el 26 de julio

Santiago de Cuba, July 26, 1953:
 
Some 160 revolutionaries under the command of Fidel Castro launched an
insurrectionary attack on the Moncada army garrison in Santiago de Cuba,
Cuba's second- largest city, and a simultaneous attack on the garrison
in nearby Bayamo.  Their immediate objective was the armoury and its
store of weapons and ammunition. If they were successful, their plan
was to head for the mountains to continue the fight. 

The preparations for the attack on the barracks were carried out in total
secrecy, involving 1500 people. Almost everyone was under 30, and the
operation was financed from their own pockets. One person sold his job
for $300, another sold his photographic equipment with which he made
his living, another contributed three months' salary, another his life
savings. 

The attacks failed, and the overwhelming majority of those captured were
tortured and killed.  Despite this blow, the July 26 Movement was born
and was able to grow from its meagre nucleus. Popular sentiment against
the dictatorship grew as the guerillas launched their armed struggle.
With the backing of popular organisations and a general strike against
the government, the revolution was victorious, taking power on January
1, 1959. 

The red and black, symbolizing the blood of fallen companer@s and mourning
for them, came to symbolize the July 26 movement and could be seen on
armbands worn by rebels and flags bearing the motto "MR-26-7" (Movimiento
Revolucionario 26 de Julio).


"Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me."
-Fidel Castro


"Already they can be seen armed with stones, sticks, machetes, in one
direction and another, each day, occupying lands, sinking hooks into
the land that belongs to them and defending it with their lives. They
can be seen carrying signs, slogans, flags; letting them flap in the
mountain or prairie winds. And the wave of anger, of demands for justice,
of claims for rights trampled underfoot, which is beginning to sweep
the lands of Latin America, will not stop. That wave will swell with
every passing day. For that wave is composed of the greatest number,
the majorities in every respect, those whose labour amasses the wealth
and turns the wheels of history. Now they are awakening from the long,
brutalizing sleep to which they had been subjected. For this great mass
of humanity has said, "Enough!" and has begun to march. And their march
of giants will not be halted until they conquer true independence - for
which they have vainly died more than once. Today, however, those who
die will die like the Cubans at Playa Girón. They will die for their
own true and never-to-be-surrendered independence."
-Ernesto "Che" Guevara



---
Marc Rodrigues
Voicemail/Fax: 866.206.9067 x4217
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"Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation,
understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying
who could be saved, that generations more will live poor butchered half-lives
if you fail to act." -George Jackson