FIRST SHOTS IN A REVOLUTION: MONCADA BARRACKS, SANTIAGO DE CUBA
May 05 '05 (Updated May 10 '05)
The Bottom Line One of the numerous sites in this fascinating city worth visiting, even with the blatant attempts to rewrite history
In the hours before dawn July 26, 1956 in Santiago de Cuba the second largest city in Cuba most of the population is sleeping off the effects of the last nights partying. It was the final night of the annual Carnival, a chance to let loose and forget at least for a few hours the poverty, and repression of the Batista dictatorship.
Not everyone had spent the night enjoying the music and rum though. A convoy of twenty-six cars slowly made its way through the darkened streets towards one of the largest and most imposing structures in Santiago, the Moncada Barracks. Inside this imposing yellow ochre walled structure were over a thousand Cuban soldiers. Inside the cars was a band of seventy-nine desperate and determined men. Their leader was a twenty-nine year old lawyer and failed professional baseball prospect named Fidel Castro.
Castro’s plan was simple he intended to attack the garrison, the largest military post in eastern Cuba and capture the weapons stored there to arm a revolution that would overthrow Batista. Other rebel forces including Castro’s brother Raoul would attack other points around the city including the radio station.
Castro and his followers were dressed in stolen army uniforms and hoped to bluff their way past the sentries at the gate. They were armed with a motley collection of shot guns and .22 calibre hunting rifles.
It was Castro’s belief that most of the garrison would either be drunk and/or recovering from overindulgence at Carnival and therefore would not put up much of a fight. He also believed that the bored teenage conscripts would not fight for the corrupt regime and would readily join his forces.
The raid was a dismal failure. As the lead car reached the gateway a roving patrol of Cuban soldiers approached from around a corner and the challenged the rebels. Fearing discovery Castro jumped from his car and attacked them. Many of the rebels also left their cars, outside the Moncada walls and joined Castro in the growing battle. Those few in the lead vehicles that had made it inside were quickly subdued and captured by the garrison.
Contrary to Castro’s hopes the soldiers did fight, more and more joining in and firing on Castro’s small force from the barrack’s window and doors. Whether they were patriotic, loyal to the regime or just scared or bored they put up a spirited and successful defence of Moncada. Eventually their superior numbers began to show and realizing the attack had failed, Castro and the surviving rebels fled.
Several days Castro was captured in the surrounding mountains. The elderly police officer who captured him disobeyed the orders that he was to be shot on sight and he was brought back into Santiago and imprisoned. He was luckier than most of the rebels who were shot "resisting capture" or "trying to escape."
Castro was tried in Santiago and sentenced to death. His lengthy “history will absolve me” closing arguments would be the first of his dramatic and lengthy monologues. Under pressure his sentence was commuted and he was sentenced to prison on the Island of Pines. Two years later he was exiled to Mexico.
In 1959 he and another small band of rebels including Raoul and an asthmatic Argentine medical student named Ernesto Che Guevara landed on the coast in a leaky fishing boat an the rest as they say is history.
The Moncada garrison still stands and remains one of the most imposing and most visited sites in Santiago de Cuba. It is located in the north east corner of Santiago de Cuba near Plaza de Marti at the intersection of Los Libertadores Avenue and Paseo Jose Marti. The entrance where Castro and his forces tried to enter is off of Trinidad Street on the Southern wall.
The old buildings are now a primary school. Children in bright red and white uniforms play on the same field where the garrison’s soldiers once drilled and rebels fought and died.
A small museum dedicated to the revolution is in a building located by gate post number three, the one the rebels attacked. Admission to the museum is $1.00 US with a further $1.00 US charge if you wish to take photographs and/or videos.
Inside are various exhibits covering the July 26th attack itself, and the later mountain campaigns that resulted in the overthrow of Batista. One of the exhibits on display is the rifle Castro supposedly carried in the mountains. His combat pants are on display in a museum in the nearby town of Siboney close to where he was captured.
Other exhibits cover Cuban achievements since the revolution including a display on the only Cuban cosmonaut.
Bilingual tour guides will take you through the museum offering explanations and commentary of the exhibits. It should be noted that they will not deviate from a carefully prepared script that glorifies the achievements of Castro and the present regime. The explanation offered on the failure of the Moncada attack is an interesting study in revisionist history.
The entrance gate itself is pockmarked with bullet holes from that fateful day in 1956. What is not common knowledge is that these bullet holes are not the originals. After the failed attack Batista ordered that all the damage be repaired to show that he was still in control. When he came to power in 1959, Castro ordered the bullet holes restored using old photographs.
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