Cuban Revolution

The Cuban Revolution refers to the revolutionary war in Cuba culminating in the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista’s government on January 1, 1959 by the 26th of July Movement and other revolutionary elements in the country. The Cuban Revolution also refers to the ongoing implementation of social and economic programs by the new government since the overthrow of the Batista government, including the implementation of Marxist policies.

Pre-December 1956

Main article: Moncada Barracks

The starting point of the Cuban Revolution is generally accepted to be July 26, 1953, the date on which a group of about one hundred poorly armed guerrillas attacked the Moncada Barracks. Many of them were killed in the battles after the attack. The survivors, among them Fidel Castro Ruz and his brother Raúl Castro, were captured shortly afterwards. In a highly political trial, Fidel Castro spoke for nearly four hours in his defense, ending with the words; "Condemn me, it does not matter. History will absolve me". Fidel Castro was sentenced 15 years in the presidio modelo prison, located on Isla de Pinos, Raúl was sentenced to 13 years.

In 1955, due to pressure from civil leaders, the general opposition, and the Jesuits who had helped educate Fidel Castro, and perhaps because he had known the Castro brothers in their youth, Batista freed all political prisoners, including the Moncada attackers. The Castro brothers went into exile in Mexico, where they gathered more exiled Cubans to fight in the Cuban revolution for the overthrow of Batista. During that period, Castro also met Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who joined their forces. They were trained by Alberto Bayo, a former military leader of the failed "loyalists" in the Spanish Civil War.

The group trained in Mexico under the leadership of Castro and returned to Cuba in November 1956, on a small yacht named Granma. They hoped their landing in Eastern Cuba would coincide with planned uprisings in the cities and a general strike, coordinated by the llano wing of the 26th of July Movement. It was their intention to launch an armed offensive and swiftly topple the Batista government.

December 1956 to Mid-1958

The Granma arrived in Cuba on 2 December 1956. It was delayed en route to Cuba, arriving late and at a location further east than was planned. This dashed any hopes for a coordinated attack with the llano wing of the movement. After arriving and exiting the ship, the band of rebels began to make their way into the Sierra Maestra mountains, a range in Southeastern Cuba. Shortly after their trek began, they were attacked by men from the army. Most of the Granma participants were killed in this attack, but a small number, between ten and two dozen, escaped. The survivors were separated from one another, and alone or in small groups, wandered through the mountains, looking for other survivors. Eventually, this small group of persons, would find one another with the help of peasant sympathizers. This small group of people, which included Fidel Castro, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, and Raúl Castro would form the core leadership of the guerilla army.

From 1956 through the middle of 1958, Castro, with the aid of the Frank País and Ramos Latour, Huber Matos, and many others, staged successful attacks on small Batista garrisons in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Batista forces tried bloody repression to retain control and the cities in Cuba remained under Batista's control until the end. Che Guevara and Raúl Castro helped consolidate political control in the mountains through executions of Batista Loyalists and potential rivals to Castro. The irregular poorly armed escopeteros harassed the Batista forces through the foot hills and the plains of Oriente Province; in addition these much maligned forces provided Castro's main forces with moderate military support, intelligence, and protected supply lines. Thus Castro achieved military control of these mountains.

During this time, Castro's forces were quite small, at times less than 200 men, while the Cuban army and police force numbered between 30,000 and 40,000 in strength.^[1] Yet nearly every time the army fought against the revolutionaries, they were the ones who retreated from the fight. The Cuban military was remarkably ineffective. A growing problem for the Batista forces was an arms embargo imposed on the Cuban government by the United States government on March 14 1958. The Cuban air force rapidly lost its power as planes could not be repaired without spare parts from the U.S.

Although many later sources (mostly American writers, who depend heavily upon the notoriously mutable figures provided by the U.S. State Department) credit the armed forces of the Republic of Cuba with a strength of between 30,000 and 40,000 men (as quoted above), the actual strength of the combined Army, Navy, and National Police, never exceeded 20,000 men prior to 1959.^[a] In the question of support and supply for the insurgency, too, the official figures available from both the U. S. Government and the Cuban government are somewhat suspect. In fact, the 26th of July columns were constantly supplied with ammunition, ordnance, and certain specialized communications equipment, by air and sea, from various locations in Florida and Louisiana. The bulk of the ordinary military stores were drawn from the armouries of the Alabama National Guard, which served as the 'augmentation' for the para-military operations conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency in Latin America.^[b] Towards the final stages of the conflict, limited numbers of aircraft and armoured vehicles were supplied to the insurgents directly from the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, so that the handful of early, cast-hull M4A3 Shermans (equipped with the low-velocity 75mm gun) of the Cuban Army found themselves facing 'Easy Eights' (M4 Shermans with upgraded armour, high-velocity 76mm guns, and HVSS) 'issued' from U.S. Army National Guard and Reserve stores.^[c]

Batista forces finally responded with an attack on the mountains called Operation Verano (the rebels called it "la Ofensiva"). Some 12,000 soldiers (more than half new, untrained recruits) attacked into the mountains. In a series of small-scale fights, the Cuban army was defeated by Castro's determined fighters. In one battle (the Battle of La Plata) which lasted from July 11 till July 21, Castro's forces defeated an entire battalion, capturing 240 men, while losing just 3 of their own. The tide nearly turned on July 29 when Castro's small army (some 300 men) was almost destroyed at the Battle of Las Mercedes. The Cuban army under General Cantillo lured Castro's forces into a trap. After two days of fighting, Castro's forces lost 70 men, nearly one third of his men. With his forces pinned down by superior numbers, Castro asked for, and was granted, a temporary cease-fire (August 1st). Over the next seven days, while fruitless negotiations took place, Castro's forces gradually escaped from the trap. By August 8th, Castro's entire army had escaped back into the mountains. Operation Verano had been a failure for the Batista government.

Mid-1958 to January 1959

On August 21 1958, after the defeat of the Batista "ofensiva", Castro's forces began their offensive. There were four fronts in the "Oriente" province (now divided into Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Guantánamo and Holguín) directed by Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro and Juan Almeida Bosque. Descending from the mountains, with weapons captured during the ofensiva and smuggled in by plane, Castro's forces won a series of victories. The major Castro victory at Guisa, and the succeeding capture of several towns (Maffo, Contramaestre, Central Oriente, etc.) consolidated victory on the Cauto plains.

Meanwhile, three columns under the command of ‘Che’ Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and Jaime Vega proceeded westward toward the provincial capital of Santa Clara. Jaime Vega's column was ambushed and destroyed. The surviving two columns reached the central provinces, where they joined efforts with several other resistance groups not under the command of Castro. Cienfuegos won a key victory in the Battle of Yaguajay on December 30, 1958 (earning him the nickname "The Hero of Yaguajay").

The next day (the 31st), in a scene of great confusion, the city of Santa Clara was captured by the combined forces of Che Guevara, Cienfuegos, and William Alexander Morgan. News of these defeats caused Batista to panic. He fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic just hours later on January 1 1959.

Castro learned of Batista's flight in the morning and immediately started negotiations to take over Santiago de Cuba. On January 2nd, 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 January 8th after a long victory march, his choice of President, Manuel Urrutia Lleó taking up office on the 3rd.^[2]BOIG

Post-1959

Hundreds of suspected Batista-era agents, policemen and soldiers were put on public trial for human rights abuses and war crimes, including murder and torture. Most of those convicted of murder were executed by firing squad, and the rest received long prison sentences. One of the most notorious examples of “revolutionary justice” was the executions of over 70 captured Batista regime soldiers, directed by Raúl Castro after capturing Santiago. Guevara was appointed supreme prosecutor in La Cabaña Fortress. This was part of a large-scale attempt by Fidel Castro to cleanse the security forces of Batista loyalists that could launch a counter-revolution. Many others were dismissed from the army and police, and some high-ranking officials in the ancien régime were exiled as military attachés.

In 1961 after the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the new Cuban government also confiscated all property held by religious organizations without compensation including the Roman Catholic Church. Hundreds of members of the clergy, including a bishop, were permanently expelled from the nation, with the new Cuban government being officially atheist.

According to geographer and Castro Comandante Antonio Núñez Jiménez, 75% of Cuba's best farmable land was owned by foreign individuals or foreign (mostly U.S.) companies. One of the first policies by the newly formed Cuban government was eliminating illiteracy and implementing land reforms. Land reform efforts did not raise living standards because instead of subdividing larger holdings into small private farms, cooperatives were formed. Comandante Sori Marin, nominally in charge of land reform, objected and fled and eventually was executed. Many other anti-Batista, but not Marxist, rebel leaders were forced in to exile, purged in executions, or in failed uprisings such as those of the Beaton brothers.

To replace his attrited power base among the former rebels, shortly after taking power the new Cuban government also created a Revolutionary militia. Castro also initiated Committees for the Defense of the Revolution or CDRs in late September of 1960. The CDR’s were tasked with the responsibility of keeping "vigilance against counter-revolutionary activity." Local CDR’s were also tasked with keeping a detailed record of each neighborhood’s inhabitant’s spending habits, level of contact with foreigners, their work and education history, and any "suspicious" behavior.

Castro also nationalized all United States and other foreign-owned property in the nation on August 6, 1960. Land and companies owned by upper and middle class Cubans were also nationalized, including the plantations owned by Fidel Castro's family. The United States, in turn, responded by placing an embargo on Cuba, which is still in place after more than 40 years.

Many attempts have been made by the U.S. to overthrow Castro's government. One of the most notorious is the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. During the Cold War, the U.S. saw Cuba as a strategic location and wanted to invade. But after the Cuban Missile Crisis, it promised verbally to never invade the island. In July 1961, the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (IRO) was formed by the merger of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Revolutionary Movement, the People's Socialist Party (the old Communist Party) led by Blas Roca and the Revolutionary Directory March 13th led by Faure Chomón. On March 26, 1962 the IRO became the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC) which, in turn, became the Communist Party of Cuba on October 3, 1965 with Castro as First Secretary.

Failed rebellions now called the War Against the Bandits continued until about 1965.

Radio Broadcasts

In addition to the physical attacks endured by Batista, further insult came from a pirate radio station called Rebel Radio (Radio Rebelde). It was on these airwaves that Castro and his forces broadcasted their message to everyone, from within enemy territory. The radio broadcasts were made possible by Carlos Franqui, a previous acquaintance of Castro and Cuban exile then living in Puerto Rico.

Influence of Cuban revolution

The Cuban revolution implemented Marxist and Stalinist principles in practice. As such, there were several attempts to use it as a model for other countries to follow, mainly through communist conspiracy and subversion tactics, which historically gave rise to guerrilla warfare movements in some Latin American countries.

Notes

[a] Fermoselle, Rafael The Evolution of the Cuban Military: 1492-1986 Miami, Ediciones Universal, 1987

[b] Pawley, William D. Unpublished manuscript and notes - A Concise Overview of the Central Intelligence Agency's paramilitary operations in the Caribbean, 1945 to 1965 Miami, 1977

[c] Servicio de Inteligencia Militar Situation report, dated 23 November 1958 (Via LCOL Irenaldo Garcia Baez)

- Marquez Sterling, Carlos & Manuel Historia de la Isla de Cuba New York, Regents Publishing, 1975

- Portell Vila, Dr Herminio Nueva Historia de la Republica de Cuba Miami, La Moderna Poesia, 1986

- Fernandez Miranda, Roberto Mis Relaciones con el General Batista Miami, Ediciones Universales, 1999

- Dorschner, John & Fabricio, Roberto The Winds of December New York, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1980

Another available reference on post-Revolutionary Cuba is Cuban Revolutionis Post-Revolutionary Cuban Spanish: A Glossary of Social, Political, and Common Terms (Glosario de términos socio-políticos y autóctonos de actualidad (español-inglés)) by Jesus Núñez Romay .

Bibliography

• Bonachea, Ramon L. and San Martin, Marta. The Cuban Insurrection: 1952–1959. New York, Transaction Books, 1974.

• The Spirit Of Moncada: Fidel Castro's Rise To Power, 1953–1959. Bockman, Larry (Major USMC), 1984.

• Sweig, Julia E. Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.

• Radio Broadcasts
  • Unimaps.
  • Radio on the Fringes: 'Clandestine Radio'.

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