1958. The young revolutionary Andrés Torres is assassinated in Havana.

A militant of the Student Section of the July 26 Movement, he was always characterized by his moral integrity, the seriousness of his character, his serene way of facing any risk and his capacity for sacrifice. He organized and guided the students of the Masonic University, joined the leadership of the National Student Front (FEN) and had an outstanding participation in the student strike that began in February and paralyzed all the educational centers of the capital until May 1958. The defeat of the April 9 Strike placed the survivors in an extreme situation. A good part of the clandestine structures had been dismantled. Tyranny intensified persecution and terror.

In those days, Andrés was waiting for his transfer to the Sierra Maestra to continue the fight away from the dangers that his presence in the capital meant for him. He was one of the most wanted combatants by the repressive forces.

His death occurs when Colonel Esteben Ventura of the Batista dictatorship sets a trap for him, thanks to the denunciation of a traitor. That day, the 19-year-old goes to an appointment at three in the afternoon, and is surrounded and shot on Juan Bruno Zayas street, between Lacret and General Lee, in Havana.

His birth took place in the Cuban capital on February 4, 1939.

2000. The Cuban boy Elián González who remained kidnapped in the United States for several months was able to return to Cuba.

The retention of Elian in the territory of the United States provoked large mobilizations of the entire Cuban people who denounced the long process of violation by the US authorities of international law and of the laws of that country.

Regarding this event on December 23, 1999, in a ceremony that took place in the José Antonio Echeverría Social Circle, the Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro, stated:

"What begins today is the second stage of the mass battle that We have been fighting since Sunday, December 5. It has been and is a battle of ideas, of national and international public opinion, of legal, ethical and human principles, between Cuba and the empire, which in our country is supported by one of the largest and most combative mobilizations that has taken place in throughout our history."