04-03-06,8:31am
The images of the cross examination of some of the Bay of Pigs mercenaries, held on April 24, 1961 in the trade union hall are still horrifying.
One of the most notorious torturers of the tyranny, recently arrived with the invasion, had no response to the dramatic testimony of one of his victims, a middle aged woman, and member of the militia, a clandestine combatant, who denounced the humiliations she suffered three years earlier when her door was broken down and she was arrested.
What the torturers could not anticipate was that Angelita would have lived to be 96 years old and be as full of patriotism today as she was then.
“Calviño, I’m Martha Elena, do you remember me? The first thing he did to me, after breaking down the door, was give me a terrific blow that collapsed my breastbone. Afterwards, he destroyed my whole thorax with blows, so intense that I still suffer from a heart lesion. Then he tore my clothes to pieces, because the arrest took place at 4 a.m. I have something here I have kept with me because I swore I would one day meet you face to face, do you remember I told you so then? These are the biggest pieces of my pajamas and they still have blood on them. And this is the dressing gown I worn over my pajamas which is still smeared with blood, because he kicked me in the belly and I suffered a hemorrhage.”
“But he thought that was not enough. When he stripped me, I was handed over to Cano, to Alfaro and to all of those people, so they could rape and humiliate me.”
“Then, after I fainted, covered in blood, you came behind my back and made me put on the “earphones”, because of this I am almost deaf in one of my ears. All that was done in cold blood and when you tore down the door to my house you told me: “Maria Elena, here is the great Calviño, didn’t you say you were going to prepare an attack against me? Well, I am going to destroy you, and so he did.”
Ramon Calviño Insua was not the only torturer recruited by Washington to restore “Democracy” and “Freedom” in Cuba, ‘made in USA’, which did not mean anything but a return to the past. In September 1961, fourteen of the most notorious killers and henchmen, who formed part of the sadly infamous 2506 Brigade, were tried in Santa Clara. They had been part of a repressive apparatus, which was dissolved right from the first moments of the triumph of the revolution, which had been permanently supported and sponsored by the U.S.
What the torturers did not expect
What Calviño could not imagine in that dramatic confrontation with one of his countless victims, was that Maria Elena, the woman from the clandestine movement in Havana, whom he desperately tried to kill, but was unable to hear a single cry from her nor shed a tear, was able to survive the consequences of those terrible tortures and live to be 96 years old, as full of patriotism today as she was then.
Maria Elena is sat in front of me, she seems fragile, but she changes when she recalls those episodes of the long struggle inspired by her parents’ example, fighters for independence. Her thin body seems to revive and be young again when she talks about how she shared her time between High School studies and intense activity within the clandestine groups in Havana. The struggle was against the Machado government and, once, she was confined in la Cabaña in 1932, she later fought together with Guiteras.
But Maria Elena continued her struggles and formed part of the action and sabotage cells of the 26th. of July Movement in Havana and was a comrade to Enrique Hart, Sergio González El Curita and Machaco Ameijeiras. She also moved weapons and medicines to Pinar del Rio for the training of a guerrilla movement there, but once the revolution triumphed in 1959, she was able to use her true name, Angela Gonzalez del Valle.
Those who wanted to destroy her with torture could not prevent her from multiplying her revolutionary energy as a worker for the Supreme Court, in the creation of mass organizations, in the foundation of militias, as a member of the Communist Party, in seven sugar cane harvests and after her retirement, she has worked at the Combatants’ house but now she needs to stay at home because of her delicate health, but has not stopped exercising.
She made a confession to us, she now feels more committed than ever, she has never worn the countless decorations she has been awarded. She believes she was only fulfilling her duty. Her greatest joy is to share with young people the conviction that those trying to return Cuba to the situation before 1959, with invasions or with a Bush style transitions, will be defeated.
