Granma, a province located in the eastern region of Cuba, is synonymous with history. Its name alludes to the Granma yacht, in which the expeditionaries from Tuxpan, Mexico, arrived in the lands of the province on December 2, 1956, through Los Cayuelos, Niquero, to begin the last stage of the struggle until reaching definitive liberation on January 1st, 1959.
It is the cradle of the Cuban Nationality and of the egregious Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, the Father of the Nation, initiator of the libertarian deed of 1868, who became the Father of all Cubans by launching the cry of independence in La Demajagua and freeing the first redemptive combat in the town of Yara.
The fields of Granma witnessed many glorious victories of the Mambisa arms, such as the Battle of Peralejo, on July 13, 1895, and not a few unfortunate episodes, such as the frontal fall in combat of the Hero of Two Rivers, José Martí, on May 19, 1895.
The struggles against the tyranny of Gerardo Machado Morales took place, where the revolutionary Antonio Guiteras was projected as a national figure, who organized the inhabitants of Bayamo, Jiguaní and Manzanillo for the frontal battle against the fierce dictator. On the other hand, in the territories of what is now Granma there was a strong revolutionary ferment that denounced the corruption of the so-called authentic governments and that militated in the Orthodox Party of the Cuban People, created by the illustrious Santiago politician Eduardo Chibás. Among its most prestigious members were Manuel Sánchez Silveira, Celia Sánchez Manduley, Manuel Echevarría Martínez, Roberto Arnaldo Paneque, Eloy Paneque Blanco, Adalberto Pesant González and Micaela Riera.
Bayamo was the scene of the detonating action of July 26, 1953, the assault on the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Barracks in Bayamo. This fact gave impetus and clarity to the revolutionary opposition against Batista's tyranny, which endorsed the programmatic document History will absolve me, prepared as a self-defense for the events in Santiago de Cuba and Bayamo, by the lawyer and brave patriot Fidel Castro.
This territory served as a shelter for the Rebel Army and important battles were fought in the mountainous geography of the province until freedom was achieved. Among those are: the Combat of La Plata, the first offensive action of the Rebel Army against the Batista army, the Combat of Pino del Agua, the combat of Uvero, the Battle of Guisa, among other actions.
Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz established the General Command of La Plata in this territory. After several months of operations and without having a guerrilla base, Fidel Castro, together with his men, established his Command made up of facilities of great importance for the guerrillas, such as a hospital and the house where Radio Rebelde was based. From La Plata, the rebel combatants faced the offensive of the tyranny, left to carry out missions in the plain, and Fidel also transmitted various messages to the people of Cuba through the guerrilla station founded by Che.