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Batista slams the door on the opposition's hopes for election
Batista publicly ridicules the opposition and says, publicly, no elections until 1958. Sudden revival of torturing and cruelty by the Secret Police.
Source: Cuba by Hugh Thomas for book click here -
Naty and Castro's daughter, Alina Fernandez, is born
The brief love affair between Naty Revuelta and Fidel Castro produced a daughter, Alina Fernandez. He sends a trinket upon her birth. Naty's husband believes the child is his, or he does not question it, Naty believes he was "a good man." Alina is alive today, and remains a vocal critic of communism and the Castro brothers.
Source: Havana Dreams -
Violence ratchets up in Cuba, M-7-26 gains strength
On April 5, in Santiago de Cuba, two university students were arrested and brutally tortured by Batista’s police. Two weeks later, men allied with the July 26 Movement struck back at police killing four patrolmen. Three of the attackers were wounded and taken to the hospital, where two of them were subsequently assassinated.
Source: Young Castro -
Another failed coup against Batista
Young professional officers, some affiliated with the Orthodox party, attempt to take over Camp Columbia and put Batista on a plane to the U.S. They are betrayed and arrested.
Source: Cuba by Hugh Thomas for book click here -
Mexican Secret Police and Federal Police arrest Castro
With increasing numbers of Cuban emigres arriving, the Mexican government arrests Castro and supporters at a safe house on 26 Kepler. They had already been training for combat conditions. Other safe houses and their ranch were raided.
Source: Young Castro -
Mexican authorities released Castro from prison
After a month long legal struggle in which his supporters were tortured and he was denied habeas corpus, the Mexican government relented. Castro was warned he was being watched and to leave the country.
Source: Young Castro -
Castro writes to Naty
“May I ask you a personal favor, Melba?” he wrote. “Speak to my friend N. [Naty Revuelta] who works in the International Office at Esso, and explain that I have not responded to her long letters due to the word I got that some of mine were intercepted. Tell her I received her last note (dated August 16) and ask her to write me a few lines telling me by what name and address I can write her securely.” Naty never receives it.
Source: Young Castro -
Frank Pais visits Mexico
The leader of M-7-26 in Santiago, Frank Pais, visits Castro. Castro insists on starting the revolution by December, Pais says the country is not ready, Castro convinces him.
Source: Young Castro -
Echeverria and Castro meet in Mexico
They produced the Letter from Mexico, announcing Echeverría’s pledge to support Castro’s expeditionary force upon landing despite the two leaders’ failing to resolve their fundamental differences. Both the Movement and the Revolutionary Directory were committed to Batista’s removal, the letter declared. Both opposed partial elections proposed by Batista and warned that those who participated in them would be regarded as traitors -
Castro visits Ex-President Prio in Miami
Castro, cash-strapped, said "This was bitter and humiliating." Castro had been an ideological opponent to Prio accusing him of all sorts of malfeasance. He swallowed his pride and took the money “to save the Revolution.” Prio gave him $40,000 dollars. Prio never ceased to fund every anti-Batista group that came his way, hoping a return to power.
Source: Young Castro -
Granma Yacht is purchased
It cost $20,000. A hurricane damaged it and the bottom was corroded. Its keel was cracked and would have to be replaced. The boat’s bridge, cabin, and storeroom had been ransacked by vandals. The engines were unserviceable, the electrical system frayed, the gas tank rusted. At the shortest, del Conde estimated, the boat could be ready in six months.
Source: Young Castro -
Fidel and Mirta meet in Miami
During Castro's tour to fund his revolution in the U.S. the two met in Miami, where Castro offered to marry her again in Mexico after he returned from New York. Mirta seemed to agree.
Source: Fidel y Raúl, mis hermanos -
Angel Castro dies at 81
Ángel, sick with a stomach ailment, wrote his last letter to Raúl, updating him on his health and assuring his sons that he was following news of their whereabouts. “I have received your letter from which I gather that you both are in good health."
He tells the brothers “I beg God to look out for your health and tranquility; receive the benediction of your parents who always remember you with love and affection.”
Source: Young Castro -
Violence continues circling around Batista
Different cells engage in terrorism against the government, including the highly publicized slaying of Batista’s Chief of Military Intelligence while coming out of a nightclub by Echevarria’s student group .
Source: Cuba by Hugh Thomas for book click here -
Castro speaks in New York
Different U.S. Cuban affiliated communities were organizing an expedition to Cuba and offered Castro financial support. Castro travelled to the United States and spoke to 800 emigres in New York's Palm Gardens. This was the largest assembly of Cubans in New York since 1895. Castro had been detained by the FBI the day before.
Source: Young Castro -
Mirta spurns Fidel, returns to Cuba, re-marries
Mirta is introduced to Dr. Emilio Núñez Blanco, a lawyer and the son of a former Cuban Ambassador to the UN, by her brother Frank. She marries him. Fidel vows to never give his last name to another woman.
Source: Fidel y Raúl, mis hermanos -
Meyer prepares to build The Riviera
The hotel would be called the Riviera and it would be the most lavish facility of its kind, with 21 floors, 440 rooms, 2 dining rooms, a casino, cabaret, swimming pool, cabaña club, park, gardens, and 2,600 square meters of arcade space for commercial use.
Source: Havana Nocturne -
Fidel secures Fidelito visit to Mexico
In a tearful plea to the Balarts, Fidel secures a promise that they send Fidelito and he would return him 2 weeks later. He did not fulfill his bargain, he installed Fidelito with a wealthy couple who supported him in Mexico city.
Source: Fidel y Raúl, mis hermanos -
The Granma takes off
Castro expected five or six days and to arrive at Cabo Cruz, the southwest tip of Oriente, at the foot of the Sierra Maestra, on Friday, November 30. That was the day that País would launch an attack on government positions across Santiago de Cuba. The weather is horrible, everyone vomited on the journey.
Source: Young Castro -
Castro at sea, Frank Pais delivers
Castro received news Pais attacked army and police headquarters in Santiago. Still days away, Castro was growing increasingly desperate. “I wish I could fly."
Source: Young Castro -
Batista looks out for Castro
The army chief of staff sent a telegram to colleagues across the island to be on the alert for “a white, 65-foot yacht, without a name and with a Mexican flag and a railing that surrounded almost the entire boat.”
Source: Cuba by Hugh Thomas for book click here -
Record investments in the island
Batista could tout a great economy and record investments, as the nightlife scene had expanded under his reign and was drawing in massive profits.
Source: Cuba by Hugh Thomas for book click here -
The Granma lands in Cuba, very late
It plowed into a sandbar, sticking fast. Overloaded, the little boat capsized, plunging its occupants into the sea. With water up to their chests and ri es held above their heads, they headed for land. Castro ordered everybody to follow, as Granma was unceremoniously abandoned, along with all the heavy weaponry collected at great cost throughout the previous year. A peasant finds them and feeds them.
Source: Young Castro -
Castro is betrayed and ambushed
Betrayed by a local guide, they were ambushed by government soldiers and forced to disperse. A few rebels died in the ambush, many more were seized, most of those were executed. The survivors split in three separate groups led by Castro, his brother Raúl, and Guevara. Over the next two weeks, they went east through the Sierra, narrowly avoiding capture thanks to a network of local residents organized by a farmer named Crescencio Pérez.
Source: Young Castro -
Mirta, with armed men, kidnaps Fidelito
Mirta flew to Mexico with armed men, who followed Fidel's sisters, Emma and Lidia, as they strolled through Chapultepec Park with Fidelito. On their way home, the men cut off the Castro car and snatched the boy. After Emma complained to the police, the Cuban foreign minister responded coolly that "the child is with his mother, which excludes the possibility of a kidnapping." He was moved to Queens and lived there for a year.
Source: Fidel y Raúl, mis hermanos -
Castro reunites with his men
Pérez’s brother, Ramón, outside the town of Purial de Vicana. Purial sits at the western margin of the Sierra Maestra, twenty five miles from where Granma ran aground nineteen days before. 14 men remained.
Source: Young Castro