Ricardo Lamas Instagram – This is a photo of my father, José Francisco Lamas Diaz, in 1960 in the mountains of Cuba called La Sierra Maestra. He was a volunteer in a program to teach farmers how to read and write.
May 19 was the anniversary of the death of the beloved National figure José Martí who died on this date fighting for the Independence of Cuba from Spain. While in the mountains on this day, my father and a group of his friends decided to take a break from finishing building their barracks and organized a modest tribute to José Martí. After my father’s speech the civilian that was in charge of the camp ordered them to stop and get back to work finishing the barracks or they wouldn’t eat today. After my father’s refusal to work until they were given food, my father was expelled from his camp in Sierra Maestra.
On his way down the mountain he passed through a military installation. There he met Commander Aldo Santa Maria and asked him to investigate the incident that had just occurred and resulted in his expulsion. Santa Maria said he would and told him to come back the next day and showed him a place about 400 meters away where he could eat and sleep the night.
The following morning my father returned to meet with Aldo Santa Maria. Aldo told my father that he had no chance to send anybody to investigate the incident at La Magdalena and that really it was none of his business anyway.He invited my father to stay with him but my father declined stating that he did not come to the mountains to become a soldier. Before exiting Santa Maria stopped my father and said, “José, you are either going to be very good or very bad.”
My father returned home the next day and with other student leaders he helped found the Havana National Student Sector of The 30th of November Revolutionary Movement “Frank Pais”.
I had to cut out lots of details due to the limit of characters I could use in this caption. But I’m currently working on a podcast episode with my father to get his entire story recorded.
#socialismsucks #communismsucks #vivacubalibre #josemarti #cuba #abajoladictadura | Posted on 19/May/2024 21:12:50
