Revolutionaries and Cuban communist politicians Fidel Castro took part in the Cuban Revolution from 1953 to 1959. Following from his early life, Castro decided to fight to overthrow the military junta Fulgencio Batista by establishing a paramilitary organization, the "Movement". In July 1953, they launched a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks, where many militants were killed and Castro was arrested. Placed in court, he defended his actions and gave my famous "History To Release" speech, before being sentenced to 15 years in prison at Model Prison on Isla de Pinos. Changing the group's name to the "July 26 Movement" (MR-26-7), Castro was pardoned by the Batista government in May 1955, who no longer considered it a political threat. Restructuring MR-26-7, he fled to Mexico with his brother Raul Castro, where he met Argentine Marxist-Leninist Che Guevara, and together they gathered small revolutionary forces intent on toppling Batista.
In November 1956, Castro and 81 revolutionaries sailed from Mexico aboard the Granma ships, an emergency landing near Los Cayuelos. Attacked by Batista troops, they fled to the Sierra Maestra mountains, where 19 survivors set up a camp from which they waged a guerrilla war against the army. Driven by new recruits that increased the number of guerrillas to 200, they coordinated their attacks with other revolutionary actions in Cuba, and Castro became an international celebrity after being interviewed by The New York Times. In 1958 Batista launched a counterattack, Operation Verano, but the use of conventional warfare by his troops was covered by Castro guerrilla tactics, and MR-26-7 was finally pushed out of the Sierra Maestra and controlled most of Oriente and Las. Villas. Realizing that he lost the war, Batista fled to the Dominican Republic while military leader Eulogio Cantillo took over the country. With the revolutionary power that controls most of Cuba, Castro ordered the capture of Cantillo, before establishing a constitutional monarchy with Manuel Urrutia LleÃÆ'³ as governor and JosÃÆ' Â © MirÃÆ'³ Cardona as Prime Minister (John 234), ensuring that they enacted laws to erode the power of Batistanos.. (Yared 259)
Video Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution
Gerakan dan Serangan Barak Moncada: 1952-54
In March 1952, Cuban military general Fulgencio Batista seized power in a military coup, with President Carlos PrÃÆ'o Socarrá elected to flee to Mexico. Expressing himself as president, Batista canceled the planned presidential election, portraying his new system as "disciplinary democracy"; Castro, like many others, considered him a one-man dictatorship. Batista moved to the right, strengthening ties with wealthy elites and the United States, severing diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union, suppressing unions and persecuting Cuban socialist groups. Intending to oppose Batista's government, Castro brought several legal cases against them, arguing that Batista had committed sufficient crime to guarantee imprisonment and accused various ministers of violating labor laws. The lawsuit has no results, Castro began to think of alternative ways to overthrow the new government.
Unsatisfied with Partico Orthodoxo's nonviolent opposition, Castro formed "The Movement", a group of civil and military committees. The first fidgeted through the underground newspaper El Acusador ( The Accuser ), while the latter armed and trained anti-Batista recruits. With Castro as head of the Movement, the organization was based on a secret cell system, with each cell containing 10 members. A dozen individuals formed the core of the Movement, many were dissatisfied members of the Orthodoxo, though from July 1952 they continued their recruitment trip, gaining about 1,200 members a year, organized into over a hundred cells, with the majority coming from poor districts Havana. Though he has close ties to revolutionary socialism, Castro avoids alliances with the PSP communists, fearing it would scare moderate politics, but keep in touch with some PSP members, including his brother RaÃÆ'ºl. He then attributes that the members of the Movement are only anti-Batista, and few have strong socialist or anti-imperialist views, something that Castro is associated with "the extraordinary weight of the Yankee machine of ideology and advertising" which he believes to suppress class consciousness among Cubans. working class.
Castro stockpiled weapons for a planned attack on the Moncada Barracks, a military garrison outside Santiago de Cuba, Oriente. Militants Castro wants to dress in army uniform and arrive at the base on July 25, the festival of St. James, when many officers will leave. The rebels will seize control of the armory and flee before the troops arrive. Armed with a new weapon, Castro intends to arm supporters and trigger a revolution among the poor Oriente cane cutter. The plan was to wrest control of the Santiago radio station, broadcast the Movement manifesto, therefore promoting further rebellion. Castro's plan mimics those of the nineteenth century Cuban freedom fighters who raided Spanish barracks; Castro saw himself as the heir of the independence leader and national hero JosÃÆ'Â © MartÃÆ'.
Castro collected 165 revolutionaries for the mission; 138 stationed in Santiago, 27 others in Bayamo. Most young men from Havana and Pinar del RÃÆ'o, Castro assure that - with the exception of himself - nobody has children, and orders his troops not to cause bloodshed unless they meet armed resistance. The attack took place on July 26, 1953, but had difficulty; 3 of the 16 cars that depart from Santiago fail to get there. Reaching the barracks, the alarm was raised, with most rebels pinned outside the base by machine-gun fire. Those who entered into the face of heavy resistance, and 4 were killed before Castro ordered his retreat. The rebels have suffered 6 casualties and 15 others, while the army suffered 19 people and 27 wounded.
Meanwhile, some rebels take over civilian hospitals; then raided by government troops, rebels arrested, tortured and 22 executed without trial. Those who had fled, including Fidel and RaÃÆ'ºl, gathered at their base where some surrendered, while others wanted to flee to Havana. Accompanied by 19 comrades, Castro decided to leave for Gran Piedra in the hilly Sierra Maestra mountains a few miles north, where they could build a guerrilla base. In response to the Moncada attack, the Batista government proclaimed martial law, ordering a crackdown on disagreements and applying strict censorship of the media. Propaganda broadcast misinformation about the event, claiming that the rebels were communists who had killed hospital patients. Despite this censorship, news and photos soon spread from the use of torture and execution of the death penalty at Oriente, causing widespread public and some government disapproval.
Maps Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution
Trial and History Will Release Me : 1953
Over the next few days, the rebels were arrested, with some executed and others - including Castro - transported to Santiago's northern prison. Convincing Castro of not being able to plan the attack himself, the government accused Orthodoxo and PSP politicians of involvement, placing 122 defendants on trial Sept. 21 at the Palace of Justice, Santiago. Although censored for reporting it, journalists were allowed to attend, which proved embarrassing for the Batista government. Acting as his own defense council, Castro convinced 3 judges to override a military decision to keep all the accused handcuffed in court, proceeding to state that the alleged allegations against them - of "organizing a rebellion of armed men against the State's Constitutional Power" - are incorrect, since they have risen against Batista, who has seized power in an unconstitutional way. When asked who the intellectual author of the attack was, Castro claimed that it was a long-dead national icon, JosÃÆ'Â © MartÃÆ', quoting MartÃÆ'Â's work as justifying the rebellion.
The court revealed that the army had tortured the suspect, exploiting castration and gouging out of the eye; the judges agreed to investigate these crimes, embarrass the army, who tried unsuccessfully to prevent Castro to testify further, claiming he was too ill to leave his cell. The trial ended on October 5, with the release of most of the defendants; 55 were sentenced to prison terms between 7 months and 13 years. Castro was sentenced separately, on October 16, in which he delivered a speech to be printed under the title History Will Absolve Me . Although the maximum sentence for leading an insurgency is 20 years, Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the hospital wing of the Model Prison ( Presidio Modelo ), an institution that is relatively comfortable and modern in Isla de Pinos, 60 miles from Cuba's southwest coast.
Imprisoned and 26th of July Movement: 1953-55
Imprisoned with 25 conspirators, Castro was renamed the "Movement" of the "July 26 Movement" (MR-26-7) to commemorate the date of Moncada's attack. Establishing schools for prisoners, Academy of Ideology Abel Santamar, Castro organizes five hours a day teaching in ancient and modern history, philosophy and English. He read a great deal, enjoying the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and MartÃÆ' but also reading books by Freud, Kant, Shakespeare, Munthe, Maugham and Dostoyevsky, analyzing them in a Marxist framework. He started reading about the New Deal Roosevelt, believing that something similar had to be applied in Cuba. Along with supporters outside the prison, he retained control of the Movement and organized the publication of History Will Absolve Me, with an initial print of 27,500 copies. Initially permitted relatively high freedom in prison compared to other inmates, he was confined in solitary confinement after his colleagues sang anti-Batista songs at the President's visit in February 1954. Meanwhile, Castro's wife Mirta found work in prison. Ministry of Interior, encouraged to do so by his brother, a friend and ally Batista. This is concealed from Castro, who discovers via radio announcement. Surprised, he is angry that he is better off to die "a thousand times" than "to suffer the impotent from such contempt". Both Fidel and Mirta begin the process of divorce, with Mirta taking custody of their son, Fidelito; this angered Castro, who did not want his son to grow up in the bourgeois neighborhood.
In 1954, the Batista government held a presidential election, but no politician took risks against him; he won, but the election was widely considered to be fraudulent. It has allowed some political opposition to be voiced, and Castro's supporters have been restless for amnesty for the perpetrators of the Moncada incident. Some politicians suggest the amnesty will be a good publicity, and Congress and Batista agree. Backed by US and big companies, Batista believes Castro is not a political threat, and on May 15, 1955 prisoners were released. Returning to Havana, Castro was carried over the shoulders of supporters, and began giving radio interviews and press conferences; the government closely monitored, limiting its activities. Now divorced, Castro had sex with two female supporters, Naty Revuelta and Maria Laborde, each of whom regarded him as a child. With the regulation of MR-26-7 strengthening, he established a 11-member National Directorate; Although there are structural changes, there are still differences of opinion, with some questioning Castro's autocratic leadership. Castro dismissed calls for leadership to be transferred to democratic councils, arguing that a successful revolution can not be run by a committee. Some later left MR-26-7, labeling Castro a caudillo (dictator), though the majority remained loyal.
Mexico and guerrilla training: 1955-56
In 1955, violent bombings and demonstrations led to a crackdown on disagreements; Castro was placed under the patron of armed guards by supporters, before he and RaÃÆ'ºl escaped from the country. The remaining members of the MR-26-7 in Cuba were left preparing the cell for a revolutionary action and awaiting Castro's return. He sent a letter to the press, declaring that he "left Cuba because all the doors of the peaceful struggle were closed to me.free weeks after being released from prison I believe more than ever from dictatorship intentions, covered in many ways, to stay in power for twenty years, reign like now with the use of terror and evil and ignore the patience of the Cubans, who have their limits. As a follower of MartÃÆ', I believe the time has come to take our rights and not beg them, to fight instead of pleading with them. " Castros and some friends traveled to Mexico, which has a long history of offering asylum to the left-handed exiles. Here, RaÃÆ'ºl befriends an Argentine doctor and Marxist-Leninist named Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a supporter of guerrilla warfare who wants to join the Cuban Revolution. Fidel liked it, then described it as "a revolutionary more advanced than I am." Castro is also associated with Alberto Bayo, a Republican veteran of the Spanish Civil War; Bayo agrees to teach the rebels the abilities needed in guerrilla warfare, secretly meeting them at Chapultepec for training.
In need of funding, Castro toured the US to seek out wealthy investigators; PrÃÆ'o contributed $ 100,000. Castro later claimed that he had been monitored by Batista's agent, who arranged for a murder that failed him. The Batista government bribed Mexican police to arrest the rebels, but with the support of several Mexican politicians sympathetic to their cause, they were soon released. Castro kept in touch with MR-26-7 in Cuba, where they gained a great support base at Oriente. Other anti-Batista militant groups have sprung up, especially from the student movement; the most famous is Directorio Revolucionario Estudantil (DRE), founded by the Federation of University Students (FEU) President JosÃÆ'Â © Antonio EchevarrÃÆ'a. Antonio went to Mexico City to meet with Castro, but they disagreed with the tactics; Antonio thinks that it is legitimate to kill anyone who deals with the government, something that Castro thinks is rash and ineffective.
After buying a dilapidated cruise ship, Granma , on 25 November 1956 Castro sailed from Tuxpan, Veracruz, with 81 revolutionary armed with 90 rifles, three machine guns, 40 pistols and two hand weapons tank weapons. The 1,200 mile crossing to Cuba is very bad, and in a crowded ship condition, many are suffering from seasickness, and food supplies are running low. At some point they had to make up for the water caused by a leak, and elsewhere a man fell into the sea, delaying their journey. The plan is to cross to take 5 days, and on the day of arrival of the vessel scheduled for November 30, members of the MR-26-7 under Frank Pais led an armed uprising against government buildings in Santiago, Manzanillo and several other cities. However, the Granma journey lasted 7 days, and with Castro and his men unable to provide reinforcements, Pais and his militants dispersed after two days of intermittent attacks.
Guerrilla War in Sierra Maestra: 1956-58
The Granma landed in a mangrove swamp in Playa Las Coloradas, near Los Cayuelos, on December 2, 1956. Within hours, a navy ship began bombarding the invaders - fleeing inland, they headed for the wooded mountains Oriente's Sierra Maestra. At dawn on 5 December, the Batista Rural Guard detachment attacked them; the rebels scattered, making their journey to Sierra Maestra in small groups. Upon arrival, Castro discovered that out of 82 rebels who arrived at Granma, only 19 had managed to reach their destination, the rest were killed or captured.
Setting up a camp in the forest, survivors, including Castros, Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos, began launching attacks on small army outposts to obtain weapons. In January 1957 they stormed the outpost near the beach in La Plata; Guevara treats the soldiers for injury, but the revolutionaries execute local mayor Chicho Osorio, who is opposed to local farmers and who boasted of killing one of the MR-26-7 rebels. several weeks before. Osorio's execution helped the rebels in gaining the trust of the local population, who usually hated the mayors as enforcer of rich landowners, although they remained largely unenthusiastic and suspicious of the revolutionaries. As confidence grows, some locals join the rebels, although most new members come from urban areas. With an increase in the number of volunteers, now over 200, in July 1957 Castro divided his troops into three columns, defending one and giving control over the others to his brother and Guevara. Members of MR-26-7 who operated in urban areas continued to fidget, sending supplies to Castro, and on 16 February 1957 he met with other senior members to discuss tactics; here he meets Celia SÃÆ'¡nchez, who will become a close friend.
In Cuba, militant groups rise up against Batista, carrying out bombings and sabotage. Police responded with mass arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings, with corpses hung in trees to intimidate dissidents. In March 1957, Antonio DR launched a failed attack on the presidential palace, with Antonio shot dead; his death rid of charismatic rivals for Castro's leadership in the revolution. Frank Pais was also killed, leaving Castro as the incomparable leader of MR-26-7. Castro concealed his Marxist-Leninist beliefs, in contrast to Guevara and RaÃÆ'ºl, whose beliefs were well known; in doing so, he hoped to win the support of less radical dissidents, and in 1957 he met leading members of Partido Ortodoxo. Castro and Orthodoxo leaders RaÃÆ'ºl ChibÃÆ'¡s and Felipe Pazos compiled and signed the Sierra Maestra Manifesto, where they drew up their plans for post-Batista Cuba. Rejecting the rule of the interim military junta, he demands the formation of a civilian government while "supported by all" who will implement moderate agrarian reform, industrialization and literacy campaigns before introducing "truly fair, democratic, impartial elections".
The Batista government censures the Cuban press, and Castro contacts foreign media to spread his message. Herbert Matthews, a journalist from The New York Times, interviewed Castro, attracting international attention for rebel purposes and making Castro a celebrity. Under the disguise of a rich American sugar owner, Matthews and the Castro men managed to sneak by the Batista men stationed near the Sierra Maestra mountains. After meeting with Castro, he detailed the events that occurred since December 2, 1956. A month before, the US media spread the word that Castro had died in the midst of a failed Granma landings in the province of Oriente on December 2, 1956. In contrast, Castro and the remaining survivors retreated to the Sierra Mountains and has since been involved in guerrilla warfare with Batista's military. The New York Times published an article on February 24, 1957, letting the whole world, including US embassy officials, know for the first time that Castro is alive.
Other reporters followed, sent by news agencies such as CBS, while reporters from Paris Match stayed with the rebels for about 4 months, documenting their routine. Guerrilla Castro increased their attacks on military posts, forcing the government to withdraw from the Sierra Maestra region, and in the spring of 1958 the rebels took control of a hospital, a school, a printing press, a slaughterhouse, a mining plant and a cigar factory.
The fall of Batista and the military junta Cantillo: 1958- 1959
Batista had been under increasing pressure in 1958. His military failures, coupled with press and police censorship and the use of torture and executions outside the military, were increasingly criticized both domestically and abroad. Influenced by anti-Batista sentiments among their citizens, the US government stopped supplying him with weapons, which led him to buy weapons from the United Kingdom. The opposition used this opportunity to call a general strike, accompanied by an armed attack from MR-26-7. Beginning on April 9, he gained strong support in central and eastern Cuba, but only slightly elsewhere.
Batista responded with an all-out attack against the Castro guerrillas, Operation Verano (June 28 to August 8, 1958). Soldiers opened fire on forest areas and villages suspected of assisting militants, while 10,000 soldiers under command of General Eulogio Cantillo surrounded the Sierra Maestra, driving north to rebel camps. Despite their numerical and technological superiority, the army has no experience with guerrilla warfare or with mountainous terrain. Now with 300 men under his command, Castro avoids open confrontation, uses landmines and ambushes to stop enemy attacks. Soldiers suffered huge losses and some embarrassment; in June 1958 a battalion surrendered, their weapons confiscated and they were handed over to the Red Cross. Many Batista soldiers, shocked by the human rights abuses that they were ordered to commit, defected to the rebels of Castro, who also benefited from popular support in the area they controlled. In the summer, the MR-26-7 continues the attack, pushing the army back, out of the mountains and into the lowlands, with Castro using his column in a pincer movement to surround the concentration of the main army in Santiago. In November, Castro's forces occupied most of Oriente and Las Villas, and tightened their grips around the capitals of Santiago and Santa Clara. Through Las Villas' control, the rebels divided Cuba into two by shutting down the main roads and railways, greatly harming Batista's forces.
The United States realizes that Batista will lose the war, and is worried that Castro will displace US interests with socialist reform, deciding to assist in the abolition of Batista by supporting the right military junta, believing that General Cantillo, who then heads most of the country's armed forces, should lead me. After being approached with this proposal, Cantillo secretly met with Castro, agreeing that both would call a ceasefire, after which Batista would be arrested and tried as war criminals. Crossing Castro, Cantillo warned Batista of revolutionary intentions. Hoping to avoid a trial, Batista resigned on December 31, 1958, informing the armed forces that they were now under Cantillo's control. With his family and his closest advisers, Batista fled to the Dominican Republic with over US $ 300,000,000. Cantillo then entered the Presidential Palace of Havana, proclaimed the judge of the Supreme Court of Carlos Piedra as the new President, and began appointing new members of the government.
Still at Oriente, Castro was furious. Recognizing the formation of the military junta, he ended the truce and continued the attack. MR-26-7 drew up a plan to overthrow the Cantillo-Piedra junta, freeing high-ranking military officer Colonel RamÃÆ'³n BarquÃÆ'n from the Isle of Pines prison (where he had been held captive for planning to overthrow Batista), and ordered him to fly to Havana to capture Cantillo. Accompanying the widespread celebration of Batista's falling news spread across Cuba on January 1, 1959, Castro ordered MR-26-7 to take responsibility for safeguarding the state, to prevent widespread looting and vandalism.
While Cienfuegos and Guevara lead their column to Havana on January 2, Castro enters Santiago, accepts Barr Moncada's submission and gives a speech to call for a war of independence. He spoke against the junta of Cantillo-Piedra, calling for justice against human rights actors and proclaiming a better era for women's rights. Heading to Havana, he met José's mother © © Antonio Echevarraa, and greeted many people in every town, giving press conferences and interviews. Foreign journalists comment on an unprecedented level of public praise, with Castro attacking a heroic "heroic figure like Christ" figure and wearing the Virgin Mary medal. One such journalist including Herbert L. Matthews praised Castro, noting his charism and frank political frame of mind. Comments like these helped shape the positive image that Castro had during this era.
Interim administration: 1959
Castro has made it clear that Manuel Urrutia LleÃÆ'Â peng's lawyer must be president, leading a civilian government temporarily following Batista's fall. Moderately politicized, Urrutia has defended the revolutionary MR-26-7 in court, arguing that Barc Moncada's attacks are lawful according to the Cuban constitution. Castro believed Urrutia would be a good leader, already established and sympathetic to the revolution. With junta leaders captured, Urrutia was proclaimed a temporary president, with Castro mistakenly announcing that he had been elected by "general election"; most Urrutia cabinets are members of MR-26-7. On January 8, 1959, Castro's troops entered Havana. Proclaiming himself a Representative of the Presidential Defense Army, Castro - along with close aides and family members - set up homes and offices in the Havana Hilton Hotel penthouse, where they meet journalists, foreign visitors and government ministers.
Officially having no role in the interim administration, Castro made a lot of influence, mainly because of his popularity and his control over the rebel forces. Ensuring the government implements policies to cut corruption and fight illiteracy, at first he does not impose through radical proposals. Trying to get rid of the Cuban government in Batistanos, the Congress elected under Batista was abolished, and all those elected in the 1954 and 1958 elections were banned politics. The government is now in power with the decree, Castro encourages the president to issue a temporary ban on all political parties, but repeatedly declares that they will travel around to organize multiparty elections; this never happened. He began to meet with members of the Popular Socialist Party, believing that they had the intellectual ability to form a socialist government, but repeatedly refused to become a communist himself.
In suppressing the revolution, the Batista government has regulated mass human rights abuses, with most estimates for casualties typically placing it at around 20,000. The uproar in Cuba demanded that the figures who had been involved in widespread torture and the killing of civilians were brought to justice. Despite remaining a moderate force and opposing the mass killing of revenge advocated by many, Castro assists the preparation of many Batistanos courts, resulting in hundreds of executions. Although very popular within the country, critics - especially from the US press - argue that many are not fair trials, and condemn the Cuban government as more interested in retaliation than justice. In response, Castro proclaimed that "revolutionary justice is not based on the teachings of the law, but on moral convictions", organized the first Havana trial conducted before a mass audience of 17,000 at the Sports Palace stadium. He also intervened in other courts to ensure that what he saw as "revolutionary justice" was done; when a group of pilots accused of bombing a village were found not guilty in court in Santiago de Cuba, Castro ordered a retrial in which they were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
Recognized in Latin America, Castro traveled to Venezuela to attend the first anniversary of the overthrow of Marcos PÃÆ' Â © rez JimÃÆ'Â © nez. Met with the elected President, RÃÆ'³mulo Betancourt, Castro proposed a better relationship between the two countries, unsuccessfully requested a loan of $ 300 million and a new deal for Venezuela's oil. Back home, an argument between Castro and senior government figures broke out; the government has banned the National Lottery and closed casinos and brothels, leaving thousands of unemployed servants, hookers and prostitutes, angering Castro. As a result, Prime Minister JosÃÆ'Â © MirÃÆ'³ Cardona resigned, went into exile in the US and joined the anti-Castro movement.
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