The book, Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolution by Ernesto Che Guevara is a firsthand account of the Cuban insurgency in the Sierra Maestra. Guevara’s recollections about the revolution provide important information about the challenges the rebels faced when they first landed in Cuba as well as the diverse roles the peasantry played during the insurgency. Also, Che illustrates why the Cuban army was unable to defeat the rebels and the advantages and limitations of waging guerrilla warfare in the Sierra Maestra.
When the rebels landed in Cuba they faced many difficult challenges. The Granma Expedition from Mexico took seven days and most of the men experienced severe seasickness as well as constant hunger due to the lack of food onboard. The
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The rebels had superior knowledge about the geography of the Sierra Maestra, which allowed them to stay off the army’s radar until they were ready to attack. The insurgents also had significantly less combatants and inferior weapons than the army so the Sierra Maestra, with its numerous hiding places proved to be a perfect place to set up ambushes and made retreating easy. Another advantage of fighting in the Sierra Maestra was the harsh weather. “The enemy soldiers were more concerned with the rain than with the possibility of an attack.” The rain, cold and mosquitos demoralized the army troops who were not used to living in such harsh conditions. Also, Batista could never send his full army to crush the insurgency in the Sierra Maestra because doing so would leave the cities vulnerable to other rebel groups looking to overthrow him. However, waging guerilla warfare in the Sierra Maestra also had its limitations. The rebels had limited manpower and firearms while the army had thousands of soldiers and top-notch weaponry provided by the United States. Guerilla warfare in the Sierra Maestra also limited the rebels’ ability to have influence in Havana where other rebel groups such as the Revolutionary Directorate operated. Another limitation of guerilla warfare in the Sierra Maestra was the inability to attack and occupy major cities such as Havana and Santa Clara, which would have sped up the
The Cuban government was not ideal for its people at the time, so they decided to initiate a change. Before Castro’s revolution, Cuba’s economy was highly based on tropical fruits, sugar, and tobacco. During this time, the government of Cuba mainly consisted of wealthy land-owning conservatives. Fidel Castro, a strong liberal who thought the Cuban government was corrupt, decided to bring together a band of two-hundred revolutionaries (Carey, Jr. 15). These revolutionaries attacked the Moncada Military barracks on July 26th, 1953 resulting in a failure that earned both Castro and the revolutionaries a ten-year prison sentence. Two years into his sentence, Castro was exiled to Mexico and began to plot another attempt in Mexico City. After many battles with Cuba’s National Army, Castro’s rebels were able to keep Cuba in a state of turmoil while other rebel groups were able to gain control. Through his actions, he was able to gain the support of the Cuban people who thought he was the logical choice for the new leader (Carey, Jr. 15).
The Spanish-American War was considered short lived and relatively mild in terms of American casualties compared to the many wars that our nation has fought. However, it served as a historical marker that set the imperialistic momentum of our nation. It played a significant role in our nation’s strategic move towards acquiring trade routes and further strengthened our naval power. Throughout my research paper I will touch on what led to the Cuban revolution against Spain, America’s political climate at the time, and why our nation eventually decided to intervene and aid the Cubans in their fight for independence.
In 1959, Fidel Castro led a group of rebel forces to end and overthrow Fulgencio Batista’s regime in an effort to free the Cuban people from his tyrannous rule. For very many different political reasons this has been portrayed as an act of great injustice and hypocrisy in the modern world. A lot of this has of course been advocated primarily by the US due to the high level of political tension between the two nations that developed in the mid 1950s. Believing this conventional wisdom that Castro was simply an evil communist who oppressed his people and stripped them of their human rights is very dangerous because it
stated the necessity of the Soviet Union and Cuba to become allies, and this move would also influence many countries in Latin America to become allies with the Soviet Union rather than the U.S and the West.
Cuba is merely one example of a society. Juan Cabrera is simply an ordinary example of an individual. What The Lonely Crossing of Juan Cabrera by J. Joaquin Fraxedas bring to light is the extraordinary effects of stepping outside the comfort zone of following the expectations of those that lead our governments. Although the situation was unlike our own it highlights what could very well could have
There are only five countries left in this world that still call themselves communists stated by (PRI,2013). Everyone knows those five countries as, China, Dominican Republic, Korea, Vietnam, and of course Cuba. Cuba is home to 11.2 million citizens whom live a very different life than us who populate the united states (PRI,2013). During the year of 1925 the socialist party was founded forming the Communist party. Cubans government has survived over 50 years of Communism (BBC,2017).
Methods: This investigation will describe Che Guevara’s involvement in Latin American independence movements, focusing specifically on his involvement with Fidel Castro’s “26th of July” movement. His actions and words will be analyzed, and his conduct this period of political upheaval will be used as evidence in order to answer the investigative question.
The Cuban revolution had great domestic and international influences and reshaped Cuba’s relationship with the world, especially with United States, which continues an embargo against Cuba as of this very day. Immediately after the revolution, Cuban government started a program of nationalization and political consolidation, which ultimately transformed Cuba’s economy and society.
Fidel Castro and the M-26-7 successfully seized power of Cuba’s government in 1959, after years of fighting. The M-26-7’s nationalist movement was able to knock the corrupt leader, Fulgencio Batista, out of power, and in 1961 Castro deemed the revolution to be officially of a Marxist nature. Throughout his 40-year stay as president, Castro has not allowed his revolution to stall, but rather he has allowed it to progress and adapt as he has seen fit. In relation with Castro’s revolution in Cuba has been another revolution, that of the Cuban women. Castro himself described the changes in women’s public and private lives as "a revolution within a revolution". In a true system of equality, as in the one Castro holds as his ideal, equality
In the wake of 1896, it was clear Spain had endured failure during the Cuban Rebellion. The Spanish and their leader, General Valeriano Weyler, had to come up with a way to take back control of their colony which the Cubans had seem to overtake. General Weyler was a cruel unjust individual who had mischievous ways of how he envisioned on taking back the control of his colony. General Weyler convinced a large segregation of Cubans to live in Concentration camp, claiming it was for their protection. What the Cubans did not know was that they going to endure torture and pain until the end of their life. With a reconcentration policy enforced by General Weyler, Cubans had to report to the camps within a certain amount of days, or else they would
A revolution is known as being an activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation. Cuba during the decade of the 1950's experienced this type of rebellion in search for an enhanced and better-developed society, independent of all outside domination. Cuban citizens were at a point where they needed to be free and be able to enforce the constitution established in 1940, which included amendments stating that Cuba should be a "democratic republic shall not conclude or ratify pacts or treaties that in any form limit or menace national sovereignty or the integrity of the territory," and such. I chose this topic because there has been so much controversy
In March 1952, a Cuban general and politician, Fulgencio Batista, seized power on cuba, proclaimed himself president. Batista canceled the planned presidential elections, and described his new system as "disciplined democracy"; although he gained some popular support, many Cubans saw it as the establishment of a one-man dictatorship. Many opponents of the Batista regime took to armed rebellion in an attempt to oust the government, sparking the Cuban Revolution. One of these groups was the "26th of July Movement" headed by Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. Consisting of both a civil and a military committee, the former conducted political agitation through an underground newspaper while the latter armed and trained recruits to take violent action against Batista. With Castro as the MR-26-7's head, the organization was based upon a clandestine cell system, with each cell containing ten members, none of whom knew the whereabouts or activities of the other cells. Between December 1956 and 1959, Castro led a guerrilla army against the forces of Batista from his base camp in the Sierra Maestra mountains. The Batista's repression of revolutionaries had earned him widespread unpopularity, and by 1958, his armies were in retreat.
The time of the Cuban Revolution was a great deal of turmoil, not just in Cuba but in almost every corner of the world. It was 1945, shortly after the end of World War Two, and the Cold War was taking off between the United States and the Soviet Union. Cuba, in the middle of its own war, was caught up in the international politics of the Cold War. The interaction between international and domestic politics played a major role in the outcome of the revolution. The result of the revolution left Fidel Castro in charge of Cuba.
I decided to write this research paper because we were assigned to find an issue or subject within Latin America to write about. One of the most widely known and influential revolutionary figure in the history of Latin America is Ché Guevara. Ché knew how to use his intelligence and judgment in all the circumstances he encountered taking advantage of each moment as if it was a highly intensive chess game he was sincerely
There are many different factors that make up a successful revolution, strong and perspicacious leadership (such as Girolamo Savonarola in Florence 1494), a universal set of grievances and demands and the ability to identify the weaknesses of the state (such as in the case of the Paris commune). However, perhaps the most important factor in deciding the fate of a revolution is the location. Logically, the ideal setting for a revolution is an urban area, with a dense population to allow the opportunity to quickly round up supporters, a small surface area so that no supporters have to travel further than they are willing to, nice wide streets to create the opportunity to demonstrate and protest in great numbers therefore increasing the effect of mob mentality which can be crucial to any revolution, and of course, a target. A building or person for the people to attack, be that a parliamentary building, a leader’s fortress or the leader themselves. That’s not to say revolutions cannot begin in rural areas, however, these generally begin in these areas by quietly drumming up support before moving to a major or capital city. The most obvious example of this being the Cuban revolution, which moved from one country to another before it had truly begun.