Camilo Cienfuegos
| Camilo Cienfuegos | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán 6 February 1932 Lawton, Havana, Cuba |
| Died | 28 October 1959 (aged 27) Straits of Florida |
| Nationality | Cuban |
| Organization | 26th of July Movement |
Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán (Spanish: [kaˈmilo sjeɱˈfweɣoz ɣorjaˈɾan]; 6 February 1932 – 28 October 1959) was a Cuban revolutionary born in Havana. Along with Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Juan Almeida Bosque, and Raúl Castro, he was a member of the 1956 Granma expedition, which launched Fidel Castro's armed insurgency against the government of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. He became one of Castro's top guerilla commanders, known as the "Hero of Yaguajay" after winning a key battle of the Cuban Revolution.
He was appointed head of Cuba's armed forces shortly after the victory of Castro's rebel army in 1959. He was presumed dead when a small plane he was traveling in disappeared during a night flight from Camagüey to Havana later that year. Cienfuegos is revered in Cuba as a hero of the Revolution, with monuments, memorials, and an annual celebration in his honor.
Camilo Cienfuegos, born on 6 February 1932 in Havana's Lawton district, grew up in a working-class family that had emigrated from Spain prior to the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39. His father, a tailor who worked a small shop in Havana, had left-wing political principles.
Artistically inclined since early youth, Camilo enrolled in the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro" in 1950, but left his studies soon after due to financial problems. During this period he started working as a tailor apprentice in "El Arte", a fashion store in downtown Havana.
Around 1948 he became involved in political issues, taking part in popular protests against rising bus-fares. In April 1953 Cienfuegos and a friend traveled to the U.S. on 29-day visitors' visas in search of work. They spent several months working low-paying jobs in New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco until immigration officials took them into custody and returned them to Cuba via Mexico. While in New York Cienfuegos became involved with a Cuban political exile group and wrote a few articles for its newspaper, La Voz de Cuba.
...
Wikipedia