• SINCE October 27, the image of Camilo Cienfuegos has been accompanying that of Che Guevara in Havana’s historic José Martí Plaza de la Revolución, half a century after Camilo’s disappearance, on October 28, 1959.

The back of the building that houses the Ministry of Informatics and Communications is the site of the monumental sculpture by artist Enrique Avila, who also designed the sculpture of the Heroic Guerilla which adorns the adjacent building.

The words "Vas bien, Fidel" (You’re doing fine, Fidel) appear on the bottom right hand corner of the Camilo sculpture. Camilo, "the Hero of Yaguajay," made that comment to Fidel Castro at the January 8, 1959 rally where Fidel declared that the Columbia military barracks would be made into a school, and he asked Camilo, "Am I doing all right, Camilo?"

At the request of the country’s top leadership, a dozen companies were responsible for this project, which is a tribute of the entire people to the "Señor de la Vanguardia," as Camilo is known.

Achieving the greatest similarity possible between the two sculptures was goal since the project’s conception; therefore, a wall was built for that purpose to simulate the façade upon which the Che image is hung, on the building housing the Ministry of the Interior.

Enrique Gandulfo, the project’s technical director, explained that in order to connect the background wall to the building, it was necessary to build an iron structure, and 120 cubic meters of concrete was required to affix the entire monument, which weighs more than 100 tons.

The mounting of the iron frame, built out of more than 1,000 elements and completely screwed together, began on October 4.