Peasants rally in Havana

The National Institute of Agrarian Reform became a major instrument of economic and political transformation in the countryside.

The law challenged the dominance of overseas corporations and connected national sovereignty with redistribution in the countryside.

The programme aimed to turn tenants and precarious cultivators into landholders while also organizing cooperatives on large estates.

A confrontation over the revolution’s direction ended with Urrutia’s resignation after Castro publicly denounced his anti-communist position.

The Council of Ministers selected Osvaldo Dorticós to replace Urrutia, while effective leadership remained centred on Castro.

The appointment placed the reorganization of Cuba’s military institutions under a central leader of the guerrilla struggle.

Matos and other officers resigned in protest at the growing influence of communists within the revolutionary government.

Camilo Cienfuegos carried out Castro’s order to arrest Matos in Camagüey on accusations of treason and conspiracy.

A plane piloted from Florida scattered political leaflets; anti-aircraft fire and falling fragments killed and injured people below.

Cienfuegos’s aircraft vanished during a flight from Camagüey to Havana, prompting a major but unsuccessful search.