Pastora Núñez González

The outstanding revolutionary, collaborator of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro and fighter of the plains and the Sierra, was born into a working-class family. Daughter of Don Joaquín Núñez Roque and Florinda González Álvarez (Flora). Her family was very poor, her mother worked as a tobacco stripper, and she died from that when Pastorita was only five years old. At twelve, in August of 1933, she participated alongside her father in a popular demonstration against the tyranny of Gerardo Machado and two years later she met Eduardo Chibás.

She began, practically as an adolescent, to fight for the political improvement of this country. She was fortunate to begin friendships, despite being so poor, with one of Cuba's historical figures: Eduardo Chibás. From a young age she belonged to the organization Brotherhood of Young Cubans alongside Juan Manuel Márquez.

In 1948, precisely while waiting for Chibás, she coincided at the doors of the orthodox party offices with a young student who was very concerned about Cuba's issues and was very interested in learning about the orthodox party's program, what they were going to do, if they would limit themselves to administrative honesty. That young man she met was named Fidel Castro Ruz, and what he was asking was so important that it caught her attention and she asked to be introduced to him.

That bond which was established, and which was maintained through time, led her, as one would suppose, when Batista's dictatorship came and the struggle that was to defeat that regime began, to join that revolutionary movement led by Fidel.

She was an active clandestine combatant in the ranks of the July 26 Movement and founder of the Martian Women's Civic Front. In June of 1958 she ascended to the Sierra Maestra. As a guerrilla, with the war name Agustina, she reached the rank of First Lieutenant of the Rebel Army.

On August 19, 1958, a resolution was written stating that she was authorized to, along with other people, be part of a commission to visit the owners of sugar mills and inform them that they should contribute with the product of the 1958 sugar harvest at the rate of 15 cents for each sack of sugar produced, of which 10 cents would correspond to the mill and 5 to the grower.

This meant that she had to leave La Plata, free territory, toward the 40 sugar mills that the province of Oriente had. Of those, there was only one in the territory, the Estrada Palma Central, which, as it was on the outskirts, in Yara, was one of those that did not pay.

But there were mills throughout the province, even in the II Front where Raúl was. Among those 40 mills were also those that belonged to United Fruit, the West India and all the other "Companies" of that sort.

She was distinguished from the insurrectional exploit by her fellow fighters, and in a special way by the people and Fidel, who, when referring to her role in the war, wrote: "Pastorita Núñez González provided extraordinary and risky services to the Rebel Army in the struggle against tyranny by collecting taxes that amounted to several million pesos, this being her most outstanding work. She fulfilled the mission with singular valor, efficiency and honesty."

With the triumph of the Revolution, she directed the National Institute of Savings and Housing (INAV), which allowed her to be a protagonist in one of the first housing plans of the revolutionary government. From there she promoted the construction of homes in several cities, neighborhoods that the people named "Pastorita Developments."

Pastorita Núñez was a different case. Shortly after the revolutionary triumph, she eliminated the National Lottery that had been operating since the time of Spanish colonial rule. According to the new social perspective, obtaining something through chance went against the new way of thinking. From that moment on, only through work would economic and personal successes be achieved. That is why that old gambling system was replaced by new Savings and Housing Bonds. It was supposed that after several years these would earn interest and could be exchanged to obtain the accumulated profits. This never happened.

Pastorita was at the head of this "New Revolutionary Lottery" and the funds collected in this way were used to build houses for the people. She filled almost all the main cities in the country with comfortable apartments. These properties are still known as the "Pastorita Buildings."

The apartments built by her have lasted to this day in perfect structural conditions. Above all, because they do not suffer from the problem of "leaks." What is significant is that she directed that construction plan with only the funds that this New Revolutionary Lottery was able to collect. She employed construction techniques that remained in the country from deposed capitalism. Since at that time, planned socialist economy was not yet available.

That new lottery soon saw its end, based on the socialist conception of gambling. It had to disappear from a society that preached "work makes the man." It is impressive to see what that single woman accomplished with such scarce funds.

Her name has remained as a symbol of honesty and tenacity and set the premises for the design of places where the most humble revolutionaries should live. She proved that quality is not incompatible with money, capital and good taste, when it comes to constructive business. This woman demonstrated it abundantly and her works stand throughout Cuba.

With the same tenacity and until her retirement in 1975, she held different positions of responsibility. Retired and with her health declining, she maintained her active and rebellious character, characteristic of a woman of vital revolutionary stature.

During her last years of life, Pastorita lived in the Santovenia Home for the Elderly, where her inexhaustible energy was responsible, among other things, for the splendid organoponic garden that that institution has today and for the organization and operation of a classroom of the University of the Older Adult, with an enrollment of more than 30 elderly people.

In the year 2000 Pastorita was distinguished with the Title of National Hero of Labor.

She died at the age of 89 from a cerebral hemorrhage.