Diary of a Combatant Read online

  17

  When they awoke we took them to a nearby patch of cover where we spent the day. There are 50 men divided in five groups, but it seems to me that, despite the superficial organization that maybe lacking,7 this troop has the same problem the old Granma one had: a lack of understanding of military discipline and being unaccustomed to hiking in the hills. We ate one meal, a stew Enrique sent, and people complained a fair bit. At nightfall we began the march guided by a peasant, whose last name is Lara and who has been incorporated into the troop; he has papers from Casillas. Upon climbing the first hill, already there was one person who could not carry his backpack and weapon. With everyone stumbling, stopping every 200 yards to rest, we climbed Tío Lucas Hill and made it to Prieto’s house, where we arrived at dawn, once again with Sotús in the rearguard. We went into a nearby little patch of bushes and slept for a while.

  18

  Prieto treated us very well and fed us discreetly. Feeding 50 men is a problem of dimensions. We didn’t even post a guard because everyone was so tired, but in the afternoon, a good ajiaco8 helped us recover our strength. Dionisio went to La Derecha to get the others, who reached the camp at 2:00 in the morning. These were Fajardo, Guillermo, Juventino, Pesant and three Sotomayors9 who joined recently.

  19

  We did nothing. People were recovering from what had been, for them, their greatest achievement in the revolution. At night, after drinking coffee, we marched to the top of a hill to wait for Dionisio and Manuel García, who had gone to get weapons from Domingo Torres’s place. These were the four weapons left behind by Benítez, Pesant and the other two deserters. Domingo Torres seems to be a good man, enthusiastic and quiet. He sent me a coffee bush to plant. At around 10:00 the people with the weapons arrived, but we waited one more hour, until the moon had risen. Then we did a short march through the scrubland—short, in terms of distance—but it was two long hours before we reached a spot with some wooded level high ground where we could sleep.

  20

  We set out early along the hills but at a very slow pace until we got to the descent to La Derecha. Rigoberto Sánchez, the owner of a hacienda in that area, was waiting for us there and he fed us a sumptuous meal. A small council was called together to discuss what to do; several peasants participated with their ideas and rumors. I had spoken with Guillermo for him to go to Caracas with three more men, so when Ciro told him he had to go to Cilantro, Guillermo refused and a rancorous debate broke out in which I had to intervene.

  We reached a place where we had been before and made our camp there. That afternoon, Guillermo set off with two of the Sotomayor family and Manuel García. I left that night, after first performing a round of medical checkups of the local peasants. We walked with Dionisio at a good clip; we left at 12:00 and we arrived at 2:40 at the house of Anguelo Marrero. Crescencio was sleeping outside with Ramiro, Chao and Pancho, in addition to Mongo Torres. Those were the 140 armed men that he supposedly had. We talked for a bit and then slept until morning.

  21

  I found Crescencio a bit disheartened, and he showed me a letter to the owner of a hacienda who was a friend of his denying the thing about burning the cane fields and saying that the July 26 Movement supported everything constructive but never negative things, and he asked me to publish the letter. I told him that went directly against the specific orders Fidel had given; he said that he would order that it not be published.

  In the evening the medicines were brought to Marrero’s house and the old man found out about the presence of the group on his property. He asked Crescencio to leave immediately and we decided to return this very night with the three from the Granma, Ramiro, Pancho and Chao. Ramiro was delighted, Chao and Pancho were reluctant. We agreed to wait for the Calixtos10 until 11:00, as Manuel Acuña would not come because the people of Limones are hostile to him; Acuña had killed someone in that area. We went down to Anguelo’s hut in the evening, and a little later we were served a sumptuous supper; we then slept until 11:00. That’s when we set out for La Derecha, arriving at Domingo’s house at 3:30 in the morning. Ramiro’s leg still has not recovered fully. A little later we made it to the camp.

  22

  Prieto arrived in the morning bringing news of 40 Rural Guards in La Habanita. There were frequent visits but the place seems very quiet. People are unhappy with the food situation, something I tried to solve by speaking with Jorge Sotús about providing the men with two generous meals a day.

  23

  These days have been dry, which is a blessing for us. We wait for news from Fidel that doesn’t arrive, nor from Guillermo. There is nothing new at the camp. At night I gave a talk to some of the young guys that Jorge brought, trying to explain what fighting in the mountains was like and the need for rigid discipline. They complain about the way Jorge commands them, and perhaps they are partly right. A peasant, a son of Fidencio Frías, came by to sign up. I told him what was required, and that he should sleep on it and tell me what he decides tomorrow.

  24

  In the morning we learned that Guillermo was below, and it was said he had already found Fidel. Anxiously we waited for news. At midday a message came from Guillermo saying he had searched for Fidel but had not found him. Later Guillermo arrived with a message from Fidel dated March 21 saying he was heading for La Derecha. All indications point to Fidel arriving in the evening. Dionisio went to El Lomón, but did not find him.

  In the evening I went to see some patients at the house of a peasant woman and, as I was finishing, Fidel arrived. It was an emotional gathering with the 12 men plus a new recruit, Vitaliano Torres. Ramirito and I were the representatives of the old guard present. After eating, we remained below, drawing up plans for restructuring the force with Jorge Sotús, Fajardo, Guillermo and Ciro, who had come down upon hearing the news. We agreed to divide the force with a general staff made up of Universo, who would now be an officer, the three heads of the platoons, Raúl, Almeida and Sotús, Fajardo and el Guajiro [Luis Crespo] as personal bodyguards, and I as doctor. Raúl also wanted me to be named political commissar, but Fidel opposed it. Camilo will command the vanguard, Efigenio, the rearguard. The three platoons will be led by those already mentioned. Each platoon will have three squads of six men, including the leader. Ciro will also be an officer. We formed a council composed of Fidel, Raúl, Almeida, Sotús, Ciro, Guillermo, Camilo, Fajardo and me. Fidel explained his opinion that we should not attack yet; various ones supported him, and I opposed it, for political and military reasons, but I did not have much success. We decided to march through the woods to Turquino Peak, while trying to avoid a battle. We ate some meat and we remained talking until dawn.

  25

  We climbed to the woods and Fidel focused on reconnaissance and organizing the units. Suddenly he called me over. Salvador11 had written from Santiago that, based on confidential information from the army, he had learned that Crescencio Pérez had sold us out and was going over to Casillas and that he was planning to turn us in at the place where we were to meet. There had been a series of coincidences, plus the experience with Eutimio.12 Fidel met with a small group of trustworthy people and reached the decision to move on that very night. Fidel ordered a large meat ration for those who were staying. About 20 of the old timers, the three gringos13 and Jorge would go to Rigoberto’s house to eat. Fidel gave a sort of harangue to all the combatants, pointing out weaknesses and the need to overcome them so that we can carry out the struggle. Once night fell, we all went down. We settled accounts with the people who had helped us with food in a way that I think left everyone happy. We continued on our way once I had seen a couple of patients there, including a woman who was pregnant with her eighth child, whom she said she will name Fidel if it is a boy.

  The trail to Rigoberto’s place was long and difficult, and Fidel cussed with the best of them, but he got over it as soon as we reached the house, where we were received with great ceremony. The peasants of the area had come to see us, and it was an important meeting. We
ate, and then Fidel decided to sleep for a while. At 3:00 a.m. we started back, but not to the same place, but to an elevated area where we were to meet up with those we had left at La Derecha; we arrived just as the sun was rising. We have a new recruit.

  26

  The announced restructuring didn’t proceed. Fidel slept during the morning and then greeted Rigoberto, who had brought a gift of milk. They talked for a while and came up with a plan for a few days from now. Dionisio brought two more recruits, the brother and the nephew of Prieto’s wife. We spent the day working, and at sunset we carried out a short, one-hour march to a ridge where we slept. We ate the last of our food; probably lean times are coming. The political news suggests that Batista continues to maneuver to buy time, but the opposition is trying to gain ground by taking advantage of his precarious position; he is also facing the potential threat of a coup that some like Pardo Llada have already discussed publicly. The civic institutions will carry out a one-day protest strike to demand an end to the assassinations in Cuba.

  27

  We spent the morning without moving from the place where we were because we could not get water until nighttime and Fidel did not want the troop to become prematurely thirsty. But someone in the rearguard heard a rifle being cocked, I believe as a result of the nervousness of this greenhorn troop, and we decided to leave early. Almost at the top of El Lomón, one of the Americans, the youngest one,14 suffered a fainting spell due to exhaustion. El Lomón is 800 meters [2,626 feet] above sea level according to the altimeter we now have. Once we reached the top of El Lomón we went ahead with the definitive restructuring, and this is how the group is structured now. The vanguard, commanded by Camilo, with four men, including a guide; three platoons commanded by Jorge, Raúl and Almeida, with three squads in each one, the squad leaders are: Raúl: Julito, Ramiro and Díaz;15 Jorge: Ciro, Guillermo and René; Almeida: Hermes [Enrique Ermus], who had been head of platoon five, Guillermo [Domínguez] from platoon four, and Pena, with a squadron made up of students. The general staff is made up of Fajardo, Ciro, el Guajiro [Crespo], Universo, who is now an officer, Fidel and me.

  At 4:00 we went down to a farm on the other side of El Lomón and loaded up a lot of cassava and plantain. I worked with Universo and Ciro carrying an enormous sack but downhill. The vanguard lost two men and so the platoon that came after the vanguard followed the two men. The general staff and Raúl’s platoon found the right path, but Jorge’s platoon and the rearguard also lost their way. Fidel threw a fit, but in the end we reached the designated house. There we boiled and ate the cassava and plantains and slept until 4:00 in the morning, at which time we undertook a two-hour march until we reached the woods.

  28

  Once there some slept, others ate. At 2:00 in the afternoon we started a climb, during which several of the new people suffered a great deal. It was after 3:00 when we got to the hilltop at an elevation of 750 meters. Nearby is the tomb of Julio [Zenón], and all the revolutionaries formed an honor guard there. We continued walking but we sent Ciro’s squadron to where the shoot-out had taken place to get some food that had been hidden there. Guillermo’s squadron was sent to the house of Bienvenido [Mendoza] to get a rifle that Manuel [Acuña] had hidden there and check out the situation with those people. We sent el Guajiro with Vitaliano and one other to a friendly house to prepare food for tomorrow. We had not advanced a great deal by the time night fell and we made camp in a little level area to wait for the new day.

  The political situation has become openly conciliatory. There is a change in prime ministers and the new one, [Andrés] Rivero Agüero,16 says that if necessary he would go personally to the Sierra Maestra to settle matters. The bipartisan commission of the House makes the same announcement. [President of the Senate Anselmo] Alliegro says the opinion of the rebels will be taken into account, and Pardo Llada demands this.

  29

  In the morning, we heard scattered, isolated shots from the direction of Limones. A mulatto called Paulino was added to the general staff. He is responsible for transporting the medicines. I had to lighten my load because of asthma. We marched haltingly all day on the high ground between Limones, Tabaco and Caracas. At dusk we began to descend toward a ranch on La Derecha Creek, meeting up with Vitaliano, who was returning from his mission, and he reported that pork, canned goods and fat were on their way. It took us about two hours to get down to the river at night and, in losing our way, we came across some malangas that someone had harvested and we grabbed them all.

  We went up a hill and came to a house where we began to cook the malangas. At 1:00 in the morning the provisions arrived, and they were divided equally. The pork lard rendered three cans of lard and four of pork rinds. At dawn we climbed a hill to get to some level high ground where we rested. The missions assigned to Ciro and Guillermo were carried out. Ciro was unable to find any sign of the food; Guillermo even obtained Bienvenido’s wife’s confession that Eutimio had warned them of the betrayal he was planning. Raúl’s French book is there, but they did not bring it. They were given good food and honey. The political situation is the same.

  30

  The political situation changes: the Pelayo [Cuervo] Orthodox [Party] group refuses to discuss anything while constitutional guarantees are suspended and there is no amnesty. [Rafael] Díaz Balart17 said there is no chance there will be talks with the “mercenary” Fidel, and the bicameral commission issued a list of all the groups it will listen to; the list does not include the July 26 Movement. We detained three peasants who were snooping about on the trail; one of them turned out to be a good friend of Ciro’s. He is the future son-in-law of a man who served as a guide for the Rural Guards, apparently under duress. The young man proved to be intelligent and cooperative. They have young bulls, pigs and malanga for the next time we pass through. This time we only asked for coffee and sugar, which they brought as night was falling. People are learning to cook in their squadrons and they carry everything needed for eating. We agreed with the peasant Fernando that someone would go to see him the next time we came through to order things from him.

  31

  In a speech, Batista said that there was no reason to consult with groups that have taken up arms because such groups do not exist and Fidel is not in the Sierra Maestra.

  In the morning another peasant called Celestino came by, saying he had come to let us know that there were fires all around; he said he had come on his own, without anyone telling him specifically about our presence. He said Julio Guerrero was at his house for several days, and Julio had about a dozen men he was feeding at his house. The man also had cocoa, which we bought as well as committing to buy the harvests from nearby farms.

  We started climbing Caracas Peak (1,250 meters) and, when we got to the top, we met Dionisio who had a message from Crescencio saying that the armed groups [we were expecting] either did not exist or did not have weapons, but that weapons had been offered from Manzanillo; he was asking Fidel’s permission to accept them. He said he could not come due to a problem with his foot. Fidel responded that he should accept all serious offers and come later with armed men.

  We started the descent and in an hour we were at our old camp in El Mulato, where we had been attacked by the air force. We remained there until 5:20, when we went down to Rubio’s house, where we ate and slept. The vanguard had earlier taken over the house and its occupants; there were two peasants who came with the owner and who were also taken prisoner. We bought honey and ordered more. The supply system is functioning pretty well and morale is high. We found the rifle that Universo had left behind by the creek.

  1. March 10 was the anniversary of General Batista’s coup d’état in 1952.

  2. Miguel and Enrique were Epifanio’s sons.

  3. This was Jorge Sotús. For Che’s later evaluation of Sotús, see “Reinforcements” in his Reminiscences…

  4. Pelayo Cuervo was a leader of the Orthodox Party assassinated by the dictatorship in a reprisal for these events.

  5. Mene
lao Mora was an active fighter against the dictatorship, and one of the coordinators of the March 13, 1957, attack on the presidential palace in Havana, where he fell in combat.

  6. With his comment, “we still lack a clear picture of these events,” Che is evidently trying to understand what occurred in Havana with the Revolutionary Directorate’s attack on the presidential palace on March 13.

  7. Sic.

  8. Translator’s note: Ajiaco is a soup with vegetables and meat (chicken or beef).

  9. José and Marciano Sotomayor and their cousin Ángel Emoncerrat. Che uses the shorthand in his diary to refer to the Sotomayor brothers as “2 Sotomayor.”

  10. Calixto García and Calixto Morales were members of the Granma expedition.

  11. Salvador was one of the pseudonyms used by Frank País.

  12. This claim was quickly rejected as it lacked any foundation and despite the ever-present doubts due to the experience with Eutimio’s betrayal.

  13. These young gringos were the sons of US military personnel at the Guantánamo Naval Base who wanted to join the Cuban guerrillas. Their names were Charles Ryan (19), Michael Garvey (15) and Victor Buehlman (17).

  14. Michael Garvey was barely 15 years old.

  15. Emiliano Alberto Díaz Fontaine (Nano).

  16. Andrés Rivero Agüero was a senator and member of the regime; he would later take part in the electoral farce of November 3, 1958, as the successful presidential candidate, a post he never occupied due to the victory of the revolution.

  17. Rafael Díaz Balart was a spokesperson for and loyal collaborator with the Batista dictatorship.

  April 1957

  1

  In his daily commentary, Pardo Llada pointed out the contradictions between Batista’s denials that there were rebels in the Sierra Maestra, Barrera’s1 transfer to take charge once more of the troops operating in the Sierra Maestra, and Pérez Serantes2 trip to those same mountains in search of the three young gringos.