Gloria Marina Cuadras de la Cruz

Revolutionary from Santiago closely linked to the history of struggle of her native city. A woman of firm character, incorruptible and brave who remained united to the purest and most radical aspects of the revolutionary struggle, eternal protagonist of clandestinity.

She was born on July 18, 1911 in a family that belonged to the wealthy class of the city. She was number 10 among the children of the marriage formed by Cristóbal Cuadras y Fontanales and Pilar de la Cruz Blanco, marked from childhood by Pott's disease (an enigmatic illness in Cuba during the second half of the twentieth century) and by an accident that generated in her a painful and permanent consequence. Several years of surgical interventions that would later prove unnecessary and the premature absence of her mother's figure marked the childhood of a girl who would forever carry a protuberance in the lumbar region.

Always radically opposed to social injustices, she fought against the abuses committed by all the governments of the era, not in vain she received the mission to unite women to create the Women's Directory of the Institute of the East, under the orders of the University Student Directory.

Her composure in the most risky situations allowed her to preserve her life after countless skirmishes and dangerous confrontations with her enemies. In one of the demonstrations in which she participated she received a blow to the back that injured her left kidney and another lighter one grazed her shoulder. On several occasions she was taken to the Vivac or municipal jail where they already told her they would save her plate and spoon because of her constant arrests. After the repression of Arsenio Ortiz unleashed during the tyranny of Gerardo Machado, she wrote the article "The East Should Be First" published under her name and surname in the clandestine newspaper Baraguá, condemning the murders and urging the people to rebellion. With the appointment of Antonio Guiteras as Minister of Interior, War and Navy, a genuine revolutionary came to power. Guiteras wanted to appoint Gloria to work in his office, but she refused, as she was never interested in a bureaucratic position that had nothing to do with her restless character. Overlooking her own material shortcomings, she decided to collaborate with Guiteras without receiving any payment.

The assault on the Moncada Barracks awakened in her, as it did in the Santiago revolutionaries, the desire to fight and join in support of the assailants. Gloria, with the collaboration of her husband Amaro Iglesias, took on the task of rescuing the remains of the fallen to give dignified burial to the revolutionaries who came to fight in Santiago de Cuba. She was also present at the trial for the events of the Moncada that began on September 21, 1953 taking advantage of her position as a commentator for CMKC, becoming one of the few spectators and being the radio the medium through which she most strongly fought with her own voice the abuses of the regime[1]

Gloria founded the organization Front of Cuban Women which later joined the 26th of July Movement. When the M-26-7 was established in the East she was appointed secretary of agitation and propaganda. Her work as a journalist was essential to the movement, with radio being the medium through which she most strongly fought with her own voice the abuses of the regime, earning the respect and admiration of listeners. The radio newspaper "Cuba Libre" from the CMKC station became a forum for the M-26-7 and from those microphones she fulfilled her duties as propaganda director.

After the arrival of the message "Requested Work Exhausted," at a meeting held at the home of María Antonia Figueroa, Gloria foresaw the possible delay of the yacht Granma, but at that time this possibility was not considered. On November 29, 1956, in the evening hours, she moved to Punta Gorda with Frank País, Oscar Ascencio, Ramón Álvarez and Taras Domitro, from where they left at 4:00 am the next day heading to the general headquarters of the actions of the Armed Uprising in Santiago de Cuba, located in Santa Lucía and San Félix.

When she began her retreat and started looking for shelter, Gloria lived a true odyssey. Finally she was able to take refuge in the house of Evangelina Maggi and Dr. Ortega, doctor of the Spanish Colony. From this moment on her struggle in clandestinity would intensify. Gloria visited Frank in jail when he was arrested and tried in Trial Case 67 and was an undisputed protagonist of the demonstration of the Santiago people after the death of the underground leader. In the Strike of April 9, 1958 in Santiago de Cuba, she participated in the placement of three first aid kits, and after the failure of this action she remained hidden in her house, as it was impossible for her to reach the Second Front. In her own home she was arrested by police chief Bonifacio Haza. Gloria was taken to Chaviano where she invented that she was ill and would not last more than three months and after her release she marched with her husband to the Sierra Maestra.

At La Patera, a locality located in the Second Eastern Front, Gloria received the news of Batista's fall, from there she was taken to Palma Soriano, where she would meet Fidel to accompany him in his triumphant entry into Santiago de Cuba.

She died on August 26, 1987. Her husband and the people of Santiago de Cuba said goodbye to her in a light rain, accompanying her to the cemetery in a demonstration of mourning.