A founder of the Rebel Army and one of its main leaders during the national liberation war.  An outstanding revolutionary of humble origin and widely loved by the people for his friendly character and natural generosity. 

He was born in Havana on February 6, 1932. In 1953, he traveled to the United States, sick of the tyranny and in search of a better situation.  But he decided to return, indignant at the atmosphere and the exploitation of the workers there. In 1954, he joined the student struggles against the dictatorship. In 1955, he received a bullet wound during a demonstration and was entered on the files of the repressive bodies.  He was therefore forced to go abroad again. In New York, he learned about the ideas and aims of Fidel Castro and then decided to go to Mexico. There, he joined in the expedition that was organized to restart the armed struggle in Cuba.

On December 2, 1956, he was one of the 82 fighters who landed from the Granma yacht on Cuban coasts to begin the armed struggle in the Sierra Maestra. He quickly stood out due to his courage, audacity and leadership qualities.  When it was decided to extend the war to other territories, he was entrusted with the difficult task of leading the column that would take the war to the plains.  In April 1958, he was promoted to major and a wide area of the eastern territory remained under his control.  When the rebel forces finally went on the offensive in August 1958, he was appointed head of the Antonio Maceo Invasion Column, which, alongside the column led by Che Guevara, fulfilled the risky mission of moving to the center of the island. On October 3, after multiple hardships and extraordinary displays of heroism, he arrived at the province of Las Villas, where several combats took place, notably the taking of the town of Yaguajay.

After the triumph of the Revolution, he held important military responsibilities. On October 28, 1959, when he was returning to Havana after neutralizing a counter-revolutionary conspiracy in the province of Camaguey, the small plane in which he was traveling disappeared without trace. 

Major Ernesto Guevara said of him: 

"Camilo was the comrade of a hundred battles, Fidel's right-hand man in the difficult moments of the war and a dedicated fighter who always made sacrifice an instrument to steel his character and shape that of the troop... Camilo was Camilo, lord of the vanguard, a complete guerrilla fighter who imposed himself with that kind of colorful war that he knew how to wage." 

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