In a press conference at the headquarters of that Havana cultural center, the writer stressed that the personality of the Cuban politician and guerrilla fighter marked the island’s Latin American intelligentsia in the first decades of the Revolution for her ethical sense, anti-colonial sentiment, anti-imperialist, martian and with her practical work.

The tribute will have the presentation of the book “Life must be defended”, a compilation of texts by the Heroine of the Sierra Maestra, also known for her connection with the assault on the Moncada fortress in Santiago de Cuba, on July 26, 1953, and member of the Rebel Army.

The launch of the publication prepared jointly with the Ocean Sur publishing house will be on December 15, at 3:00 p.m. local time, in the Che Guevara room of the Casa de las Américas, along with a special issue of the center’s magazine dedicated to its founder.

The commemoration calendar will begin this October 21, at 5:00 p.m., at the venue itself with the inauguration of the exhibition The factory of memory, with works from the Art of Our America Collection.

It will be followed on October 25, at 3:00 p.m., also at the House, by the presentation of the 2023 calendar ‘Haydée Santamaría one hundred years after her birth’, in co-edition with Ocean Sur, which will include 12 of her photos and fragments of her words at different times in his life.

The planned initiative also includes the inauguration of a bibliographic and documentary exhibition on November 25, at 5:00 p.m., which will include some of her personal belongings in the José Antonio Echeverría library.

Also on December 15, at 5:00 p.m., the Casa will host the concert ‘Songs for Haydée’, by the Ensemble Vocal Luna, under the direction of the teacher Maribel Nodarse; and a day later, at 2:00 p.m., at the 23 and 12 cinemas, the Cuban Cinematheque will screen materials dedicated to Yeyé, as her closest ones also called her.

On December 30, her birthday, Cuban television will broadcast the documentary ‘Our Haydée’, a Casa de las Américas production, directed by journalist Esther Barroso.

The program will extend into 2023 with concerts by renowned musicians José María Vitier and Amaury Pérez, a special presentation by the Cuban National Ballet and events dedicated to the struggles of Latin American women, also in her honor.

Haydée Santamaría was born on December 30, 1922, in the town of Encrucijada, in the current province of Villa Clara, in the center of the Caribbean island, and there are copies of personal documents that confirm it, said Jaime Gómez, vice president of that Cuban cultural center, given the existence of publications that indicate her date of birth on another day and even in another year.

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