The General Staff has just sent to all its field commands General Order 196, by which the immediate execution of any soldier or officer who deserts from the ranks of the armed forces is ordered.
According to the order, the deserter will be judged by any member of the armed forces who has the rank immediately higher than that of the deserter. This order holds for anyone who is a soldier, a noncommissioned officer, or officer up to the rank of brigadier general. This means that now, according to the general order, any member of the armed forces can use the pretext that another member was planning to desert to murder that soldier without fear of punishment.
The 26th of July Movement and the Rebel Army express their solidarity with the members of the armed forces, who are also victims of the terror and despotism existing in our country. We offer our support through the proclamation of September 15, as a reply to the order of the dictatorship's General Staff. The proclamation reads as follows:
a. Any soldier, noncommissioned officer, or officer of the armed forces who does not wish to continue defending the ignoble and shameful cause of the tyranny can come to reside in free territory where his bloodthirsty persecutors will be unable to penetrate.
b. The soldier, noncommissioned officer, or officer of the armed forces who desires to live in free territory will not have the obligation of fighting against his own comrades-in-arms, nor will he have to carry out any type of warlike activity.
c. Any soldier, noncommissioned officer, or officer who accepts these conditions will continue receiving in free territory the same salary paid him by the state, so that he will be able to maintain his family. The only requisite is that he bring his weapon to us.
d. Any soldier, noncommissioned officer, or officer who, although wanting to abandon the ranks of the tyranny, fears the reprisals that might be taken against his loved ones, should know that he can come with them to free territory, where they will be offered housing and food until the end of the war.
e. To enter free territory, any soldier, noncommissioned officer, or officer of the armed forces does not require credentials, previous contacts, or any other kind of prerequisite. It is enough to come with your weapon and make contact with our posts or with the peasants, mentioning that you accept the hospitality of the Rebel Army proclaimed in the declaration of September 15.
The Rebel Army has always kept its word. Hundreds of wounded and captured soldiers given to the Red Cross are proof of the courteous treatment they received from us.
The free territory offers its generous hospitality to all military men who do not wish to continue defending the tyranny, so that they will not be murdered in the barracks due to simple suspicion.
This is our answer to the criminal General Order 196 of the dictatorship's General Staff. Not a single soldier should fear those threats when the free territory of Cuba is just a step away, a piece of the fatherland where liberty and justice reign.
Fidel Castro Ruz
Commander in Chief of the Rebel Army