COMMITTEE EXHIBIT No. 5-Continued

The Platt Amendment was immediately implemented: Guantanamo Bay was leased as a U.S. naval base at a rent of $2,000 a year (and remains a U.S. base to this day).

The Marines remained in Cuba until 1902, then returned the same year to "protect private property and pacify" when a revolt against Cuba's first president broke out. Troops occupied Cuba until 1906, and returned to put down rebellions in 1912 and 1916.

The U.S. military followed the U.S. dollar. And the gun ensured the safety of the dollar. Whereas in 1896 10% of Cuba's total sugar production came from Americanowned mills, in 1914 35% of the total was in American hands, and by 1926--63%

American corporations dominated not only sugar production but also service industries--telephone, electricity, railways, buses, banks, etc. Cuba was now an American property in the world game of imperialism.

A faithful protector of that property was Fulgencio Batista, Cuban president and president-maker for two decades. Batista came to power in 1933, through seizing control of the army, and through the army, the government. The U.S. recognized his regime, and Batista ruled Cuba for the next 10 years, his power stemming from his control of the army and his mantle of American approval,

Batista went into exile when his designated successor was defeated in the elections of 1944, but returned in 1952 and again took over both the army and the government.

The only outcry was made by a lawyer, 25-year-old Fidel Castro Ruz. He submitted a legal brief before the Urgency Court in Havana showing that Batista and his circle had violated six articles of the Code of Social Defense, which added up to 108 years in jail. He demanded that the judges either carry out their duties and punish Batista or "hang up your robes".

Fidel, the son of a sugar plantation owner, had been one of the leaders of the anti-government student movement while at the University. After graduating law school in 1950, he was a "radical in the professions" for two years, defending workers, farmers and political prisoners. In 1952 he ran for Congress, but Batista's coup d'etat that year disillusioned him about the efficacy of electoral struggle.

After losing his legal fight against Batista in the Urgency Court, Fidel was convinced that there was only one way to free Cuba from corruption, economic inequality and dictatorship. That way was revolution.

The small army Fidel raised--165 young men and two women--planned to attack Cuba's second largest military fortress, Fort Moncada in Santiago de Cuba, at dawn on July 26, 1953, following the excesses of the Carnival celebration the night before. They expected to surprise the 1,000 soldiers quartered there, capture the heavy military equipment and ammunition, and then seize the radio stations and call upon the Cuban people to rise up against the Dictator. But despite perfect security, their plans were defeated by bad breaks and errors.

The rebels lost seven men in the attack, and Batista's army tortured and killed more than 70 rebels who later surrendered or were captured. In addition, Baptista's police massacred men, women, and children in Santiago. Shocked by the general bloodbath, Cuban liberals and clergymen persuaded the army to grant trials to the rebels if they would give themselves up. Soon afterward, Fidel was captured and Raul and his men came down from their mountain hideout and surrendered.

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COMMITTEE EXHIBIT NO. 5-Continued

The mass trial of Fidel and 121 others opened September 21, 1953 in the Santiago courthouse with 1000 soldiers on guard outside the courthouse and armored cars blocking all roads. Fidel proudly admitted his attack on Moncada, stating that no other way was open to change the Cuban government. The prosecution tried in vain to tie up the rebels with one or another opposition leader or even with the Cuban Communist Party, since they could not understand the independent and revolutionary nature of the rebel program.

Fidel said he was fighting in the name of the people against dictatorship, tyranny and injustice. He spoke of thousands of Cubans without work, farm laborers who worked four months during the sugar harvest and starved eight months a year, industrial workers who were cheated out of their full wages. He talked about agrarian and educational reform, scientific farming, better housing, lower rents, reduced imports from the United States and a new kind of government with justice and equality for all Cubans. When he finished he said: "Sentence me. I don't mind.

Fidel was sentenced to 15 years, Raul to 13, and the others to lesser terms on the Isle of Pines. But growing opposition, frequent strikes, and crowds which shouted "Viva Castro" forced Batista to revoke censorship and grant amnesty to the prisoners on their own terms, without compromise or dishonor.

On May 15, 1955, all the prisoners were released. Jubilant crowds greeted them. Everyone was proud of the July 26th Movement. But the released prisoners were constantly watched by the police and prevented from speaking.

In July Fidel left the country for Mexico, where Raul and many of the others were already waiting, and began to train his invasion force under the guidance of Colonel Alberto Bayo, a 63-year-old Cuban who had experienced guerilla fighting in the Spanish Civil War against Franco. The revolutionaries learned to shoot, make bombs, blow up barricades, march unheard and unseen through the jungle, attack and withdraw, And the top student, according to Colonel Bayo, was Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

On Nov. 25, 1956, 82 revolutionaries set out in the yacht Granma with plans to land at Niquero, west of Santiago, meet other revolutionaries, attack the army while other groups created diversions. They were hoping for a general strike to bring the dictator down.

But after the disaster of Moncada, the disaster of the Granma. The yacht practically broke down; they were days late; the diversions went off on schedule while they were still at sea.

On Dec. 2 they landed, forced to leave their heavy equipment behind them when the yacht became mired in mud offshore. They waded shore, not knowing where they were, exhausted, nervous, and still seasick.

in hiding, enfortuitously came

But they had been spotted; they scattered; some of them were shot down by Batista's planes. Many men were captured and killed Some re i during many days without food or water. When Fidel's group o upon Raul's three-man-band, Fidel announced to the six men: tatorship are numbered."

"s of the dic

COMMITTEE EXHIBIT No. 5-Continued

Twenty-two men survived the expedition, but 10 of these were captured. Only 12 reach Pico Turquino, the highest peak in the Sierra Maestra.

Later

From that small group the Cuban Revolution grew. It spread across the Sierra, where the peasants at first hid the rebels, then supported them, and finally joined them. They joined because the guerrilla forces were totally different from any army they had known before. The soldiers of M-26 Julio paid for what they needed, were friendly and considerate, and treated the peasant men and women with respect. they set up field hospitals and began to treat the local peasants. They established schools where no one had ever thought of teaching peasants, old and young alike, to read and write. They put through agrarian reforms and distributed land wherever they took power. The mountain people absorbed the revolutionaries' program by their very existence and by example, not through written tracts or campaign platforms.

In the cities, workers and students gathered supplies for the guerrillas, robbed Batista's soldiers of their boots and guns, and distributed the rebel newspaper Cuba Libre everywhere.

On Feb. 24, 1958, Radio Rebelde began broadcasting from "The Territory of Free Cuba in the Sierra Maestra". The weapon of the guerrilla radio station was truth, the only true version of the events that the Cuban people ever heard, and soon Radio Rebelde had more listeners than any other station in Cuba.

Batista stepped up the attacks on the rebels and on the population in general, especially after the failure of a general strike in April 1958. In May Batista turned all his forces on the guerrillas--12,000 soldiers against 300 rebels. Batista's soldiers were superior in weapons and in numbers, but the 26th of July Movement soldiers had all the advantages of guerrillas everywhere--knowledge of the terrain, idealism rather than payment for fighting, humane leaders who were masters of guerrilla warfare strategy, and support of the people.

On July 20, 1958, a united front pact was signed between the 26th of July Movement and nine other groups. It was only at this point that the guerrillas were strong enough to enter into a united front with the liberals. To the people, the Rebel Army was the Revolution, and so its principles were protected within the coalition. The announcement was written by Fidel himself, who then signed it for the 26th of July Movement. By this time even the Communists who had regarded the rebels as adventurists began supporting the revolution.

The rebels called on the United States to cease sending arms to the bloody dictator, but the embargo did not go into effect until March 1958, and it was violated many times afterward.

In August Che and Camilo Cienfuegos, another top combat leader, marched down in two columns with over 250 men from Camaguey Province to Las Villas to take the capital city of Santa Clara, which would effectively cut the island in two.

On Christmas Eve the task was accomplished. At the same time Fidel's troops were on their way to Santiago, where they were met by Raul's men, who were marching toward Santiago from the northeastern tip of Oriente on a successful mop-up campaign. On the other end of the island, in the westernmost province of Pinar del Rio, the Batista army was being harassed by rebel guerrillas based in the mountains of the Sierra de los Organos. Army installations in Havana and Matanzas were blown up by the underground there.

The days of the dictatorship numbered seven.

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COMMITTEE EXHIBIT No. 5-Continued

On New Year's Day, 1959, Batista fled. His army surrendered to the rebels. The red and black flag of the July 26th Movement was hoisted over Fort Moncada, where on July 26, 1953 the rebels had lost the first battle of the Revolution. But now at last the war had been won. It remained for them to build the Revolution.

at

NOTE: This article was first published in 1968, by Students for a Democratic Society.