Such acts provoked outrage and thousands of young people joined the Literacy Campaign promoted by the revolutionary Government, to reduce illiteracy and increase the percentage of the population enrolled in school.

Hardly 16 years old, Ascunce Domenech was a member of Conrado Benitez’s brigades, formed mainly by boys and girls, some almost children, and some experienced teachers, who participated in the literacy campaign, which concluded successfully on December 22, 1961.

Lantigua, in turn, was a farmer and a member of the militia that fought banditry. Along with his family, he gave shelter to the young teacher, who helped him in the farm work during the day and taught classes at night with a lantern that later became the symbol of that noble deed.

Then President of the Republic, Dr. Osvaldo Dorticos, said at the funeral of the victims of this atrocious murder: “And who are those responsible for this crime? First, they are the perpetrators, mercenaries, or those who conducted the actions.

Most leaders of the insurgent groups came from the repressive apparatus of the Batista dictatorship, whose officers had been trained in the United States Army School of the Americas, installed in the Panama Canal Zone.

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