Haydee Santamaría
| Haydée Santamaría | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 30 December 1923 in Villa Clara, Cuba |
| Spouse(s) | Armando Hart |
| Children |
Celia Hart (1963-2008) Abel Santamaria Hart (1960-2008) |
| Relatives | Abel Santamaria (brother) |
Haydée Santamaría Cuadrado (Villa Clara, December 30, 1923 – Havana, July 28, 1980) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician, regarded as a heroine in post-revolutionary Cuba. She participated in the assault on Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1953, an action for which she was imprisoned along with Melba Hernández.
She only attended school until the sixth grade, which was not uncommon. Depression also ran in her family and it severely affected her to the end of her life. Often she spent days in bed while in depressive episodes. She eventually married Armando Hart and had two children with him, one being the writer Celia Hart. They also took in many children and managed their own type of orphanage.
During her imprisonment after the Moncada assault, the guards allegedly brought her the bleeding eye of her brother, Abel Santamaría and threatened to tear out the other. They also brought her the mangled testicle of her then fiance, Boris Luis Santa Coloma. Her response was: “If you did that to them and they didn't talk, much less will I.” Both Abel and Boris died after the assault of the Moncada Barracks.
After her release she helped to found the 26th of July Movement, joining the guerrilla forces led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in the Sierra Maestra mountains. During the war she fought in the women’s battalion for the rebel army: the Mariana Grajales platoon.
After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, she founded the cultural institution Casa de las Américas, and remained its director for two decades. This was a bold institution that gave voice to the work of Latin American dissidents, and it continues today. As well as literature, the institution brought innovative music, painting and theatre to the Cuban people. She was a founding member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
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Wikipedia