Camilo Cienfuegos

Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán (February 6, 1932 - October 28, 1959) was a Cuban revolutionary born in Calabazar de Sagua, Las Villas Cuba.

Related Topics:
February 6 - 1932 - October 28 - 1959 - Cuba - Calabazar de Sagua, Las Villas Cuba

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Camilo Cienfuegos was active in underground activities against the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista and played an important role in the Cuban Revolution. He was one of the revolution's four major figures, together with Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro and Che Guevara. His jovial smile was famous, also a prankster, maybe the only person in Cuba who teased and joked with the irascible Che Guevara.

Related Topics:
Fulgencio Batista - Cuban Revolution - Fidel Castro - Raúl Castro - Che Guevara

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He did not participate in the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, and during the revolution led the so-called second column (Antonio Maceo) of the rebel forces together with Che Guevara. After the revolution's victory, Cienfuegos served in the Army's high command, fought counter-revolutionary uprisings, and played an important role instituting agrarian reforms.

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There has been debate as to Cienfuegos's political leanings. While many claim that he was anti-Communist, Cuban author and historian Carlos Franqui suggests otherwise in his book Family Portrait With Fidel. Franqui, one of Cienfuegos's closest friends during the Cuban revolution, asserts that Cienfuegos "sympathized with socialism" and that he followed Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara politically. Other sources tend to agree with Franqui, though it is mostly thought that Cienfuegos was not a hard-line Soviet Communist. Cienfuegos's involvement in agrarian reform and worker's congresses in the early days of the revolution must be noted, as must also the fact that both his father and his brother Osmani were (and, in Osmani's case, are) radical leftists.

Related Topics:
Carlos Franqui - Family Portrait With Fidel - Che Guevara - Osmani

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