Florida, April 9, 1958, just at 11 in the morning and without prior announcement, a popular song began to be heard simultaneously on several national radio stations, and after a brief silence, the opening notes of the Invasor Anthem were the prelude to the harangue: “Attention Cubans, it is the July 26 Movement, calling for the Revolutionary General Strike. Forward Cubans, from this moment the final fight begins throughout Cuba that will only end with the overthrow of the dictatorship.”
From that moment on, he fought and died throughout Cuba; In the capital, a group of clandestine fighters attacked the Armory on Mercaderes Street and when this action failed, the entire plan conceived for Old Havana collapsed due to lack of weapons, but in Cotorro and Guanabacoa the young people showed courage.
In Sagua la Grande the revolutionaries practically took the city; There were also major actions in Camagüey, Matanzas and Santa Clara, while in Oriente a successful combination of guerrilla and clandestine forces was achieved, which included the attack on the Boniato Barracks by the militias under the command of René Ramos Latour .
In the municipality of Florida, the militants of the July 26 Movement also responded to the call for a General Strike issued by the leadership of that organization in the cities and in addition to the stoppage of some productive and social activities, they spread staples on the central highway.
The employees of the Continental and Núñez banks were absent from work; The employees of the telephone company abandoned their jobs and from the studios of Radio Trópico (predecessor of the current local station) the workers used tricks to prevent the usual programming from being broadcast.
In the Ignacio Agramonte plant, although the M-26-7 and the other revolutionary organizations worked on the preparations for the strike, they were not able to suspend all work due to the intervention of the army; But in the industry, sabotage paralyzed the milling and caused losses to the company; For its part, the Centro Educacional Integral (private) also joined the strike and remained closed for six days, as its director, the teacher and journalist, Ricardo Ayala, had to hide to escape the repression.
The balance of that day of revolutionary struggle reported the death of more than 100 brave young victims of the fierce hunt launched by the forces of tyranny, among them Marcelo Salado Lastra
