Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution

“The Cuban communist revolutionary and politician Fidel Castro took part in the Cuban Revolution from 1953 to 1959. Following on from his early life, Castro decided to fight for the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista‘s military junta by founding a paramilitary organization, ‘The Movement’. In July 1953, they launched a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks, during which many militants were killed and Castro was arrested. Placed on trial, he defended his actions and provided his famous ‘History Will Absolve Me’ speech, before being sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment in the Model Prison on the Isla de Pinos. Renaming his group the ‘26th of July Movement’ (MR-26-7), Castro was pardoned by Batista’s government in May 1955, who no longer considered him a political threat. Restructuring the MR-26-7, he fled to Mexico with his brother Raul Castro, where he met with Argentine Marxist-Leninist Che Guevara, and together they put together a small revolutionary force intent on overthrowing Batista. In November 1956, Castro and 81 revolutionaries sailed from Mexico aboard the Granma, crash-landing near to Los Cayuelos. Attacked by Batista’s forces, they fled to the Sierra Maestra mountain range, where the 19 survivors set up an encampment from which they waged guerrilla war against the army. … Recognising that he was losing the war, Batista fled to the Dominican Republic while military leader Eulogio Cantillo took control of the country. With revolutionary forces controlling most of Cuba, Castro ordered Cantillo’s arrest, before establishing a new government with Manuel Urrutia Lleó as governor and José Miró Cardona as Prime minister (John 234), ensuring that they enacted laws to erode the power of the Batistanos. (Jared 259) …”
W – Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution
amazon: Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): An American History, Ada Ferrer
W – Celia Sánchez, BBC – Celia Sanchez: Was she Castro’s lover?, W – Granma (yacht), W – Cuban Revolution
YouTube: Castro and Cuba: First Films From Behind Rebel Lines, 1958, Celebrations in Havana Cuba as rebels under Fidel Castro evict Batista, Cubans Demand More Executions (1959)
YouTube: Fidel Castro on Face the Nation in 1959   28:30

The route of Granma from Tuxpan to Playa Las Coloradas