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Spain is defeated by Cuban and American forces.
The story of the Wars of Independence (there were three) is voluminously told, a vast subject tied to too many other historical events preceding it to cover here. But that war-where Martí was killed - greatly motivated Fidel Castro's life and infused his public speaking. The Cuban patriots threw off the Spanish yoke after two horrific wars. The Treaty of Paris, 1898, ended it and our Platt Amendment continued it. Watch: "The Cuba Libre Story"
https://www.netflix.com/title/80109535 -
Angel Castro is expulsed from Cuba with the Spanish Army
Angel Castro came to Cuba as part of a Galician infantry regiment to fight against the Cubans in the War of Independence 1895-1898.
For a splendid chronology of the war with contemporaneous images and essays, see https://loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/cuba.html -
Cuban Republic is born / Americans End Occupation of Cuba
Americans end their four years occupation, leaving the Republic of Cuba semi-sovereign: The Platt Amendment allows them to intervene in Cuban Politics and Foreign Policy. Above, the Cuban flag is exchanged for the Starts & Stripes for the first time.
Source: Cuba by Hugh Thomas [click here for full book)(https://tinyurl.com/3zupd7r7) -
Angel Castro immigrated to Cuba
Like many Spaniards, they returned to Cuba after the war to begin their lives anew. Spain was impoverished and ruined after 1898. This will lead directly to their Civil War of 1936-1939. He will marry a Cuban Maria Argote and settle in Biran, Oriente Province. Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Lina Ruz is Hired by Dona Argot Castro
Angel's first wife, Maria, hires Lina Ruz to enter into service with the successful family in their spacious plantation home. Angel will take her on as a lover for the next 15 years.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Angel Castro marries his first wife
María Luisa Argota Reyes, the daughter of a manager of United Fruit, is a favorable match for Angel Castro. The marriage does not endure, and she prefers the city life and is ill suited for the country.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
The Castro family ranch, Finca Manas, is bought
What began as a 660-acre parcel was expanded over time by Angel Castro to occupy 42 square miles, with sugar, cattle, lumber, a grocery store, a telegraph office, an apiary for honey, and other produce and animals.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro is born on a Plantation near Birán Oriente, Cuba
He was the third child born to Ángel Castro, now became relatively prosperous through work in the sugar industry and successful cattle raising. His mother, Lina Rúz González, was still the household servant. Maria Luisa Argota, asked for divorce and when Fidel was 15, he had to deal both with his illegitimacy and the challenge of being raised in various foster homes away from his father's house.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro Leaves Home, Impoverished
The Castro home is not a happy one. Angela, Fidel's sister, took he and his brother Ramón, to move into their teacher's home in Santiago de Cuba.They were cramped and poor with the coming of the depression. (Teachers were not paid for four years during the depression, promised back pay. ) Fidel was approximately five years old. He proved a good student even at that age.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Baptisim and La Salle Boarding School
His sister Angela has Fidel baptized and can therefore attend the La Salle Boarding School in Santiago de Cuba. An unruly student for several years, he is effectively expelled from La Salle.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro enrolls at Colegio De Dolores as a 12 year old fifth grader
Castro will get a reputation as a smart, if headstrong student, talented in sports and letters with a photographic memory.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro writes to President Roosevelt
Castro, fourteen at the time, writes a letter to FDR saying he supports him and asking to see a "ten dollars bill green American." Someone in Roosevelt's office wrote back, the administration attached it to the wall of honor.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro transfer to Belen in 10th grade
Belen was the top Jesuit school where the country's aristocracy went. Castro took an interest in history, geography, and debate at Belén, he did not excel academically, instead devoting much of his time to playing sports. Regardless, he was award valedictorian and the top sportsman of the year as a senior.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro begins University
In 1945, Castro began studying law at the University of Havana.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro runs for Class Delegate
As a freshman, he runs for class delegate from Legal Anthropology. He wins his election, which brings him to the attention of the student gangster action groups in the University.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro involved in a murder
Although the fact is disputed, it's possible Castro participated in the murder by shooting of student Leonel Gomez, a UIR member and rival to the FEU (Federation of University Students) President, Manolo Castro. Rafael Diaz-Balart claims Castro returned from the shooting and said "I just shot Leonel".
Source: Castro by Robert Quirk click here for full book -
Castro becomes acting President of the Law School
Castro never achieved the highest offices in University, always refusing to subordinate himself entirely to one group or another. His highest position was acting President due to the Law School when the Executive Comittee withdrew support from the current President. Castro, however, did become Vice President of the Law School.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro held by the police in isolation for carrying unlicensed weapons
President Grau, at the behest of students, secured him a hearing with an Urgency Court, which exonerated him.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Joins the Ortodoxo Party
In 1947, Castro joined the Party of the Cuban People (or Orthodox Party; Partido Ortodox), founded by veteran politician Eduardo Chibás. A charismatic figure, Chibás advocated social justice, honest government, and political freedom, while his party exposed corruption and demanded reform. Though Chibás came third in the 1948 general election, Castro remained committed to working on his behalf. More on the Ortodox party, their expected win in 1952 Presidential Elections. See: https://rb.gy/gyk4nd -
Mentioned in the Newspapers
Castro became embroiled in the violent gangsterismo culture within the university. Passionate about anti-imperialism and opposing U.S. intervention in the Caribbean, he unsuccessfully campaigned for the presidency of the Federation of University Students on a platform of "honesty, decency and justice". Became critical of corruption of Grau's government, delivers a fiery public speech November 1946 that received coverage on the front page of several newspapers.](https://rb.gy/gyk4nd) -
Castro Joins International Expedition to Topple Trujillo
In August 1947, Castro learned of a planned expedition to overthrow the right-wing government of Rafael Trujillo, a U.S. ally, in the Dominican Republic. Trains for several months. The expedition launched on 20 Sept. is intercepted the next day. Five miles off the coast of northern Oriente, Fidel jumps shit and swims lest he be killed by Masferrer his bitter enemy as a student gangster.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
"El Bogotazo!" Participates in Political Rioting in Bogota, Colombia
Takes part in the brutal riots in Bogotá Bogotazo, a series of riots in Bogotá, Colombia. After the assassination of Liberal leader Jorge E. Gaitán (1902–1948) Castro joined the mobs engaging in ad hoc attacks against Colombian authorities with other pro-Gaitán supporters. Makes his first contact with engaged Communists involved in aggressive resistance. Colombian police had an arrest warrant for him when he left the country with the help of the Cuban embassy. -
Fidel Marries Mirta Diaz-Balart
Returning from his adventure in Colombia, Fidel marries Mirta Diaz-Balart on 11 October 1948. They honeymoon in New York City. That same year, Pres. Grau announces he will not seek another term, citing too much political unrest may follow and The People's distaste for his administration.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
"Fidelito" is born
Becoming his eldest son in what would become a long list of others to come, Fidel Jr. is born to he and Mirta Diaz-Balart. For more, click here. -
Graduates Law School and Sets up Law Firm
In 1950 he graduated as a Doctor in Civil Law and together with two colleagues from his firm he devoted himself fundamentally to the defense of humble people and sectors.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro nearly assassinated by rural guard
Castro was arrested for participating in an unauthorized protest in Cienfuegos against new regulations against Student groups. He was escorted out to the countryside in a car followed by police. Saved by the president of the Cienfuegos city government, who was suspicious about what the captors had in store.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro defends himself in court for the first time
Castro defends himself before an Urgency court on charges that he was disturbing the peace for inciting the banned student demonstration. Judges ruled 2 to 1 in his favor.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Chibas, Orthodox Party Leader Commits Suicied / Fidel runs for Congress
His hopes for Cuba still centered on Chibás and the Partido Ortodoxo, and he was present at [Chibás' politically motivated suicide in 1951[(https://rb.gy/xehvma). Seeing himself as Chibás' heir, Castro wanted to run for Congress in the June 1952 elections, though senior Ortodoxo members feared his radical reputation and refused to nominate him. He was instead nominated as a candidate for the House of Representatives by party members in Havana's poorest districts, and began campaigning. -
Batista's Coûp d'Etait
In the 1952 elections, Orthodox candidate Roberto Agramonte appeared sure to win against Fulgencio Batista who was seen as a bygone era politician, out of touch. His "Unified Action Party" was too vague in its politics. -
Naty Revuelta sees Fidel for the first time
Taken by a friend to one of his speeches, she found him hard to forget. Soon she would give him house keys to help with opposition to Batista. She was one of the few people Fidel trusted with knowledge about his impending attack on Moncada. They would not begin an affair for some time.
Source: Havana Dreams click here for book -
Attack on Moncada
Attack on a garrison outside Santiago, Oriente. Castro's militants dressed in army uniforms and arrive at the base on 25 July, seizing control and raiding the armory before reinforcements arrived. The aim was to spark a revolution in the Orient and spark further uprisings. His plan emulated those of the 19th-century Cuban independence fighters who had raided Spanish barracks, & would be heir to José Martí.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Trial for Moncada Attack, History will Absolve Me
After the failure of Moncada, he and 27 others are apprehended outside of Santiago. Many are tortured except for Castro and his brother because of his connection to the Diaz-Balart. His trial is held in private, when he turns on the judges and gives a 90-minute testimony that is smuggled out and pamphleted: "History will Absolve me." Read it here. -
Sentenced for 13 years to the Isle of Pines
Castro and 55 other Moncada Attackers are sentenced to 13 years to the infamous "Presido Modelo" in the Isle of Pines, where a watch tower saw into all the prisoners' cells in a 360-degree panaroma. (Fidel would send his political prisoners to the same prison a decade later.)
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Melba Hernandez and Haydee Santamaria released
Castro expects his 2 loyal lieutenants to revive the movement and follow his every order. They don't, which causes frustration and makes him appear a bully.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Batista visits the Model Prison
Batista visits where Castro is being held, where he is mocked with singing of what would become "Marcha de el 26 de Julio." Two days later Castro is taken to solitary confinement for 134 days.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Mirta finds out about Castro's infidelity
Over the course of his imprisonment, Castro and Naty Revuelta had engaged in correspondence and confessed love for one another. Although not consummated, the two spoke often. A letter meant for Naty wound up going to Mirta. Mirta accused Revuelta of “deceit and betrayal,” threatening “to take revenge, by any means,” if she continued to write him. Castro believes the letters were intentionally switched.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
The magazine Bohemia runs an article on the Prison and Castro
To many, this was an introduction to Castro's group, since information about Moncada had been suppressed. Two pages of the story are devoted to Castro.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro finds out that Mirta took a government job in Batista's administration
Castro said this was “ruinous, cowardly, indecent, and intolerable.” Called the minister overseeing her a "faggot in the last stage of sexual degeneration." Castro decides he will file for divorce.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
"History Will Absolve Me" published in New York
Copies begin trickling down to Cuba, Castro had tried to smuggle it out of jail for some years now.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Batista elected President
In a sham election and running unopposed, Batista receives his coveted for second term.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Mirta Divorces Fidel Castro.
Mirta's employment in the Ministry of the Interior stoked immense rage in Castro. Separation, infidelity, and the mutual hatred that Castro and the Diaz-Balart family had for one another caused an irreparable break. Both Fidel and Mirta started divorce proceedings, with Mirta taking custody of their son Fidelito. Pictured, see -
Amnesty Campaign Concludes
A women's protest in Santiago sparked a year long amnesty campaign for political prisoners, Castro among them. Coupled with the recent smuggling out of "History will Absolve Me"- it heightened Castro's fame.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Batista's General Amnesty, Castro is Released
In 1954, Batista's government won a fraudulent election and allowed some public positions. Castro's supporters had agitated for an amnesty for the Moncada incident's perpetrators. Some politicians suggested an amnesty would be good publicity, and the Congress and Batista agreed. Backed by the U.S. and major corporations, Batista believed Castro to be no threat, and on 15 May 1955, the prisoners were released.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Fidel arrives in Mexico
Fleeing possibly assassination by police forces and the reticence of the Orthodox party to work with him, Fidel leaves with the promise to raise a revolutionary force. Met by his brother Raul and a Cuban émigré named María Antonia González, sister of a July 26th member.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Exile in Mexico and Meets Ché Guevara.
Castro sent a letter to the press, saying he was "leaving Cuba because all doors of peaceful struggle have been closed to me. As a follower of Martí, I believe the hour has come to take our rights and not beg for them, to fight instead of pleading for them."The Castros & several comrades arrive in Mexico, where Raúl befriends a Marxist Argentine doctor named Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Manifesto No. 1 of the July 26 Movement to the People of Cuba
Smuggled in a copy of Don Quixote from Mexico, the document defended the Moncada attack and explained Castro’s decision to go into exile. It also laid out the Movement’s revolutionary platform. There were a few items in the manifesto new to Castro’s agenda. The Revolution would end “racial and sexual discrimination that lamentably exist in the eld of social and economic life."
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro's daughter, Alina Fernandez, is born
The brief love affair between Naty Revuelta and Fidel Castro produced a daughter, Alina Fernandez. She is alive today, and remains a vocal critic of communism and the Castro brothers.
Source: Havana Dreams click here for book -
Violence ratchets up in Cuba, M-7-26 gains strength
On April 5, in Santiago de Cuba, two university students were arrested and brutally tortured by Batista’s police. Two weeks later, men allied with the July 26 Movement struck back at police killing four patrolmen. Three of the attackers were wounded and taken to the hospital, where two of them were subsequently assassinated.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Mexican Secret Police and Federal Police arrest Castro
With increasing numbers of Cuban emigres arriving, the Mexican government arrests Castro and supporters at a safe house on 26 Kepler. They had already been training for combat conditions. Other safe houses and their ranch were raided.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Mexican authorities released Castro from prison
After a month long legal struggle in which his supporters were tortured and he was denied habeas corpus, the Mexican government relented. Castro was warned he was being watched and to leave the country.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Frank Pais visits Mexico
The leader of M-7-26 in Santiago, Frank Pais, visits Castro. Castro insists on starting the revolution by December, Pais says the country is not ready, Castro convinces him.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Echeverria and Castro meet in Mexico
They produced the Letter from Mexico, announcing Echeverría’s pledge to support Castro’s upon landing despite the two leaders’ failing to resolve their fundamental differences. Both the Movement and the Revolutionary Directory were committed to Batista’s removal, the letter declared. Both opposed partial elections proposed by Batista and warned that those who participated in them would be regarded as traitors
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro visits Ex-President Prio in Miami
Castro, cash-strapped, said "This was bitter and humiliating." Castro had been an ideological opponent to Prio accusing him of all sorts of malfeasance. He swallowed his pride and took the money “to save the Revolution.” Prio gave him $40,000 dollars. Prio never ceased to fund every anti-Batista group that came his way, hoping a return to power.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Granma Yacht is purchased
It cost $20,000 to the Ericksons. The boat had been damaged in a hurricane and had a corroded bottom. Its keel was cracked and would have to be replaced. The boat’s bridge, cabin, and storeroom had been ransacked by vandals. The engines were unserviceable, the electrical system frayed, the gas tank rusted. At the shortest, del Conde estimated, the boat could be ready in six months.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Angel Castro dies at 81
Ángel, sick with a stomach ailment, wrote his last letter to Raúl, updating him on his health and assuring his sons that he was following news of their whereabouts. “I have received your letter from which I gather that you both are in good health."
He tells the brothers “I beg God to look out for your health and tranquility; receive the benediction of your parents who always remember you with love and affection.”
Source: Mis Hermanos -
Castro speaks in New York
Different U.S. Cuban affiliated communities were organizing an expedition to Cuba and offered Castro financial support. Castro travelled to the United States and spoke to 800 emigres in New York's Palm Gardens. This was the largest assembly of Cubans in New York since 1895. Castro had been detained by the FBI the day before.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
The Granma takes off
Castro expected five or six days and to arrive at Cabo Cruz, the southwest tip of Oriente, at the foot of the Sierra Maestra, on Friday, November 30. That was the day that País would launch an attack on government positions across Santiago de Cuba. The weather is horrible, everyone vomited on the journey.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro at sea, Frank Pais delivers
Castro received news Pais attacked army and police headquarters in Santiago. Still days away, Castro was growing increasingly desperate. “I wish I could fly."
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Batista looks out for Castro
The army chief of staff sent a telegram to colleagues across the island to be on the alert for “a white, 65-foot yacht, without a name and with a Mexican flag and a railing that surrounded almost the entire boat.”
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Granma lands in Cuba, very late
It plowed into a sandbar, sticking fast. Overloaded, the little boat capsized, plunging its occupants into the sea. With water up to their chests and ri es held above their heads, they headed for land. Castro ordered everybody to follow, as Granma was unceremoniously abandoned, along with all the heavy weaponry collected at great cost throughout the previous year. A peasant finds them and feeds them.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro is betrayed and ambushed
Betrayed by a local guide, they were ambushed by government soldiers and forced to disperse. A few rebels died in the ambush, many more were seized, most of those executed. The survivors split in three separate groups led by Castro, Raúl, and Guevara. Over the next two weeks making their way east they narrowly avoiding capture thanks to a network of local residents organized by a farmer named Crescencio Pérez.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro reunites with his men
The three groups united on December 21 at the home of
Pérez’s brother, Ramón, outside the town of Purial de Vicana. Purial sits at the western margin of the Sierra Maestra, twenty five miles from where Granma ran aground nineteen days before. 14 men remained.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Rebels launch their first attack at La Plata
Surprising a small garrison of soldiers and capturing weapons, ammunition, sausages, and rum (the last of which was strictly off limits to the rebels but made attractive gifts). The Battle of La Plata, as this became known after a local river, was a modest success, but success it was, and the rebels took heart.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Meeting between Sierra and Urban underground leaders
Pais and Castro did not see eye to eye, Pais doubted Castro and 20 men could take down Batista. Castro convinced País to send him a contingent of new recruits to replace those lost.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro meets with journalist Herbert Matthews
Matthews was a NY Times reporter smuggled into the Sierra after rumors of Castro's death had spread. They talked for three hours interrupted occasionally by stage-managed visits from Castro’s men, who returned repeatedly—in changes of clothes and with di erent men reporting—to fool Matthews into believing that the guerrilla force was larger than it really was.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
NY Times Profiles Castro
He described Castro’s program as nationalistic, socialistic, and anti-American, and said that it promised “a new deal for Cuba, radical, democratic and therefore anti- Communist.” Matthews fell head over heels for Castro: “a powerful six-footer, olive- skinned, full-faced, with a straggly beard" with an "overpowering" personality. It was a rare sympathetic account of the rebel leader and it caused a sensation.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro attacks El Uvero
Home to a large sawmill and the site of a garrison some fifty men strong. Castro hoped to attack by night but was caught by dawn. The army surrender with eleven dead and nineteen wounded, the rebels seven dead and eight wounded. Forty-five new rifles, six thousand rounds of ammunition, clothing, and other essentials.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro meets with political bigwigs
Without warning, País brought Raúl Chibás (Eddy's brother), Roberto Agramonte Jr. (son of the former Ortodoxo presidential candidate), and Enrique Barroso (leader of the Ortodoxo Youth) to meet with Castro. País believed that the presence of these moderates within the Movement would assuage U.S. concerns about Castro.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Sierra Maestra Manifesto
Castro, Pazos, and Chibás announced the creation of a “civic-revolutionary front” committed to constitutionalism, the rule of law, civil rights and liberties, and social justice, including educational and agricultural reform. Bland document, light on specifics.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Pais gunned down in Santiago
The murder of Frank País robbed the Revolution of the only person of comparable stature to Castro, if boasting di erent skills. País was irreplaceable, and Castro knew it. He greeted news of País’s death with outrage. “I can’t even begin to express my bitterness, my indignation, the endless sorrow that overwhelms us."
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro promotes Guevara
Castro divided his forces, creating what would become known as Column 4, under the leadership of Che Guevara, recently promoted to commander. Small victories would leave the rebels with effective control of much of the Sierra.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Miami Pact to Undercut Castro
The Cuban Liberation Junta, as the rebels referred to it derisively, consisted of representatives of the old Auténtico and Ortodoxo parties, including Carlos Prío and Roberto Agramonte, members of the Revolutionary Directory, among them Faure Chomón and Alberto Mora, along with delegates from the Cuban Labor Confederation (CTC) and Independent Democrats. Purpose was to undercut Castro in post-Batista Cuba.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Guevera forcefully writes to Castro
Guevara rails against the urban (Llano) leaders. He refused to accept any more notes about whom to accept weapons from, and whom not, with the lives of his men in jeopardy (he wrote with a bullet lodged in his instep, he noted).
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro condemns Miami Pact
The Junta’s tactlessness in sidelining the Movement was galling in the face of its passivity. But the thing that rankled most was its suggestion that the revolutionary army would simply dissolve into the Cuban armed forces at the end of the war. The lack of an independent revolutionary army able to stand up to Batista in January 1934 had doomed the 1933 Revolution, Castro pointedly observed.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Ambassador Smith is asked if he would ever do business with Castro
The CIA, preferring a pliant Cuba, is generally inclined to diminish the status of Castro and force him to talks. Nonetheless, he does have supporters within the CIA. When Ambassador Smith is asked if he would meet with Castro he responds, simply, no: “The United States Government can only do business with a government that will honor its international obligations and can maintain law and order.”
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro promotes his brother and Almeida
Raúl and Juan Almeida were given the title of commander, readying them for new battle fronts in the Sierra Cristal and the Santiago region, respectively. The same month, Castro published a set of criminal and civil codes for the Liberated Territory written by the Movement’s newly appointed judge advocate general, Humberto Sorí Marín, a respected lawyer. The rebels were now governing.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Raul arrives at Sierra Cristal
Initially burning sugar cane fields was his main activity, but by the summer the front's efforts included attacks on the US naval base at Guantanamo and kidnap Americans in Cuba to cease all assistance to Batista, which caused an uproar.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Total War Manifesto
Pressured by other leaders and a call to general strike, against his better judgement, Castro signs off on this. It calls for a general strike backed by intensified military operations throughout Oriente and Las Villas provinces. Sierra needed resources, general strikes did not work, it was a bad diversion of strength.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
General Strike fails
The failed strike was cataclysmic for the (urban movement) Llano, which never recovered. The strike was a big moral defeat, Castro told Celia Sánchez, leaving him no choice but “to assume responsibility for the stupidity of the rest.” Government touted its failure as a sign of strength. Castro had undisputed control now.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
U.S. suspends arms shipments
Over the strenuous opposition of its ambassador, the U.S. government suspended arms shipments to Cuba. The U.S. government also insisted on the withdrawal of U.S. trained military personnel (including Cuban Air Force pilots) from the battlefront. State Department would not budge, did not want to be seen coddling unpopular dictators in the cold war.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Operation Verano, Troops arrive in the Sierra
Batista's big push to get Castro, attacking from the south, the northeast, and northwest. Plan Fin-de-Fidel included a campaign against Raúl Castro and his column in the Sierra Cristal, the countryside above Birán. Castro had long retreated from the front lines at the insistence of his followers, commanding high from above La Plata.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Battle erupts for capture of La Plata, Fidel's headquarters
Castro would later refer to this as D-Day. Quevedo's 18th battalion was ambushed and forced to dig in. Reinforcements were called and their retreat was cut off. The rebels had similar success on the other side of the mountain, with sets of well- placed troops stopping the 11th and 22nd Battalions in their tracks. Not an absolute victory, but staved off the army's advance.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Raul captures Americans
Raúl Castro, infuriated by evidence that Batista was skirting the embargo and that his bombers were refueling at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, captured a busload of U.S. marines on liberty outside the boundary of the naval base. Castro contacts Smith promising release if all arm shipments stop.
Succeeded, U.S. government demanded Batista stop bombing raids lest he kill Americans.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Pact of Caracas signed by Castro
The Cuban exiles including Prio signed yet another pact, this one with Castro after his successes. It established a new civilian revolutionary front on the terms Castro had set out in the Sierra Maestra Manifesto the previous year, and called for the U.S. to stop aiding Batista.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Battle of Jigüe comes to an end
The troops, treated to constant ambushes, mine fields, propaganda by Castro that they were not the enemy, were keen to surrender. Major José Quevedo, a former classmate of Fidel’s at the University of Havana, surrenders, and joins Fidel.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Battle of Las Mercedes
Last major battle of Operation Verano. While it was a draw ended by a cease-fire that held a serious possibility of the rebels being wiped out, the cease-fire demoralized Batista's troops and allowed the rebels to slink back up the mountains. Castro begins communication with Batista's troops afterward.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Castro reaches out to General Cantillo
Cantillo had a sterling reputation, and Castro offered to send back political prisoners. Cantillo refused, he wanted Quevedo back. Castro explained he could not do this. He didn't expect replies, he just wanted to pester and sow dissent among the high command.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Laws 2 and 3 of the Liberated Territory of Cuba
Law No. 2 forbade citizens of Oriente Province from participating in the upcoming presidential election. Law No. 3 promised to diversify Cuban agriculture and industry by offering incentives, tariff protection, and credit to stimulate private enterprise- but also, redistribution to poor farmers.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Camilo Cienfuegos arrives at Santa Clara
Castro had sent Cienfuegos and Guevera to the central provinces for an offensive, thinking the war was nearing an end.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Rebel army survives onslaught in march to Santiago
Castro and his forces embarked on a 4 week march, surviving air raids and Sherman tanks. Their lines did not break. Over the course of the next month, the rebels marched inexorably on Santiago, surrounding and taking the towns along the way. The ghting remained hotly contested through the end of the year. But the odds were now overwhelmingly in Castro’s favor.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Che Guevara reaches Santa Clara
He arrived at the university on the outskirts of the city. On the 30th they tear up train tracks and ambush 350 officers and enlisted men, getting them to surrender.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Cantillo gives in to Castro
At 3 PM, after a sit down and Castro's refusal to join a military junta, Cantillo gave up. Combined forces would hold the Orient while Cantillo would go to Havana and arrest Batista.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Che mops up with Santa Clara
Batista has his bags packed by this point.
Source: Young Castro click here for full book -
Victorious Castro speaks from balcony in Santiago City Hall
He spoke of the revolution, was light on details, and insisted he himself did not seek political office. Santiago de Cuba declared the capital, on the authority of a "provisional president". Castro then announced that Manuel Urrutia, a former judge, would be inaugurated provisional president the next day in Santiago by virtue of his being “elected by the people.”
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Castro arrives in Havana
Castro’s final stop on his victory caravan was Camp Columbia. His speech there was more sombre than triumphant. Elections would be held. ‘It is not fair that the cult of personality and ambition endanger the destiny of the revolution,’ he said. ‘We cannot become dictators.’ During the first week in Santiago after Castro left, Raúl Castro and his men carried out over one hundred executions.
Source: Young Castro