Cuba, 1953 — dissident coup attempt
Event Summary
On 26 July 1953 about 135 to 160 young revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada Barracks, Cuba's second largest military garrison, in Santiago de Cuba, with a simultaneous strike on the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes barracks at Bayamo led by Raul Martinez Araras. The plan was to seize the arsenal, arm supporters, use the garrison's radio to spread confusion, and spark a national insurrection against Fulgencio Batista, who had seized power in a coup on 10 March 1952. Timed for the morning after Santiago's carnival, the assault unraveled almost immediately when the rebels lost surprise against a far larger and better armed garrison; the attack failed within hours.
Many attackers were captured and tortured or summarily executed, while Castro and others fled and were caught within days. At his trial Castro delivered his History Will Absolve Me defense and was sentenced to 15 years, but was amnestied in 1955, and the date gave its name to his 26th of July Movement that toppled Batista on 1 January 1959.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
04007261953
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Fulgencio Batista survived the Moncada attack unharmed and ruled until fleeing on 1 January 1959.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Wikipedia
New York Times
Chicago Daily Tribune
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →