“I want to serve the people of Las Tunas.” We, the children of this land, who represented the province at the 11th Congress of the Union of Cuban Journalists (UPEC), heard with astonishment. Then, we were seconds away from meeting Margarita Ramírez Jaen, a graduate of Higher Education in English, one of the guides of the Fidel Castro Ruz Center (CFCR), in the country's capital.

She was born on April 22, 1950, in Vázquez, Puerto Padre. In October 1964, when she was 14, Havana welcomed her to study at the Rubén Martínez Villena Internal Junior High School. That cosmopolitan city, where she continued schooling, ended up being her home since 1975 after she got married.

“But I go every year to visit my family in Las Tunas, it gives me great joy. In my childhood, there was poverty; but I was happy because we have always been a very close and loving family. We were eight siblings and my mother's many relatives would gather at my house, happy and affectionate. Love and understanding were exuded," she confessed to 26 later.

Margarita radiated love in her exercise of taking us around the premises, explaining every detail, jumping into anecdotes, putting her personal stamp of ease and knowledge in what she said. “A sacred place,” that's what she said.

"My arrival at this institution was curious and special. I came with my daughter, who wanted to apply for a place here. The colleague who attended us, Guelsy, head of the Information Department, asked me if I would apply too, and I told her no, that I was with my daughter. I explained to her that I was a tourist guide, but we didn't have work due to the pandemic; however, I did not want to leave my agency.”

"She stressed that I should fill it out and I very haughtily told her ’No’. The third time I answered: ‘Give me that form that for some reason you insist so much on’. I am very intuitive, so I thought: ‘The universe is opening the doors for me and that does not happen twice’." That is how we entered the Center as museologists, in January 2021.

“I never imagined doing this job, really not; but, today, it fascinates me, excites me, because much of what I explain, I experienced as a child and then as an adult. Everything here makes me feel very close to Fidel and that is what I transmit to the visitors; no matter their age, sex, ideology, or nationality, who, by the way, come from many countries,” she told this newspaper hours after the tour that she took pleasure in doing with the “people of Las Tunas.”

We saw her, we heard her narrate with all admiration the journey of a man whose greatness not even his enemies can deny. She made us go to each room as if it were an adventure. She created expectations and what followed did not leave it in the realm of uncertainty. The beauty of the place and the attractive way of showing the history not of a leader, but of an entire country and its leader are truly admirable. And our guide, and we, were… are part of it.

“The rooms that transmit his legacy the most are the Fidel in Time, which show his life since his birth until he left us physically.”

“Another is The Word, where we can see him, hear him, and we are witnesses of his gift as a great speaker. The Solidarity Room shows off his humanism, sensitivity for the poor of the world, and his trips -always based on peace, friendship, and achieving good relations between peoples."

“In the Fidel is Fidel some personalities express what he meant to them, and moments of his funeral are projected. Today not so much, but in the tours at the beginning it was very difficult to talk about the Commander, I was moved that people of all ages and sexes were moved to the point of starting to cry. It was truly difficult for me not to do it too.”

“Today I have a little more emotional control but still many visitors finish the tour very shaken. Sometimes they leave the room because they can’t hold back their tears.”

Time goes by and our museologist doesn’t even notice it. She remains in her immutable “trance.” “The CFCR guide cannot lack sensitivity, feeling and loving Fidel, being a revolutionary, loving what he says and does, persuading, convincing; having the ability to awaken in the visitor the feeling that our leader is in every corner of the center, of Cuba, and is universal, a human being with exceptional gifts.”

In passing, we learned that the group even has a motto: “It is forbidden not to dream.” It couldn’t be more appropriate.

The farewell arrived and we, from Las Tunas, felt we had left behind a beloved compatriot. We promised to see each other again, here, in the land of Vicente García, where Margarita still has her brothers Luciano and Walfrido, Aunt Candita, and a bunch of nephews and cousins.

Of course, she will always have to come back. Two children, a granddaughter, and her husband are with her in Havana. New visitors to the Fidel Castro Center are also waiting for her, who will experience the joy of being guided by a woman expert in the arts of enchantment and with a heart that beats for Las Tunas.