Diary of a Combatant Page 4

14. Fernando Sánchez-Amaya Padral managed to escape.

  15. Carlos López Mas (Carlitos Mas).

  16. The peasant Pedro Carrillo (Perucho).

  17. In the dispersal of the rebels at Alegría de Pío, Juan Manuel Márquez wound up alone and he was captured in Estacadero on December 15 and murdered near San Román.

  18. Crescencio Pérez was a peasant and member of the so-called reception network that had been organized in the zone by Celia Sánchez, and to which Guillermo García and the Tejeda brothers, among others, also belonged.

  19. Ramón Pérez (Mongo) was a peasant and Crescencio Pérez’s brother.

  20. The meeting place was at Cinco Palmas, where Fidel, Raúl and other expeditionaries had been since December 17. The story of the reunion of the rebel forces is described in the chapter “Adrift” in Che’s Reminiscences…

  21. This information was incorrect because in the list of future expeditionaries there is only Enio Leyva Fuentes, who was arrested in Mexico together with other compañeros days before the Granma sailed as the result of a snitch. He later joined the struggle in the Sierra Maestra.

  22. In fact, Israel Cabrera had died on December 5 in the combat at Alegría de Pío, and Norberto Godoy Rojas was captured later.

  23. The young woman was Eugenia Verdecia (Geña). Enrique Escalona and Rafael Sierra came with her, neither of them being her husband.

  24. Fidel sent Faustino Pérez to restructure the movement’s networks in Havana and to look for a reputable journalist who could report the presence of the guerrilla force in the Sierra Maestra.

  25. This person is referred to as either Sergio or Sergiro, the latter being his nickname.

  26. Translator’s note: Che uses the term “Gallego” to refer to any Spaniard, not just someone from Galicia, Spain. José Lorenzo Morán Lesille (el Gallego Morán) was executed as a traitor in Guantánamo in 1957.

  27. Manuel Fajardo Sotomayor, from Niquero, should not be confused with Manuel (Piti) Fajardo Rivero, the medical doctor from Manzanillo, who later would join Column One.

  28. The editors have chosen to delete some of Che’s diary. Where this has occurred, this is indicated by square brackets. In the editing, details of some evaluative circumstantial judgments have been omitted, and each time this is considered necessary, the omission will be indicated by ellipsis between brackets.

  29. The home of the peasant Juan Marrero and his family, including his sons Anguelo and Ramón.

  1957

  January 1957

  1

  We spent the day in patch of scrub. At night we went to camp at the hut of a friend who has been bringing us food. But we were already soaked due to persistent rain. While there we heard that 400 men were advancing from Estrada Palma to cut off our route to La Plata, and garrisons in the zone were being considerably reinforced. There were also reports that they were looking for Mongo; his house had been searched. Eleven men from Manzanillo are headed in this direction and there is another group in a place called La Gloria guided by Mongo Torres. We decided not to wait for them.

  2

  It was raining at dawn, we decided to wait in the hut for it to stop. As the hours passed, local peasants came by to offer their services. We accepted one of them,1 who was known to Crescencio, as a guide. Two of the Montanos were unwilling to join the detachment without weapons. In the evening we set out on a slow and very tiring march along muddy paths and with the men suffering from diarrhea. After a 10-hour march that was punctuated by repeated halts for the reasons already mentioned, we made camp on the banks of a river, crossing which we got wet up to our knees.

  3

  We spent the day drying our clothes and sleeping. At dusk we ate and set out in the direction of La Plata, walking two leagues2 at our usual slow pace. The night’s walk ended at 1:00 in the morning, and we slept in the hut of our guide’s brother. We receive the welcome news that Nené Jerez was badly wounded and close to death. He was the person who had led the soldiers to the place where we were at Alegría [de Pío].

  4

  The day went by without any movement. We heard that there had been a clash at Chivirico, that Fidel had been killed in a battle, and that the troops were pulling out from the Sierra Maestra.

  5

  Lacking news about the groups following us, we move in daylight through wooded areas to the house of Eligio Mendoza. From the hills we see Caracas Peak, covered in forest, where it will be easy to resist. Eligio is very afraid and tried to avoid having us around, but we decide to spend the night in the hut of his daughter,3 deep in the forest. The outlook is good because from there to La Plata is rocky and wooded terrain, ideal for defense. The name of the river is Ají.

  6

  Raúl [Barroso], the brother-in-law of Lebrija [Lebrigio], came with the news that there were 10 men without weapons at the farm of his father-in-law in Manzanillo. Acuña and René went to get them, and at night they took nine unarmed people from Manzanillo in a jeep to Mongo Pérez’s farm, and from there through the countryside to meet up with us. The news they brought was old and not much use. The Manzanillos’ names are: Francisco Echevarría, Daniel Emilio Motolá, Salvador Rosales, Antolín Quiroga, cell leaders, Gerardo Torres [Yayo Reyes], Julio Acosta, Heriberto [Hermilio] Rey, Luis Salinas, Rudy Pesán [Pesant] (this last one is also a cell leader). The procedure followed to select the men was to take the best five from each cell and then the best two from every five.

  7

  We began the march early through patches of scrub. We spent the whole day getting to the side of Caracas Peak near El Mulato, which was our destination. There we waited for nightfall and the arrival of the owner4 of the hut where we were to stay overnight. At the hut they had butchered a pig and we ate for the first time that day. We spent the night under the roof of a structure without walls. We decided to wait for developments here.

  8

  A day without events, passed at the same place where we had camped. We sent emissaries to search for Julio Guerrero on the coast, or nearby.

  9

  Guerrero arrived, brought by Eligio, owner of the farm where we are staying. The reports are contradictory, but it appears there are no soldiers in this zone. Something unexpected occurs in the afternoon: news of our presence has spread among various neighbors and reached the ears of a snitch, who set out for the coast to tell the troops. We decide to continue on to another nearby hut to be more protected. We have to remain in the area because Echevarría has gone to Manzanillo to transmit orders and bring back weapons.

  In the evening we went to eat at Eligio’s hut, and Ramón Marrero, one of the most useful men that we have in this zone, joins us there. He brings a radio from Manzanillo and some bad news: Guillermo García was unable to find our people and he is coming back with Ignacio, another of Crescencio’s sons, and a new recruit. He was only able to find three weapons. Some people are refusing to turn over their weapons—or rather, the weapons they wound up with. It looks like the weapons that are coming are a Johnson, a semi-automatic Remington and another rifle. We walked a small distance at night, but through such rough terrain that the short walk seemed like leagues. Ramiro hit his wounded leg, and with such terrible luck that he probably suffered a fracture and it is virtually impossible for him to walk. The rest went on to a nearby farm,5 while we remained at a hut where I bandaged Ramiro’s leg temporarily until I can put it into a more or less effective splint.

  10

  Immobility and bad food. In the morning, taking Ramiro to the camp was an odyssey. He has a possible fracture and will have to remain here when we leave. In the afternoon, a beautiful sight: 18 marines on the road, carefree and looking for Fidel. They would have been an easy target but it was not possible to attack them because we haven’t received the provisions and we’re still waiting for Guillermo García. Fidel’s plan is to carry out an ambush and withdraw into the forest with food for several days. It doesn’t seem like a bad idea but it’s a lot of weight. My plan was to establish a camp with lots of food, sending
out patrols to attack, but having a central camp. In addition to the temporary loss of Ramiro we have also lost two men permanently. One of them, Rosales, told me he has tuberculosis. There is something suspicious in his attitude but Fidel decided to discharge him without further ado. A couple of guys are undecided. The snitches have been active; as soon as our presence in the zone is known the Rural Guards arrive. We need to carry out an exemplary punishment. Fidel sent Enrique [Enrique Suavo], one of the new recruits, to get food so that we can be in a position to attack at any time. We spent the night on a ridge overlooking the house.

  11

  We spent the day at the same place waiting, as neither the food nor Guillermo arrived. Given an opportunity to do so, five of the men from Manzanillo decided to return, pointing to the lack of weapons and saying they could do more there. Four left during the day, one remained because he was sick. Ramiro’s leg is still bad and we will leave him here. No other developments. The Rural Guards did not make an appearance.

  12

  We had originally decided to leave during the night. At Crescencio’s urging, we decided to wait for cans of milk that were slow in coming, so we waited until the next day. There was a meeting with a rural leader,6 something of a charlatan and an opportunist, but who put himself at our disposal. The plan that we communicated to him is that we would kill the three overseers7 who had terrorized the peasants.

  13

  During the morning we received various visitors, a rural leader who said he had 20 men, and a couple of merchants who offered their services in relation to supplies and messages. We placed an order for food and medicine. People from the region came to greet us and offer their help. At 3:00, after a good lunch, we set off for La Plata, we walked until 5:00, stopping so we would cross an open area at 6:00, when night would already be falling. We continued to walk under moonlight until approximately 9:30, sleeping in a small clearing. Melquiades Elías, a friend of our guide Eutimio,8 has marked the route with a machete.

  14

  At 6:00 in the morning we continued the march along a hillside, starting to descend toward the Magdalena River, where we arrived two hours later and ate breakfast. Fidel calibrated all the rifles with telescopic sights. There are 23 functional weapons, nine rifles with telescopic sights, five automatic rifles, four common rifles, two Thompsons, two submachine guns, and one 16-gauge shotgun. In the afternoon we climbed the last of the hills before reaching La Plata, and there we ran into two cousins of Eutimio, the guide. We took one of them prisoner for two or three days, the other went free.9 We found a road built to bring out harvested trees from the woods and followed it until dark without seeing La Plata.

  15

  We proceeded slowly, looking for the barracks through the telescopic sights, and as we had little water and all the food with us was canned, we went to a stream to get water. We ate a can (92 grams [3.24 ounces]) of sardines each for breakfast, and for lunch a piece of cheese, a sausage, half a can of dulce de leche and half a can of condensed milk. That was it for the day. We continued to advance with great caution, already having spotted the mouth of La Plata River and its half-built barracks. We could see a group of men partly dressed in uniforms doing domestic tasks. At 6:00 in the afternoon a patrol boat full of Rural Guards arrived, and they initiated a series of maneuvers, the meaning of which we did not understand. We decided to postpone the attack until the next day.

  16

  From dawn we had people watching the garrison (the coast guard boat had already left) and we began our patrols.10 We were disconcerted by not seeing soldiers anywhere. At 3:00 in the afternoon we decided to get closer to the road to be able to observe what was happening. We crossed La Plata River and took positions on the road at dusk. Five minutes later, we captured two prisoners11 and two kids who were with them. One turned out to be the man accused of having snitched on Eutimio. We squeezed them a little and found out that there were 10 soldiers in the barracks and that they had arrived from Naranjo that very afternoon. In addition, one of the three overseers, Chicho Osorio, considered the worst of the three, was supposed to come by soon. And sure enough, he came along, riding on a mule, followed by a black kid on foot, the 14-year-old son of the administrator of the Arteaga store in El Macío. The man, surprised by the shout of “Halt on orders from the Rural Guard,” called out “mosquito,” the password of the government troops, and then, “I am Chicho Osorio.” We disarmed them, taking his .45 caliber revolver and the knife the black kid was carrying.

  We brought him to Fidel, who pretended to be a colonel in the Rural Guard who was investigating supposed irregularities. Chicho Osorio, who was drunk, then gave us a list of all the enemies of the regime who “had to have their balls cut off,” as he put it. There we had confirmation of who were our friends and who were not. Asked about Eutimio and Osorio, he said Eutimio had hidden Fidel and that they were looking for him to kill him but they hadn’t found him. When Fidel told him that Fidel had to be killed wherever he was, Osorio went over the top with enthusiasm, saying Crescencio, too.

  After giving more absurd demonstrations of submission and malice, this man offered to guide us in an attack on the barracks so that we could see how insecure the defenses were. After crossing the river, we told him military norms required that prisoners be tied up. The man was so drunk or naïve that he still failed to realize who we were. He explained that the only guard post was between a barracks under construction and the house of another overseer, Honorio. He guided us to an Anacahuite tree near the barracks where the road to El Macío passed. Luis Crespo went on reconnaissance, and returned confirming that the overseer’s report was accurate and he could see the Guards’ cigar smoke and hear voices at the place Chicho had indicated. We had to throw ourselves on the ground to avoid being spotted by three Rural Guards on horseback who went by dragging a prisoner on foot like a mule, showering him with insults and threats. We allowed them to pass as detaining them so near the barracks might sound the alarm.

  Everything was arranged for an attack with 22 weapons. Chicho remained at the clump of trees, guarded by two men who had orders to execute him as soon as the shoot-out started, an order they fulfilled. Julio Díaz, with Cienfuegos, Benítez and Calixto, with automatic rifles, would attack the thatched house on the extreme right; Fidel, Universo, Luis Crespo, Calixto García, Fajardo and I would attack the center; and Raúl with his platoon, as well as Almeida and his platoon, would attack the barracks on the left. We crawled until we were 40 meters away from the enemy position and then Fidel opened fire with two bursts of automatic weapons fire, followed by fire from all the available rifles. We called on the soldiers to surrender but received no response. The attack began at 2:40 in the morning, and after a few minutes came the order to throw grenades. Luis Crespo threw his, and I mine, but neither one exploded. Raúl Castro threw dynamite. The order was given to burn down the thatched house. Universo tried first, but beat a hasty retreat when shots landed close to him, then Cienfuegos tried, also with a negative result; then Luis Crespo and I succeeded in setting it ablaze. It turned out to be a shack full of coconuts. Luis Crespo skirted around a horse pen or pig sty and wounded in the chest a soldier coming toward him. I took the soldier’s rifle from him and used him to hide behind while shooting at a man I think I wounded. Luis Crespo took the wounded man’s cartridge belt and moved to another position.

  From behind a tree Cienfuegos fired at a fleeing sergeant but failed to hit him. The shooting had stopped on both fronts and the people inside the zinc-roofed house surrendered. Cienfuegos entered the yard of the thatched house and only found wounded men. The result of the battle was eight Springfield rifles, a machine gun and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. We had fired about 500 rounds. In addition we obtained cartridge belts, helmets, sausages, knives and even some rum. They had two dead and five wounded, three of them gravely wounded, and we had three prisoners. I set fire to Honorio’s house and everything around it, and someone else set fire to the barracks, which went up in an impressive spectacle as it
was full of holes. The order was given to withdraw to our camp with the three military prisoners, who were freed and given some medicine for their wounded. We also released the five civilians we had detained, after giving a suspected snitch a severe warning. At 4:30 that morning we set out toward Palma Mocha, arriving at dawn.

  17

  We walked at a good pace up the Palma Mocha River where we came across a ghastly sight. All the families in that zone were fleeing toward the coast due to the threats made by a corporal and an overseer, Miro,12 regarding a supposed bombardment by the air force against the rebels. The maneuver was clear: to drive out the peasants and then the company could take over the abandoned land. Unfortunately, this lie coincided with our attack so the peasants responded to our exhortations with timid evasions and the majority eventually abandoned their homes.

  We walked all morning to a hut that was also a store, where they served us a sumptuous pork banquet. We spent an entire day resting by the bank of a river with crystalline water and slept on a ridge, waiting for the soldiers to come, but they never did.

  18

  At dawn Crescencio brought the news that soldiers were nearby. It was decided that we would leave immediately, but first Fidel wanted to carry out the distribution of bullets, stipulated to be 40 per rifle. When asked, Acuña, who had 100 rounds, refused to hand over his extra ammunition. Fidel ordered his arrest and, in response, Acuña cocked his rifle, ready to shoot. Raúl intervened and later, with Crescencio’s assistance, convinced Acuña to hand over the cartridge belt and rifle and to request permission to remain in our army. Fidel accepted this, creating a bad precedent because Acuña acted as if he had won out.

  We walked to Delfin’s hut,13 one of the last settlers in the area, where we ate and slept, taking advantage of the fact that he, too, was leaving for the coast. We decided to make this our definitive position for a few days. The position is this one: