Osvaldo Sánchez Cabrera

Osvaldo Sánchez Cabrera. Revolutionary combatant and Cuban communist activist, who directed the Party's special commission for intelligence matters during the struggle against the government of Fulgencio Batista. After the landing of the Yacht Granma he was appointed as liaison between the National Committee of the Popular Socialist Party and the Rebel Army.

He participated in the Battle of Santa Clara. He was one of the founders of the State Security Organs. He died in an air accident due to inclement weather.

He was born in the town of Vereda Nueva, San Antonio de los Baños. Son of Isabel and Lázaro. He was the eldest of four siblings.

He completed his primary studies at the public school in the locality. He was 14 years old when he entered Institute No. 1 in Havana. In 1928 he founded the Vereda Workers' Center, a Branch of the People's University. In 1931, at only 19 years old, he joined the Communist Youth League. He organized an International Workers' Defense Committee in Vereda.

He completed his primary education at a public school in the town. Later he moved to the City of Havana and finished primary education at the "La empresa" school.

From childhood, Osvaldo contemplated the marvelous Creole landscape of those fields of Vereda, felt in his interior the helplessness of the peasant—he too was one—knew and appreciated their hardships, witnessed the exploitation and suffering of the worker, of the laborer, and in this way he was forming his conscience and maturing within him the revolutionary spirit that would never again separate from his soul and his person.

After completing his primary education, Osvaldo Sánchez Cabrera entered the Institute of Secondary Education in Havana, completed his years of study, graduated as a Bachelor in Letters and Sciences with the best grades, but the intense activities of his revolutionary sentiment frustrated his plans to study medicine.

From adolescence Osvaldo manifested discontent with the present injustices he had to live through. Cuba lived under dark days under the dictatorship of Machado, but nevertheless during that era the Communist Party of Cuba was vigorously born, following the line of Marxism-Leninism.

In the 1930s, when Osvaldo was not yet 18 years old, together with other schoolmates he organized a workers' center in Vereda Nueva and in the evening hours he taught workers to read and write while also imparting knowledge of morality and civics with a strong revolutionary spirit.

It is notable that Osvaldo, being the son of well-to-do parents, left behind perhaps a better way of life to dedicate himself entirely to the struggle on behalf of the unfortunate, the exploited, the helpless, because he himself would live firsthand everything for which he would have to fight.

Wishing to be just another worker, he went to work at the "Pellejero" estate in "Caimito del Guayabal"; the owner offered Osvaldo a comfortable position, which he did not accept, demanding work equal to that of the other workers and together with them he went to carry stretchers.

With the revolutionary struggle already underway, Osvaldo Sánchez suffered his first imprisonment on January 9, 1931; it seems this date would play an important role in the life of the martyr.

This imprisonment was caused by a dance, a celebration that was to be held at the José Martí society in Vereda Nueva, precisely on January 10, the date of the assassination of Julio Antonio Mella, causing indignation among the progressive youth, which, encouraged by Osvaldo, took over the society the eve of the dance and went on stage and, making use of the floor, exalted the virtues of Mella and urged the people not to attend the dance. Thus Osvaldo Sánchez was arrested for the first time.

At less than 20 years of age, Osvaldo was already active in the ranks of revolutionary youth; his soul was already mature and his sentiment leaned reverently toward Marxism-Leninism. He was an outstanding fighter in the March strike, already during the time of Batista's first dictatorship, and on April 4, 1935, he married Clementina Serra, also a revolutionary combatant, joining the Communist Youth League.

On January 9, 1931 he organized a rally at the cinema in his town to commemorate with dignity the anniversary of the assassination of Julio Antonio Mella. For this reason he was arrested, tried and sentenced to 15 days in jail or 50 pesos in fines.

Osvaldo Sánchez Cabrera was an upright, integral, honorable man, who did not smoke, did not drink, and did not gamble. After his marriage he divided his life between his home and revolutionary struggles. He now lived in Santiago de Cuba and his house was a meeting place, a trench for revolutionary activities.

On January 31, 1936, when a meeting at his house in Santiago de Cuba was discovered, trying to flee the police, he threw himself from the roof and upon hitting the pavement he fractured a leg that remained defective for the rest of his life. Both he and his wife Clementina were arrested by police officers.

In 1939 a new stage began in Osvaldo Sánchez's life. From then on, he earned his merits, fought more tenaciously, became almost an apostle of Marxist-Leninist ideas, crossed the country from one end to the other, gathering disciples and requested his final admission into the ranks of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Osvaldo Sánchez played an important role advising the combative University Student Left in the 1930s and especially in the Normal School Section, where his widow and companion Clementina Serra also distinguished herself, also a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and a leading Marxist of children's circles.

In 1950 Cuba suffered a difficult situation regarding the revolutionary movement. The Communist Party was declared illegal, which led to the organization of a commission for everything related to the clandestine work of the Party and other revolutionary organizations under its direction.

With the landing of the "Granma" in 1956, it was necessary to coordinate the struggle; it was precisely Osvaldo Sánchez who was chosen to serve as liaison between the National Committee of the Popular Socialist Party and the General Staff of the Rebel Army in the Sierra Maestra. In this risky and difficult task, Osvaldo Sánchez used the pseudonym "Rafael." With great disregard for his own life he entered and exited the guerrilla zones. Tirelessly he worked in organizing supply sources for the Rebel Army in the Yaguajay zones and in the hills of Escambray.

It is worthy to note that it was Osvaldo Sánchez, by agreement of the Central Committee, the person who from the first moments made contact with comrade Fidel Castro, upon being accredited to the July 26 Movement. Osvaldo went to Mexico and presented to Fidel a whole series of proposals regarding the Revolutionary Movement in our country. At the same time he also reached an agreement to organize the armed invasion against the Batista tyranny.

He also took action in the organization of the famous fronts of Yaguajay in Las Villas, the development of the invasion under the direction of Comandante Ernesto Guevara. Osvaldo Sánchez participated in the Battle of Santa Clara until the fall of tyranny. He entered Havana in the column of the heroic Guerrilla Fighter of America. Later, in the midst of revolutionary triumph, Osvaldo Sánchez worked alongside Comandantes Raúl Castro, Ernesto Guevara and Ramiro Valdés, going on to work under the orders of the latter in the Ministry of the Interior.

In the first days of January 1961 he traveled aboard Cessna 310 No. 56 aircraft of the Air Force piloted by Captain Martín Klein Schiller and Second Lieutenant Heriberto Martín Guzmán to the eastern province to carry out assigned missions. Upon returning, at 6:45 p.m. on January 9, 1961, due to existing bad weather, they attempted to land at Varadero airport when the accident occurred that caused his death and that of the two crew members of the aircraft.

The Che, upon expressing his condolences, said:
"When there have been luminous lives, there cannot be useless deaths"