Manuel Fajardo Rivero

Manuel Fajardo Rivero was born in Manzanillo. He completed his primary studies at the "José María Heredia" School in his hometown and then his secondary education. His mother, Dr. Francisca Rivero Arocha, the first Black Cuban woman to become a doctor and, years later, following the fall of the Machado dictatorship, the first woman director of a hospital (Hospital Civil de Manzanillo), inspired in him patriotic concerns and a vocation for medicine. He had the example of his uncle, Juan Fajardo, also a doctor.

In 1948, upon completing his secondary studies, he traveled to the United States of North America, and there he was impressed by the racial discrimination that existed. Upon his return, he enrolled in medicine at the University of Havana and, once graduated in 1955, in recognition of his excellent grades, he obtained a position as a resident surgeon at the Emergency Hospital.

Later he returned to his hometown to work at the Hospital Civil and also with the distinguished surgeon Dr. René Vallejo, at his "La Caridad" Clinic, where his mother also worked. There they provided clinical and surgical services free of charge to the poor and needy of Manzanillo, and they also treated wounded revolutionaries from the underground and from the Rebel Army during the struggle against the Batista dictatorship.

In his few free times he practiced sports, which, despite his thin figure, made him resistant to physical exertion. He liked to swim, play volleyball and baseball.

The work alongside Dr. Vallejo represented great professional experience for the young doctor. The friendship that arose between them, by sharing professional and civic ideals, was consolidated during the period of the insurrectional struggle.

When both doctors' connection with the revolutionaries became known, the repressive forces, under the command of Salas Cañizares, famous for his murders, raided the clinic and detained Dr. Vallejo who, upon being released, joined the Sierra Maestra. "Piti" –as his family and friends called him– followed him shortly after, on March 24, 1958.

In the eastern mountains "Piti" participated in healthcare alongside doctors such as Julio Martínez Páez, Sergio del Valle Jiménez, José Ramón Machado Ventura and others, alternating his duties as a doctor with those of a soldier, participating in the battles of "Santo Domingo", "Providencia", "Cuatro Caminos", "Las Mercedes", "El Jigüe", "Cerro Pelado", "Veguitas", "El Meriño" and "El Salto", in which he distinguished himself for his courage, which earned him the rank of captain.

He actively participated in the construction of the "Pozo Azul" Hospital and others in the Sierra Maestra during the insurrectional struggle. Under Fidel's orders, he acts as a doctor and assumes the position of war arsenal keeper and equipment accounting.

During the Batista offensive he acts as a frontline doctor, attending to the wounded during combat. Simultaneously he performs as both doctor and combatant.

When Fidel orders Commander Lalo Sardiñas, at the head of Column No. 12, "Simón Bolívar", to prevent the forces of tyranny from surrounding the invading columns of Che and Camilo, on the border of Camagüey and Oriente, at moments when they were advancing toward Las Villas, "Piti" plans operations with Sardiñas and Fidel's order is thus carried out.

Later, Sardiñas' troops divide into two groups for operational purposes and "Piti" is placed at the head of one of them to operate in the Zone of Tunas, Holguín, Puerto Padre and Jobabo, among others.

Then, Column 12 forms the Fourth Front and there "Piti" organizes communications, the hospital and coordinates military operations with Lalo Sardiñas.

Upon the triumph of the Revolution, on January 1, 1959, he joins Fidel's Column on the 4th and arrives with it in Havana on the 8th, to undertake new missions.

He was soon promoted to Commander and assigned as Director of the Hospital Civil de Manzanillo and, later, director of the Military Hospital of Santiago de Cuba. While in this position, he attends a Medical Congress in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He also carries out tasks directed by Fidel, related to the First Agrarian Reform Law.

Subsequently, by order of the Commander in Chief, he is made responsible for the construction of the Camilo Cienfuegos School City and appointed Chief of Operations of the Sierra Maestra and directs the operations to capture the band of the traitor Beatón.

At the head of the works of the Camilo Cienfuegos School City, he inaugurates the First Unit with 500 Camilitos on July 26, 1960.

Shortly after, he is Fidel's doctor, when the Head of the Revolution suffers from a respiratory condition in 1960.

In November of that same year 1960 he was appointed chief of Operations in the area of the El Escambray mountain range, with the mission of cleaning the area of counterrevolutionary elements. There he fought valiantly against terrorist bands organized by the Government of the United States of North America until the night of November 29, 1960, when at the head of a revolutionary force he was pursuing a group of outlaws and in that effort he was mortally wounded, at 30 years of age, having just celebrated his birthday 20 days before.

"Piti" would not be able to see his dear little daughter grow up. In the heart of Nidia, his beloved companion, a painful emptiness would remain. His mother would always miss him. His companions and friends would not forget him.

Of "Piti" Fajardo, Commander Juan Almeida Bosque said: "«...he was a combatant with a scalpel in one hand and a rifle in the other...»"

In 1963, when René Vallejo was Fidel's doctor; but he also worked as a surgeon at the newly founded National Institute of Surgery and Anesthesiology (INCA) –located at the Emergency Hospital– while commenting during the changing of the guard about a difficult surgical case that had presented itself during the night, he said: "And at that moment I missed my companion and friend, the surgeon Piti Fajardo".

Fidel, in a speech before the tomb of "Piti", said: "«...Fajardo fulfilled his duty, he fulfilled it in war as a doctor and soldier, he fulfilled it in peace and in the hearts of the first 500 children of the School City "Camilo Cienfuegos". The name of Manuel "Piti" Fajardo Rivero will always be remembered for what he was: doctor, teacher and soldier, a revolutionary consistent with his profession and his political ideas...»"