Michalakis Parides

He was born in the village of Anafotida¹, Larnaca district, on June 2, 1933.

He fell in the village of Vavla², Larnaca district, on August 27, 1958, in a battle with British soldiers.

Michalakis Parides finished his village's primary school and Larnaca High School and worked at the Bank of Cyprus. He was a member of OHEN and PEON, two organizations from which the first nuclei of EOKA were recruited. He served as the sector commander of the Larnaca district, in addition to the city, and as the leader of a guerrilla group in the Larnaca area.

On 1 April 1955 he acted as the leader of the “Aris” group, which, together with members of the “Kronos” group, carried out a bomb attack on the Larnaca Courthouse. He was arrested the same night with four other activists and sentenced to seven years in prison.

On 12 December 1957 he escaped from the Nicosia General Hospital where he had undergone surgery. The escape was achieved with the help of his nurse, who provided him with a rope and gloves, despite the very strict measures taken to guard him. After his escape, he fled to the Aglantzia area for a few days, before being promoted to the Larnaca area, where Digenis assigned him responsibility for the out-of-town sector. In a short time he managed to regroup the groups of the villages of his sector and to obtain the congratulations of Digenis for the rich action he developed.

He had initially established his headquarters in the house of Andreas Sourouklis in Troulloi³, which he kept secret even from his guerrillas.

In early April 1958 he moved to Anglisides. On July 15, 1958 he went to Skarinou and through the Monastery of Agios Minas he reached the hideout “Floga”, where a four-member guerrilla group was established. In the same month he established his headquarters in Vavla. There, on August 17, surrounded by British soldiers, he signed with his own blood his own declaration that: