Mayabeque, Cuba: First-year English students at the Güines Municipal University Center experienced transcendental moments closely lived by Clarisa Herrera, Cuban Sport Glory and the engineer José Ignacio La O Hernández, retired from the sugar sector and fighter of the revolution.
They had the opportunity to meet Fidel Castro and today they talked about how much they admire his qualities, his gallantry and the way in which his legacy is present in every part of our country.
Clarisa, a former athlete of the Cuba Volleyball team, excitedly recounted the moments when they sent the Commander’s blood to Peru in 1970 when an earthquake struck that nation that then needed help. From here, she tells her, they sent food, medicine, and blood. The first to donate was Fidel. It was a noble and altruistic task, Peru needed it.
Then another meeting happened a year later, upon returning from the Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia. The leader always spoke to us about sports discipline, responsibility and the defense of the colors of the flag when we represented Cuba abroad.
The joy of the team was also important to him, he said that it gave confidence and faith in the triumph, that’s how we became the first generation of the Morenas del Caribe.
José Ignacio spoke of the splendor of the sugar industry at the Amistad con los Pueblos plant in Güines. It was 1981 and this was the first factory in the country to start producing direct white sugar. The importance of saving resources and materials that were used in the process was imposed at that time and the workers took over the work.
At that time, around 30 thousand tons were produced in about 150 days of the harvest. This motivated Fidel’s presence in the industry together with the desire to share the end of the year with the workers.
At approximately 12 p.m. on December 31, 1981, the Commander arrived at the headquarters. Nobody expected his visit, it was a real event, he says excitedly.
He spoke with the workers, toured the power plant and the area where the sugar was transported.
He was interested in the operation of the factory, the state of the mill, and spoke with others such as Hipólito Santana and Ramón Domínguez.
La O does not speak of Fidel in the past because he always has him in mind, so he reflects when he talks with young people and adds: I admire his honesty, simplicity and attachment to the principles and concepts of the Revolution, to which I have not ceased to be faithful.
I admire his respect for the human being. That is why today I am satisfied and proud of my people and of their eternal Commander, he concluded.