Logo: Fidel Castro

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Question SA-11. Here is the text reference (p. 206/3 and 4):

Castro had promised his followers that the end of the year 1956 would find him either dead or back in Cuba fighting against Batista. True to his word, in the last days of December of that year he and 81 followers made the passage from Mexico to southern Cuba on the small (normal capacity 16) and aging yacht "Granma". The landing was disastrous; they were quickly spotted by Batista's troops and almost wiped out before the twelve survivors could make it to the sanctuary of the Sierra Maestra mountains.

From there he waged a two-year hit-and-run guerrilla war against Batista, enlisting the support of peasants and finally city-dwellers who had been abused by Batista's repressive security forces. In the end the outcome was as much due to Batista's errors as it was to Castro's successes. Batista's troops had little luck pinning down the elusive guerrillas, and they took out their frustrations on opposition leaders, student groups, labor organizers, and anyone else they thought might be collaborating with Castro. The end result was to create more recruits for the guerrillas and to reduce international support for Batista until toward the end of 1958 even the U.S. cut off military assistance. On the last day of December 1958 Batista and a small group of family and friends flew off into exile, leaving the way clear for Fidel Castro and his increasingly large group of guerrillas and supporters to take over.