• Submitted by: admin
• 06 / 12 / 2007

She goes really good with the 94 years old she is going to turn this month and transmits us the pride of being the younger sister of Pablo de la Torriente Brau, one of our first internationalist combatants, who fell fighting in Majadahonda during the Spanish Civil War.

Before our eyes, Ruth de la Torriente Brau, who since 1960 keeps finding a reason to return to Bahia Honda, that land at the northern part of Pinar del Rio identified with the brave antimperialist, since that day when one employee of the sugar factory of Orozco community proposed to name it Pablo de la Torriente Brau, in order to identify the new age of the place.

Perhaps, this employee did not know for sure the certainty of his proposal, how fair it was to pay homage to the author of Batey, Guajiros en New York, Peleando con los milicianos and Presidio Modelo, among some others where he always defended humbles, like them.

The employee should not have known either that the young Pablo and an Irish friend with bussiness in the region, traveled through Ancon Valley, in Viñales municipality, and got astonished together with his sister to see the beauties of the landscape of Pinar.

Ruth tells us that Pablo was a very cheerful person: optimist, always making jokes, nicknaming his friends and encouraging people to be glad.

"My sister Zoe and him were as one. He was very quiet and used to read a lot, and Zoe was a naughty girl, he was fat and she was agile, so they complement each other".

She invokes her 12 years older brother, who was also her godfather, as a very good tempered person, sincere and friendly.

Her Pablos

Ruth was born in Santiago de Cuba, the same as Lya, another sister, and though she lives in Havana, admits that Pinar del Rio is the province she knows the most and tells us about her visits to several festivals, the inauguration of Pinar del Rio hotel and the activities of the sugar factory "Pablo de la Torriente" every December, when coincides the anniversary of the birth and death of her brother.

"In the last two years the "Pablo" has improved a lot, they even count on 13 projects with a Spanish firm. On the other hand, to see so many children and teenagers wearing uniforms is an example of future..."

She admits that felt sad when she was told that the sugar mill was going to be deactivated, but the way it has been transformed to improve the future of the inhabitants and besides the fact that the name of her brother endures, is something that comforts her and she confirms it with a familiar smile, which seems similar to that of her beloved brother.

This woman graduated as a teacher and worked in the Ministry of Agriculture and in the United Nations, until she retired in 1974. Her greatest privilege is to be healthy to recall the life and work of her brother, and to see the way Pablos ideas are made reality by the Revolution.

Since her first visit to the "Pablo", along with her mother, sisters and friends, she was tied up to the place, and today is the sponsor of the folklore group 1802, who made prayers for the health of the Commander in Chief, for her and the rest of the people who make good things in the world.

Ruth, faithful admirer of her brother, of the revolutionary man he still is, today defends the changes that are taking place in the lands of the "Pablo de la Torriente Brau" sugar factory. Meanwhile she gathers data, and gets excited when speaking, to let her brother write from her thoughts.

Source: By Blanchie Sartorio, Guerrillero