We arrived at the military school of Camilo Cienfuegos looking, among the faces of about 270 students on campus, for the vestiges of the man with the floppy hat, where today October 28 marks the th -64th anniversary of his physical absence; a wound that won’t close.
We saw the training, we listened to their slogans on the air and they even allowed us to walk through the neat corridors, the Health service, the laboratory area, the Physical Education area, and talk to the group of nine people who were there in. payment, in the kitchen, of guaranteed food for the day.
Marianela Pérez Castro, the head of Social Sciences, told us about the Camilo Cienfuegos Chair, mostly in educational projects of this type of institution and focused on spreading the life and work of the Hero of Yaguajay.
Marianela Pérez Castro. “It is necessary to look beyond what we are often taught, beyond the vision of the untouchable man who is in the clouds because of the magnitude of his actions and remember that, like everyone else, he is playing ball, and they said it was bad as a kid, and he overcame himself to the point of reaching a national league.
“That’s the Camilo we teach the students; a funny man, very Cuban, who had the courage to go to Mexico after the people who would later come to make the Revolution; One who has suffered in prison, always shouldered his responsibilities and also made mistakes.
“Because heroes are people, imperfect, who overcome their fears for the greater good. That is the best way to touch the chord with the boys, to show them the real person of the people, which symbolizes the Cuban, because we face difficulties and more than them.
Like the teacher Marianela, many teachers remain active in the center, betting on comprehensive training, which combines the study program of Pre-University Education with the values ​​needed by young people with a clear vocation in military.
Achieving this depends a lot on collaboration and Doctor of Science José Guillermo Gilbao Bermúdez, the assistant director of teaching, knows this well. “We have a motivated and strong teachers. That is a success, because if a teacher shows the desire to work at what he does, he can do anything. Some have retired and are now -re-hired.
José Guillermo Gilbao Bermúdez.
“We have to remember that students from all the towns come here and they are not the same subject matter; So, from the moment they cross the threshold of this school, they are ours. And we focus on making sure that they receive the best training and that the classroom is also a place for ideology and values.
Gilbao Bermúdez, the founder of “Camilitos” in Las Tunas and a legend among students, says that “water is not broken by force, but by perseverance”; and he bet on that, in persistence, so that this generation of digital natives who are, in his opinion, the future of the Revolution, will grow in every possible way.
Not just one. On one of the patio benches we spoke to Professor Doralquis Moro, head of the Department of Spanish-Literature. He came to these places almost as a newly graduated teacher and has been in the same hallways for more than two decades, watching teenagers pass by who helped him become better.
Doralquis Moro“Many people encouraged me when the proposal came to this educational institution and I feel happy to have been chosen. The first moments were difficult, we supported the end of the construction process, because when we started the school was still in the completion stage.
“A group of teachers went to HolguÃn to take care of the students who will make up the enrollment and some of us stayed here, doing the tasks.
“The role of the teachers here is complicated, above all, because the students arrive who lack the language skills that are important for their learning, and they are the future officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and must be strong -on their knowledge. academics and their training values.
“We always tell them that anyone who leads a military unit, for example, must be a model of language, because the good use of the native language can convince and explain to the masses. In the program, they learn to make reports and statements, do exercises in oratory and analyze different aspects of MartÃ’s work.”
The dynamics of this school is very active and the boys, for most of the day, move with agility between places and know well the established routes to get from this place to that place without getting in the way. of the calm needed in the spaces of others.
Discipline, values ​​and respect are the keys that bring today’s youth closer to the figure of Camilo Cienfuegos. Captain Arielys Torres Ramos, head of Political Work on campus, knows this.
Captain Arielys Torres Ramos.
“Social networks are a bubble of comfort and if we can manage the students from there and put them in context, give them arguments, include them in our dynamics, working with them will be very easy for us.
“I always tell them that going out in the streets, dressed as ‘Camilito’, is an act of courage, and a declaration of the status of revolutionaries. And I think that defending the motherland, in the present times, is very brave, it should fill you with pride.
The military school of Camilo Cienfuegos, in Las Tunas, is a permanent tribute to the imprint of the man with a wide smile who gave his young life for the freedom he conquered. They, who were born in the energetic lullaby of freedom, are the future and announce it from their daily actions, constant and without exaggeration of flattery.
