Born from a low-class family and son of an anarchist, Camilo was forced to leave school and work as a tailor; at the age of 23, during a students' parade, was wounded by the troops of Batista and that episode convinced him that the right path to follow was the one of Fidèl.

Great friend of Fidèl and Raùl Castro, in the beginning of the 50s he committed himself in fund-raising for the anti Batista movement, travel-

  
 

ling often to the US and to Mexico; he was part of the expedition of the Granma, that left Mexico towards Cuba to free the island from the dictator backed by the US.

  
     
 

During his revolutionary career, from undisciplined soldier he became a valuable Commander, head of nearly 700 men acting mainly around Camaguey and the northern part of las Villas, while Che Guevara was proceeding in the southern zone of the province.

After the Barbudos gained power, Cienfuegos became Military Chief of la Habana, and then Commander in Chief of the Cuban Army. During his life his popularity was comparable to the one of Castro, and still nowadays he's an icon of the Revolution.

  
 

For his social extraction and for the love he received from the people, Che Guevara described him as the "image of the people". But a there was a difference between the two: Cienfuegos was not a communist.

 
     
 

The 28th of October 1959, returning from Camaguey, his Cessna plane fell and sank in the Caribbean sea, but was never found, in spite of the extensive search that saw Castro himself guiding rescue teams. Every year, for the anniversary of his disappear, school children throw flowers in the sea to remember his death.