Moncada Barracks

The Moncada Barracks, near Santiago de Cuba, was the site of an attack by guerillas that sparked the Cuban Revolution.

Related Topics:
Santiago de Cuba - Guerilla - Cuban Revolution

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On July 26, 1953, at 5:00AM, Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led 160 poorly-armed and perhaps overeager insurgents in an attack on dictator Fulgencio Batista's second largest fortress in Cuba, headquarters of the 1,000 strong Maceo regiment.

Related Topics:
July 26 - 1953 - Fidel Castro - Raúl - Fulgencio Batista - Cuba - Regiment

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The night before the attack, the guerillas stole some army uniforms. Their plan was to take the barracks, including the radio transmitter within it, and use it as a centre from which to broadcast propaganda to the Cuban people.

Related Topics:
Radio - Propaganda

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However, the attack began poorly. Already outnumbered more than 10 to 1, many of the rebels who would have taken part in the attack had to be left behind for a lack of weapons, and the car carrying the guerillas' heavy weapons got lost. When it was finally carried out, the attack on the Moncada Barracks was a total disaster. Sixty-one rebels were killed in the fighting, and one third of the guerillas, including Fidel Castro, were captured. Half of the men captured were tortured to death.

Related Topics:
Weapon - Torture

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Castro, a lawyer, defended himself at his trial. His defence speech, "Condemn me, it does not matter: history will absolve me", was written down by a court reporter and later frequently used in Castro's speeches. Castro was sentenced to death; however, at the urging of Roman Catholic priests, Batista abolished the death penalty just before Castro's execution, and he was sentenced instead to fifteen years in prison.

Related Topics:
Lawyer - Court - Sentenced to death - Roman Catholic - Prison

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Two years later, in 1955, a group of prisoners' mothers launched a campaign to free Castro and the other guerillas imprisoned with him. A group of political leaders, editors, and intellectuals signed a public appeal demanding "liberty for the political prisoners". The Cuban Congress passed an amnesty bill that year; Batista signed it, and the imprisoned guerillas were freed.

Related Topics:
1955 - Mother - Intellectual - Political prisoner - Amnesty

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The date on which the attack took place, July 26, was adopted by Castro as the name for his revolutionary 26th of July Movement (Movimiento 26 Julio or M 26-7) that would, in 1959, take power in Cuba.

Related Topics:
July 26 - 26th of July Movement - 1959

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