Moncada barracks

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The Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba is a national monument to the Cuban Revolution . It is named after the general of the Cuban independence struggle against Spain 1868–1898, General Guillermo Moncada . In 1953, the symbolic struggle against the US-backed Batista regime began here , which ended victoriously on January 1, 1959 with the flight of the dictator Fulgencio Batista from Cuba . The day of the attack on the Moncada barracks, July 26th, is still celebrated as the official start of the Cuban revolution as a national holiday in Cuba. The bullet holes in the facade from 1953 are carefully tended and are still clearly visible today.

The Moncada barracks as seen from the former parade ground

The building is now used as a school and has spacious sports fields. A museum has been set up for the public to show the history of the Cuban revolution.

Assault on the Moncada barracks in 1953

Shortly before the parliamentary elections planned for 1952, the dictator Fulgencio Batista put himself to power, so that the elections no longer took place. The young lawyer Fidel Castro , who ran for the Orthodox Party , cited the constitutional right of resistance to plan an attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba and the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks in Bayamo after his Lawsuit for breach of the constitution was unsuccessful and legal recourse was exhausted. On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro gathered his colleagues around him. 135 men and women - especially from circles of the Orthodox Party - were supposed to storm the Moncada barracks with around 400 heavily armed soldiers. The goal was initially to stock up on weapons for the further fight against the regime of the dictator Batista. Castro expected the troops to be tired from the carnival celebrations.

The attempt failed, but made Fidel Castro known nationwide. In the days that followed, Batista's troops hunted down the survivors to take revenge for their 19 comrades killed by the attackers. Many of those arrested were shot immediately; However, there is just as little evidence for the torture alleged since then by Fidel Castro and the official Cuban historiography as there is for the allegations made by supporters of Batista that attackers killed several patients in their beds while taking the hospital across from the barracks. In addition to the six attackers who died immediately in the battle, 55 were later killed. Santiago's Archbishop Enrique Pérez Serantes called for an end to the massacre and achieved that the rebels were brought to an ordinary court. This probably saved the life of Fidel Castro, who a short time later was found in his hiding place along with seven other combatants.

From October 16, 1953, the public trial took place in Santiago de Cuba, contrary to the wishes of the military in a civil court. On the basis of the existing laws, the attackers were sentenced to prison terms of seven months or more: most received prison terms of ten years, Fidel's brother Raúl received 13 years. 19 attackers were acquitted, 48 were able to flee. Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison on the Isla de Pinos (now Isla de la Juventud ) as the person primarily responsible for the killings . His defense speech, in which Castro accused the Batista regime, called for the reinstatement of the democratic constitution of 1940 and presented a comprehensive social reform program, he developed into a political manifesto under the title of the closing sentence “ History will acquit me ! ”( La historia me absolverá! ) Was spread by supporters across the country. After a massive political campaign to release the insurgents, Batista issued a general amnesty for all political prisoners after the elections in 1954 , which also applied to the attackers on the Moncada barracks. The Moncadistas were released in May 1955 after less than two years in prison.

Entrance to the museum with reconstructed bullet holes

Political Impact

While still in Cuba, the supporters of the revolutionary movement around Fidel Castro reorganized on June 12, 1955 as the July 26th Movement ( M-26-7 ). The strategy was armed struggle through small secret underground cells scattered across the country. Fidel Castro was expelled from Cuba after his release from prison , whereupon he went into exile with his brother Raúl to Mexico , where he arrived on July 7, 1955. On December 2, 1956, Fidel and Raúl Castro returned to Cuba with Che Guevara and 82 other revolutionaries on the yacht Granma . The second attempt to overthrow Batista was successful.

literature

Web links

Commons : Moncada Barracks  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Antonio Rafael de la Cova: The Moncada Attack. S. xi – xix, with numerous sources of unhistorical representations
  2. ^ Antonio Rafael de la Cova: The Moncada Attack. Pp. 261-269
  3. ^ Antonio Rafael de la Cova: The Moncada Attack. Pp. 263-264

Coordinates: 20 ° 1 ′ 35 ″  N , 75 ° 49 ′ 9 ″  W.