Guillermo's battles, in a memorable book (+ Photos)

Havana, Apr 28.- A man and his imprint; a young man's passion for history and his eagerness to tell it with all his nuances; Cuba and its many vicissitudes in pursuit of overcoming adversity... are the protagonists of “The battles of Guillermo. Conversations with a Commander of the Cuban Revolution”, a wonderful book whose presentation was attended by the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.

Revealing and legendary stories of life and combat mark the nearly 200 pages that make up the text, whose portico is honored with a prologue by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution. “As has happened to me on a few other occasions, these pages caught my interest immediately and I literally didn't stop reading until I finished them,” Raúl confesses in his lyrics, and with them comes the certainty that this is already a memorable book.

"The battles of Guillermo...", as the Army General himself would say in his words, is nothing more than a "substantial conversation between a young and talented Cuban journalist, and a veteran protagonist of a good part of the most transcendent of the feat that we are still waging, to preserve full independence and achieve, as Martí aspired, all justice for our people.

From that conversation between the two, this book was born which, according to its author, the journalist Wilmer Rodríguez Fernández, “gathers the story not only of a guerrilla Commander, but also the human drama of a family in the countryside and everything that after the triumph, together with the highest leadership of the country, it was up to him to do”.

Guillermo, he said, is an “extraordinary human being, he is a guajiro, a Cuban, and more than a Cuban he is a “Cubanazo”; He is a person who calls things by his name and who tells the story with the naturalness that only men born and raised in the countryside know how to tell it.

And precisely this extraordinary human being was honored today by the top leaders of the country with their presence in the emblematic Portocarrero room, of the Palace of the Revolution, a space that indisputably bears the imprint of Fidel and Celia, from the Sierra Maestra.

Accompanying the President of the Republic this Thursday afternoon were the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz; the Vice President of the Republic, Salvador Valdés Mesa, and in a very special way the Vice Prime Minister, Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, and the Commander of the Rebel Army José Ramón Machado Ventura, who together with Guillermo, are symbols of our historic guerrilla struggle and revolutionary.

Also there, in front of Guillermo García, heroes and heroines of the Republic; participants in the Granma yacht expedition; combatants of the Rebel Army, with whom he fought in the Sierra Maestra; relatives of murdered expedition members; as well as children, grandchildren, friends and co-workers.

Many others, almost a hundred people, also witnessed the launch of "Guillermo's battles...", a text that, according to the writer and journalist Katiuska Blanco during the presentation, is a "memorial book, revealing and Legendary stories of life and combat for Cuba la bella”.

Wilmer's questions, he said, arouse in "Guillermo the emotion of remembering, and they channel the memories of a long and fruitful life, which goes through the war in the mountains and the emphatic truths of the moral value of a force." .

In these lines, he highlighted, "traces of the character and personality of someone who has the wonderful possibility of having before him a man deeper than many imagine" are marked.

Ocean Sur, a Latin American publishing house that for more than 30 years has offered its readers the voices of revolutionary thought of all time, was in charge of publishing the text.

Of the gigantic commitment with this Island; the many hours spent working on the book; and the passion with which the editor who worked on the book shared phrases or anecdotes with her colleagues, spoke this afternoon Ana María Cabrera Marsden, editorial coordinator of Ocean Sur, who cataloged the text "as a historical legacy for the new generations."

Precisely to the new generations, the Commander of the Revolution Guillermo García Frías first dedicated the book: "to the Cuban youth, to those young people who love the Homeland."

Secondly, to Cuban women, he said, especially mothers, who with their dedication and dedication resist the most difficult circumstances at all times.

With his voice torn by the emotions of the afternoon, the Commander of the Revolution also recalled the Army General, for whom he confessed to feeling deep affection, admiration and respect, feelings that have grown in so many years of shared battles and friendship.

Every day, he assured, I feel more duty to fight, because "I am a son of this town, I love it, I am sorry, and I am dying for it." (Site of the Presidency)