Che and Maceo

It was by chance that on 14 June, 83 years apart, two exceptional men marked by the rigor of bullets and the lucidity of thought came to life. And although now, in the midst of a health pandemic, tributes demand discretion, it is impossible for Cubans to miss the date.

The Bronze Titan (1845), so named in the redeeming countryside, started the war as a simple soldier and ended as Major General. He was, along with Máximo Gómez, the protagonist of the Invasion of the West in the War of 1895. During the epic action, he traveled 424 leagues in 90 days, in front of 1,500 semi-naked and poorly armed men, with whom he presented combat to more than 20 thousand Spanish soldiers. This fact is usually considered the greatest military feat of the 19th century.

Ernesto Guevara (1928), for his part, owner of a bulletproof will, discovered early that his place was with the dispossessed of America. And to that, to do for them, he entrusted the course of his destiny. Life enrolled him in the cause of Fidel Castro's rebels; and as a doctor, he became a soldier and a bearded Commander. The reissue of the Invasion into the West is complete proof of his military genius.

In these hours, when the Island fights a pitched battle against the COVID-19 on all fronts, inside and outside borders, it is impossible not to look back at their ideas and think about how much of the gallantry of both accompanies those who inhabit today Cuba. A country that has them among its paradigms of justice and cravings for freedom, and turns to them before every dilemma and dream.