On July 26, 1953, a small army of brave and righteous youthful Cubans took the Moncada Barracks in Santiago City by storm. Even though it was a failed attack against the then-dictator named Fulgencio Batista, the world cannot help but mark it as a special day in history.
It all started with Batista taking power forcefully in 1933. At first, he did not declare himself president until 1940 through an organized coup d’état. His corrupt and dictatorship leadership style angered a group of Cuban men and women under the leadership of Fidel Castro Ruz, which led to the Moncada Barracks attack. Their primary goal was to catch the military barracks unawares, confiscate the arms and recruit the army to fight against Batista’s regime, which was only 16 months old.
Fidel’s Speech
Unfortunately, Batista got wind of Castro’s plans and organized to kill about 70 of the captives. Fortunately, Castro and his brother Raul escaped death, but they got rewarded with a jail term of 13 years. The remaining uprising members were either tortured to death or taken to prison without going through a trial.
The Moncada barracks attack was not the only thing that made the world remember Fidel’s outwitting skills. It was his History will Absolve Me speech during his trial that portrayed his legal cognitive power. Before his sentencing, he talked about how Batista’s corrupt regime and unjust legal procedures affected the country’s integrity. Then, he went on about the need for Cubans to oppose unfairness and regain what rightfully belongs to them. Finally, he declared that history would absolve him, which is why everyone across the globe remembers him.
The Aftermath
The wrongful conviction of Fidel and his uprising members created a public outcry. It was obvious that most people were tired of Batista’s rule as a president. This led to an early release of Fidel and his brother Raul. Together, they migrated to Mexico to organize for a second coup d’état, which still failed.
Today, the July 26, 1953 movement has brought great socialist reforms to Cubans, including quality-assured education for Cuban and international youth known as the Isle of Youth.
This article seems to make Castro out to be a good guy that was good for Cuba and the people.
Obviously the people of Cuba do not agree.
Castro is not a good guy, he turned out to be no savior of Cuba’s democracy or culture. He has destroyed a whole country and economy that was the top of Latin America. An industrial country that was equal to the United States and that had taken its floor plan from the United States. But this( United States)country seems to use the Cuba card like if it’s none feeling, this country plays it for the benefits of votes .
Very well said and hopefully those that have no idea of the Cubans trajectory and history for the las 62yrs. Should read your response. Thanks!
Fidel Castro wanted to rid Cuba of American imperialism . He was fearless and dedicated to that cause his entire life . Fidel was a warrior you never let up because the gringos never let up , even to this present day. It was a Cold War and Fidel was like a talented general who outwitted the gringos at ever juncture . Talk of “free elections “ or implementation of bourgeois democracy while at a constant state of economic war was not feasible . Reforms within the socialist system while facing this constant threat of direct American intervention stiffened the Cuban resolve to stand firm preventing meaningful changes within Cuba.
The embargo is a daily reminder of the USA’s failed policy .
Fidel was a self-centered tyrant who did Avery thing under his power to destroy the Cuban culture and family values, albeit as short lived as it had been by the time he took control.
He was an opportunist who murdered those that opposed his agenda from the very beginning by executions without trials, stadiums, schools, theaters filled to the rim by the supposed anti-revolutionaries.
To this day the Cuban Islanders may receive 1/2 cup sugar, a c. Rice, no meat and 3 hotdogs as a present for their monthly quota. They can’t find shoes that fit, besides they’re short of purchasing power, they have no soap, razors, medicine.
Get a grip and the right information.
Twitter needs a change of ownership!
It depends on whose side you’re on. The poor or the rich?
Thank you
Out with one Dictator in with another. It’s a shame garbage information such as this passes as responsible unbiased news reporting. This article is a clear indication I want no further part in any of your socialist propaganda and will be blocking any further communications. I advise everyone else to read the facts of the history of Cuba and do the same.
Thank you for recharging my memories of this period.
Are you crazy- that Fidel brought great health and education. You missed the part that he dr ides sho gets medical health and a descent education. The high poverty rate and unemployment. Batista mistake was not to execute him.
Agreed!
Would the thousands of Cubans that Castro’s Communist government murdered, imprisoned, or exiled agree? And will we ever know the real statistics for literacy, quality of health care, longevity, etc.? Many of those facts are buried in the political prisons and sugar cane fields.
So it seems that your a big backer of autocratic socialism. I understand the need for Castro’s coo but he was nothing but a banana republic dictator. Ask the current Cuban people how they like their government. Go ahead, I’ll wait
Thank you
You must be some kind of commuist if you believe that Castro made things in Cuba better. He was a dictator who killed thousands. Cubans are not free. Things may not have been good for some while Batista was President but for most people things got steadily worse under Castro.
Stop writing if you are keep spinning untrue tales.
Henry, well said and I totally agree with you. Thanks!
Hey Bobby, I bet you or any of your socialist buddies a hundred dollars to a bucket of s#%t you won’t go live in this country of great socialist reform. If you do maybe the Castro regime will put you up in one of the thirteen luxurious funeral homes he confiscated from my Cuban wife’s family. Reach out I’ll wait!
Tommy!
It was very unfortunate that Castro didn’t get American backing as it turned out the Russian were only to happy to abliged now some sixty years on and three dicktator we are still trying to embargo CUBA 🇨🇺 all we have really accomplished is too impoverished the people of CUBA 🇨🇺
THEY HAVE NOTHING ?$?$?$?$?$
They are starving can’t get medicine or medical supplies pretty much become poorer than a there’d world 🌎 country
We’re for democracy and yet we do bizzness with China 🇨🇳 and Russia 🇷🇺 Thay infuriated and influenced are electetion stele are interlecutal ideas harbor and encourage the highjacking
Of everything they can ransom this is but only the tip of the iceberg we won’t even go into human rights or should I say lack of
My point is that what treats does a small poor Island 🏝 in the Caribbean make us want to crush it under such brutal circumstances conditions and oppression EMBARGO as to think it will bring about democratic change FREE the people of CUBA 🇨🇺 lift the EMBARGO
As I always like to say.. You sir have hit the nail on the head. Too much politices involved in the decion making in this country when human sufering is taking place.
Cuba gets everything they need from the rest of the world, communists selects who gets what
You are correct in your annualize of the issues in Cuba, Castro and his revolutionaries were right to end Batista’s dictatorship and the mafia’s hold on Cuba. In fact, Batista escaped with millions of dollars of the mafia’s money, And the reason the Cuban people suffer up to this day is the US Embargo/blockade.Also, Obama had begun to open the US and Cuban relations and Cubans in the US we’re able to send more money to their families and Americans could travel to Cuba.But Trump ended Obama’s progress in Cuba and reinstated a stricter Embargo. Yet, Cubans in Florida voted for Trump.And people thought Biden would return to the Obama administration”s policy in Cuba; but he has done nothing to alliviate the Cuban people’s suffering. He’s kept Trump’s policies in place. ” A leopard doesn’t change it’s spots”(Biden),
Cuba has been free, and still is, to do business with any country other than the US. Cuba, under Castro, seized all US property in Cuba in 1960. Hence, the reason for the US embargo. Don’t blame the US for Cuba’s financial woes. They have nothing to offer the world in trade other than sugar and tobacco. Socialism/Communism does not work! Next, you will say the US is responsible for Venezuela’s woes!
You are correct in the No US backing. Instead they folded politically and allowed him to confiscate all kinds Alf American owned/ partnerships that helped the economy to thrive.
We are not attempting to crush the island nor its people , and most of the PEOPLE would agree with us .. IF they were allowed to speak up , they want freedom from the oppressive government regime … I KNOW !
The Cuban communist oppresive dictatorship has done nothing but enslave and starve the unfortunate people of the “ISLAND OF PAIN”. Batista was a ruthless corrupt criminal that had to go but managed to keep the economy fairly healthy with a substantial middle class. The Castro gang dictatorship with its incarcerations, killings, lack of freedom of the press, and forced labor camps makes Batista look like a saint.
It is socialist mismanagement, not the embargo that has created the people’s suffering. Now there is nothing but pain left with no end in sight.
Mr Blake
It seems to me that you must be a kool aid drinker, believing the communist propaganda coming from the Castro regime or you are yourself one of those propagandists.
The Castro brothers are responsible for murdering thousands of people who opposed them and imprisoned countless others, destroying a vibrant economy along the way. They made Batista look like an incompetent rookie at oppression and in the end they were worth billions while their people starved.
Read this well patriots. This country if full of commies and they are going for their final push for complete control. The time is coming when each of you will have to make some very unpleasant decisions. McCarthy was right
What kind of idiot writes this stuff. Cuba is a prison where any riches go to an elite oligarchy while the people suffer and struggle to get basic needs. Please remove this nonsense. It is insulting.
Portraying Castro as a good guy pursuing a righteous cause takes a lot of Leftist spin. The author’s attempt to hide his political fairy tale in the body of history are a bit too conspicuous.
the historical facts are more or less accurate, and certainly Batista was a terrible despot, but to
paint Fidel Castro, as an innocent, immaculate hero is absurd, and dementing to the recent history of Cuba….I met him, and we ate caviar and lobster and spoke in French about tennis and art. I commend him for his educational, medical and other social advances he implemented, but simultaneously imprisoning, torturing and killing thousands of his detractors.
I mean, tragically he was ultimately an exact reflection of the tyrant he replaced, just left of the mirror…
Robert, what have you been smoking to write this blather?
Castro did more harm to Cuba than Batista, and you call him a hero.
Do us all a favor and quit writing and please stay out of the classroom.
should’ve been charged with war crimes
” . . . has brought great socialist reforms to Cubans, including quality-assured education for Cuban and international youth”
In 1976 Carlo Cipolla, an economic history professor at Univ of California, identified 5 laws of stupidity. Anyone who pens a sentence such as the one copied above certainly qualifies under Cipolla’s laws! The Bible, in Romans 1, essentially says most people will become stupid — again borne out by the author of the above comment.
You are correct in your annualize of the issues in Cuba, Castro and his revolutionaries were right to end Batista’s dictatorship and the mafia’s hold on Cuba. In fact, Batista escaped with millions of dollars of the mafia’s money, And the reason the Cuban people suffer up to this day is the US Embargo/blockade.Also, Obama had begun to open the US and Cuban relations and Cubans in the US we’re able to send more money to their families and Americans could travel to Cuba.But Trump ended Obama’s progress in Cuba and reinstated a stricter Embargo. Yet, Cubans in Florida voted for Trump.And people thought Biden would return to the Obama administration”s policy in Cuba; but he has done nothing to alliviate the Cuban people’s suffering. He’s kept Trump’s policies in place. ” A leopard doesn’t change it’s spots”(Biden),
I just wanted to inform with a little tragic story.
My 2d cousin, who’s 23, attended the demonstration last Summer in Palma Soriano where he lived with his parents. With his cell phone he was filming the amazing events when he felt a touch on his back and reacted by pushing off with his arm. He was imprisoned for anti-government acts because unfortunately the guy was a militia man. He was a good young man, always keeping a low profile, working measly jobs to supplement the parents measly income.
To this day he’s held without trial in the Santiago prison. His parents, my cousins are beyond themselves, for they’re told one thing or another, they pay off people and nothing gets resolved. They’ve even tried Church organizations and all to no avail and empty promises. Thanks to his sweet, kind ways and good behavior he’s not suffered beatings, but who knows what he may have.
It’s already April, 2022!
Castro was a blood thirst killer he destroyed Cuba the people live in poverty.he was worse than Batista. Maybe Batista not the best at least they were free. Life is better without commies
If Cuba wants freedom they must take control of the government. Thanks to our founding fathers we the people have the 2nd amendment to keep our government in check . The Cuban people are good people they need to be free
Out with one Dictator in with another. It’s a shame garbage information such as this passes as responsible unbiased news reporting. This article is a clear indication I want no further part in any of your socialist propaganda and will be blocking any further communications. I advise everyone else to read the facts of the history of Cuba and do the same.