The Commander Juan Almeida was born in Havana on February 17th of 1927 and died in Havana on September 11th in 2009. This week in 2023 his birthday, as usual, is being celebrated from Havana on the southwestern tip of the island to Santiago de Cuba on the southeastern tip. AND FOR GOOD REASON!!!!!
From the start and to the end of the Cuban Revolution, Juan Almeida was at Fidel Castro's side as a vital guerrilla fighter, Commander, and General. And after they won their revolution on January 1st of 1959, Juan Almeida remained as one of the most powerful leaders in Cuba till the day he died in 2009.
Both Fidel and Juan considered July 26th of 1953 as the start of their Revolution. That was the day they attacked Batista's Moncada Garrison in Santiago de Cuba...an ill-advised and over-matched unit of out-gunned rebels that got shot to pieces. Fidel and Juan survived but were captured and then imprisoned on the Isle of Pines, Batista's main prison. But they got out on May 15th of 1955 and resumed their Revolution. Knowing Batista had assassins monitoring their movements, they escaped to Mexico where they met a newly graduated Argentine doctor named Che Guevara who wanted to join the Cuban Revolution. Those three along with 78 other rebels then embarked on the dangerously over-loaded yacht named Granma to sail to the southeastern coast of Cuba so they could join the anti-Batista guerrilla unit led by the brilliant Celia Sanchez. But Batista got tipped off when the Granma yacht left Mexico and his spotter planes watched them reach Cuban shores. Ambushed, only 17 of the 81 rebels survived on or near the beach but the survivors included Fidel and Juan as well as other notables such as Raul Castro, Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos.
This historic photo shows the incomparable Celia Sanchez giving Fidel Castro a telescopic rifle after she had saved the lives of the 17 Granma survivors.
During their long lives in Revolutionary Cuba, both Fidel Castro and Juan Almeida repeatedly credited the heroism of Celia Sanchez for saving their lives and "saving the Revolution."
One night in February of 1958 in his diary after he finally began to believe the rebels could win their war, Che Guevara wrote these words about Celia Sanchez: "Once we do win this thing, let's not forget that it was because of Celia Sanchez."
This photo and caption shows Juan Almeida and Celia Sanchez making sure a little Cuban girl had food to eat. Both Juan and Celia were vital to winning the Revolutionary War and then both remained powerful leaders in Cuba till they died. Juan died of a heart attack in 2009 at 78 and Celia died from lung cancer in 1980 at age 59. All of his adult life Juan wrote songs and he dedicated several of them to Celia, including "Dama un traquita"/"Give me a sip." In another of his songs he wrote, "Let me tell you about Celia, the flower that won the war for us."
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