2023-07-21 14:00:00
Ideals of social justice motivated Ramón Pez Ferro al Moncada on July 26, 1953, the boy of only 19 years old, native of Candelaria and later a resident of Villa Roja, a fourth-year student of the Artemisa Secondary Education Institute.
“The youth of Artemisa immediately spoke out against Batista. At that time I was a member of the municipal executive of the Orthodox Youth and was the perfect guide for the Esperanza de la Fraternidad Youth Association, belonging to the Evolution Masonic Lodge, ”he recalled when interviewing this medium.
His revolutionary career was sufficient endorsement for José Suárez Blanco to include him among the members of the movement that was taking shape around Fidel.
“I had the privilege of belonging to that central cell from which others derived. Because of my position in the lodge, I easily used the premises without arousing suspicion. On one occasion we held a meeting with Fidel there. For greater discretion, that night we arranged the Masonic temple and turned off the lights. We only turned on the three light bulbs in the altar.
“We learned, through Fidel, the objectives of the movement. He explained that we proposed to overthrow the dictatorship and change the situation of corruption, surrender and decomposition that reigned in the country. We were a movement of workers, workers and peasants who yearned for a better future.
“Weeks before, they summoned us to Abel and Haydée’s apartment at 25 and O, in Vedado, and Fidel himself indicated that we would carry out special training, lasting several days, and that we should prepare conditions at home to avoid suspicion.
There he recognized how the movement was organized in Artemisa. “That day, when I got home, I was sure that this outing implied the armed action for which we had prepared so much.
“On the 24th we left for Havana. I went to a cafeteria bar on Zapata and 23, until about 11:00 pm, very discreetly, without talking to each other. An hour later we left in some cars, in an unknown direction.
“The driver only told us the destination when we entered Oriente. Although we did not know the exact objective, we had full confidence in the direction and we were willing to move forward, which was made clear at the Siboney Farm, when each one learned details.”
As part of the group led by Abel Santamaría, Pez Ferro had to take over the Saturnino Lora Civil Hospital. “The withdrawal order never reached us and we fought until the bullets ran out. So we met in the lobby to analyze the situation, and that’s when a veteran of the War of Independence approached us and asked for a weapon. We explained the situation to him and he offered to help. Then Tomás Álvarez Breto, my neighbor, told her to pretend I was his grandson.
“Tomasito’s idea seemed strange to me, but the veteran agreed. We even had a certain resemblance, and I looked younger. I got rid of the uniform, and sat next to the bed. They didn’t even notice me. Then he talked to them and asked them to let me go, as the family would be worried. I left there, in the middle of an unknown city, in turmoil, and full of bloodthirsty murderers in the streets.
Without money, he remembers that he sold some clothes to buy a ticket and a lady helped him get to his grandmother’s house in Marianao, but the henchmen already suspected his participation in the assault.
“Since my father visited me all the time, they followed him one day and arrested me. I went to trial, but Fidel directed some of us to deny participation, and since they had no evidence, I was acquitted, although at the trial I praised the attitude of the assailants and when asked if I would have agreed to participate in the action, if they had made the proposal, I answered affirmatively.
Participating in Moncada fueled his fighting spirit and there were many actions in which he later participated, hence the constant persecution to which he was subjected; he was imprisoned, he was beaten and he even had to take the path of exile. His triumph surprised him in the United States.
Then Pez Ferro returned to Cuba to be a participant in the transformation program. Although he no longer lives in Artemisa, he returned to the La Matilde neighborhood every so often, and a barrage of memories come to his mind. There he began and everything was gestated. His fighting brothers lived there: Julito, Ramiro, Álvarez Breto, and it is precisely there where the fallen rest, those whom he has not been able to forget.
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