Maceo & Che
Havana, June 16 (RHC)-- Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, and President Miguel Díaz-Canel attended a gala performance in Havana, as tribute to Argentinean-Cuban Guerrilla Commander Ernesto Guevara de la Serna "Che" on his 95th birthday anniversary.
Also on hand at the ceremony were Aleida March, director of the "Che Guevara" Studies Center, Che Guevara’s daughters Aleida and Celia Guevara March, Cuban Parliament President Esteban Lazo Hernández, the secretary of the Communist Party’s Central Committee Roberto Morales Ojeda, and other Party and government officials.
Cuban actress, National Theatre Prize laureate Corina Mestre recited the poem "Canción antigua al Che Guevara" (Old song to Che Guevara) by Mirta Aguirre. The choir Entrevoces, conducted by maestra Digna Guerra, performed the tunes "El escaramujo" and "El necio", by singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez, founder of Cuba’s New Trova Movement.
During the gala, Silvio himself, a National Music Prize laureate, performed his tune entitled "El dulce abismo", showing his admiration for the legendary Guerrilla, who commanded the Battle of Santa Clara in late 1958, regarded as a decisive victory for the rebels fighting against the US-backed bloody Batista dictatorship.
Children with the world-famous theatre group ‘La Colmenita’ performed the tune ‘Hombre’ written by Silvio Rodríguez and dedicated also to Che Guevara.
Named UNICEF ambassadors, La Colmenita recreated iconic moments in Che Guevara’s family and revolutionary life, based on his own diaries. These include Che’s relationship with his mother and his journey across South America, along with his friend & fellow medical student Alberto Granado.
Wednesday’s gala performance paid tribute to yet another renowned Cuban history figure Lieutenant General Antonio Maceo Grajales of Cuba’s Mambi Army, on the 178th anniversary of his birth, also on June 14th.
