Cold Open 

It’s shortly before dawn on December 2nd, 1956.

A rickety yacht struggles through the choppy waters off the south-west coast of Cuba. Battered by a rough week at sea, the vessel is barely afloat, creaking beneath the weight of its cargo. 

Men in green military fatigues crowd the deck, their faces pallid with seasickness. There are eighty-two men in total, packed tightly onto a 50-foot yacht built to accommodate no more than two dozen. Conditions on board are  hellish. The men are starving, thirsty, and exhausted. 

Above all, they’re beginning to doubt their leader – a thirty-year-old lawyer with a patchy black beard and intense, mournful eyes. He squats at the prow of the yacht, scanning the darkness for signs of land. 

This lawyer, and his armed revolutionaries, are on their way to Cuba to overthrow a corrupt military general named Fulgencio Batista, who seized the reins of power in Cuba a few years back. This lawyer already tried to overthrow the general once. But his coup failed, and he was exiled to Mexico. He’s been plotting his next attempt ever since. Now, after months of careful planning, this lawyer and his men are on their way to Cuba to finish what they started and to get rid of Batista once and for all. 

Suddenly, there’s a sound of splintering wood as the vessel lurches violently forward, throwing the men to their knees. The yacht has crashed into a mangrove swamp, some thirty miles from their intended landing site, where reinforcements await their arrival. 

Left with no choice, the revolutionaries abandon the wreckage – along with their equipment and supplies – and begin the laborious trudge to dry land. With their rifles held above their heads, the men wade through muddy water and tangled mangrove roots. 

And soon, the government will catch wind of the revolutionaries’ arrival. They will send troops and fighter jets to crush the insurgency. And only around twenty rebels will survive the onslaught. Their leader, the young lawyer Fidel Castro, will be presumed dead. And his latest attempt at revolution will swiftly be declared a failure after the disastrous events of December 2nd, 1956.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. 

Today is December 2nd, 1956: The Start of the Cuban Revolution. 

Act One: The Dawn Raid

It’s July 24th, 1952, four years before Castro and his rebels land in Cuba.

A group of young political dissidents has gathered in a remote farmhouse, twenty miles outside the city of Santiago di Cuba, in the south of the island.  

Spread across the kitchen table are plans for a proposed uprising against the government – a dictatorship run by General Fulgencio Batista. The plan suggests that at 6 AM tomorrow morning, one-hundred-and-fifty rebels will storm the Moncada Barracks, the second largest military garrison in Cuba. There, the dissidents will seize weapons, before taking control of a nearby radio station, from where they will declare a national revolution. 

But not all the dissidents are on board with the plan. One of them exclaims: “This is suicide. You’re suggesting we take on the entire army?” The incredulous rebel is addressing the plan’s architect, a twenty-five-year-old Fidel Castro. The dissidents followed him here to Santiago believing they were staging a protest against Batista’s iron-fisted rule – not declaring war on the military.

But Castro stands quietly by the window and listens to their concerns. Eventually, he turns to his followers. He argues that while Batista might have the army, they have an army of citizens ready to fight. All they need are weapons. Weapons that are stashed inside Moncada Barracks.  

Castro launches into a fiery speech, exhibiting the kind of masterful rhetoric for which he will become known. By the end of it, he’s convinced the entire room to go ahead with his plan.

And two days later, on July 26th, at 5 AM, one-hundred-and-thirty-eight rebels drive through the streets of Santiago. At the front of the convoy, Fidel Castro’s hands tighten around the steering wheel as the imposing walls of the Barracks loom ahead. This is the moment he’s been waiting for; a moment he’s dreamed about for many years.

Castro graduated as a Doctor of Law in 1949 and established his own legal practice, catering primarily to Havana’s working-class districts. As a student, he was influenced by the writings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. As a working professional, he witnessed the living conditions of the poorest Cubans and came to see Cuba’s problems as symptomatic of capitalism’s inherent corruption. 

And so, encouraged by local members of a left-wing political party – Fidel Castro ran for office. He was nominated for the House of Representatives in 1951, and began campaigning for the 1952 congressional elections. But then, in May of 1952, General Batista pulled off a successful military coup and cancelled the elections, crushing Castro’s ambitions.

Immediately, Batista set about turning Cuba into a playground for the rich and famous. He established ties with wealthy elites, and with organized crime. Encouraged by Batista himself, gambling and drug trafficking thrived. Havana was dubbed “the Latin Las Vegas” and became a popular vacation destination.

While Cuba’s poor languish in the slums, Batista lives in opulence. Castro hopes that all that will end today. But as he pulls up to the Moncada barracks, Castro realizes that something isn’t right.

One of the vehicles in his convoy - the one carrying the bulk of the rebels’ weapons - is missing. It must’ve gotten separated from the convoy, Castro thinks. But it’s too late to turn back. The armed guards standing in front of the barracks have already spotted them.

Castro realizes it’s now or never. He slams his foot on the gas and speeds into the crowd of armed guards. They sound the alarm before the rest of the rebels can get into position. And soon, the rebels are surrounded and taking heavy fire. 

Nine of Castro’s rebels are killed in the attack. Nineteen are captured, to be tortured and executed. Fidel Castro and his brother, Raúl, manage to escape into the surrounding countryside, but within days, they too are arrested.

When news of the soldiers’ barbaric treatment of the other captured rebels leaks to the public, there is widespread outcry. Fearing the tide of public opinion, Batista doesn’t execute Castro. Instead, he puts him on trial.

And there, Castro uses his platform in court to lambast the government, to justify his attack on Moncada Barracks. And before his sentencing, he declares to a crowd of transfixed reporters: “History will absolve me!” Castro is sentenced to fifteen years behind bars, but many of the people stand with Castro, and they make their voices heard. In the end, Batista will bow to public pressure again, and free Castro from prison, and exile him to Mexico. But there, Castro will re-group with his comrades, and begin plotting another coup.

Act Two: Granma’s Voyage

It’s July 1955, one year before the Cuban Revolution begins.

Fidel Castro is in Mexico City, recruiting new members to his 26th of July Movement, named after the date of the attack on Moncada Barracks.  

On this sunny afternoon, Castro sits in his apartment, and waits for the arrival of a potential new recruit, an Argentinian doctor named Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Guevara works at a local hospital, and is a friend of Castro’s younger brother, Raúl, who arranged the meeting.

At first, Castro isn’t sure what to make of Guevara. With his tangled mane of black hair and wild eyes, there is something animalistic about him, something untamed. Guevara’s radical Marxism and blistering idealism makes Castro look downright conservative. But they’re both equally committed to turning Cuba into a socialist republic, and soon, the two men become firm comrades.  

From the cafés and cantinas of Mexico City, Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl, Che Guevara and the rest of the 26th of July Movement, spend the next year carefully plotting to oust General Batista.

***

Mexico City at this time is a hotbed of left-wing politics, and the Movement finds no shortage of willing participants. Castro elicits the help of Alberto Bayo, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, who trains Castro’s rebels in guerrilla warfare.

They also make contact with other anti-Batista militant groups emerging back in Cuba, establishing a support system on the island. Revolution is in the air.

Meanwhile, Batista becomes increasingly paranoid. He cracks down on any perceived insubordination and is intent on stamping out the militant groups, that are Castro's support base back home. Castro and his rebels need to move fast.  

But the Movement is low on funds, which they need to purchase weapons. So Castro ramps up his fundraising efforts, even touring the United States to find sympathetic donors. Slowly, the money starts trickling in, but it’s not nearly as much as Castro was hoping for.

To launch a successful invasion, Castro needs a ship. And ships are expensive. He reaches out to an arms dealer in Mexico City named Antonio del Conde, who already supplies the Movement with guns.  

del Conde invites Castro down to the Mexican port of Tuxpan. He leads Castro down to the harbour and shows him the boat he’s managed to purchase with the Movement’s limited budget. There, bobbing in the murky water, is a decrepit 50-foot cabin cruiser – hardly fit for a joy ride along the coast, let alone an armed invasion.

Painted on the chipped hull is the yacht’s name: Granma – named in honour of the previous owner’s grandmother. It’s hardly the fearsome warship Castro had hoped for. But he has no other alternative. 

And so, at 2 AM on November 25th, 1956, Castro and eighty-one rebels cram on board the leaky, creaking ship. The weather is atrocious, the sky wails with driving rain and wild winds. But Castro figures this could benefit them; no one would launch an invasion in these conditions.

And with good reason. The crossing is disastrous. The yacht springs leaks and suffers countless mechanical failures. Violent gales blow them off course. And in the end, the voyage takes two days longer than expected. Eventually, just after dawn on December 2nd, the rebels wash up in the mangrove swamp, soaking wet and seasick.

After wading ashore, they begin the long, gruelling hike through the jungle, heading for the cover of the Sierra Maestra mountains in the east. With their feet finally on land, the rebels pray the worst is behind them. But their troubles are just beginning.   

Act Three: Alegria de Pio

It’s the morning of December 2nd, hours after the rebels’ arrival in Cuba.

Fidel Castro and his fellow revolutionaries are hiking through the jungle. With blistered feet and waterlogged boots, it’s a laborious trudge, and morale is low. After three days, they stopped to rest at a grove of trees, called Alegria de Pio, just west of the Sierra Maestra mountains.

While his compañeros collapse in exhaustion, Che Guevara walks to the edge of the clearing and leans against a tree, chewing a stale cracker. 

Suddenly, the moment of stillness is interrupted by the crackle of gunfire. 

The rebels’ position has been discovered. Military fighter jets soar overhead, dropping shells on the insurgents’ camp. Infantry units, hidden in the trees, open fire. A bullet strikes Guevara in the neck, sending him to the ground. The other rebels scatter, scrambling for cover. 

Most will be captured or killed. Castro manages to escape again with two other rebels. And after days of hiding in the countryside, a sympathetic farmer takes them into his home, where they regroup with other rebels who survived the ambush. Among them, Raúl Castro, and Che Guevara, who survived his injury.

Incredibly, this band of just twenty rebels will establish a base in the Sierra Maestra mountains. And from there, they will recruit more fighters, and wage unrelenting guerrilla warfare against Batista’s troops. And after three years of a grueling war of attrition, they will finally succeed in removing Batista from power.

The Cuban Revolution will send shockwaves across the world. By declaring Cuba a communist country, Castro will bring the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere, and kick off a decades-long conflict with the United States. 

After his death in 2016, Castro’s poor human rights record and authoritarian style of rule will dominate any assessment of his legacy. But what cannot be denied is that his revolution not only changed the history of Cuba, but the entire world - even if it began in the most inauspicious way imaginable, on December 2nd, 1956

Outro

Next on History Daily. December 3rd, 1854. The Battle of the Eureka Stockade in Victoria, Australia results in 27 deaths—and gives birth to democracy down under.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Mollie Baack.

Music and sound design by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Joe Viner.

Executive Producers are Steven Walters for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.