I am referring to the first broadcasting of the Radio Rebelde radio station from the heart of Sierra Maestra on February 24, 1958. This marked a new stage; first, that of the “communicational guerrilla” as an ideological weapon to overthrow Batista’s tyranny, and at the same time the legitimate voice of a whole country up in arms.
Secondly, it represented the beginning of a new conception of the radio that has lasted until these days; a radio that walks along with the Cuban people and the Revolution in the construction of an increasingly fairer country.
Moreover, it became the reliable way to centralize communications among the troops of the Rebel Army, operating in a large part of the national territory.
Radio Rebelde was the starting point of a reliable media committed to the legitimate interests of the Cuban people. Together with the newspaper “El Cubano Libre”, also inaugurated by Che, we were creating a new journalism that was in line with Marti’s ideology, hence, it constituted the moral redemption of a press that, since then, has been consistent with the most sacred precepts of national evolution.
The ideological work of the “Guerrillero Heroico”, and his absolute devotion as a soldier to the Revolution, gave the doctor and combatant a baptism of Cuban citizenship, which years later he would attest through his ideas concerning the economic field, and as an internationalist combatant.
The conception of a guerrilla radio project was crucial at the tactical and strategic levels, where Che’s vision and his universality provided key tools to the revolutionary process of the 20th century and the present.
Radio Rebelde, founded by Che, served as a preamble to, once victory was achieved, initiate a transition stage in the Cuban media. Our current and emblematic Radio Rebelde, together with the entire Cuban Radio system, proudly shows its revolutionary essence inspired by men who, like Ché, accompanied Fidel in his liberating endeavor.
The radio, to which Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara attached so much importance 63 years ago, continues as always, alongside the people and the Revolution. On this new anniversary of the decease of the “Guerrillero Heroico”, the best way to remember him is through one of his most praiseworthy works.
