Woman Recalls Castro's Revolutionaries' Stay in Mexico Six Decades Ago Agencia EFE
go to original December 29, 2016

The former Cuban president left a remarkable legacy that started with a movement, born in Mexico. That's where he and his brother, Raoul, met Che Guevarra and planned the Revolution. (CCTV America)

The house that hosted Fidel Castro and his band of revolutionaries for nearly a year and a half before they set sail for Cuba in 1956 still stands on Penitenciaria Street, just a few blocks from the Mexican capital’s historical center.

The residence, then as now, is the home of Irma Venegas, 84; outwardly it is virtually indistinguishable from that of any other Mexico City family’s, but six decades ago its walls served as a hideout for 45 of the men who would board the Granma yacht at the Mexican port of Tuxpan and disembark a few days later on a beach in southeastern Cuba, marking the start of the final stage of their revolutionary struggle.

“If this house could talk ...,” Irma told EFE, referring to the period from June 1955 to November 1956 when figures such as Fidel and Raul Castro and Antonio “Ñico” Lopez lived at the residence she has called home her entire life.

Irma and her family served as accomplices to a revolutionary plot for months; the door was opened only after a special knock was heard, while weapons were hidden beneath the floorboards.

What might appear to have been difficult living conditions was not very complicated, Irma recalls, saying that at bedtime those who could grab a cot slept in one while the rest settled for a spot on the floor.

The police never entered the house, Irma said, because an officer who was the boyfriend of one of her sisters assured his colleagues that no unusual activity was taking place at the residence.

Read the rest at Latin American Herald Tribune

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