It is about the Uvero combat, one of the most significant actions carried out by the members of the Rebel Army in the first half of 1957 during the fight against the reactionary military dictatorship that existed in Cuba at that time.

Several years after the victory of the Revolution, on the occasion of commemorating the eighth anniversary of that important and successful combat, Fidel, on May 28, 1965, spoke in the same place where that confrontation had taken place between the rebel combatants and the soldiers of the dictatorial regime

Fidel pointed out in his speech that this combat was the first of great proportions waged against those forces of the tyranny by the revolutionaries and also explained why the decision was made to carry out the attack on the existing barracks in El Uvero, located in the mountain town of that name in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra.

He recalled that a few days before there had been a landing of Cubans who were trying to overthrow Batista, although they had no relationship with the members of the rebel troops.

And he then specified: “From our experience, we understood the persecution that was going to be unleashed on them; how the lack of experience was going to make the fight very disadvantageous for them, and that it could happen to them like it did to us in the early days. And that sense of solidarity, that desire to help those Cubans who had landed, was, essentially, the feeling that determined the attack on the Uvero garrison.”

In order to carry out the attack on that military installation of the Batista dictatorship, with the aforementioned objective, the members of the rebel troop led by Fidel had to make a long walk of a few kilometers for several hours.

The combat began almost at dawn and lasted for several hours. The soldiers who were in the barracks were protected by the bolos existing in the sawmill that was in the area and due to this they maintained a tenacious resistance for a time.

Regarding this, Fidel also explained: “That historic combat was like that, a reflection of a feeling of solidarity, of a spirit of unity of the revolutionaries who were fighting in the mountains, of a sense of duty towards the others who were fighting; also a reflection of the decision to win or die of our men, of the spirit of our combatants, encouraged by the people…”

Commander Ernesto Che Guevara, years after the victory of the Revolution, produced a series of works in which he presented assessments of the development of the revolutionary war in Cuba.

And among those works is the one entitled El combat del Uvero.

Che explained that after several hours of advancing through the mountainous area, they reached near the sawmill where the barracks were located. He detailed that Fidel opened fire with his rifle that had a telescopic sight.

Regarding the characteristics of said combat, Che also meant in the work that he elaborated: "It was an attack by assault by men who advanced bare-chested against others who defended themselves with little chance of protection."

And he summed up the importance that he gave to the victory obtained by the rebel combatants in Uvero: “For us it was also the victory that marked the coming of age of our guerrilla. From that combat our morale increased enormously, our decision and our hopes of victory increased simultaneously with the victory, and although the following months were of severe test, we were already in possession of the secret of victory over the enemy. This action sealed the fate of the small barracks located far from the enemy's military groups and they were dismantled shortly after."