San Antonio de los Baños has a justified tradition of struggle. During the 40s and 50s, the Ariguanabense Student Association played an important role in the fight against tyranny.
In April, 1948, the Ariguanabo Student Association (AEA) was founded in San Antonio de los Baños, an organization that played a fundamental role in the fight against the regime. The same month, but from 1952, appears the first number of the official organ of this association, the Magazine "Vocero de la AEA". This publication became an important means of struggle.
One of the actions carried out in the Villa by the members of the AEA was the commemoration of the birth of José Martí. The Ariguanabense Student Association presented the work "Abdala", there was also a demonstration in the streets, a crepe of mourning was placed on the bust of the Apostle at the Central Park and red flowers were placed there instead of white. An event was also held at the Casino, where Miguel Valdés, a prominent worker and communist leader, spoke. An important activity was the placement of a coffin in front of the City Council that symbolized the death of the Constitution of 40 and an act of repudiation to those who had folded to the Cuartelazo on March 10, 1952.
In the actions against tyranny in the Ariguanabo, students, members of the Popular Socialist Party, Orthodox and youth in general participated, expressing the revolutionary effervescence that was beginning to unfold. The political maturation of the Ariguanabense Student Association and its influence in the political struggle against tyranny has its maximum demonstration when the July 26 Movement was founded in the town, three of the members of the executive, including the Coordinator Raúl Cartaya Rodríguez, were members of the student organization.
