Che, Fidel, Almeida and the Cuban Revolution

Juan Almeida Bosque

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While in exile, the Castro brothers and Almeida, and Che planned a guerilla war on Cuba. The following year the revolutionaries forced Batista to flee to Spain and ascended to power.

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He remained active in politics, receiving a promotion to General, heading the National Association of Veterans and Combatants of the Revolution, serving as a committee member for various government positions, and ultimately, ranking third in command for the Cuban Council of State. His honors are numerous, including the titles Commander of the Revolution and Hero of the Republic of Cuba Juan Almeida Bosque died of a heart attack on September 11, His body was laid to rest in a mausoleum near the mountains of Santiago de Cuba, the site of his first battles. As a victim of racism and economic inequalities, he became the first Black leader of the Revolution, fighting tooth and nail for the implementation of a government based in equality and brotherhood.

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Thank you very much for this profile of a man who clearly loved his country so much that he was able to achieve his goals when the odds were stacked against him. It is so easy to lose track of all of those that contribute to such great feats of adversity.

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Fidel and Che seemed to have grown in the public eye because they sought such regard from the media. It is often those in the shadows of the media that are pulling as equal weight as those in the spotlight. Here is a testimony of a selfless rebel whose acts for his cause and regard from his people was clearly enough for him see his efforts through to victory.

I found this piece very interesting because it was all new to me. I had never heard of Juan Almeida Bosque before reading this.

He seemed to be a man who was very effective behind the scenes of the Cuban Revolution. Bosque seemed to be supporting the revolution out of a genuine desire to help the people of his country and improve the quality of living and quality of governance.

It was the same with Vladimir Lenin, but the attachment of the Western perception of Communism has in my opinion hurt their standing. It is important to note at the time of the revolution they sought to improve their people and their country as this article does a good job of pointing out was the case with Juan Almeida Bosque.

Juan Almeida, a Cuban Revolutionary

Thank you for posting this piece on Almeida. Being a Cuban-American and having grown up hearing stories of the revolution it is affirming to learn more about the conditions and nature of the revolution. I have heard of the revolutionaries in a not-so-pleasant way expressing anti-Castro and anti-revolution discussion at family gatherings.

Their feelings were passionate as the revolutions threatened their way of life in Cuba. By the ragtag bunch which had barely escaped with a single member alive a year earlier was beginning to establish itself as a more cohesive force. Meanwhile, American support for Batista was waning. Naty Revuelta Clews, Castro's lover. Suddenly the revolution had turned from the dream of a few straggle-bearded student types into a more mainstream movement.

Dozens of organisations, many representing the middle-class professions, came out to support what was known as the July 26 Movement one early, if catastrophically ill-conceived, attack had taken place on July 26 Almeida was appointed Commander and head of the Santiago Column of the Revolutionary Army and, having survived a huge army operation in July which came close to capturing or killing the revolutionary leadership, Castro and his men finally felt confident enough to leave their mountain stronghold and take the battle to Batista-controlled metropolitan centres.

Almeida was in charge of one front as, sweeping down from the mountains, they inflicted a series of defeats on government troops, until, on New Year's Day , Batista fled the country. Almeida, with Che Guevara and Castro, entered Havana unopposed. Juan Almeida Bosque was born in a poor quarter of Havana on February 17 , a black boy in a society where skin tone mattered greatly. He was forced to take odd construction jobs while a child to help make ends meet. None the less, he went to the University of Havana to read Law.

It was there, in , that he fell in with a fellow law student, Fidel Castro, and pledged himself to the movement to topple Batista, who had taken power in a coup that year. A year later he was part of the first direct attack on the dictatorship. Launched on July 26 , the attack was a farce, as Castro's men became separated from one another.

More than 60 were killed; many others were captured and jailed.

Che, Fidel, Almeida and the Cuban Revolution

Almeida, along with both Castro brothers, was imprisoned on the Isla de la Juventud until the Moncada rebels were amnestied in May The revolutionary leaders then based themselves in Mexico to plot a more competent campaign. As the postrevolutionary administration took shape, he wielded significant influence and was appointed, in , to the Cuban Communist Party Central Committee and Political Bureau.

By then, according to a recent book, he had survived implication in a plot to overthrow Fidel Castro, having received significant sums of money from the CIA, which had also, it is alleged, spirited his family to safety. It seems to have been decided that such rumours were part of a campaign to create discord within the Cuban government, and Almeida survived. In he was elected to the National Assembly of People's Power, one of a series of important posts he occupied.

Almeida announced that he was winding down his political career in , owing to heart problems. In his spare time he enjoyed writing, and also composing songs — by the end he had produced more than compositions.

At the time of his death on September 11, Juan Almeida Bosque was one of only three surviving Commanders of the Revolution. The other two are the revolutionary veterans Guillermo Garcia, 81, and Ramiro Valdes, aged

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