Cuba, 1959 — rebel coup
Event Summary
On January 1, 1959, the Cuban Revolution triumphed as the dictator Fulgencio Batista fled the country, ending a struggle that Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement had waged since 1953. Batista had seized power in a 1952 coup, cancelled elections, and ruled through corruption and repression while allied with U.S.
business and organized-crime interests. Castro's guerrillas, based in the Sierra Maestra mountains and joined by other rebel groups, gradually gained the upper hand, and the decisive rebel victory at the Battle of Santa Clara at the end of December 1958 caused Batista to lose his nerve. In the early hours of January 1, he informed his officials he was resigning and flew with family and supporters to the Dominican Republic.
Rebel forces occupied the cities, Manuel Urrutia was named provisional president, and Castro entered Havana in triumph on January 8. The revolution soon turned Cuba into the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere.
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
04001011959
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba (overthrown by the revolution, fled the country).
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; fled the country. 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
Milan
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 →