About 100,000 inhabitants of Santiago de Cuba, representing all the compatriots, paid homage to Fidel, on the eighth anniversary of the deposit of his ashes in the patrimonial cemetery of Santa Ifigenia, in the already traditional pilgrimage from the Revolution Square Major General Antonio Maceo Grajales to the cemetery.
As a prelude, a floral offering, on behalf of the Cuban people, was placed before the monolith that treasures his ashes, and loose flowers were placed on the funeral monuments of José Martí, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and Mariana Grajales, by the highest political and governmental authorities of the untamed province and, especially, by student leaders, as a sign of the continuity of the revolutionary and fidelist legacy.
In a tight frame and loudly resounded through the streets of the Heroic City the “I am Fidel” that became the motto and commitment of all the people to their historic leader. Yasmani Cortina, a young professor at the University of Oriente, told Granma that he has participated “every December 4 in these tributes that we from the Cradle of the Revolution pay to Fidel. It is very significant that his rest is in Santa Ifigenia; we are his custodians.”
Orlando Guevara, a retired journalist, brought to the cemetery a flower “ordered by Tina, an Italian communist who has in Fidel her paradigm, and I committed myself to make this simple act in each anniversary of his physical disappearance. This attests to the imprint of the Commander-in-Chief in the world.”
By: Luis Alberto Portuondo / Granma.cu | Photo: Luis Alberto Portuondo
