The release of Fidel Castro, victory of the Cuban people
The year 1954 passes, Fidel Castro and his companions of fight remain imprisoned for having participated in the assault to the Moncada Barracks of Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1953.
Fulgencio Batista, tyrant ruler at the time in Cuba, following the 1954 elections, wanted to provide himself with an apparent democratic legality and he announced the amnesty of political prisoners crammed into Cuban jails, excluding Fidel and his comrades.
The protest against such exclusion, initiated by their families, was transformed, under Fidel’s guidance, into a formidable national campaign supported by various sectors of society.
The press played an important role in the state of opinion in favor of amnesty, reflecting popular pressure and giving space to supporters of unconditional release.
From the prison, Fidel clarified in a letter published by Bohemia magazine (March 19, 1955): “No, we are not tired. After twenty months we feel stronger than ever. We do not want amnesty at the price of dishonour (…) A thousand years in prison before dishonour. A thousand years in prison before the sacrifice of decorum. We proclaim it serenely, without fear or hatred.
The formidable publicity surrounding the amnesty brought back to public debate the events of July 26, 1953 and the crimes committed during those days by the tyrannical regime, which, within the framework of limited legality, could not avoid denouncing its excesses or attacks on its government.
On May 15, 1955, Batista ordered the release of Fidel and his comrades, who were welcomed in Havana by sympathizers of the young lawyer who defined his tactic in the first contact with the media: “We are for a democratic solution (…) The only one that has opposed peaceful solutions here is the regime.
On July 7, 1955, Fidel leaves Cuba for Mexico. In his farewell statement he says: “I am leaving Cuba, because the doors for the civic struggle have been closed to me. After six weeks in the street, I am convinced more than ever that the Dictatorship intends to remain twenty years in power disguised in different ways, governing as until now on terror and crime, ignoring that the patience of the people has limits. As a follower of Marti’s ideas, I think the time has come to take rights and not ask for them, to tear them out instead of begging for them. I will reside somewhere in the Caribbean. You don’t return from trips like this, or you return with the tyranny headless at your feet.
It was clear, Batista did not know that he was giving freedom to the invincible rival, who would overthrow him three years later with the arms and morale of a people and an army that would follow him to victory on January 1, 1959.
Written by Jorge Lora
