Celia Sánchez Manduley was a participant of the Cuban Revolution

Cuban Revolution

The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...

 and a close friend, and rumored lover of Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

.

She was born in Media Luna

Media Luna

The Media Luna or Media Luna Ampliada refers to a group of four departments – Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, and Tarija – in Bolivia which became the geographic area of opposition to the national government led by Evo Morales and the Movement for Socialism...

, Oriente, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

. Sánchez joined the struggle against the Batista

Fulgencio Batista

Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....

 government following the coup of 10 March 1952. She was the founder of the 26th of July Movement

26th of July Movement

The 26th of July Movement was the revolutionary organization planned and led by Fidel Castro that in 1959 overthrew the Fulgencio Batista government in Cuba...

 in Manzanillo. ad formed. Together with Frank País

Frank País

Frank País was a Cuban revolutionary who campaigned for the overthrow of General Fulgencio Batista's government in Cuba...

 she was one of the first women to assemble a combat squad

Squad

In military terminology, a squad is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition this organization is referred to as a section...

 during the revolution. During the revolution, she was tasked with making all the necessary arrangements throughout the southwest coast region of Cuba, for the Granma

Granma (yacht)

Granma is the yacht that was used to transport 82 fighters of the Cuban Revolution from Mexico to Cuba in 1956 for the purpose of overthrowing the regime of Fulgencio Batista. The 60-foot diesel-powered cabin cruiser was built in 1943 and designed to accommodate 12 people...

 landing, and was responsible for organising reinforcements once the revolutionaries landed. In 1957, she joined the guerillas, and served as messenger. Celia placed small telegrams inside a Butterfly flower

Schizanthus

Schizanthus ,—common names butterfly flower, fringeflower, poor-man's-orchid—is a genus of plants in the Solanaceae family....

, that way the messages would remain in secret and would not be exposed to the enemy.

Sánchez was bestowed with the title of Secretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and served in the Department of Services of the Council of State until her death. The Celia Sánchez Memorial in Manzanillo honors her name.

As a member of the general staff of the Rebel Army she managed to supply Che Guevara

Che Guevara

Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...

and other rebels with weapons, occasionally food and medical supplies. Celia Sanchez is one of the few heroes in the Cuban revolution.