MONCADA BARRACKS

Fidel Castro leads 135 Movement revolutionaries in an attack against a barracks that is garrisoned by

400 government soldiers. The attack is defeated, with 61 revolutionaries killed and 51 captured, including Castro. At his trial he declares, “History will absolve me,” before he’s sentenced to 15 years in prison. He and the other prisoners are released on 15 May 1955.

Members of Batista’s Cuban Army go into action after the attack on Moncada Barracks