Che Guevara enters Havana

Fulgencio Batista left the country before dawn as his government and armed forces disintegrated.

Castro denounced attempts by senior officers to transfer power without a complete revolutionary victory.

A nationwide strike prevented remnants of the old regime from consolidating a military junta.

Rebel commanders accepted the surrender of the city, where Castro proclaimed the triumph of the revolution.

Speaking in Santiago, he warned against replacing Batista with another military arrangement and called for continued popular mobilization.

Cienfuegos took control of the country’s largest military installation, completing the collapse of Batista’s command in Havana.

Workers kept transport, communications and major workplaces halted until the military succession collapsed and the Rebel Army controlled the capital.

A Santiago speech presented military victory as the start of social reconstruction and insisted on vigilance against elite restoration.

The revolutionary coalition installed Judge Manuel Urrutia as provisional president.

The Eisenhower administration extended diplomatic recognition to Cuba’s revolutionary government.