Juan Almeida

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Juan Almeida during the revolution

Juan Almeida Bosque (born February 17, 1927 in Havana , Cuba ; † September 11, 2009 there ) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician. During and after the Cuban Revolution in 1959 he was one of the leading figures in the state and party of Cuba.

Live and act

On July 26, 1953, Almeida took part in the attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba , which was led by Fidel Castro . The entire attempt failed. Juan Almeida was sentenced to a long prison term, but was released after two years under a general amnesty in May 1955. Then he was a founding member of the " Movement of July 26th " on June 12, 1955 and thus the driving force of the revolution against the dictator Batista in Cuba.

Like some other Moncadistas, Almeida went into exile with Fidel and Raúl Castro in July 1955 to Mexico , where they planned and prepared the armed expedition back to Cuba. There they met Ernesto "Che" Guevara . On November 25, 1956, 82 revolutionaries - including Juan Almeida - set out from Tuxpan (Mexico) with the yacht " Granma " for Cuba, where they arrived on December 2, 1956. After more than two years of guerrilla warfare , the dictator Batista fled Cuba on January 1, 1959. In the course of the revolution, Almeida was raised to the rank of Comandante of the rebel army in February 1958 and appointed head of the Third Front.

After the triumph of the revolution in 1959, he held various offices: among others as head of the Cuba Air Force , Vice Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, Vice President of the State Council , member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (KPK) and the Politburo of the Central Committee of the KPK. After Fidel and Raúl Castro and the two comandantes Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos , who died early , Juan Almeida was one of the most popular figures of the Cuban revolution.

On the evening of September 11, 2009, Almeida died at the age of 82 in Havana of cardiovascular arrest . His remains were interred in the mausoleum of the Martyrs of the Third Front at Cruce de los Baños in the Sierra Maestra.

In June 2013, on the occasion of the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the failed attack on the Moncada barracks on the Revolution Square in Santiago de Cuba, a permanent wall portrait of Almeida was attached to a facade of the Teatro Heredia. It is accompanied by the attributed quote "aquí no se rinde nadie" (nobody surrenders here) from the guerrilla war. In a similar way, the two revolutionary heroes Guevara and Cienfuegos had previously been honored with portraits on facades on Revolution Square in Havana .

In addition to his political activities, Juan Almeida also composed over 300 pieces of music, including a. by Silvio Rodríguez , Pablo Milanés , Chucho Valdés , Omara Portuondo and NG La Banda .

Juan Almeida (center) with Luis Corvalán (right) and Rodney Arismendi (left) at the 10th party congress of the SED (1981)

Honors

  • Hero of the Republic of Cuba (1998)
  • Máximo Gómez Order of the Republic of Cuba (1998)

Publications

Web links

Commons : Juan Almeida Bosque  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eduardo Pinto Sánchez: Dedican relieve escultórico a Juan Almeida Bosque , in: Juventud Rebelde of June 21, 2013 (Spanish)
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from January 21, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Rafael Lam: Juan Almeida, una vida musical (+ audio de “La Lupe”, en voz de Silvio Rodríguez) , Cubadebate of September 12, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Almeida, Juan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Almeida Bosque, Juan (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban revolutionary and politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Havana , Cuba
DATE OF DEATH September 11, 2009
Place of death Havana , Cuba