Antonio Celestino Bosch Martínez

Mayor who did the most for the municipality of Regla during the neocolonial period.

From a very early age he was involved with leftist groups and especially with the most humble men of the town. He worked as a clerk in his father's grocery store and as a stevedore at the Bay Docks. Characterized by his human sensitivity and communicative spirit, in 1920 he began his political life in the Liberal Party, in which he was elected mayor of Regla.

He had much prestige among his people and this was also recognized by his counterparts in other parts of Cuba, but it was Antonio Bosch who, echoing the sentiments of the workers of Regla and beyond its borders, was able to render the first tribute to Lenin outside of Russia, immediately after the news of the death of the great guide of the world proletariat became known in Cuba.

Bosch issued the Decree (January 24, 1924) by which he declared Lenin a "Great Citizen of the World" and furthermore asked the people of Regla to gather on the day of Lenin's funeral (January 27, 1924) at Loma Fortín to plant an olive tree there, a tribute to Lenin. This call did not take long to be answered, and at five in the afternoon on January 27, the people of Regla and their Mayor planted the historic olive tree to Lenin, while the rest of the population observed two minutes of silence and the factories, transportation and businesses joined in this significant event. With this act at Loma del Fortín and from that day forward named "Lenin Hill," Antonio Bosch, without intending it, erected the first monument to Lenin outside the USSR, the first in the Western Hemisphere, and with the act of signing the decree, the first tribute to Lenin by declaring him "Great Citizen of the World."

On the night of the 27th, political and worker personalities from many parts of Cuba gathered at the Municipal Palace and delivered speeches by Mayor Antonio Bosch and the representative of the Communist Grouping of Cuba, Dr. Francisco Escudero. In his words, Bosch urged the workers to study the work of Lenin for what it meant and would mean for their future, considering him one of the most important men in the history of humanity.

From then on, Loma del Fortín began to be called Lenin Hill and became a place of frequent gatherings for workers.

More than once, over the years, the olive tree was uprooted from there and each time it was replanted. During the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado, attempts were made three times to erase that symbolic site, and on all three occasions the people of Regla replanted it.

Now a sculptural ensemble stands there and before, in 1961, the Revolution built a children's circle at the site. In the eighties, when sixty years had passed since Lenin's death, the site was declared a National Monument. But it remains a place of gatherings where each year people retrace the path of that first tribute.

A monument, a plaza, and an exhibition room with exhibits on the history of the place and the labor movement were built at the top of Loma del Fortín.