Radio Rebelde
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| Type | Radio network |
|---|---|
| Country |  Cuba |
| Availability | International |
| Owner | Government of Cuba |
| Key people | Gerardo Calderín Gainza (General Director), Agustín Taquechel Campos (Chief Editor), Ernesto Che Guevara (Founder) |
| Launch date | February 24, 1958 |
| Website http://www.radiorebelde.com.cu/ |
|
Radio Rebelde (English: Rebel Radio) is a Cuban Spanish-language radio station. It broadcasts 24 hours a day with a varied program of national and international music hits of the moment, news reports and live sport events. The station was set up in 1958 by Che Guevara (
listen (help·info)) in the Sierra Maestra region of eastern Cuba, and was designed to broadcast the aims of the 26th of July Movement led by Fidel Castro. Transmitting on short-wave, Radio Rebelde also broadcast the latest combat news, music and spoken literature to the people of Cuba during the Cuban Revolution. Today Radio Rebelde has forty-four transmitters on the FM dial covering 98 percent of the island of Cuba, plus a shortwave signal on the 60-meter band at 5.025 MHz, and several AM transmitters on various frequencies, most commonly 530, 540, 600, 610, 620, 670, 710, and 770.[1]
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[edit] History
The radio broadcasts were initiated in February 1958 by the rebel army's media wing, under Guevara's supervision. Guevara had reportedly been impressed by the power of radio after experiencing first hand the role of a CIA clandestine radio station, La Voz de la Liberación, in ousting the government of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala. [2] An electric generator and the first radio equipment had arrived in Pata de la Mesa, Guevara's command post, where the rebels were to set up the clandestine station and get it on the air.[1]
Early broadcast efforts were conducted by future minister for the interior Luis Orlando Rodríguez, the original broadcast beginning with the announcement:
"…Aquí Radio Rebelde, the voice of the Sierra Maestra, transmitting for all Cuba on the 20-meter band at 5 and 9 pm daily… I'm station director Capt. Luis Orlando Rodríguez."[1]
Later, Carlos Franqui arrived from Miami, United States, to become the movement's overall director of information. Franqui and the transmitter soon relocated from Guevara's base in La Mesa to Fidel Castro's command post in La Plata as the fighting intensified.
The broadcasts were to become a vital source of communication due to increased government restrictions on the Cuban press. A new boosted transmitter in La Plata carried long interviews and speeches by Fidel Castro to the people, and also provided radiotelephone communication between the rebel columns throughout the region. Expansions in rebel numbers and more ambitious military ventures away from the group's base in the Sierra Maestra meant that each fighting column would need radio equipment, eventually 32 Rebelde stations were operating throughout Cuba. Broadcasts to the population were nightly, with each broadcast beginning with the Cuban national anthem and the 26th of July hymn.[2] Broadcasts still began with the loud declaration "Aquí Radio Rebelde!" ("Here Radio Rebelde!") that has remained the station's trademark salutation to the present day.
On April 9, 1958, the station assisted in unsuccessful calls for the nation's workers to strike. Rebelde also broadcast the first reports that Guevara's column had taken Santa Clara on New Year's Eve 1958, and on the first morning of the new year Castro made a broadcast calling for another general strike. During the transmission he rejected any attempts by the Cuban military to negotiate a coup to replace Batista, urging his revolutionary force to push for the cities of Havana and Santiago. His final words being "¡Revolución Sí, Golpe Militar No!" (Revolution Yes, Military coup No!). Within hours the army surrendered in full and the rebels had gained victory.
[edit] External links
- Radio Rebelde online (Spanish)
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] Other References
- Sweig, Julia E. Inside the Cuban revolution, Harvard University press.
- Hugh Thomas. Cuba : The pursuit of freedom
- Anderson, Jon Lee. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, New York: 1997, Grove Press
