Word: moncada
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...July 26th, 1953, in Oriente Province 125 youths attempted to storm the Moncada army post, manned by over 1,000 soldiers. Their leader, Fidel Castro, was counting upon the elements of surprise and timing to overwhelm the garrison, and later claimed that if a group of 45 men had not made a wrong turn on the outskirts of Moncada he would have succeeded...
Castro told the judges, "There are five revolutionary laws that would have been proclaimed immediately after the capture of the Moncada barracks and would have been broadcast to the nation by radio...
Castro was celebrating July 26, the anniversary of the day six years ago that he fired a 12-gauge shotgun to signal the start of an abortive attack on Dictator Fulgencio Batista's Moncada Barracks, in the eastern Cuban city of Santiago. He also needed a display of hero worship so that he could accede to "popular demand" and resume the post of Prime Minister, which he had quit the previous week during the histrionics that preceded the purge of President Manuel Urrutia (TIME, July 27). He got it, and returned to office...
...Well," said Fidel one day, "you are telling us tactics for cowards." "No," said Bayo, "for intelligent people. You cannot go in there and face 21,000 well-equipped troops in open battle. You are going to be there like mosquitoes. Your attack on Moncada was & big mistake." Castro, who had already named his movement "26th of July'' for the date of the Moncada attack, was hurt. But he force-marched his rebels through the mountains 15 hours a day, learned mapmaking, bomb making and marksmanship. On Nov. 26, 1956, Castro and 81 revolutionaries set to sea from...
...rebels knew that they were gaining, but they did not realize that victory was so close at hand. On Christmas Eve a priest climbed the hills to report to Castro that General Eulogio Cantillo, commander of Moncada Barracks, would like to have a chat. Castro celebrated by coming down to the family farm at Mayari, his first visit in four years. "Oh, what a party we had that night!" says his mother. "His soldiers were all over the place, and he bought $1,000 worth of beef to feed the people from all around...