Cuba Commemorates Day of the Martyrs of the Revolution

The day in which Frank País García and Raúl Pujol were assassinated, was chosen as a symbolic date to honor the more than 20,000 Cubans who lost their lives in the effort to overthrow Batista

At 20-some years of age, life is a dream. The future is to be discovered and goals set. It is not a time to think of death. The departure of a young person is all the more painful, in the face of so much hope cut short.

This was the sentiment that moved heroic Santiago that July 31, 1953, when the dictatorship was obliged to concede the streets to the indignant people bearing the bodies of Frank País García and Raúl Pujol.

“Frank País was one of those men who asserts himself upon the first encounter; his appearance was more or less what is seen in current photos, but his eyes had extraordinary depth,” Che said, describing him, when still practically a boy, Frank became head of action and sabotage for the July 26th Movement. He organized the November 30 uprising in the city to support the Granma landing, and ensured the survival of the guerillas in the Sierra with supplies.

Such were his merits that the day he and Raúl Pujol were killed was chosen as the date to honor the more than 20,000 Cubans who gave their lives in the struggle to overthrow Batista
“What barbarity! They cowardly hunted him down in the streets… they have no idea of the intelligence, the character, the integrity they have murdered,” said Fidel at the time.

Cuba would be nothing without its history, that is, the Revolution would be nothing without its dead. That is why July 30 exists. To commemorate those who made the present possible and commit ourselves to continuing their struggle.

As Fidel said, “We come to talk not of history in the past, but rather of the history that we are living, because the people of Cuba are alive and making this history.”