Castro went to United States and Mexico looking for supporters and money to fund his revolution. On December 2, 1956, eighty-two men including Castro and the physician Ernesto "Che" Guevara, set sail once again for the Oriente on their yacht, the Granma. The campaign was doomed from the beginning. "Nobody could navigate the boat properly, everybody was seasick, most of the supplies were jettisoned in a storm, and the expedition landed in the wrong place."(Sinclair,15) On one occasion Guevara followed the wrong star to travel North, and on another, his comrade put the only the drink they had, milk, upside down in his pocket. By the end of the day the milk was gone. On December 5 in the battle of Alegría de Pío, Batista's troops killed all of the rebels except twelve. Among these survivors, coincidentally, were Castro and Guevara.
Meanwhile, in the cities and universities, a revolutionary movement was also taking place. The Ortodoxo political party favored a violent revolution against Batista. Its leader and University of Havana Professor Rafael Bárcena organized the National Revolutionary Movement, which gained support from students. Castro refused to join, partly because he was leading his own revolts. In 1953, Batista's government found out about an upcoming attack that Bárcena planned, and sent him to prison. Colonel Cosme de la Torriente sought a peaceful answer to Batista by having elections. Knowing he would lose, Batista disregarded Torriente. By this time the Cubans knew that a violent revolution was unavoidable.
The police under Batista fiercely put down a student protest on November 27, 1955 with beatings. Later during a baseball game being broadcasted on television, students showed anti-Batista banners, which led to a demonstration that was also put down by the police. In another demonstration, they killed a popular student, Ciego de Ávila. His funeral on December 10 turned into a protest that increased the support of the growing Cuban Revolution. In 1956 University of Havana was partly destroyed by the government in hopes of preventing any public meetings or protests. On March 13, 1957, the leader of the rebellious students, José Echeverría, and his supporters attacked the presidential palace in order to kill Batista. Immediately after this, he declared on national radio that they killed Batista. Minutes later, police entered the studio and shot him, while the Cubans rejoiced to hear that their dictator had been killed. Later, it was confirmed that Batista had actually escaped the attack. Today, March 13 is a national holiday. The Cuban Revolution, however, was double-fronted.
"In a taped interview shown in the United states in May, Castro called it 'a useless waste of blood. The life of the dictator is of no importance. . . . Here in the Sierra Maestra is where to fight.'"(Suchlicki,170) After the unsuccessful battle of Alegría de Pío, Castro and his few followers fled to the Sierra Maestra mountain range. Here Castro healed his wounds, the failed attempts to destroy the military, through support. The peasants who lived in the hills favored Castro easily over Batista.
This population provided Castro with supplies and supporters. They also protected them against the Batistan military, traveled to the cities to obtain information, and directed those who wanted to become rebels to the premier himself, Fidel Castro. After gaining more popularity, Castro began to use a technique that was to become a tool in winning the Cuban Revolution: Guerilla Warfare. Using hit and run tactics, the power of the Batistan Dictatorship declined, mostly due to the lack of preparation for guerillas on Batista's part. With seven rifles in total, the guerillas won their first victory at La Plata Barracks. In May 1957, the peasants delivered a shipment of ammunition and explosives to Castro. With these they began to destroy bridges, railroads, and telephone lines.
Without this communication, Batista did know what was happening on the rural war front, thus he never knew when to send out the military. During the battle of El Uvero on May 27, 1957, the guerillas gained a major victory. Because they overtook a coastal military base in daylight, the guerillas received a great boost in self confidence. Batista was eventually forced to remove his troops from the Sierra Maestra. With the student protests occurring simultaneously, it looked as though an end to the Cuban Revolution was in sight.
Historians argue on whom the "hero" of the revolution was. Some look upon the students as heros, yet others see Castro as the person most affiliated militarily with the Cuban Revolution, and Guevara the most affiliated philosophically. If we look closer, we can see how Castro is the one who made the revolution possible in the first place. Without his actions and ideas, the revolts in Cuba would be failures. Fidel Castro organized the guerrilla warfare in Cuba, which helped bring a decisive beginning to the end of the Revolution. His general presence, one of determination and results, also fueled the Cubans. The minds of all the so-called heros did share a certain ideology. In the summer of 1958, Castro signed the Caracas Pact, which would formerly restore the Constitution of 1940. The ideals in the constitution focused on a democratic nation over a military dictatorship. Guevara believed that having a jefe máximo was necessary. This translates in English into "maximum boss." Fidel Castro was chosen to fill this position for the rest of Cuba's history. Castro also envisioned a moral society in which everyone acted humanely with respect to others. He believed in freedom of the press (without television and radio, the revolution would have never gained support from the middle class in Cuba) and direction of justice through the courts. After working with the peasants, Guevara thought of himself as an "agrarian revolutionary." He wanted farmers to have more rights with their land and political power. Castro and Guevara both did not support student protests, for they believed that they were not fighting for any particular reason.
During 1958, guerrilla warfare in rural areas and also urban movements increased. The Batistan rule weakened until its collapse on January 1, 1959, when Batista fled to the Dominican Republic. The "power vacuum" created was filled by the 26 of July Movement, lead by Fidel Castro. He brought upon rapid changes and gained Cuba worldly prestige and power. The six-year revolution was finally over with influential results. Changes in Cuba have been made that reflect democracy, agrarianism, and a humane society. A hero has been celebrated and declared el jefe máximo. The Cuban Revolution, both intellectual and physical, has lived up to its prestige and will alter history forever.
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