Raúl Castro’s group occupies the Palace of Justice

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 force led by Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. The failed assault later gave its date and symbolism to the July 26 Movement.

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.

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.

Haydée Santamaría and Melba Hernández survived imprisonment and later helped circulate Fidel Castro’s defence speech.

Before the attack, Castro framed the action as a struggle to restore popular sovereignty and the democratic Constitution of 1940.