Guillermo Isaías Sardiñas Menéndez

The Catholic priest and commander of the Rebel Army was born in the town of Sagua La Grande, in the central region of Cuba, son of a modest Catholic family.

He studied in his native city and at age 12 entered the Seminary of San Carlos and San Ambrosio to pursue an ecclesiastical career; he also studied Theology at the Gregorian University. Ordained a priest in Cienfuegos on November 30, 1941, he was assigned to the parish of Corralillos.

The priest Sardiñas, consistent with his humble origins, always acted with modesty and simplicity. He was just another neighbor of the town, sharing with everyone; he played dominoes; rode horses, liked the sea, music and going to the movies. He organized parties for young people; told stories; played baseball with children and adults in the town's ninth inning; visited peasants, baptized their children, without accepting any reward.

Transferred to Palmira (current province of Villa Clara), it is precisely there that the priest Sardiñas, because of the affection and respect he had earned among the population—already during the time of Batista's dictatorship—is nominated by neighbors for mayor, but the bishop does not authorize it. Father Sardiñas did not hide his public admiration for Guiteras nor his sympathies for Chibás and the Orthodox Party.

In 1953, the events of the Assault on the Moncada Barracks and the subsequent repression profoundly moved him.

In 1954 he was appointed parish priest in Nueva Gerona, Isle of Pines. Around that time he meets Melba Hernández and begins to be active in the "Revolutionary Movement of July 26." He fights tyranny from the pulpit. Until he decides to accompany the Rebel Army in the Sierra Maestra in 1957; he celebrated his first mass in the mountains on July 26 of that same year; there, he served as chaplain of the Rebel Army.

Fidel entrusts him with teaching the peasants of the area and members of the guerrilla force to read and write.

His opinions in favor of Agrarian Reform, the Literacy Campaign and other revolutionary measures, his support for Fidel and the Revolution, earned him enemies in the clergy, to the point that some of them requested that Monsignor Evelio Díaz sanction Father Sardiñas, ask for his resignation from the priesthood or simply expel him.

After the revolutionary triumph of 1959, the priest-commander in olive green cassock, questioned by a journalist who posed the question of why he joined the rebels, responded: "I offered myself because I knew they were Cubans in need not only of spiritual aid, but because I felt part of the people, who suffer and desire their liberation." "Our country had to reclaim its freedom. And there was no room for hesitation. That is why I left for the East on June 6, 1957."

And to another journalist from Bohemia he would confess in 1959 his feelings when he learned of the revolutionary triumph: "Tears descended from my face when I received the news. I was at the mines of Charco Redondo. Men, women and children embraced each other. It is impossible to explain what we felt in that instant. Cuba was free! (...) The war has ended. We fulfilled our duty as a priest and as a Cuban."

But nothing better to know who this singular person was than the opinions of those who knew him.

In the pages of the book Fidel and Religion, the Commander-in-Chief narrates that: "…He was given the title of commander in recognition of his rank and merits. When reaction and imperialism tried to use religion against the Revolution, Father Guillermo Sardiñas supported the expulsion of priests who participated in provocative and counter-revolutionary activities. Father Sardiñas wore, until his last days, an olive green cassock with the rank of commander designed for him by Camilo Cienfuegos."

Of Father Sardiñas, Melba Hernández would say: "He did not hide his revolutionary thinking, the people and everyone knew it (...) He used the pulpit to condemn tyranny." "Once the Rebel Army was founded, he proposed to join us in the Sierra and reasoned how useful he could be there."

Captain Jorge Enrique Mendoza described him as: (…) "affable, charming, very intelligent, with great mental agility, somewhat shy and withdrawn at times. A joker, a prankster, but when he got angry, he was formidable." "Father Sardiñas was a companion admired and loved by the entire Rebel Army, beginning with Fidel and Celia. I saw gestures of immense admiration and friendship from Che and Camilo towards him." "I never knew a companion of the Rebel Army who spoke ill of him or rejected him."

Juan Emilio Friguls, journalist and prominent Catholic layperson, recognizes him as "a revolutionary who, in order to serve the Revolution, had no need to renounce either his religious principles or his condition as a priest."

Monsignor Fernando Prego, bishop of Santa Clara, stated that Father Sardiñas "managed to combine the two things and live them to the fullest. He did not cease to be a priest for being a revolutionary nor did he cease to be a revolutionary for being a priest."

Universo Sánchez, his first commander: "Immediately upon his arrival he was assigned to my squad. Although he carried a pistol, he was not a combat soldier (...) He totally shared our ideas, even the most radical and profound ones. He won over the troops' affection through his modesty and personal qualities."

Cary Diego, head of the Office of Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, when taking the floor at the commemoration event of the 40th Anniversary of Sardiñas' death expressed: "He came to become the first Catholic priest to join a revolutionary guerrilla in Latin America and had the solid conviction that a radical transformation was necessary that could only be achieved through a Revolution and an extraordinary confidence in Fidel Castro to achieve it, (…) He was a soldier of faith, a revolutionary fighter and a true Christian who defended the dispossessed and in order to serve the Revolution he had no need to renounce either his religious principles or his condition as a priest, (…)"

On December 21, 1964, the Commander of the Rebel Army, Father Guillermo Sardiñas Menéndez ceased to exist.

A man of culture, a scholar of history, the priest Sardiñas knew where to see the direction the peoples were marching and decided to be among the first to wear the guerrilla uniform.

The unknown priest from Sagua marches of his own will, to expose his life and his fate alongside those who, at that time, are in the initial phase of the Cuban guerrilla struggle.

Hence the valor of this man, who remained 18 months alongside those who died fighting, and when the war ended, was able to wear with pride an olive green cassock whose shoulder boards were topped with the stars of Commander.

Following the unexpected and premature death of Guillermo Sardiñas, which occurred on December 21, 1964 in Havana, Fidel Castro expressed: "A commander of our Army has passed away, one who through his activity and conduct earned the esteem of everyone, who came to achieve the rank of Commander of our Rebel Army, and whose religious conviction, whose religious belief were not abandoned by him and were never in contradiction with his convictions and his feelings as a man and citizen..."

When Guillermo Sardiñas Menéndez died, he was 46 years old. He remained faithful to the cause of the people that took him to the mountains of the Sierra Maestra.

Those stars that he wore on his shoulders and that were given to him by Commander Camilo Cienfuegos, were his greatest pride.

Wherever he could be seen with the olive green cassock made by his friend Camilo; in the most intricate reaches of the mountains, teaching the most humble people to read and write, studying law at the University of Havana or fulfilling his military duties in the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

His love for the Revolution and Fidel never waned...he always trusted in the triumph of the humble.

Until the last moment, before being struck down by his illness, he was working and studying guided by his unwavering faith. Although life was not enough for him to achieve his dreams, he never abandoned the trench that made him Commander.