I wanted to be a “Conrado Benítez” alphabetizer

By Liudmila Peña Herrera

Long times later, Amalia Teresa Ricardo became aware of the pitfalls of time. It happened when she returned to the same ground he had walked when he was just 12 years.

She tried to find the road to the Rey neighborhood, in the municipality of San German, in Holguin province. She sought the railway line and the road, which at that time served as a point of reference for their parents during the first visit. But she could not find them.

"Some time ago the direction of the highway was changed", explained her a local man.

Then, the teacher turned back without finding the ancient wood cottage, done with palm leaves. She had gone to the place when the old Maria Gomila died.

"After the end of the Literacy Campaign, we saw each other several times because the family where I lived in that neighborhood began to visit me whenever they came to Holguin. On one occasion, they stayed at home because her daughter fell ill and they came to treat her at the hospital in Holguin", says Amalia, a retired teacher.

After the Bay of Pigs imperialist attack, "Amalita", High School student, believed that the promise of enabling them to participate in the Campaign was almost impossible. "Some people said we would not be part of Conrado Benítez Brigade. Instead, we would be as popular literacy in the city. I wanted to be a "Conrado Benítez", so, I always gave my willingness to go to teach the peasants”, she says.

Finally, one day he went to Varadero, to the course for literacy. Some days later, he met Maria Gomila and her daughter and son, family where she was located..

"I had never separated from my family, but the attention of those people so good, made me endure the longing for my home. They always tried to encourage me: they offered me preferred foods, fresh milk, the coffee. It was a lot of attention to me. "

After November 26, 1961, the date of the murder of Manuel Ascunce brigade and his student Pedro Lantigua by counterrevolutionary bands, this child-literacy and colleagues stuck to the mission, despite some attempts to intimidate them.

In that area there were people affected by the laws of the Revolution. So they wanted the campaign failed. So, at night the little school stoned, put signs saying: We do not love you, brigade, but we stood firm until the end. "

Thus, when the December 15, 1961 flew the flag at the school in the neighborhood of Rey, in that area ended illiteracy. It began the joy for having fulfilled the mission. And that feeling, as large as a few who are experienced in life, shocked the country when on 22 December of that year, Fidel Castro declared Cuba a territory free of illiteracy.