Page 42 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

40 ❯❯ The Top 10 of Everything

Moments in Fidel
Castro’s Life

Birth and
1 1950. He made national head lines
Childhood
several times as an out spoken critic
Born on August 13, 1926, of the government.
to a rural patriarch and
Attack on Moncada
his maid at Birán in 4
Holguín province, Fidel After Batista overthrew the
Castro was raised by constitutional government and
his mother and was not cancelled elections in March 1953,
formally recog nized by his Castro initiated a legal petition
father until he turned 17. against him. It failed, and he
launched his revolution with an
Fidel Castro as a child assault on the Moncada Barracks
on July 26, 1953.
Jesuit Schooling
2
Castro was educated by
Jesuits in Santiago de Cuba, and
later at Belén College in Havana.
Although combative, he excelled
in his studies and was named
Cuba’s top student athlete.
University
3
Castro entered the University
of Havana law school in 1945, where
he became embroiled in politics as
a student leader, and graduated in Moncada Barracks, with bullet holes
Prison
5
After giving his impassioned
“History Will Absolve Me” speech
in 1953, Castro was sent to prison
for 15 years. He used the time to
organize his forces. Amnestied in
May 1955, he set up a guerrilla
army during exile in Mexico.
War in the
6
Sierra Maestra
After his exile ended, Castro initiated
a plan to return to Cuba. On landing
in the Granma prov ince, his forces
were ambushed, but Castro, Raúl
Castro, and Che Guevara escaped
and established their headquarters
(see p39). Castro directed the
opposition from here, winning
several battles and slowly taking
control of Cuba.
Castro giving rifle training to new
recruits in his revolutionary army

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