Editing History of Cuba (section)

===Cuban Revolution (1952&ndash;1959)===
{{Main|Cuban Revolution}}
[[File:Castro-huber-matos-camilo-cienfuegos.jpg|thumb|[[Camilo Cienfuegos]], [[Fidel Castro]], [[Huber Matos]], entering Havana on 8 January 1959]]
In 1952, [[Fidel Castro]], a young lawyer running for a seat in the Chamber of Representatives for the [[Partido Ortodoxo]], circulated a petition to depose Batista's government on the grounds that it had illegitimately suspended the electoral process. The courts ignored the petition. Castro thus resolved to use armed force to overthrow Batista; he and his brother [[Raúl Castro|Raúl]] gathered supporters, and on 26 July 1953 led an attack on the [[Moncada Barracks]] near [[Santiago de Cuba]]. The attack ended in failure{{snd}}the authorities killed several of the insurgents, captured Castro himself and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. However, the Batista government released him in 1955, when amnesty was given to many political prisoners. Castro and his brother subsequently went into exile in Mexico, where they met the Argentine revolutionary [[Ernesto "Che" Guevara]]. While in Mexico, Guevara and the Castros organized the [[26 July Movement]] with the goal of overthrowing Batista. In December 1956, Fidel Castro led a group of 82 fighters to Cuba aboard the yacht ''[[Granma (yacht)|Granma]]''. Despite a pre-landing rising in Santiago by [[Frank País]] Pesqueira and his followers among the urban pro-Castro movement, Batista's forces promptly killed, dispersed or captured most of Castro's men.

Castro escaped into the [[Sierra Maestra]] mountains with as few as 12 fighters, aided by the urban and rural opposition. Castro and Guevara then began a guerrilla campaign against the Batista régime, with their main forces supported by numerous poorly armed ''escopeteros'' and the well-armed fighters of Frank País' urban organization. Growing anti-Batista resistance, including a bloodily crushed rising by Cuban Navy personnel in Cienfuegos, soon led to chaos. At the same time, rival guerrilla groups in the [[Escambray Mountains]] also grew more effective. Castro attempted to arrange a general strike in 1958, but could not win support among Communists or labor unions.<ref name="Lewis">{{cite book|title=Authoritarian regimes in Latin America|author=Paul H. Lewis}}</ref> Multiple attempts by Batista's forces to crush the rebels ended in failure.<ref name=Verano>
{{cite web|url=http://www.acig.info/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=259&Itemid=47|title=Air war over Cuba 1956–1959|publisher=ACIG.org|date=30 November 2011|access-date=14 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130318145436/http://www.acig.info/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=259&Itemid=47|archive-date=18 March 2013|url-status=live}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://cuba1952-1959.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/1958-battle-of-la-plata-el-jigue.html|title=1958: Battle of La Plata (El Jigüe)|publisher=Cuba 1952–1959|date=15 December 2009|access-date=26 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195517/http://cuba1952-1959.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/1958-battle-of-la-plata-el-jigue.html|archive-date=29 October 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> Castro's forces acquired captured weaponry,{{sfn|Clodfelter|2017|p=637}} the biggest being a government [[M4 Sherman]] tank, which would be used in the [[Battle of Santa Clara]].

The United States imposed trade restrictions on the Batista administration and sent an envoy who attempted to persuade Batista to leave the country voluntarily.<ref name="Bethell-Cuba"/> With the military situation becoming untenable, Batista fled on 1 January 1959, and Castro took over. Within months Castro moved to consolidate his power by marginalizing other resistance groups and imprisoning and executing opponents and dissidents.<ref name="Juan Clark Cuba 1992 pp. 53">
Juan Clark Cuba (1992). ''Mito y Realidad: Testimonio de un Pueblo''. Saeta Ediciones (Miami). pp. 53–70.
</ref> As the revolution became more radical and continued its marginalization of the wealthy and political opponents, thousands of Cubans fled the island, eventually forming a large [[Cuban exile|exile community]] in the United States.<ref>
{{cite web|url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/exile-community-statistics.htm|title=Cuban Exile Community|publisher=LatinAmericanStudies.org|access-date=9 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118012909/http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/exile-community-statistics.htm|archive-date=18 January 2013|url-status=live}}
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