The Moncada Barracks was a military
barracks
Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...
in
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana.
The municipality extends over , and contains t ...
, named after General
Guillermo Moncada
Guillermo Moncada (nicknamed "Guillermón" since his childhood, due to his large size) was one of 29 Cuban generals in the Cuban War of Independence.
He was born in Santiago, Cuba, on June 25, 1841. A former carpenter, he later became a black fo ...
, a hero of the
Cuban War of Independence
The Cuban War of Independence (), fought from 1895 to 1898, was the last of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years' War (1868–1878) and the Little War (1879–1880). The final three months ...
. On 26 July 1953, the barracks was the site of an armed attack by a small group of revolutionaries led by
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
. The attack failed and the surviving revolutionaries were imprisoned. This armed attack is widely accepted as the beginning of the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cou ...
. The date on which the attack took place, 26 July, was adopted by Castro as the name for his
revolutionary movement
A revolutionary movement (or revolutionary social movement) is a specific type of social movement dedicated to carrying out a revolution. Charles Tilly defines it as "a social movement advancing exclusive competing claims to control of the State ( ...
(''Movimiento 26 Julio'' or ''M 26-7'') which eventually toppled the dictatorship of
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; ; born Rubén Zaldívar, January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...
on 1 January 1959.
Preparation
Almost all of Fidel Castro's followers were
Partido Ortodoxo
The Party of the Cuban People – Orthodox ( es, Partido del Pueblo Cubano – Ortodoxos, PPC-O), commonly shortened to the Orthodox Party ( es, Partido Ortodoxo), was a Cuban populist political party. It was founded in 1947 by Eduardo Chibás in ...
Youth rank and file of the lower middle class and working class. Of the 137 insurgents whose ages are known, the average age was 26, the same as that of Castro. Nine rebels were in their teens, 96 were in their twenties, 27 in their thirties, and five over 40. The
Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cubans or Black Cubans are Cubans of West African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural ele ...
composition of the group was limited to two Africans and 12 Cubans of partial African ancestry, partly because most biracial Cubans identified with Batista, who was of mixed blood.
After
Batista's military coup on 10 March 1952, Fidel Castro and his group began to train young men to engage in the struggle, along with other anti-Batista groups, against an illegitimate government. Castro claimed that they trained 1,200 men within a few months, training at the
University of Havana
The University of Havana or (UH, ''Universidad de La Habana'') is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first ...
and at firing ranges in
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. , disguising themselves as businessmen interested in hunting and clay pigeon shooting.
The weapons included forty 12- and 16-gauge shotguns, thirty-five
Mosberg and Remington .22 rifles, sixty handguns of various models, a malfunctioning .45 caliber submachine gun, twenty-four rifles of different caliber, including eight Model 1898
Krag–Jørgensen rifles, a
.30-06 Model 1903 Springfield rifle, three
sawed-off 1892 .44-caliber Winchester rifles, and a
.30 caliber M1 Garand rifle with a folding metal stock.
Fidel Castro decided that army uniforms were needed for the Moncada attack. He discussed this with Calabazar cell leader Pedro Trigo Lopez
( es), who suggested approaching his relative Florentino Fernandez Leon, a 26-year-old military hospital orderly in Jaimanitas. Fernandez agreed and received $200 to purchase surplus uniforms, weapons, and ammunition. He then pilfered from the military hospital laundry most of the blue uniforms needed to attire the rebels.
The night before the attack, the men gathered at a farm in
Siboney, where they learned what the objective was. The plan was to secure the barracks and gain possession of the weapons stored within, and to use the building's army communications equipment to spread false messages for several hours to confuse the military. In the meantime, the weapons would be removed and hidden throughout the city to use in the continuing struggle, and
Santiago's radio station would be taken to broadcast the speeches of
Eduardo Chibás
Eduardo René Chibás Ribas (August 15, 1907 – August 16, 1951) was a Cuban politician who used radio to broadcast his political views to the public. He primarily denounced corruption and gangsterism rampant during the governments of Ramón Gra ...
, in order to mobilize the public with the ultimate aim of bringing down the
Batista
Batista is a Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include:
* Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player
* Dave Bautista, American actor and professional wrestler, also ...
government.
The men left the farm at 4:45 am on 26 July 1953, planning to attack at dawn. The date of the attack was specifically chosen because the ''fiestas'' in
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
are held on 25 July.
[. ]
The attack
On 26 July 1953, at 5:20 am,
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
led a group of 136 rebels (with an additional 24 intending to take the barracks at
Bayamo
Bayamo is the capital city of the Granma Province of Cuba and one of the largest cities in the Oriente region.
Overview
The community of Bayamo lies on a plain by the Bayamo River. It is affected by the violent Bayamo wind.
One of the most ...
), including his brother
Raúl
Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul.
Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...
, in an attack on the second largest military garrison; commanded by Colonel
Alberto del Rio Chaviano
Alberto Roberto del Rio Chaviano was a Cuban brigadier general who served on the side of, and during Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship of Cuba. He was the chief colonel of the Moncada Barracks when Fidel Castro and his group attacked the barrack ...
.
The group formed a 16-automobile caravan in order to give the appearance of being a delegation headed by a high-ranking officer sent from western Cuba. Their plan was that a first group of 25 men led by Abel Santamaría would take the civilian hospital at the rear of the barracks, a second group of six men led by Lester Rodriguez, including
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (; ; born 3 June 1931) is a retired Cuban politician and general who served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, from 2011 to 2021, succeedi ...
(Fidel's brother), would take the Audiencia Building (Palacio de Justicia), and a third group of 90 men, led by Castro, would take the barracks,
including the radio transmitter within it.
The attack began poorly. The caravan of automobiles became separated by the time it arrived at the barracks, and the car carrying the guerillas' heavy weapons got lost. Furthermore, many of the rebels who would have taken part in the attack were left behind for a lack of weapons. In Castro's autobiography, he claims that he drove his car into a group of soldiers at the gate who had realized an attack was in progress. The men in the cars behind him jumped out of their cars, believing they were inside the barracks, and the alarm was sounded before the barracks had been infiltrated. According to Castro, this was the fatal mistake in the operation. The net result of these events was the rebels being outnumbered more than 10 to 1.
Fifteen soldiers and three policemen were killed and 23 soldiers and five policemen wounded during the attack. Nine rebels were killed in combat, 11 wounded, four of them by friendly fire, and 52 executed later. (According to Fidel Castro five were killed in the fighting, and 56 were executed later by the Batista regime.) Eighteen rebels captured in the Civil Hospital were immediately executed in the Moncada small-arms target range within two hours after the attack. Their corpses were strewn throughout the garrison to simulate death in combat. Thirty-four fleeing rebels captured during the next three days were murdered after admitting their participation. A handful of rebels, including Fidel Castro, escaped into the nearby countryside but were apprehended shortly thereafter.
Trial
![Fidel Castro under arrest after the Moncada attack](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Fidel_Castro_under_arrest_after_the_Moncada_attack.jpg)
The Santiago de Cuba Urgency Tribunal indicted 122 defendants in Case 37 of 1953 to stand trial for 26 July insurrection. Fifty-one of the 99 rebel survivors who were captured were remanded for trial. Six indicted rebels remained in hiding. The other 65 defendants implicated throughout the island were mostly political leaders and opposition activists not involved in the rebellion. Fifteen of them, including deposed President
Carlos Prío Socarrás
Carlos Manuel Prío Socarrás (July 14, 1903 – April 5, 1977) was a Cuban politician. He served as the President of Cuba from 1948 until he was deposed by a military coup led by Fulgencio Batista on March 10, 1952, three months before new elec ...
,
Aureliano Sánchez Arango
Aureliano Sánchez Arango (7 June 1907 – 23 April 1976) was a Cuban lawyer, politician and university professor.
Sanchez served in the government of President Carlos Prio Socarras first as Minister of Education (1948–1951) and then as Foreign ...
,
José Pardo Llada
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...
, and Communist leader
Blas Roca
Blas Roca Calderio (24 July 1908 – 25 April 1987) was a Cuban politician and Marxist theorist who served as President of the National Assembly of People's Power in Cuba from 1976 to 1981. He was also head of the pre-1959 revolution Communist P ...
, were underground or in exile and never went to court.
The trial in the Santiago de Cuba Palace of Justice began on 21 September 1953 and ended on 6 October 1953, after eleven sessions. The Cuban Civil Code of Justice, based on the Napoleonic Code practiced in Europe and Latin America, has the verdict determined by a panel of three judges rather than by a jury of peers as under "common law" in the U.S. and Great Britain. In accordance, after the accused heard the charges against them, they were called to testify on their own behalf. The defendants were represented by 24 attorneys. Fidel Castro assumed his own defense and lied under oath to avoid implicating rebels on trial. During the questioning of rebel witnesses, Castro raised accusations of the murder of prisoners by the military. In consequence, Moncada chief Col. Alberto del Rio Chaviano, impeded Castro from returning to court by claiming that he could not attend due to illness. The tribunal then separated Castro from the proceedings and granted him a separate trial. Nineteen rebels were found not guilty based on lack of evidence and their false testimony. Confessed leaders
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (; ; born 3 June 1931) is a retired Cuban politician and general who served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, from 2011 to 2021, succeedi ...
,
Óscar Alcalde,
Pedro Miret
Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter.
The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...
, and
Ernesto Tizol Ernesto, form of the name Ernest in several Romance languages, may refer to:
* ''Ernesto'' (novel) (1953), an unfinished autobiographical novel by Umberto Saba, published posthumously in 1975
** ''Ernesto'' (film), a 1979 Italian drama loosely ba ...
received 13-year prison sentences. Twenty other rebels received 10-year sentences. Rebels Manuel Lorenzo, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Orlando Cortez Gallardo, who refused to participate in the attack at the last moment, got three-year sentences. Dr
Melba Hernandez Rodriguez del Rey
Melba may refer to:
* Dame Nellie Melba (1861–1931), Australian soprano opera singer
** ''Melba'' (film), a 1953 musical biopic drama film about Nellie Melba
** ''Melba'' (miniseries), a 1988 Australian mini series about Nellie Melba
* Melba M ...
and
Haydée Santamaría
Haydée Santamaría Cuadrado (December 30, 1922 – July 28, 1980) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician, regarded as a heroine in post-revolutionary Cuba. She participated in the assault on Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 195 ...
were given seven-month sentences since it was never proven that they handled weapons.
Castro, a qualified lawyer, used his time in prison to prepare a speech entitled "
History Will Absolve Me
''History Will Absolve Me'' (Spanish: ''La historia me absolverá'') is the title of a two-hour speech made by Fidel Castro on 16 October 1953. Castro made the speech in his own defense in court against the charges brought against him after he led ...
", which he learned by heart and delivered during his sentencing; he received a 15-year sentence. A carbon copy of the speech was smuggled page by page out of court by the stenographer, who leaked it to a friend from the 26 July attack,
Haydée Santamaría
Haydée Santamaría Cuadrado (December 30, 1922 – July 28, 1980) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician, regarded as a heroine in post-revolutionary Cuba. She participated in the assault on Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 195 ...
, and later published it.
Aftermath
![DirkvdM 26 julio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/DirkvdM_26_julio.jpg)
Two years later, in 1955, the mothers of some prisoners launched a campaign to free Castro and the other rebels imprisoned with him. As popular support for the rebels and opposition to Batista's rule mounted, a group of political leaders, editors, and intellectuals signed a public appeal demanding liberty for the prisoners. That year, the Cuban Congress passed a bill granting general amnesty to political prisoners. After the bill was signed by Batista, the thirty imprisoned rebels were freed. They served 22 months in prison.
[.]
The battle damage to the Moncada barracks was quickly repaired by the military. After the revolution, it was converted into a school on January 28, 1960. Three weeks earlier, Fidel Castro personally drove the bulldozer that demolished the
crenelated
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...
outer walls. In 1978, Castro ordered the massive perimeter walls rebuilt and converted half of the main building into the July 26 Historical Museum.
See also
*
Guillermo Moncada
Guillermo Moncada (nicknamed "Guillermón" since his childhood, due to his large size) was one of 29 Cuban generals in the Cuban War of Independence.
He was born in Santiago, Cuba, on June 25, 1841. A former carpenter, he later became a black fo ...
, the barracks' namesake
Further reading
*
*
* Navarrete Kindelán, Francisco J., ''Castro Convicto: (La Verdadera Historia del Ataque al Cuartel Moncada y del Desembarco del "Granma").'' Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1991,
* Campoamor, Fernando. Bibliografía del Asalto al Cuartel Moncada. La Habana: Instituto Cubano del Libro, 1975 (Bibliography, in Spanish)
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
"History Will Absolve Me"
{{Coord, 20.0263888889, N, 75.8191666667, W, source:dewiki_region:CU-13_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title
Cuban Revolution
Military installations of Cuba
Buildings and structures in Santiago de Cuba
Moncada Barracks Attack
Tourist attractions in Santiago de Cuba Province