Cuba - Lonely Planet [319]
Hunted by ground troops and bombed from the air by military planes, the trio lay trapped in the cane field for four days and three nights. The hapless Pérez had inadvertently discarded his weapon; Sánchez, meanwhile, had lost his shoes. Wracked by fatigue and plagued by hunger, Fidel continued to do what he always did best. He whispered incessantly to his beleaguered colleagues – about the Revolution, about the philosophies of José Martí. Ebulliently he pontificated about how ‘all the glory of the world would fit inside a grain of maize.’ Sánchez, not unwisely, concluded that his delirious leader had gone crazy and that their grisly fate was sealed – it was just a matter of time.
At night, Fidel – determined not to be caught alive – slept with his rifle cocked against his throat, the safety catch released. One squeeze of the finger and it would have been over. No Cuban Revolution, no Bay of Pigs, no Cuban Missile Crisis, no Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.
Fatefully, the moment didn’t arrive. With the army concluding that the rebels had been wiped out, the search was called off. Choosing their moment, Fidel and his two companions crept stealthily northeast toward the safety of the Sierra Maestra, sucking on stalks of sugarcane for nutrition.
It was a desperate fight for survival. For a further eight days the rebel army remained a bedraggled trio as the three fugitive soldiers dodged army patrols, crawled through sewers and drank their own urine. It wasn’t until December 13 that they met up with Guillermo García, a campesino sympathetic to the rebel cause, and a corner was turned.
On December 15 at a safe meeting house Fidel’s brother, Raúl, materialized out of the jungle with three men and four weapons. Castro was ecstatic. Three days later a third exhausted band of eight soldiers – including Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos – turned up, swelling the rebel army to an abject 15.
‘We can win this war,’ proclaimed an ebullient Fidel to his small band of not-so-merry men, ‘We have just begun the fight.’
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PARQUE NACIONAL DESEMBARCO DEL GRANMA
Mixing unique environmental diversity with heavy historical significance, the Parque Nacional Desembarco del Granma (admission CUC$3) consists of 275 sq km of teeming forests, peculiar karst topography and uplifted marine terraces. It is also a spiritual shrine to the Cuban Revolution – the spot where Castro’s stricken leisure yacht Granma limped ashore in December 1956 to be met with a barrage of gunfire from Batista’s waiting army.
Named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1999, the park protects some of the most pristine coastal cliffs in the Americas. Of the 512 plant species identified thus far, about 60% are endemic and a dozen of them are found only here. The fauna is equally rich, with 25 species of mollusk, seven species of amphibian, 44 types of reptile, 110 bird species and 13 types of mammal.
In El Guafe, archaeologists have uncovered the second-most important community of ancient agriculturists and ceramic-makers discovered in Cuba. Approximately 1000 years old, the artifacts discovered include altars, carved stones and earthen vessels along with six idols guarding a water goddess inside a ceremonial cave. As far as archaeologists are concerned, it’s probably just the tip of the iceberg.
Sights & Activities
The area is famous as the landing place of the yacht Granma, which brought Fidel and Revolution to Cuba in 1956 (see boxed text, opposite). A large monument and the Museo Las Coloradas (admission CUC$1; 8am-6pm Tue-Sat, 8am-noon