Celia, my best gift.

Celia, my best gift is the title of the volume by Eugenia Palomares Cereales, one of the war orphans that Celia Sánchez Manduley took in in the Sierra Maestra.

Celia, my best gift gives title to the volume by Eugenia Palomares Cereales, one of the war orphans that Celia Sanchez Manduley took in in the Sierra Maestra and that after the triumph of the Revolution she transferred to Havana, gave shelter and education.

Eugenia Palomares tells in the text what happened with her and Celia, her foster mother.

She shows the guerrilla from the inside and from within, with the intention that the readers feel as their own the affectionate kiss to the surly girl, Celia’s sweet look at her progress as a child and the depth of the tutor’s character, when the gift or the punishment was necessary.

Celia Sanchez Manduley was and is: modesty, sensitivity and joy.

Born in Media Luna, on May 9th, 1920, she was nurtured by the wisdom of her native land, cradle of Mambi feats and battles of the revolutionary awakening, conditions that forged the temper of the fighter of the plains and the Sierra Maestra.

Founder and leader of the 26th of July Movement, which she consolidated in several places, supported the landing of the Granma, collected weapons and sent the first boots to the nascent Rebel Army.

For her integral life, her humanism, her boundless loyalty to Fidel, she is considered «the most beautiful and autochthonous flower of the Revolution».

Homage to Celia Sánchez Manduley on the 104th anniversary of her birth.

Written by Delfina Mosquera.