Fidel Castro presented on Monday his book "The Strategic Victory", a detailed story of how the rebel forces he commanded defeated the army offensive in the summer of 1958 in the mountain range of eastern Cuba.
"It´s something special to remember all that," the Cuban historical leader said while opening the presentation ceremony visibly surprised by the beautiful design of the 896-page book and moved by the memories.
Revolution Commanders Ramiro Valdés and Guillermo García and 17 leading officers of the rebel forces who today hold the ranks of general or colonel were the special guests at the televised ceremony held in one of the small halls of Havana International Convention Center.
They were "the boys", as he called them, who accompanied him since the initial combats. The book is a tribute to them and to all those who fell during the last phase of the liberation war that ended triumphantly on January 1st, 1959.
During the ceremony he discussed the content of the story, recalling the names of some of the fighters.
In the book, Fidel meticulously narrates the days in 1958 when the U.S.-equipped and trained army of dictator Fulgencio Batista launched a ferocious offensive against the First Rebel Front in the "Sierra Maestra" and the tenacious resistance and defense of that territory by the guerrilla forces.
It was an unevenly fight between 300 poorly-equipped men against a 10,000-strong, well-armed army, he stressed.
Who trained that army of torturers, who supplied the weapons, the tanks, the planes, the frigates, who taught them to torture and kill prisoners, asked Fidel.
And answered that it was the U.S. government, the same that is now torturing Gerardo Hernandez without any justification, he stressed referring to one of the five Cuban antiterrorists serving harsh sentences in U.S. jails.
"Everything is in the book, the Turquino (peak), the Joaquin (high grounds), La Jeringa, the small store", he said, recalling that he liked those places, specially the Turquino and Joaquin "because there was fresh weather that later turned cool".
"The Strategic Victory" has a sober, elegant design with ample margins, legible font and many photos and old manuscripts with faded colors that readers will enjoy as if they had in their hands the original documents.
Fidel announced that he will work on a second book that will tell the counteroffensive of the rebel forces till they victoriously entered Havana.
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