1. Cuban Revolution
The revolution began in 1952 , when former army Sergeant Fulgencio Batista seized
power during a highly contested election. When he realized that he would lose, he took
power before the elections, Many people in Cuba were disgusted by his power grab,
preferring Cubaʼs democracy , as flawed as it was. Fidel Castro, who would likely have
won a seat in Congress had the 1952 elections taken place, immediately began plotting
Batistaʼs downfall.
The American Mafia was also in Cuba during this time creating casinos and making
money. When Batista became president of Cuba in 1952, several Mafia bosses were
able to make legitimate investments in legalized casinos. One estimate of the number
of casinos mobsters owned was around 19.
Batista government.- Throughout the 1950s, Batista's corrupt and repressive regime
systematically profited from the use of Cuba's commercial interests, in partnership with
U.S. corporations and the American Mafia. The brutality of the police, the regime's
indifference to the needs of the people for education, medical care, housing, for social
justice and economic justice also contributed to Fidelʼs rise to power.
On July 26, 1953, Castro made his move. Castro led a revolt of 138 men and attacked
the Moncada barracks. The attack was a failure and many were captured. Nineteen
federal soldiers were killed, and the remaining ones took out their anger on captured
rebels and most of them were shot. Fidel and Raul Castro escaped, but were captured
later.
In May of 1955 the Batista government released many political prisoners, including
those who had taken part in the Moncada assault. Fidel and Raul Castro went to
Mexico to regroup and plan the next step in the revolution. There they met up with
many Cuban exiles who joined the new “July 26th Movement” named after the date
of the Moncada assault.
As the July 26th movement gained power in the mountains, other rebel groups took up
the fight as well. In other cities, rebel groups loosely allied with Castro carried out hit-
and-run attacks and nearly succeeded in assassinating Batista. Batista decided on a
bold move: he sent a large portion of his army into the highlands in the summer of 1958
to try and flush out Castro once and for all. The move backfired: Castroʼs rebels carried
out Guerilla attacks on the soldiers, many of whom switched sides or deserted. By the
end of 1958 Castro was ready to take control.
Kateland Thao Wednesday, May 30, 2012 9:55:04 ET 04:0c:ce:d2:15:b2

2. Batista and his inner circle, seeing that Castroʼs victory was inevitable, took what they
could gather up and fled. The people of Cuba took to the streets, joyfully greeting the
rebels. Guevara and his men entered Havana on January 2, 1959 and disarmed the
remaining military installations. Castro made his way into Havana slowly, pausing in
every town, city and village along the way to give speeches to the cheering crowds,
finally entering Havana on January 9th.
Kateland Thao Wednesday, May 30, 2012 9:55:04 ET 04:0c:ce:d2:15:b2