José Ramón Martínez Álvarez, a young man from Guanajay, chosen by Fidel to join the group that took the Palace of Justice, as part of the support actions for the assault of the Moncada barracks, was born 25 years ago in the third month of the calendar.
His revolutionary struggle began while he was working as an apprentice in the Hacienda of his hometown; and shortly after he joined the ranks of the July 26 Movement, in Guanajay.
The first theoretical activities were at the University. There, he learned to arm and disarm rifles. This instruction he then carried out in several farms in Guanajay, with shooting training, an exercise that he put all his effort into, because he knew that the time to free the Homeland from the ignominy that Fulgencio Batista sowed was approaching.
Doing something against the tyrant and his henchmen was the commitment of whoever was a faithful defender of the rights of the workers. He participated in the Torch Parade on January 28, 1953 in his homeland; and in conspiracy actions, always with the discretion that Fidel demanded in the revolutionary movement. As a faithful follower of that order, and with the duty to and with the Homeland, José Ramón would go further. He traveled to Oriente where the great strategic practice would take place.
At the time of the actions of July 26, he was accompanied by several comrades, under the orders of Raúl Castro on the roof of the Palace of Justice, with the mission of neutralizing the 50-caliber machine gun that was at the Saturnino Lora Hospital, to avoid to target the positions of the assailants at the Moncada barracks and thus support the operation.
José Ramón decided to wield the rifle that early morning during the carnivals in Santiago de Cuba. He was one of the first to fight, but the resistance became impossible, and Raul gave the withdrawal order, guiding José to guard the rearguard. He lived hidden months, until he went into exile and was part of the payroll of the 82 men who headed by Fidel sailed from the port of Tuxpan in Mexico on the Granma yacht and disembarked at Playa Las Coloradas.
In Cuban lands, even in the muddy area of the coast, the young man from Guanajay had his first encounter with the Batista army in Alegría de Pío. He was one of the young survivors of the fight and dispersed in the region, he tried to reach the Sierra Maestra, but he fell under the thunder of the shots of the Batista army, in the battle of Belize, in Santiago de Cuba.
Currently, José Ramón Martínez Álvarez is the martyr of the Light Industry sector. His remains lie in the Mausoleum of the Martyrs of Artemisa. As history points out, José Ramón Martínez Álvarez with his short life proved to be a hero.