July 26 is another big day for Cuba...it commemorates the first rebel insurrection that involved an assault on the Moncada Army Barracks in Santiago de Cuba in 1953. This leg of a revolution was thusly born (although revolution was in the air, this was the most bold).
Lots to talk about in this context. First, the revolution got its start...and became known as the Movimiento del 26 de Julio...the 26th of July Movement, or M-26-7, or simply 26. It's no accident, for example, that Duque Hernandez wears #26; or that Contreras wears #52. The number "26" is significant in the course of modern revolutionary Cuba.
It's like the 4th of July for the US...
Anyway, Castro supposedly grew up in Santiago and knew it like the back of his hand. Despite all the planning and all the knowledge, Fidelito was nowhere to be found when the shooting started, claiming to have gotten LOST en route. The time of the year was the heart of CARNAVAL season, and so the Sunday morning assault was designed to catch the militia off guard, and the town sleepy and hung-over.
Many of the rebels were killed, and the others, including the Castro's, were captured and charged for treason. At his trial, Fidel gave his famous "History will absolve me..." speech, and was sentenced to prison at the MODEL PRISON in Isle of Pines (now Isle of Youth). He was given preferential treatment there by a sympathetic jailer who said that, no matter what is done to him, the ideas will always persevere. Eventually, public sentiment even influenced Batista to release him, whereupon Castro and his crew went into exile in Mexico.
There, they hooked up with Che Guevara, and the plan to return to Cuba took shape. The bought a 60 foot yacht they called GRANMA...that fit 12 passengers comfortably. In late-November, 1956, they embarked with a party of 82, plus food...plus diesel fuel...plus weapons...
The ship almost sank from the overload; they got lost on the way; a short trip took them over a week to make; and their landing in what is now called the GRANMA PROVINCE in the city of Niquero was described as more of a shipwreck than a landing!
The revolution triumphed on January 1, 1959, when the rebels took Havana after years in the Sierra Maestra mountains in the south-eastern part of Cuba.
ANYWAY...Castro missed his birthday bash from last August that was supposed to be celebrated in early December to coincide with the Armed Forces Day (12/2), he missed May Day, and now he's missing the "26".
Pushin' up daisies.
