C: Course of the Revolution Flashcards
Castro’s desired policies
- Reinstate the constitution
- Give land to tenant farmers
- Grant workers and employees the right to 30% of the profits of all large industrial enterprises, including the sugar mills
- Confiscate ill gotten/corrupt/fraud gains during previous regimes
- Political pardon( and asylum for neighbouring countries)
Moncada Barracks
26th July 1953: M267 attacks.
* Failure (6 rebels dead)
16 October: History Will Absolve Me by Fidel Castro - gaining sympathy to the cause
Development of the movement
July 1955: Castro flees to Mexico to escape surveillance and threats.
Begins fundraising (migrated Cubans), thousands of dollars.
“26” frequently painted on walls, showing support
Oriente Province
After arriving on the Granma (Mexican authorities raided their base)
* Landed off course
* Did not meet fellow rebel group at Santiago to trigger national revolt
* 50/82 rebels died, with Guevara and Castro believed to be among them.
Arrival at the Sierra Maestra
17 December 1956: 17/82 rebels alive
“We are in the Sierras. The days of the dictatorship are numbered”
NYT Article announcing…
Castro isn’t dead! February 1957 by Herbet L Matthews, a foreign correspondent.
Change of US support
March 1958
* Suspended supply of arms to Batista’s force, severely weakening military aid.
* Airforce lost power as could not repair with US parts.
* However, still political support due to distrust to revolutionary governments.
El Jigue
July 1958
* One of the most important battles of the revolution
* Castro’s rebel army defeated an entire battalion due to superior guerrilla warfare and intelligence network.
* Surrender -> humiliating defeat (previous loss in May of the Operation Verrano)
* Large cache of weapons
Comparison of forces
“We were fighting out of idealism, that’s very different. One man fighting for his ideals is worth 20 soldiers fighting for 33 pesos”
Rebels:
* Joined rebels out of ideals and personal experience.
* Strong comradeship
Batista’s Army
* Employment/conscription
* Increasing anger at Batista’s oppression
* Desertion, join M267
Manifesto of Five
June 1957
Joint manifesto of opposition groups calling for Batista’s resignation - politically diplomatic.
* So that peace can be called and Cuba reunited.
Left on read by Batista ;(
Victory
Batista fled to the Dominican Republic on New Year’s Day 1959
Castro in Santiago turns the central highway into a 500 mile parade to enter Havana 8 January
Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra
12 July 1957
Castro’s personal manifesto: rehashed from his HWAM speech → end of corruption, social reform, agrarian reform (speaking to the problems of the people in the Oriente Province and majority of Cuba)
* Called for boycott of Batista’s (rigged) 1958 presidential election.
People set out to Sierra Maestra.
Batista’s “Liquidation Campaign”
May 1958
Turning point: loss of (essential) military support
* Enforcing harsher conscription
* 12 thousand against 5 thousand rebels.
* Attempt to crush rebel army - but they hold out.
* Castro’s forces overrun towns, cut military from supply lines.
* Civilian compliance- public torture, executions -> spontaneous public uprisings, very anti-Batista
Propaganda (media as a tactic)
Radio Rebelde
* Emphasising their success, lying about defeats.
* Maintaining support morale
* Became more influential as Cuban press became more restricted
* 32 stations established
The Caracas Pact
1958: Non-communist, anti-Batista groups joined forces to fight Batista
Agreement on the setup of their revolutionary government:
* Castro as Commander in Chief (military)
* Manuel Urita as President (respectable, moderate judge). Easy to puppeteer
