Dermidio Escalona Alonso

Cuban revolutionary. Fighter of the Rebel Army under the orders of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro who later became the organizer of the Guerrilla Front of Pinar del Río.

He was born in Pedernales, current province of Holguín, in the midst of a humble and working-class family. He began working in the mining pits of the Nicaro Níquel Company, where he became involved in workers' struggles.

He stood out in the popular mobilization for the amnesty of prisoners from the Assault on the Moncada Barracks and suffered imprisonment after an attempt to reach Santiago de Cuba to participate in the Uprising of November 30.

After a period in clandestinity, in May 1957 he joined the Rebel Army, under the orders of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro.

He was wounded in the night attack on the enemy camp at Palma Mocha and in 1958 he carried out the mission of traveling to Havana accompanying Commander Delio Gómez Ochoa, designated head of the July 26 Movement in the capital.

In compliance with a strategic plan of the rebel high command to extend the war to the most western province of the country, Fidel designated him to help the people of Pinar del Río to open and consolidate the Guerrilla Front of Pinar del Río. Commander Delio Gómez Ochoa was the one who communicated to Escalona and José Argibay the mission that had been assigned to them, being accepted by the leaders of the July 26 Movement in Pinar del Río that all forces be under the hands of Commander Escalona.

On July 26, 1958 a meeting was held directed by Commander Dermidio Escalona with about 20 men in the San Andrés zone, with the Guerrilla Front of Pinar del Río being founded.
The initial group had its baptism of fire in the attack on the Barracks in the town of San Andrés. From the month of October onward the command post is established in the Seboruco, in the municipality of Los Palacios.

This front was not characterized by the development of major battles, but it fulfilled the objectives that had been assigned to it of maintaining guerrilla warfare in the most western province of the country, to force the tyranny to deploy important means and men to try to eliminate them. Moreover, it contributed to raising the fighting morale of the revolutionary people of Pinar del Río and created the conditions to receive the invading column No. 2 "Antonio Maceo" directed by Commander Camilo Cienfuegos.

Following the fall of the Batista dictatorship, its four columns advanced simultaneously taking barracks, police stations, Navy posts, radio stations and government buildings.

On January 2, 1959, upon entering the Rius Rivera regiment, revolutionary power was consolidated in Pinar del Río, under a single military and political command headed by the Chief of the Guerrilla Front.

When the Revolution triumphed he was in charge in the territory of the triumphant movement and received, along with other fighters, the Caravan of Freedom.

He actively participated in the struggle against bandits in the Escambray, carried out a mission in the People's Republic of Algeria and held different responsibilities in the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and State organizations.

He was a founder of the Communist Party of Cuba and for his services to the nation received numerous decorations and recognitions.

When the Caravan of Freedom arrived in Vueltabajo on January 17, the first question of the Chief of the Revolution to Escalona was about relations with the movement of the plains, to which he replied:
"Commander, since my arrival in this province, there has been only one Front and one force here, that of the plains and the mountains." And referring to the importance of the support that the Guerrilla Front of Pinar del Río always received from the fighters of the plains, he expressed:
"The Front could not have been made here, if there had not been a strong and organized Movement and a revolutionary province."

On November 29, 1960 Commander Manuel (Piti) Fajardo lost his life during the pursuit of a group of counterrevolutionary elements, who had stolen several weapons in Trinidad and were fleeing towards the mountains with the objective of rising up. In his place Commander Dermidio Escalona was designated. In the first week of December the leadership of the Revolutionary Armed Forces launched Operation Cage.

He died on February 5, 2009, in the City of Havana. At the time of his death he was 79 years old.

Respecting his wishes, his body was cremated and his ashes were scattered in areas of the command post of the Guerrilla Front of Pinar del Río, in the Sierra de los Órganos.