Conversation in headquarters building Ernesto Guevara about Che on the 50th anniversary of his death. Photo: Alberto Medina Cruz
Remembering Che in the african guerrilla
Conversation in headquarters building Ernesto Guevara about Che on the 50th anniversary of his death. Photo: Alberto Medina Cruz
The lobby of the Ernesto Guevara School building, where School 3 is located at the University of Informatics Sciences (UCI), was the ideal place to hold a conversation with Pablo Bárbaro Ortiz Montalvo (Sita), the sixth member of Che’s guerrilla in Congo and twin brother of Pedro Osvaldo (Saba), deceased in 1990.
Besides the students and professors from the university, the meeting was also attended by Lic. Idael Núñez González, Director of the Bosque Martiano (a forest that honors José Martí); René Fuentes Quintana, member of UNEAC in Artemisa, and Gaspar Melchor González, representing those responsible for the Room that honors Ernesto Che Guevara at UCI.
"El Jimagua," (The Twin) as Pedro Pablo is also known, recounted anecdotes about his stay in Congo as a member of the troop headed by Tatu (the name used by Che during the mission) and also under the orders of the second leader of the troop, Rebel Army Commander, Víctor Dreke.
Sita recounted how he met Che when he was a member of the troops deployed around the Guantanamo Naval Base to guard the place; he also told us about his task in Congo as a cook, together with his brother, though he didn’t know how to do it, and Guevara told him "Today it might not taste well, but tomorrow it will be better and then you’ll see how you’ll learn."
He added that Che became his friend, his brother, his doctor ... he said that even once they helped Che during an epilepsy attack provoked by his asthma -- which he suffered and was worsened there because of the conditions of life in the forest, where they were together with members of the National Liberation Movement.
Other stories emerged around the Heroic Guerrilla figure told by the visitors who had also fulfilled internationalist missions in Africa; besides, verses and poems were also dedicated to him during the meeting.
Thus, many details, not recorded by History, were made known by men who were involved in the African odyssey that turned out to be among the first Cuban internationalist operations in that brother continent.
Pablo Bárbaro Ortiz Montalvo, miembro de la guerrilla del Che en el Congo
Conversatorio sobre el Che
Conversatorio sobre el Che
