This letter was written in response to the publication by Revolución of a special photo supplement entitled “Che in the Escambray: Diary of an Invasion” in its December 24, 1962, issue. This letter was published in the December 29, 1962, Revolución.
Compañero Carlos Franqui
Editor, Revolución
Havana
Compañero Franqui,
I did not like the photo supplement published the other day. Allow me to tell you this very frankly and to explain why, hoping that these lines will be published as my “outburst.”
Leaving aside small things that do not speak well of the newspaper’s seriousness, such as those photos with a group of soldiers aiming at a supposed enemy with their eyes turned to the camera, there are fundamental errors:
1. That extract from the diary is not entirely authentic. The thing was like this: I was asked (during the war) if I had kept a diary of the invasion [by Guevara’s column from Oriente to Las Villas]. I had, but in the form of very bare notes, for my personal use; and at the time I had no opportunity to develop it. A gentleman from Santa Clara took charge of doing that (I don’t remember now under what circumstances); he turned out to be quite “flamboyant” and felt like adding feats by means of adjectives.
What little value those four notes might have is destroyed when they lose authenticity.
2. It is false that the war for me took second place to meeting the needs of the peasantry. At that time winning the war was the important thing, and I believe I devoted myself to that task with all the dogged determination I was capable of. After entering the Escambray Mountains I gave two days’ rest to a troop that had been on the march for 45 days under extremely difficult conditions, and resumed operations, seizing Güinía de Miranda. If a mistake was made it was in the opposite sense: little attention to the difficult task of dealing with all the “cattle rustlers” who had taken up arms in those cursed hills. Gutiérrez Menoyo and his crew vexed me to no end and I had to put up with it to be able to devote myself to the central task: the war.
3. It is false to say that Ramiro Valdés was a “close collaborator of Che’s in organizational matters.” I don’t know how that could have gotten by you, as editor, knowing him as well as you do.
Ramirito was at Moncada, he was imprisoned on the Isle of Pines, he came on the Granma as a lieutenant, rose to captain when I was made a commander, he led a column as a commander, he was the second chief of the invasion, and then he led the operations in the eastern sector while I marched toward Santa Clara.
I believe that the historical truth must be respected: to fabricate it at whim does not lead to any good results. For that reason, and because I was an actor in that part of the drama, I made up my mind to write you these critical lines, which try to be constructive. It seems to me that if you had checked the text the errors could have been avoided.
I wish you happy holidays and a coming year without many big headlines (because of what they bring).
Che