Silvio decorated with Replica of the Granma
from Antoine de Saint Exupery -
• Received from the hands of General of the Army Raúl Castro
in the name of the people of Cuba and the FAR on the occasion of his 60th birthday
BY MARIA JULIA MAYORAL—Granma daily staff writer—
SILVIO Rodríguez, the emblematic representative of the Nueva Trova Movement and a composer able to sow dreams, love and rebelliousness in his songs, yesterday received the Replica of the Granma Yacht from the hands of General of the Army Raúl Castro, as a tribute on the 60th birthday of the singer-songwriter, “soldier of ideas,” from the Cuban people and their Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR).
General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, second secretary of the Party, presents Silvio Rodríguez with the replica of the Granma Yacht, in the name of the Cuban people and the Revolutionary Armed Forces, on the occasion of the singer-songwriter's 60th birthday. (Raúl Abréu)
General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, second secretary of the Party, presents Silvio Rodríguez with the replica of the Granma Yacht, in the name of the Cuban people and the Revolutionary Armed Forces, on the occasion of the singer-songwriter's 60th birthday.
(Raúl Abréu)
The presentation of the recognition, a symbol of independence, dignity and justice that Silvio said he would place in his office, as “it is something that doesn’t just belong to me,” took place in the José Martí Memorial in Plaza de la Revolution, where there are now photos that attempt to describe the aspirations and realizations of this people with Fidel at the front.
The second secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and Minister of the FAR noted that Silvio was barely 10 when the Granma reached Cuba to continue the independence struggle and commented that if he had been older then, he would have joined the Rebel Army in the Sierra Maestra.
Raúl’s opinion obliged Silvio to address a particular group in the audience: the children who won the current edition of Amigos del FAR (Friends of the FAR) competition, who were there along with members of the Political Bureau Abel Prieto, minister of culture, and Pedro Sáez, first secretary of the Party in the capital; General of the Army Corps Alvaro López Miera, deputy minister chief of general staff of the FAR; José Ramón Fernández, vice president of the Council of Ministers; other high-ranking chiefs and officers; and Miriam Yanet Martín, president of the José Martí Pioneers Organization.
“Pioneers, I was your age when the Granma landed; Raúl has just told me that if I’d been a little bit older I would have joined the struggle in the Sierra, I would have wanted to do that, but I don’t know if I would have had the bravery to do so,” Silvio told the young students. “Up in the Sierra there were men and women of great mettle who, to a large degree have been the inspirers of my songs, because they were the ones who built this country, which is not perfect, but is very noble and has very good aspirations for its sons and daughters.”
On giving the motives for the recognition, Divisional General José Carrillo Gómez, chief of the FAR Political Leadership, praised Silvio’s revolutionary and artistic work for having transcended situations “with an exceptional social and political dimension.” He recalled the young man whom, in the early 60s, was able to give rein to his creative vocation while completing his FAR military service and whom, like others of his generation, lived through the revolutionary fervor of the period and found his own space for resistance, rebelliousness, challenges and patriotism.
He also recalled Silvio’s participation in the Literacy Campaign, while drawing cartoons and playing his guitar, his inseparable comrade later joined by a gun when he was part of the artistic convoys in Angola.
