At midmorning on Saturday, December 19, 1964, was inaugurated the hamlet for the sugar plant Vertientes, the First Fair of Agrarian and Industrial Exposition made in Cuba after the triumph of the Revolution. The authors of that unusual event for those times were the enthusiast Commander of the Rebel Army Félix Torres González, then director of the Agrarian Company in that region to the south of our city and the local journalist Reynaldo Henquén Cárdenas, correspondent of the broadcasters Radio Rebelde and Radio Reloj and also the journals Crisol, from Havana and Adelante, in Camagüey.
The event scheduled rodeos, cultural encounters, artisan fairs, artistic performances, competitions of farmers’ music, dances, areas for party and other attractions. The Fair, according to schedule, lasted till Sunday 27 of the same month.
On the morning of the first day, after the tie of calves at the rodeo, the Indio Naborí performed in the afternoon at the stage of the recreational center El Bosque and by nightfall, at the town’s park, the Orchestra Maravilla de Florida. That was only the beginning, since in the successive days, there were presentations of the orchestra Aragón, Barbarito Diez, Melodías del ‘40 and other music bands.
However, what was not foreseen in the schedule of the celebrations was the presence in Vertientes of Alicia Alonso and a great part of the members of the Cuban National Ballet. “Like to so many artists, we had extended an invitation to Alicia to attend the Fair, but without much hope and without receiving any confirmation”, told us years later Henquén himself, who worked as promoter of the event. So imagine the surprise when in the afternoon of the 18th, Alicia arrived in a bus directly from Havana with numerous dancers, including Fernando Alonso.
The journalist remembered: “… We had to quickly make a platform on the stage, since the Ballet needs certain special conditions. Alicia danced the next day, during the night, on the stage of the Fair”.
After concluding the presentation and saying goodbye to the audience, the Ballet in full assisted to the dinner offered by the workers of the sugar plant. Among the attendants, there were Felipe Torres Trujillo, first secretary of the PURS; Francisco Herrera, provincial delegate of the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as chiefs of sugar cane districts and industrial workers. It was the Commander Félix Torres who thanked Alicia for her presence, pointing out that cultural event as a historical page for Vertientes.
Half a century after that event, the journalist Luis Enrique Perdomo Silva interviewed “Musa”, Víctor Manuel Basulto, gastronomic worker who, in that December 1964, had the responsibility of serving Alicia Alonso at the dinner of the night of the 19th.
“It was a meal made for her, but there were many guests. The closest memory I have is that I had to wait on her directly and all of those around: Alonso and the commander Félix Torres”, narrated Víctor Manuel to the journalist. “I was 24 years old back then, and in spite of being aware of all the details during the dinner, I could interact with a smiling and cheerful Alicia. That is the way you can see her in the photos of the time. Long before the banquet, she danced for the hosts in a platform that was set”.
Today, 55 years later, few remember this story; it has not been marked either as a point for the local history of Vertientes, the home where the National Ballet and Alicia Alonso settled and that is now where a part of the University has seated in this municipality. Lets take care of the historical memory.
- Translated by Elianna Díaz Mendieta