Havana, Cuba.- The Liberty Caravan, made up of Cuban children and youths will enter today the Cuban capital as 59 years ago when in a route of over one thousand kilometers, did so Fidel Castro and the Rebel Army.

The route to Havana, made from January 2 to 8 of 1959, allowed the people to joyously receive the guerrillas of the Sierra Maestra led by its undisputable leader after the revolutionary victory of January 1st.

Now pioneers, students, workers and intellectuals, avant-gardes in production, services and science in each of the territories in the route of the caravan are the ‘new rebels’ of this troop which started -as then- from the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba.

That January 8 fifty-nine years ago, Havana dwellers filled the streets. The rebels were received with Cuban and 26th July Movement flags, that waved in the hands of men, women and children.

The caravan was accompanied from the start by an important group of Cuban and foreign journalists, among them Herbert Matthews of The New York Times, famous because on February 17, 1957 he had published an interview with Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra, in which he vouched the existence of the guerrilla.

But here in the capital also awaited a real army of photographers, cameramen and special envoys of over 300 publications abroad, besides 150 of Havana news media, according to articles published then.

The caravan rode to the Military Garrison of Columbia (today School City Libertad) from which young Fidel Castro addressed the people. It was then, at the middle of his speech, that a white dove perched on one of his shoulders.

And it was on that occasion that the revolutionary leader turned to legendary combatant Camilo Cienfuegos, known as the Hero of Yaguajay and asked him: ‘Am I doing well, Camilo?’

So it was born the famous phrase that synthesized the immense confidence that Fidel Castro had on his comrade in arms. The people also welcomed the expression and made it their own.

That January 8, the Cuban leader announced to everyone that the Revolution had still a long way to go.