Castro's Cuban revolution attempt

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1953, Fidel Castro attacked military barracks in the east of Cuba in a bid to revolutionise the country. He failed, but it marked the beginning of his career as a guerrilla fighter.

Michael Voss spoke to one of his comrades, Agustin Diaz Cartaya, in 2010.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Fidel Castro (second from right) with comrades during the preparation of the 1953 attack. Credit: FILES-PRENSA LATINA/AFP via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:45.5	Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:57.9	Fidel Castro's first attempt at Revolution in Cuba took place in 1953. His assault on military barracks failed, but it did mark the beginning of his career as a revolutionary. In 2010, Michael Voss spoke to one of his comrades from those early years.
1:05.6	July the 26th, 1953, dawn, and in Cuba, radicals led by a young man called Fidel Castro
1:14.0	are carrying out attacks against the army in the east of the country.
1:18.9	Their targets, the Moncada barracks in Santiago and the garrison in Bayamo.
1:28.3	As 5 in the morning, we headed for our objective.
1:31.8	The strategy was for our leader to go with the first group
1:34.8	to disarm the guards and enter the barracks from the front.
1:39.0	I was with the others trying to get into the rear
1:41.5	through the barbed wire to confront the soldiers who were at that moment
1:45.9	in the hollow stables.
1:47.8	Agustin Diaz-Cartaya was 22 years old at the time and taking part in the secondary attack at Bayamo
1:54.8	Barracks.
1:55.9	Moncada, meanwhile, housed the second largest garrison in the country.
2:00.4	The plan was to take it by surprise, steal the weapons,
	...

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