Cuban Revolution: the story on HearLore

Cuban Revolution

Fidel Castro, a young lawyer with no military experience, stood before a Cuban court on the 26th of July 1953 and declared that history would absolve him, even as he faced fifteen years in prison for his role in a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks. This moment marked the beginning of a journey that would transform a failed legal strategy into a decade-long armed struggle against a dictatorship. The attack on the Moncada Barracks, a military post in Santiago de Cuba, was intended to spark a nationwide uprising, but it ended in a decisive defeat for the rebels. Castro and his brother Raúl led an assault on the barracks with around 126 fighters, but the operation was poorly planned and executed. The rebels lacked adequate knowledge of the barracks and had insufficient weapon experience, leading to their capture and the execution of many of their comrades. Among the dead was Abel Santamaría, Castro's second-in-command, who was tortured and executed on the same day as the attack. Despite the failure, Castro's defense speech during his trial became a rallying cry for the opposition, and he was eventually released in 1955 under political pressure. This release allowed him to regroup in Mexico, where he would meet Che Guevara and begin the planning for a new campaign to overthrow Fulgencio Batista.

The Granma And The Mountains

The yacht Granma departed from Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico, on the 25th of November 1956, carrying Fidel and Raúl Castro and eighty others, despite being designed to accommodate only twelve people. The boat landed in Playa Las Coloradas on the 2nd of December, arriving two days later than planned due to being heavily loaded. This delay dashed any hopes for a coordinated attack with the llano wing of the Movement. After exiting the ship, the band of rebels began to make their way into the Sierra Maestra mountains, but three days later, Batista's army attacked and killed most of the Granma participants. No more than twenty of the original eighty-two men survived the initial encounters with the Cuban army and escaped into the Sierra Maestra mountains. The group of survivors included Fidel and Raúl Castro, Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos. The dispersed survivors, alone or in small groups, wandered through the mountains, looking for each other. Eventually, the men would link up again with the help of peasant sympathizers and form the core leadership of the guerrilla army. A number of female revolutionaries, including Celia Sánchez and Haydée Santamaría, also assisted Fidel Castro's operations in the mountains. The Battle of La Plata on the 17th of January 1957 marked the first major victory for the 26th of July Movement, where the rebels defeated a small army garrison and took weapons, ammo, clothes, food, and fuel. This success allowed the rebels to reorganize and conduct urban sabotage and covert recruitment, transforming from crude guerrilla fighters into a cohesive fighting force.

When did Fidel Castro declare that history would absolve him during the Cuban Revolution?

Fidel Castro made this declaration on the 26th of July 1953 while standing before a Cuban court. He faced fifteen years in prison for his role in the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks.

Who were the key figures that survived the initial encounters with the Cuban army after the Granma landed?

No more than twenty of the original eighty-two men survived the initial encounters with the Cuban army and escaped into the Sierra Maestra mountains. The group of survivors included Fidel and Raúl Castro, Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos.

What happened to Frank País during the Cuban Revolution in July 1957?

Frank País was shot in the back of the head by Santiago police officers on the 30th of July 1957 after an informant betrayed him. He was buried in the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in the olive green uniform and red and black armband of the 26th of July Movement.

When did the Battle of Santa Clara take place and who led the forces that captured the city?

The Battle of Santa Clara took place on the 31st of December 1958. The city fell to the combined forces of Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, and Revolutionary Directorate rebels led by Comandantes Rolando Cubela, Juan El Mejicano Abrahantes Fernández, and William Alexander Morgan.

When did the Cuban Revolution gain victory and when did Fidel Castro arrive in Havana?

The Cuban Revolution gained victory on the 1st of January 1959. Fidel Castro arrived in Havana on the 8th of January after a long victory march.

When did the Soviet Union station nuclear weapons in Cuba and what crisis did this trigger?

The Soviet Union stationed nuclear weapons in Cuba in 1962, an act which triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. The aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis saw international embarrassment for the Soviet Union.

The Urban Network And The Martyrs

Frank País, a revolutionary organizer affiliated with the 26th of July Movement, built an extensive underground urban network that played a crucial role in the revolution. País had been tried and acquitted for his role in organizing an unsuccessful uprising in Santiago de Cuba in support of Castro's landing at the beginning of December 1956. On the 30th of June 1957, País's younger brother Josué País was killed by the Santiago police. During the latter part of July 1957, a wave of systematic police searches forced Frank País into hiding in Santiago de Cuba. On the 21st of July, País hid in Raúl Pujol Arencibia's home, but an ongoing search in the area forced the two men to relocate. On the 30th of July, País was in a safe house with Pujol Arencibia, despite warnings from other members of the Movement that it was not secure. The Santiago police under Colonel José Salas Cañizares surrounded the building, and Frank and Raúl attempted to escape. However, an informant betrayed them as they tried to walk to a waiting getaway car. The police officers drove the two men to the Callejón del Muro and shot them in the back of the head. In defiance of Batista's regime, País was buried in the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in the olive green uniform and red and black armband of the 26th of July Movement. The workers of Santiago declared a spontaneous general strike in response to the death of País, which was the largest popular demonstration in the city up to that point. The mobilization of the 30th of July 1957 is considered one of the most decisive dates in both the Cuban Revolution and the fall of Batista's dictatorship. The Frank País Second Front, the guerrilla unit led by Raúl Castro in the Sierra Maestra, was named for the fallen revolutionary. His childhood home at 226 San Bartolomé Street was turned into The Santiago Frank País García House Museum and designated as a national monument. The international airport in Holguín, Cuba also bears his name.

The Flight Of The Dictator

On the 31st of December 1958, the Battle of Santa Clara took place in a scene of great confusion. The city of Santa Clara fell to the combined forces of Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, and Revolutionary Directorate rebels led by Comandantes Rolando Cubela, Juan El Mejicano Abrahantes Fernández, and William Alexander Morgan. News of these defeats caused Batista to panic. He fled Cuba by air for the Dominican Republic just hours later on the 1st of January 1959. Comandante William Alexander Morgan, leading RD rebel forces, continued fighting as Batista departed, and had captured the city of Cienfuegos by the 2nd of January. Cuban General Eulogio Cantillo entered Havana's Presidential Palace, proclaimed the Supreme Court judge Carlos Piedra as the new president, and began appointing new members to Batista's old government. Castro learned of Batista's flight in the morning of the 1st of January, and immediately started negotiations to take over Santiago de Cuba. On the 2nd of January, the military commander in the city, Colonel Rubido, ordered his soldiers not to fight, and Castro's forces took over the city. The forces of Guevara and Cienfuegos entered Havana at about the same time. They had met no opposition on their journey from Santa Clara to Cuba's capital. Castro himself arrived in Havana on the 8th of January after a long victory march. His initial choice of president, Manuel Urrutia Lleó, took office on the 3rd of January. After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on the 1st of January 1959, dozens of Fulgencio Batista's supporters and members of the armed forces and police were arrested and accused of war crimes and other abuses. On the 11th of January, a revolutionary court in Santiago de Cuba sentenced 4 individuals to death after a 4-hour summary trial. The court was also presided over by Rebel Army Commander Raúl Castro, who was in command of the Oriente province. The Santiago rebels sentenced 68 more men to the death penalty, and Raúl Castro declared that if one was guilty, all were also guilty. The men were shot in a mass execution at San Juan Hill on the 12th of January 1959.

The Consolidation Of Power

The Cuban Revolution gained victory on the 1st of January 1959, and liberal lawyer Manuel Urrutia Lleó returned from exile in Venezuela to take up residence in the presidential palace. Urrutia Lleó had campaigned against Batista's governing during the 1950s and supported the July 26 Movement, before serving as president in the first revolutionary government of 1959. The new provisional government consisted of other Cuban political veterans and pro-business liberals including José Miró, who was appointed as prime minister. Once in power, Urrutia swiftly began a program of closing all brothels, gambling outlets and the national lottery, arguing that these had long been a corrupting influence on the state. The measures drew immediate resistance from the large associated workforce. The disapproving Castro, then commander of Cuba's new armed forces, intervened to request a stay of execution until alternative employment could be found. Disagreements soon arose in the new government concerning pay cuts, which were imposed on all public officials on Castro's demand. The disputed cuts included a reduction of the $100,000 a year presidential salary Urrutia had inherited from Batista. On the 16th of February, following the surprise resignation of Miró, Castro had assumed the role of prime minister, which strengthened his power and rendered Urrutia increasingly a figurehead president. As Urrutia's participation in the legislative process declined, other unresolved disputes between the two leaders continued to fester. His belief in the restoration of elections was rejected by Castro, who felt that they would usher in a return to the old discredited system of corrupt parties and fraudulent balloting that had marked the Batista era. On the 9th of April 1959, Fidel Castro proclaimed that the elections, which were promised to happen after the revolution, were to be delayed by fifteen months. This delay was deemed necessary in order for the provisional government to focus on domestic reforms. Urrutia was then accused by the Avance newspaper of buying a luxury villa, which was portrayed as a frivolous betrayal of the revolution and led to an outcry from the general public. He denied the allegation issuing a writ against the newspaper in response. The story further increased tensions between the various factions in the government, though Urrutia asserted publicly that he had absolutely no disagreements with Fidel Castro. Urrutia attempted to distance the Cuban government from the growing influence of the communists within the administration, making a series of critical public comments against the latter group. Whilst Castro had not openly declared any affiliation with the Cuban communists, Urrutia had been a declared anti-communist since they had refused to support the insurrection against Batista. Castro resigned from his position as commander-in-chief, citing the controversy around Urrutia as cause. In the aftermath of Castro's resignation, angry mobs surrounded the Presidential Palace, and Urrutia then resigned. Castro was reinstated into his position, and a growing political sentiment in Cuba associated Fidel Castro with the only source of legitimate power. Fidel Castro soon replaced Manuel Urrutia with Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado as President of Cuba. Dorticós was a member of the Popular Socialist Party.

The Global Ripple Effect

The Cuban Revolution was a crucial turning point in U.S.-Cuban relations. Although the United States government was initially willing to recognize Castro's new government, it soon came to fear that Communist insurgencies would spread through the nations of Latin America, as they had in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Castro's government resented the Americans for providing aid to Batista's government during the revolution. After the revolutionary government nationalized all U.S. property in Cuba in August 1960, the American Eisenhower administration froze all Cuban assets on American soil, severed diplomatic ties and tightened its embargo of Cuba in January 1961. The Key West-Havana ferry shut down. In 1961, the U.S. government launched the Bay of Pigs Invasion, in which Brigade 2506, a CIA-trained force of 1,500 soldiers, mostly Cuban exiles, landed on a mission to oust Castro. The attempt to overthrow Castro failed, with the invasion being repulsed by the Cuban military. The U.S. embargo against Cuba is still in force as of 2025, although it underwent a partial loosening during the Obama administration, only to be strengthened in 2017 under Trump. The U.S. began efforts to normalize relations with Cuba in the mid-2010s, and formally reopened its embassy in Havana after over half a century in August 2015. The Trump administration reversed much of the Cuban Thaw by severely restricting travel by US citizens to Cuba and tightening the US government's embargo against the country. Following the American embargo, the Soviet Union became Cuba's main ally. The Soviet Union did not initially want anything to do with Cuba or Latin America until the United States had taken an interest in dismantling Castro's communist government. At first, many people in the Soviet Union did not know anything about Cuba, and those that did, saw Castro as a troublemaker and the Cuba Revolution as one big heresy. There were three big reasons why the Soviet Union changed their attitudes and finally took interest in the island country. First was the success of the Cuban Revolution, to which Moscow responded with great interest as they understood that if a communist revolution was successful for Cuba, it could be successful elsewhere in Latin America. Second, after learning about the United States' aggressive plan to deploy another Guatemala scenario in Cuba, the Soviet opinion quickly changed feet. Third, Soviet leaders saw the Cuban Revolution as first and foremost an anti-North American revolution which whet their appetite as this was during the height of the Cold War and the Soviet, US battle for global dominance was at its apex. The Soviets' attitude of optimism changed to one of concern for the safety of Cuba after it was excluded from the inter-American system at the conference held at Punta del Este in January 1962 by the Organization of American States. This coupled with the threat of a United States invasion of the island was really the turning point for Soviet Concern, the idea was that should Cuba be defeated by the United States it would mean defeat for the Soviet Union and for Marxism-Leninism. If Cuba were to fall, other Latin American countries would reject us, claiming that for all our might the Soviet Union had not been able to do anything for Cuba except to make empty protests to the United Nations, wrote Khrushchev. The Soviet attitude towards Cuba changed to concern for the safety of the island nation because of increased US tensions and threats of invasion making the Soviet-Cuban relationship superficial insofar as it only cared about denying the US power in the region and maintaining Soviet supremacy. All of these events led to the two countries quickly developing close military and intelligence ties, which culminated in the stationing of Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba in 1962, an act which triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. The aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis saw international embarrassment for the Soviet Union, and many countries including Communist countries were quick to criticize Moscow's handling of the situation. In a letter that Khrushchev writes to Castro in January of the following year, 1963, after the end of conflict, he talks about wanting to discuss the issues in the two countries' relations. He writes attacking voices from other countries, including socialist ones, blaming the USSR of being opportunistic and self-serving. He explained the decision to withdraw missiles from Cuba, stressing the possibility of advancing Communism through peaceful means. Khrushchev underlined the importance of guaranteeing against an American attack on Cuba and urged Havana to focus on economic, cultural, and technological development to become a shining beacon of socialism in Latin America. In closing he invites Fidel Castro to visit Moscow and discuss the preparations for such a trip. The 1970s and 1980s were somewhat of an enigma in the sense that the two decades were filled with the most prosperity in Cuba's history, and it adopted and enacted several brutal features of socialist regimes from the Eastern Bloc. This period is marked as the Sovietization of the 1970s and 1980s. On the 11th of July 1972, Cuba joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, officially joining their trade with the Soviet Union's socialist trade bloc. That along with increased Soviet subsidies, better trade terms, and better, more practical domestic policy led to several years of prosperous growth. Moreover, Cuba was able to strengthen its foreign policy with both communistic, anti-US imperial and non-communistic countries, albeit not including those in North America and Latin America. It has, however, come into question as to whether this alliance benefitted both Cuba and the Soviet Union equally. For one, there is the belief that the latter utilized the Cuban government and citizens to gain an advantage in foreign military operations, while Cuba received more consequence than reward in return. In addition, was perceived as having betrayed the revolution by the United States, this negative perception of the country eventually leading to trade embargoes and active isolation of its government. Whilst Cuba had undoubtedly economically benefitted from its connection with the Soviet Union, the short- and long-term impact has been the subject of discussion amongst scholars. Cuba maintained close links to the Soviets until the Soviet Union's collapse and disbandment of COMECON in 1991. The end of Soviet economic aid and the loss of its trade partners in the Eastern Bloc led to an economic crisis and period of shortages known as the Special Period in the Time of Peace in Cuba. Current day relations with Russia, formerly the Soviet Union, ended in 2002 after the Russian Federation closed an intelligence base in Cuba over budgetary concerns. However, in the last decade, relations have increased in recent years after Russia faced international backlash from the West over the situation in Ukraine in 2014. In retaliation for NATO expansion towards the east, Russia has sought to create these same agreements in Latin America. Russia has specifically sought greater ties with Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico. Currently, these countries maintain close economic ties with the United States. In 2012, Putin decided that Russia focus its military power in Cuba like it had in the past. Putin is quoted saying, Our goal is to expand Russia's presence on the global arms and military equipment market. This means expanding the number of countries we sell to and expanding the range of goods and services we offer. Since the conclusion of the Cuban Revolution, a steady stream of emigration from Cuba has commenced. This stream has included various migration waves which each had unique push and pull factors, motivating emigrants' exit from Cuba. The first exodus of Golden exiles, 1959 to 1962, consisted of the mainly upper and middle class emigrants. These emigrants were motivated to leave because they were typically either Batistianos, or professionals within industries that were nationalized by Fidel Castro. The later Freedom Flights, 1965 to 1970, typically consisted of emigrants fearful of censorship and human rights abuses in Cuba. The Mariel boatlift, 1980, consisted of emigrants greatly looking for better economic prospects in the United States. And, the rafter crisis, 1994, was sparked by the Special Period, and many emigrants left for better economic prospects outside Cuba. The constant exodus has had a profound effect on US-Cuba relations. According to authors John Scanlan and Gilburt Loescher, United States acceptance of Cuban emigrants after the 1959 Cuban Revolution was done in hopes to undermine the Fidel Castro government. The acceptance of Cuban emigrants during the Freedom Flights was done in hopes of weakening the Cuban economy by draining it of workers. The United States also was generally able to paint a negative picture of Cuba by participating in the mass emigration of many who disliked Cuba and wished to flee the island. The Department of State painted Cuban emigrants in the 1960s as freedom-seeking refugees. By the Mariel boatlift the United States had lost its total aggressive foreign policy towards Cuba and instead viewed the island as a nuisance rather than a security threat. The Mariel boatlift was soon canceled after it was initiated and received little public American support. Fidel Castro benefited from the exile because he was able to remove disloyalty by directly removing disloyal citizens from Cuba. The emigration of Mariel exiles set the precedent of the first homosexual immigrants being allowed into the United States, on the grounds that they were ultimately anti-communist refugees. Social analyst Kelly M. Greenhill argues that the 1994 Cuban rafter crisis was in part engineered by the Cuban government to push social problems out of Cuba and threaten the creation of a humanitarian crisis for the United States. This threat would stimulate fears of Cuban immigrants in the United States as was seen previously during the Mariel boatlift and would be able to change United States policy towards Cuba in Cuba's favor. Castro's victory and post-revolutionary foreign policy had global repercussions as influenced by the expansion of the Soviet Union into Eastern Europe after the 1917 October Revolution. In line with his call for revolution in Latin America and beyond against imperial powers, laid out in his Declarations of Havana, Castro immediately sought to export his revolution to other countries in the Caribbean and beyond, sending weapons and troops to Algerian rebels as early as 1960. In the following decades, Cuba became heavily involved in supporting Communist insurgencies and independence movements in many developing countries, sending