“Camilo Cienfuegos would have turned 90 years of age today and Cuba mourns how a young and cheerful man disappeared into the sea at 27 years of age. His loyalty and ‘Cubanness’ live on in the people,” the president tweeted.

Manuel Marrero, Cuba’s Prime Minister, also said on social media that Cuba is paying tribute to the legendary guerrilla man known as the Hero of Yaguajay and his example lives on in each Cuban.

Cubans are recalling Camilos Cienfuegos today with different cultural and political events, especially in the community of Yaguajay, in central Cuba, where he waged one of the most important battles of the Ejército Rebelde (Rebel Army) in the prelude to the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

Cienfuegos was an expeditionary soldier on the Granma Yacht in 1956, which was the core of the Ejército Rebelde (Rebel Army). For his audacious fighting characteritics and leading role he won the rank of Commander. He was entrusted by Fidel Castro to lead one of the two guerrilla columns that took the liberation war from east to west.

He was very beloved by the Cuban people due to his cheerfulness, wit and bravery shown in decisive situations of the revolutionary struggle.

He died on Oct. 28, 1959, when the light aircraft on which he was traveling to Havana got lost amidst a severe storm at sea south of Cuba. Neither the plane nor his body was never found.

Every year on that date, thousands of people, mainly children, throw flowers into rivers and the sea to honor him.

mh/aph/jha/jfs