t eat it.7 In our squadron those who wouldn’t eat horse meat were Universo, Paulino and Marciano. It had been decided at first to leave the following day, but the idea of smoking the horse meat apparently made Fidel change his mind. I slept badly, with my asthma getting worse.
12
The reporters are mad because they weren’t shown anything in the Sierra Maestra. I spent the whole day with a little asthma stretched out on a hammock belonging to el Guajiro (Crespo), who carried his generosity to the extreme of letting me use it that night. The horse meat has already passed the stage of being salted and is doing very well; almost everyone is eating it.
13
The CMQ8 sent a journalist especially to interview Fidel. Barrera spoke on the radio saying that Fidel was a new Spiderman and that there was nobody in the Sierra Maestra. Alonso Pujol9 asks, among other things, that people consider what the insurgents in the Sierra Maestra have to say. After a really good breakfast we left, slowly heading toward the road to the little house, following the men upwards. The general staff remained below waiting for news on the peasant’s radio. The peasant is screwed up and money-hungry; one day he says he’s leaving and then right away he stays. After lunch we climb up to the road where we spent the night, me in el Guajiro Luis’s hammock and him in one that we bought from the peasant on the ranch. We’re at 850 meters and at night it’s cold.
14
Little news from outside. Cherry bombs, a couple of dead cops in Santiago, a slow down by the electrical workers. On our side they’re more abundant and pretty good. We remained in the same place all day but this morning Ango [Sotomayor] arrived with Sergio Pérez. Ango and the compañero reached La Derecha in 14 hours, waiting for the fugitives who appeared three days later. They returned the revolver and the medicine and gave a lot of explanations but didn’t mention security. Sergio Pérez came ahead because his father can’t walk very well; he’s with a small group of men who probably aren’t well armed; they’re waiting for another mythical group of 19 men that we don’t know if it exists or not. But the good news was what they brought a letter from Celia in which she reported that Echevarría hadn’t talked or taken anything. Everything is going very well, the people are working and there’s money to send, although she hasn’t sent it yet or the radios that were requested. The other people have shown no sign of life, waiting until the day after tomorrow for Isaac and Peña. Sergio Pérez stayed in the rearguard waiting for the people who are coming from El Lomón.
15
We set out at 8:00 in the morning, reaching the top in a little over an hour. There (at 1,150 meters) we rested a bit while Ciro and his squadron explored the trail down and Guillermo looked for the old one that we came up on after the battle.10 Guillermo found the path down and it was decided to follow that trail with some variations. The descent was delayed a little due to some difficulties in finding a feasible path, and while we were resting and drinking some caña santa tea Ciro returned. After a while we reached the old camp and we surprised and frightened the family in the house where I had killed the soldier. The other house had burnt down and the owner hasn’t returned. The men decided to leave immediately, but not before telling us about the four dead. Groups were immediately commissioned to find out what could be foraged around there. We ate more or less well and we slept. I had a bit of asthma.
16
We spent the day without any real options, sending out exploratory patrols, one led by Guillermo that didn’t return all night. He was going to interview someone called Emilio Cabrera, who is considered an enemy of the government. In mid-afternoon a trio was taken prisoner, including Martínez, his sister (the wife of Yeyo Mendoza) and a very provocative little black woman. There was information that Yeyo, a brother and an uncle had been sent by Casillas to spy on us. They swore up and down that they weren’t spies and that they wouldn’t say anything to anybody, if they were let go.
My asthma became worse. The news from the peasants we had captured was that the [constitutional] guarantees had been reestablished.
17
When we woke up this morning there was a visit from Emilio Cabrera, whose house Guillermo had gone to with two men in the search for rice. The man, who had a noble face, appeared to be a friend of ours, and among other things gave us the name of a snitch, Filiberto Mora, whom Guillermo, José [Arias] Sotomayor, Julito and Juventino went out to bring in. Fidel asked the peasant Emilio for the radio and he agreed to hand it over immediately, bringing it this afternoon. The rearguard arrived in the evening, after being caught in a heavy rainstorm along the way, bringing a radio from another peasant. It had been decided that we should leave that evening for another camp, led by Pepe Martínez and a peasant whom Ciro Frías had visited, but Guillermo didn’t show up all day. At night, while we were cooking, a plane flew over the area for a while, making Fidel very uncertain about the plan, and he decided to leave at dawn the next day.
The most important news was about labor protests by the transportation and electrical workers; Cofiño11 seems to be mediating so that the workers won’t adopt a more radical position. The mediation meetings have been suspended until Monday April 22, but it seems that Batista won’t accept the demand for elections to be held this year. Colonel Barrera returned to Havana and it is thought he won’t return to Pilón; some of the troops also returned.
18
Guillermo arrived early with Filiberto Mora. His account revealed what kind of person Filiberto is, a regular snitch. It was also learned that Ciro had been seen by the sons of a man called Montero, a friend and compañero of Filiberto’s, and although he tried to fool them with some tale or other, they realized who they really were and told their father, who planned to go to El Macho to report them. The man, Filiberto, came here thinking everything was okay, but as soon as
he saw Fidel he realized what had happened and began to apologize. He had also been the troops’ guide to the site of the ambush.
We continued to an abandoned house where Pepe Martínez was waiting for us with two others; one was a merchant called Lalo Sardiñas from a hamlet called Santo Domingo. He offered to serve us unconditionally and warned us about another snitch whom he knew personally, called Filiberto Mora. He was asked to provide supplies on a regular basis and they went on ahead. We followed more slowly with the column. My asthma prevented me from going more quickly. When we were approaching the place where we had elected to set up camp, Peña, the messenger from Manzanillo, caught up with us with a letter from Celia and $500. Celia told us that more money was supposed to have come with the previous messenger, but it had been sent to Santiago. Apart from this, she told us that she would locate the journalists and take them to the Sierra. Fidel decided to send Lalo to Manzanillo with a letter for Celia. There was also a report from Jacinto [Armando Hart] in which he showed himself to be positively anticommunist and even seemed to insinuate a certain kind of arrangement with the Yankee embassy. His attitude defines him.12
When we reached the camp the snitch was executed; 10 minutes later […] he was declared dead. As night fell the 40 men who were to bring back the supplies set out, but they soon returned because the guide, Pepe Martínez, had taken the wrong road.
19
In the morning [Pepe] Martínez and Peña set out with the instructions. Martínez was to locate a man called Marciano, who seems to be a friend of the cause, and Peña is supposed to wait for the men in Manzanillo and bring them. Martínez didn’t show up all day. I spent six hours treating myself with ACTH [asthma medicine] to try to get a little better. At dusk we decide to move the next day because Pepe hadn’t shown up.