Las Tunas, Cuba.- Manuel Gabriel Castillo Bernal, a retiree from the Ministry of Construction, an innovator and a fighter from Las Tunas, keeps as a treasure the memory of those moments that he shared with the Heroic Guerilla when he was a student, a fact that left an imprint on his life.

How does Che get to those moments of his young years?

We must start by remembering that he materialized in Cuba his dreams as a creator. He was always worried about educating young people when he was Minister of Industry he created the Training Department and founded several schools such as the school of industry administrators, and the school of mechanical and automation designers. I studied this last major at the "Geonel Rodríguez School" (1962-1964), located in Capdevila, Havana. I was 25 years old when I received the scholarship, I had just participated in the Literacy Campaign.

He visited our center three times. He always talked with the students, had lunch with us, toured the institution and even played chess with the deputy director. In addition, he was at our graduation and handed us the diploma.

What values did Che show during those meetings?

His help was not only important for the proper functioning of the school. His pedagogy and example were important as well. The requirement and discipline were the keys; there was emulation among students, classrooms and institutions. We had to guard, keep the premises and green areas clean. On weekends, we had to work on cleaning and cutting cane, plus the attention to bananas plantations. We were not allowed to fail any subject or we had to leave the course.

On the other hand, there was an emulation meeting in the Ministry of Industry every three months, in which we participated. In those appointments, the friend of Camilo Cienfuegos oriented the next mobilizations. Then, we went in trucks to the places where we would do the volunteer work. Guevara, of course, got on those vehicles and actively accompanied us in the work.

His spirit of sacrifice was admirable. On Saturdays, after the emulation meetings, he worked all night receiving delegations and, in the morning, he participated in volunteer work without having slept. It is not surprising that, when we knew what was going to happen near the school, we would go to the right place to try to greet him and ask him to visit us. We owe our training largely to his accurate vision and direction. After being graduated from Middle Technical Education, we were distributed throughout the country to support qualified forces in the industrial field and automate processes.

He told us several times: "I want you to always reject the easy, the comfortable. Everything that exalts and honors implies sacrifice." In addition, he said: "This type of struggle gives us the opportunity to become revolutionary men, the highest step of the human species, but it also allows us to graduate as men ..."

How does Che get to settle forever inside of Castillo?

Since I met him, I have tried to follow his legacy because I feel that I am one of his disciples, and as long as I have health and energy, I will follow that paradigm. With my 82 years of life, I treasure texts about him. I have several of his thoughts and a book project entitled Notes on the imprint of Che in technical-professional training, which I write in the genre of testimony, in which I tell the experiences accumulated as a student around his personality. Besides, I include assessments of his pedagogical influence.

AS WE SAY GOODBYE TO CASTILLO...

Manuel has applied the teachings of Guevara in everyday life. In his professional work, solutions to problems that could have generated economic losses to the country stand out, such as the recovery of some 750 windows of the Doctor Ernesto Guevara de la Serna Provincial Hospital, between 2010 and 2011.

He worked in the factories of soda, torula yeast, boards, feed, stainless steel and metal structures in the territory, in addition to his work at the Guatemala Sugar Mill. In several of those spaces, he left his creative imprint when working on the recovery of oxy-cutting equipment, which allowed to rescue oxygen and acetylene regulators, as well as welding and cutting torches, resources widely used in the sector. He also manufactured coal ovens.

Today, he worries about sharing with his granddaughter Adriana and others like her his knowledge about Che and his participation in the National Association of Innovators and Rationalizers (also known as ANIR by its Spanish acronyms), an organization of which the hero is a Member of Honor. "When I hear the children say: We will be like Che !, I think about how much they should strive to be like him, a sacrificed man who urged us to improve ourselves and educated us with his example.

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