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#1
Sixty-two years ago on July 26, 1953,the united a rebel force with systematized plans to overthrow the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista -
#2
When legal means proved futile, Castro led 160 guerrilla fighters in laying siege to the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba. He failed to ignite a popular uprising. Instead, the majority of the rebels were killed and Castro arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison -
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#9
The cuban revolution lasted from 1953 to 1959 -
#3
When a 1955 political amnesty freed Castro and his brother Raúl, the two fled to Mexico where, among other Cuban exiles, they organized the 26th of July Movement — marking the beginning of the campaign that would finally oust Batista -
#4
landing on Cuba’s eastern coast on Dec. 2, 1956. All but 12 fighters were either killed or captured. Among those who evaded both and retreated into the Sierra Maestra mountains where the rebels were at, Camilo Cienfuegos — who would later become one of the movement’s top commandantes — and Argentine revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara. -
#5
Though guerrilla fighters at the time remained fewer than 200, they continuously forced the Cuban army, comprised of over 35,000 soldiers, to retreat. By March 1958, U.S.-Cuban relations were changing drastically, contributing significantly to the unrelenting defeat of Batista’s forces. On March 14 of that year, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower imposed an arms embargo on the island. American support was swiftly shifting away from Batista and, without being able to get American parts for repai -
#6
The operation led to historical battles, and on Aug. 21, 1958, Castro’s rebels launched their own offensive, splitting off into columns of fighters lead by Castro, Guevara and Cienfuegos -
#7
The columns won ground in Yaguajay and Santa Clara, and Batista fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic on Jan. 1, 1959. The next day, a military commander ordered his troops not to fight in the city of Santiago de Cuba -
#8
The 26th of July movement had triumphed, and the rebel columns set out on a victory march to the island capital of Havana — where Fidel Castro finally arrived on Jan. 8, 1959.
