According to the local press, by family decision his body will be cremated, and the ashes will be exposed next Wednesday, between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m., in the Veterans Pantheon of the Colon Necropolis.
Sotolongo Pérez was born on August 3, 1928 in the city of Placetas, in the central province of Villa Clara, to a humble family of peasant origin, and when he was only 12 years old he began to work and learned the trade of shoemaker.
He arrived in Havana in 1948, and settled in the municipality of Guanabacoa, where he started in union struggles and became a follower of Eduardo Chibás, leader of the Orthodox Party.
After Fulgencio Batista’s coup d’état, on March 10, 1952, he engaged in activities against the corrupt government, such as student demonstrations and the distribution of revolutionary propaganda.
He was a founder in 1955 of the July 26 Movement in Guanabacoa, and was selected to leave for Mexico and participate in the preparations for the fight, becoming an expeditionary member of the Granma yacht.
Sotolongo was one of the 82 young people who arrived in 1956 from Mexico to the Caribbean island and formed the nucleus of the Rebel Army that fought the Batista dictatorship (1952-1959), with the guidance of the historical leader Fidel Castro (1926-2016). .
He held important responsibilities in the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and fulfilled missions in the Fight Against Bandits after the triumph of the Revolution, on January 1, 1959.
In 1975 he was a delegate to the first Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, of which he had the status of founder.
For the services rendered to the Homeland, he received important awards and decorations, among which stand out the medals of combatant of the clandestine struggle and of the War of National Liberation, September 28, and those of 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 Anniversary. of the FAR.
jha/cgc
