It is the evening of March 13th, 1957
Today, 61 years later, it is March 13th again. At number one Refugio Street, the Museum of the Revolution’s visitors walk in the steps of those brave revolutionaries
Rosa Pérez López
It is the evening of March 13th, 1957 and a speeding delivery truck crosses the city carrying only a group of brave revolutionaries. Their target was the imposing building on number one Refugio Street, the criminal den where the combatants of the Student Revolutionary Directorate would settle accounts with the tyrant.
It is the evening of March 13th, 1957, and José Antonio Echeverría, president of the Federation of University Students (FEU), who had gotten involved in a complaint and threw himself into battle, who signed the Carta de México along with Fidel, the endearing “Manzanita” for his companions-in-arms, bursts into the booth of Radio Reloj to announce the execution of the dictator to the Cuban people.
It is the evening of March 13th, 1957, and on the marble floors of the Presidential Palace, the blood of good men has been shed while the tyrant manages to escape unharmed from the assault. It is the evening of March 13th, 1957, and beside the University of Havana the bullet-riddled body of Jose Antonio falls.
Today, 61 years later, it is March 13th again. At number one Refugio Street, visitors to the Museum of the Revolution walk in the steps left by those brave assailants. Cuba again listens to the impassioned speech of the student leader, and beside the University of Havana, flowers are growing around the plaque with his bronze face put there by the people of Cuba to honor the memory of José Antonio Echeverría.