III.

The Victory over Batista

In 1956 Castro, Guevara, and about 80 other revolutionaries sailed from Mexico aboard the yacht Granma. They landed in Cuba in a shipwreck. Batista’s soldiers killed most of the guerrillas, and the remainder fled to the Sierra Maestra mountains of eastern Cuba and began fighting an improvised guerrilla war. The guerrillas adopted the name 26th of July Movement, after the date of Castro’s attack on the Moncada barracks.

The guerrillas’ program was moderate, promising elections, constitutional government, and land reform according to the constitution. Castro affirmed that he was not a Communist. By mid-1958 the guerrillas under Castro’s command numbered just 400. Batista’s army proved inept, however, and 12,000 government troops failed to defeat Castro’s small band of guerrillas. The 26th of July Movement also had important support among the organized anti-Batista forces in the cities, where revolutionaries engaged in many acts of sabotage and acquired weapons and supplies for the guerrillas in the mountains.

Especially important were university students organized in the Revolutionary Directorate, an independent group led by José Antonio Ecchevarría. The Directorate’s attempt to assassinate Batista in March 1957 nearly succeeded, but many of its members, including Echeverría, were killed in the attempt. In 1958 guerrillas from the Directorate and from another revolutionary group, the Second Front at Escambray (led by Eloy Gutíerrez Menoyo), were operating in the Escambray mountains of central Cuba.

Another source of opposition to Batista was professional military officers, who conspired to overthrow Batista on several occasions. In September 1957 a major military uprising temporarily seized the naval base at Cienfuegos. The military plotters were arrested.

In March 1958 Castro and his movement called a nationwide general strike. The strike failed in most of the country because Cuba’s major labor organization, the Cuban Confederation of Labor, threw its support behind Batista. In the same month, the U.S. government cut off weapons sales to Batista’s government. U.S. envoys and political moderates in Cuba tried to convince Batista to leave power peacefully, but Batista refused. Meanwhile, revolutionaries from Castro’s movement and from other organizations escalated violent resistance. During the second half of 1958, guerrillas seized ground in the countryside from the army. In the cities, several of Batista’s leading henchmen were assassinated and numerous government buildings were bombed. Batista’s forces responded by killing the leading urban revolutionaries.

As a result, Castro emerged as the only significant revolutionary leader. In late 1958 Castro dispatched an invasion force led by Guevara and fellow revolutionary Camilo Cienfuegos to central Cuba to coordinate activities with guerrillas independent of Castro’s organization. In December of 1958 the only pitched battle of the war took place for control of the city of Santa Clara in central Cuba. Following the battle, Batista’s army retreated and disintegrated, and Batista’s regime collapsed. In the early morning hours of January 1, 1959, Batista fled the country.