Attack on the Moncada Barracks begins

Fulgencio Batista overthrew President Carlos Prío Socarrás, cancelled elections and suspended constitutional government. The coup created the dictatorship against which the revolutionary movement...

Batista’s coup prevented an election in which reformist and opposition parties expected to compete, closing an important legal path for political change.

Young opponents of Fulgencio Batista gathered before dawn for coordinated attacks in Oriente. The action challenged a dictatorship created by the 1952 military coup.

A group led by Abel Santamaría took the Saturnino Lora Civil Hospital as part of the Moncada plan. Many participants were captured after the assault failed.

Raúl Castro commanded a detachment assigned to the Palace of Justice overlooking the Moncada complex.

Revolutionaries attacked the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Barracks in Bayamo to hinder reinforcements from reaching Santiago.

The attackers lost the element of surprise and withdrew. Batista’s forces then pursued, tortured and killed many captured rebels.

Abel Santamaría, a principal organizer of the operation, was captured and later killed in custody during the repression following Moncada.