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n Cuba, a generation, that of Centenary of the birth of José Martí, took the reins. Amid corrupt governments, unfulfilled promises, repression and murder of peasant leaders, trade unionists and university students, decided to undertake the armed struggle against tyranny. The electoral route was truncated. Democratic claim did not fit in a political regime accustomed to the mistress of elections. Its last two governments, born under the 1940 Constitution, gave the wishes for social change to the 1940s.
President Ramón Grau San Martín (1944-1948) had disappointed. His credibility won during the presidency of the 100 days in 1934, at the expense of Antonio Guiteras Holmes, killed by the Army on May 8, 1935, was quickly exhausted. Former companions had denounced the corruption of Grau, including the founder of the Cuban people party (Orthodox), Eduardo Chibás. His example of dignity, anti -imperialist struggle and love of Cuba, make him a source of inspiration for future assailants of the Moncada and Bayamo barracks.
Moments before committing suicide, in 1951, he said: Companions of Orthodoxy, go ahead! For economic independence, political freedom and social justice!, To sweep the thieves of the government!, People of Cuba, get up and go!, Cuban people, awake! This is my last aldabonazo!
The successor of Grau, Carlos Prío Socarrás (1948-1952), man from the United States and his multinationals, especially the Electric Bond and Share and the nickel mining companies, follows the steps of his predecessor. The cold war It has been installed in the world. Anticomunism serves as an excuse to dismantle democratic, reformist and anti -imperialist governments in Latin America and the Caribbean. In this context, presidential elections are convened in Cuba on June 1, 1952. The Cuban people (orthodox) party founded by Chibás and its candidate, Roberto Agramonte, is emerging as the winner. Fulgencio Batista, strong man of the army, old ally of the United States, dictator between 1934 and 1940, presents his candidacy. Feeling loser, you won’t wait for the result of the polls. On March 10 he carries out the military coup. Tyranny is established.
The Batista regime suspends the Constitution. Oppositors are illegal. The protest is organized under strong repression. The insurrectional route begins to be considered. Militants of the Orthodox Cuban people party, especially its youth, average sectors, exploited, dominated and oppressed classes, claim the fair war against tyranny. Under the umbrella of José Martí, the example of Chibás and the militants killed during the governments of Grau and Prio, the resistance is weaved. A young lawyer, Fidel Castro, writes four days after the coup: I invite Cubans of value, the brave militants of the Chibás Glorious Party; The time is of sacrifices and struggle, if life is lost nothing is lost. Living in chains is living in affront and submissive opprobrium. Dying for the country is living
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A year later, the plan to trigger the popular insurrection is to take the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks in Bayamo and Moncada in Santiago de Cuba. Your goal: arsenales. July 26, 1953 is the agreed date. Different reasons make him fail. (For an extensive vision see Germán Sánchez Otero’s book: The Moncada: Prelude to a new era in our America. Ruth, Editorial House, Havana Cuba 2025; and Cuba in rebellion: from Moncada to Girón, by Salvador Morales Pérez. Michoacana University, The Michoacán Day 2009)
It was a defeat suffered. Two women, Haydée Santamaría and Melba Hernández, whose subsequent role was decisive for the triumph of the revolution in 1959, are in the operation. Others will fall that day, such as Abel Santamaría, Laureano Canejo, Ricardo Agüero or José Luis Tasende. Among the detainees, Fidel Castro Ruz and countless companions. The armed action causes a crack in tyranny, surprises with its boldness. In jail, Fidel Castro writes his allegation History will absolve me. A claim of dignity along with a complaint to Cipayos governments and a call to continue fighting. In a short time it will be known by the Cuban people. Seon to 15 years in jail, in 1955, thanks to popular protests and popular pressure, Fidel and other leaders of the assault to Moncada will be released. Persecution and threats force them to expatriate in Mexico. The July 26 Movement is born. The organization that will end up taking back to Cuba begins, on the Granma Yate on November 25, 1956, to 82 expeditionaries. On December 2 they touch land on the eastern coast of Cuba. The revolution is unstoppable. On January 1, 1959, they enter Havana. Cuban experience will change the story. Draising a tyranny by the insurrectional route and a professional army was viable and at that time it is the only way to achieve it. Some examples: in Guatemala, the reformist government of Jacobo Arbenz would be overthrown by a coup d’etat in 1954, headed by General Castillo Armas with intervention of the CIA. In 1957 the Villeda Morales reformist government is dismissed in Honduras. In Nicaragua, the Somoza and in the Dominican Republic govern the dictator Rafael Trujillo, until his execution in 1961. All anti -communists and allies of imperialism.
In Latin America, the influence of the Cuban revolution shows a path of dignity. His influence lasts over time. He has managed to survive between mistakes, successes and setbacks. Faced with a block that lasts six decades, he knows the meaning of imperialism, chemical and biological warfare, industrial sabotage, mercenary invasion and opponent financing, whose purpose is to make Cuba a neocolonial republic. But the Cuban people, aware of their weaknesses and strengths, do not give up.
Nothing can stop a revolution when its leaders and popular organizations show high levels of commitment, honesty, respect and love for those who have given their lives to build a dignified, sovereign, socialist and anti -imperialist tank.
