Editing Fidel Castro (section)

==Cuban Revolution==
{{Main|Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution}}

===The Movement and the Moncada Barracks attack: 1952–1953===
{{Main|Attack on the Moncada Barracks|History Will Absolve Me}}
Castro formed a group called "The Movement" which operated along a [[clandestine cell system]], publishing underground newspaper ''El Acusador'' (''The Accuser''), while arming and training anti-Batista recruits.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=68–69}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=50–52}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=65}}.</ref> From July 1952 they went on a recruitment drive, gaining around 1,200 members in a year, the majority from Havana's poorer districts.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=69}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=66}}; {{harvnb|Castro|Ramonet|2009|p=107}}.</ref> Although a [[revolutionary socialism|revolutionary socialist]], Castro avoided an alliance with the communist [[Popular Socialist Party (Cuba)|Popular Socialist Party]] (PSP), fearing it would frighten away political moderates, but kept in contact with PSP members like his brother [[Raúl Castro|Raúl]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=73}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=66–67}}.</ref> Castro stockpiled weapons for a planned attack on the [[Moncada Barracks]], a military garrison outside Santiago de Cuba, Oriente. Castro's militants intended to dress in army uniforms and arrive at the base on 25 July, seizing control and raiding the armoury before reinforcements arrived.<ref>{{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=69–70, 73}}.</ref> Supplied with new weaponry, Castro intended to spark a revolution among Oriente's impoverished cane cutters and promote further uprisings.<ref>{{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=74}}.</ref> Castro's plan emulated those of the 19th-century Cuban independence fighters who had raided Spanish barracks; Castro saw himself as the heir to independence leader [[José Martí]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=76}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=71, 74}}.</ref>

[[File:Fidel Castro under arrest after the Moncada attack.jpg|thumb|left|Castro under arrest after the Moncada attack, 1953]]
Castro gathered 165 revolutionaries for the mission,<ref>{{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=75–76}}.</ref> ordering his troops not to cause bloodshed unless they met armed resistance.<ref>{{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=78}}.</ref> The attack took place on 26 July 1953, but ran into trouble; 3 of the 16 cars that had set out from Santiago failed to get there. Reaching the barracks, the alarm was raised, with most of the rebels pinned down by machine gun fire. Four were killed before Castro ordered a retreat.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=80–84}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=52–55}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=80–81}}.</ref> The rebels suffered 6 fatalities and 15 other casualties, whilst the army suffered 19 dead and 27 wounded.<ref>{{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=82}}.</ref> Meanwhile, some rebels took over a civilian hospital; subsequently stormed by government soldiers, the rebels were rounded up, tortured and 22 were executed without trial.<ref>{{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=55}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=82}}.</ref> Accompanied by 19 comrades, Castro set out for Gran Piedra in the rugged [[Sierra Maestra]] mountains several kilometres to the north, where they could establish a guerrilla base.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=83}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=55}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=83}}.</ref> Responding to the attack, Batista's government proclaimed [[martial law]], ordering a violent crackdown on dissent, and imposing strict media censorship.<ref name="BatistaResponse"/> The government broadcast misinformation about the event, claiming that the rebels were communists who had killed hospital patients, although news and photographs of the army's use of torture and [[summary execution]]s in Oriente soon spread, causing widespread public and some governmental disapproval.<ref name="BatistaResponse">{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=87–88}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=55–56}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=84}}.</ref>

Over the following days, the rebels were rounded up; some were executed and others—including Castro—transported to a prison north of Santiago.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=86}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=86}}.</ref> Believing Castro incapable of planning the attack alone, the government accused ''Ortodoxo'' and PSP politicians of involvement, putting 122 defendants on trial on 21 September at the Palace of Justice, Santiago.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=91}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=57}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=87}}.</ref> Acting as his own defence counsel, Castro cited Martí as the intellectual author of the attack and convinced the three judges to overrule the army's decision to keep all defendants handcuffed in court, proceeding to argue that the charge with which they were accused—of "organizing an uprising of armed persons against the Constitutional Powers of the State"—was incorrect, for they had risen up against Batista, who had seized power in an unconstitutional manner.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=91–92}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=57–59}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=88}}.</ref> The trial embarrassed the army by revealing that they had tortured suspects, after which they tried unsuccessfully to prevent Castro from testifying any further, claiming he was too ill.<ref>{{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=58}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=88–89}}.</ref> The trial ended on 5 October, with the acquittal of most defendants; 55 were sentenced to prison terms of between 7 months and 13 years. Castro was sentenced on 16 October, during which he delivered a speech that would be printed under the title of ''[[History Will Absolve Me]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=93}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=59}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=90}}.</ref> Castro was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in the hospital wing of the Model Prison (''[[Presidio Modelo]]''), a relatively comfortable and modern institution on the [[Isla de la Juventud|Isla de Pinos]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=93}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=58–60}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=91–92}}.</ref>

===Imprisonment and 26 July Movement: 1953–1955===
{{Further|26 July Movement}}
Imprisoned with 25 comrades, Castro renamed his group the "[[26th of July Movement]]" (MR-26-7) in memory of the Moncada attack's date, and formed a school for prisoners.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=94–95}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=61}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=93}}.</ref> He read widely, enjoying the works of Marx, Lenin, and Martí but also reading books by [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]], [[Immanuel Kant|Kant]], [[Shakespeare]], [[Axel Munthe|Munthe]], [[Somerset Maugham|Maugham]], and [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky|Dostoyevsky]], analysing them within a Marxist framework.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=95–96}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=63–65}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=93–94}}.</ref> Corresponding with supporters, he maintained control over the Movement and organized the publication of ''History Will Absolve Me''.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=98–100}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=71}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=94–95}}.</ref> Initially permitted a relative amount of freedom within the prison, he was locked up in [[solitary confinement]] after inmates sang anti-Batista songs on a visit by the president in February 1954.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=97–98}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=67–71}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=95–96}}.</ref> Meanwhile, Castro's wife Mirta gained employment in the Ministry of the Interior, something he discovered through a radio announcement. Appalled, he raged that he would rather die "a thousand times" than "suffer impotently from such an insult".<ref name="divorce"/> Both Fidel and Mirta initiated divorce proceedings, with Mirta taking custody of their son Fidelito; this angered Castro, who did not want his son growing up in a bourgeois environment.<ref name="divorce">{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=102–103}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=76–79}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=97–99}}.</ref>
[[File:Fidel Castro and his men in the Sierra Maestra.jpg|left|thumb|Fidel Castro and his men in the Sierra Maestra, 2 December 1956]] 
In 1954, Batista's government held [[1954 Cuban general election|presidential elections]], but no politician stood against him; the election was widely considered fraudulent. It had allowed some political opposition to be voiced, and Castro's supporters had agitated for an amnesty for the Moncada incident's perpetrators. Some politicians suggested an amnesty would be good publicity, and the Congress and Batista agreed. Backed by the US and major corporations, Batista believed Castro to be no threat, and on 15 May 1955, the prisoners were released.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=103–105}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=80–82}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=99–100}}.</ref> Returning to Havana, Castro gave radio interviews and press conferences; the government closely monitored him, curtailing his activities.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=105}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=83–85}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=100}}.</ref> Now divorced, Castro had sexual affairs with two female supporters, Naty Revuelta and Maria Laborde, each conceiving him a child.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=110}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=100}}.</ref> Setting about strengthening the MR-26-7, he established an 11-person National Directorate but retained autocratic control, with some dissenters labelling him a ''[[caudillo]]'' (dictator); he argued that a successful revolution could not be run by committee and required a strong leader.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=106–107}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=100–101}}.</ref>

In 1955, bombings and violent demonstrations led to a crackdown on dissent, with Castro and Raúl fleeing the country to evade arrest.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=109–111}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=85}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=101}}.</ref> Castro sent a letter to the press, declaring that he was "leaving Cuba because all doors of peaceful struggle have been closed to me&nbsp;... As a follower of Martí, I believe the hour has come to take our rights and not beg for them, to fight instead of pleading for them."<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=111}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=86}}.</ref> The Castros and several comrades travelled to Mexico,<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=112}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=88}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=102}}.</ref> where Raúl befriended an Argentine doctor and [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] named [[Ernesto "Che" Guevara]], who was working as a journalist and photographer for "''Agencia Latina de Noticias''".<ref>{{cite news |date=11 December 2001 |url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2001/12/11/03an1cul.html |title=Por vez primera en México se exhibe el testimonio fotográfico del Che Guevara |work=[[La Jornada]] UNAM |access-date=26 November 2016 |language=es |archive-date=27 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127024501/http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2001/12/11/03an1cul.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Fidel liked him, later describing him as "a more advanced revolutionary than I was".<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=115–117}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=96–98}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=102–103}}; {{harvnb|Castro|Ramonet|2009|pp=172–173}}.</ref> Castro also associated with the Spaniard [[Alberto Bayo]], who agreed to teach Castro's rebels the necessary skills in [[guerrilla warfare]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=114}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=105–106}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=104–105}}.</ref> Requiring funding, Castro toured the US in search of wealthy sympathizers, there being monitored by Batista's agents, who allegedly orchestrated a failed assassination attempt against him.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=117–118, 124}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=101–102, 108–114}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=105–110}}.</ref> Castro kept in contact with the MR-26-7 in Cuba, where they had gained a large support base in Oriente.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=111–124}};{{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=104}}.</ref> Other militant anti-Batista groups had sprung up, primarily from the student movement; most notable was the [[Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil]] (DRE), founded by [[José Antonio Echeverría]]. Antonio met with Castro in [[Mexico City]], but Castro opposed the student's support for indiscriminate assassination.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=122, 12–130}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=102–104, 114–116}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=109}}.</ref>

After purchasing the decrepit yacht ''[[Granma (yacht)|Granma]]'', on 25 November 1956, Castro set sail from [[Tuxpan]], Veracruz, with 81 armed revolutionaries.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=132–133}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=115}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=110–112}}.</ref> The {{convert|1200|mi|km|adj=on|order=flip}} crossing to Cuba was harsh, with food running low and many suffering [[seasickness]]. At some points, they had to bail water caused by a leak, and at another, a man fell overboard, delaying their journey.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=134}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=113}}.</ref> The plan had been for the crossing to take five days, and on the ''Granma''{{'}}s scheduled day of arrival, 30 November, MR-26-7 members under [[Frank País]] led an armed uprising in Santiago and Manzanillo. However, the ''Granma''{{'}}s journey ultimately lasted seven days, and with Castro and his men unable to provide reinforcements, País and his militants dispersed after two days of intermittent attacks.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=134–135}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=119–126}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=113}}.</ref>

===Guerrilla war: 1956–1959===
{{Main|Landing of the Granma|Operation Verano|Triumph of the Revolution}}
[[File:2012-02-Sierra Maestra Turquino Nationalpark Kuba 01 anagoria.JPG|thumb|right|The thickly forested mountain range of the [[Sierra Maestra]], from where Castro and his revolutionaries led guerrilla attacks against Batista's forces for two years. Castro biographer [[Robert E. Quirk]] noted that there was "no better place to hide" in all the island.<ref>{{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=126}}.</ref>]]
The ''Granma'' ran aground in a [[mangrove swamp]] at Playa Las Coloradas, close to [[Los Cayuelos]], on 2 December 1956. Fleeing inland, its crew headed for the forested mountain range of Oriente's Sierra Maestra, being repeatedly attacked by Batista's troops.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=135–136}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=122–125}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=114–115}}.</ref> Upon arrival, Castro discovered that only 19 rebels had made it to their destination, the rest having been killed or captured.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=125–126}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=114–117}}.</ref> Setting up an [[military camp|encampment]], the survivors included the Castros, Che Guevara, and [[Camilo Cienfuegos]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=137}}.</ref> They began launching raids on small army posts to obtain weaponry, and in January 1957 they overran the outpost at La Plata, treating any soldiers that they wounded but executing Chicho Osorio, the local ''mayoral'' (land company overseer), who was despised by the local peasants and who boasted of killing one of Castro's rebels.<ref>{{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=116–117}}.</ref> Osorio's execution aided the rebels in gaining the trust of locals, although they largely remained unenthusiastic and suspicious of the revolutionaries.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=139}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=127}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=118–119}}.</ref> As trust grew, some locals joined the rebels, although most new recruits came from urban areas.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=114}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=129}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=114}}.</ref> With volunteers boosting the rebel forces to over 200, in July 1957 Castro divided his army into three columns, commanded by himself, his brother, and Guevara.<ref>{{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=122}}.</ref> The MR-26-7 members operating in urban areas continued agitation, sending supplies to Castro, and on 16 February 1957, he met with other senior members to discuss tactics; here he met [[Celia Sánchez]], who would become a close friend.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=138}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=130}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=119}}.</ref>

[[File:Sierra Maestra -mapa rev cubana-.png|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Map showing key locations in the Sierra Maestra during the 1958 stage of the [[Cuban Revolution]]]]
Across Cuba, anti-Batista groups carried out bombings and sabotage; police responded with mass arrests, torture, and extrajudicial executions.<ref name="Killings"/> In March 1957, the DRE launched a failed attack on the presidential palace, during which Antonio was shot dead.<ref name="Killings">{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=142–143}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=128, 134–136}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=121–122}}.</ref> Batista's government often resorted to brutal methods to keep Cuba's cities under control. In the Sierra Maestra mountains, Castro was joined by [[Frank Sturgis]] who offered to train Castro's troops in guerrilla warfare. Castro accepted the offer, but he also had an immediate need for guns and ammunition, so Sturgis became a gunrunner. Sturgis purchased boatloads of weapons and ammunition from [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) weapons expert Samuel Cummings' International Armament Corporation in Alexandria, Virginia. Sturgis opened a training camp in the Sierra Maestra mountains, where he taught Che Guevara and other 26 July Movement rebel soldiers guerrilla warfare.<ref>{{harvnb|Hunt|Risch|2009|p=35}}.</ref> Frank País was also killed, leaving Castro the MR-26-7's unchallenged leader.<ref>{{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=145, 148}}.</ref> Although Guevara and Raúl were well known for their Marxist–Leninist views, Castro hid his, hoping to gain the support of less radical revolutionaries.<ref name="Hiding"/> In 1957 he met with leading members of the ''Partido Ortodoxo'', [[Raúl Chibás]] and [[Felipe Pazos]], authoring the Sierra Maestra Manifesto, in which they demanded that a provisional civilian government be set up to implement moderate agrarian reform, industrialization, and a literacy campaign before holding multiparty elections.<ref name="Hiding">{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=148–150}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=141–143}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=122–123}}. The text of the Sierra Maestra Manifesto can be found online at {{cite web |url=http://www.chibas.org/raul_chibas_manifiesto.php |title=Raul Antonio Chibás: Manifiesto Sierra Maestra |publisher=Chibas.org |access-date=9 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117013342/http://www.chibas.org/raul_chibas_manifiesto.php |archive-date=17 January 2013 }}</ref> As Cuba's press was censored, Castro contacted foreign media to spread his message; he became a celebrity after being interviewed by [[Herbert Matthews]], a journalist from ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=140–142}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=131–134}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=120}}.</ref> Reporters from [[CBS]] and ''[[Paris Match]]'' soon followed.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=143}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=159}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=127–128}}.</ref>

[[File:Luis Korda 02.jpg|thumb|Castro (right) with fellow revolutionary [[Camilo Cienfuegos]] entering Havana on 8 January 1959]]
Castro's guerrillas increased their attacks on military outposts, forcing the government to withdraw from the Sierra Maestra region, and by spring 1958, the rebels controlled a hospital, schools, a printing press, slaughterhouse, land-mine factory and a cigar-making factory.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=155}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=122, 129}}.</ref> By 1958, Batista was under increasing pressure, a result of his military failures coupled with increasing domestic and foreign criticism surrounding his administration's press censorship, torture, and extrajudicial executions.<ref name="Batista'sFail"/> Influenced by anti-Batista sentiment among their citizens, the US government ceased supplying him with weaponry.<ref name="Batista'sFail">{{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=129–130, 134}}.</ref> The opposition called a [[general strike]], accompanied by armed attacks from the MR-26-7. Beginning on 9 April, it received strong support in central and eastern Cuba, but little elsewhere.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=152–154}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=130–131}}.</ref>

Batista responded with an all-out-attack, [[Operation Verano]], in which the army aerially bombarded forested areas and villages suspected of aiding the militants, while 10,000 soldiers commanded by General [[Eulogio Cantillo]] surrounded the Sierra Maestra, driving north to the rebel encampments.<ref name="Verano"/> Despite their numerical and technological superiority, the army had no experience with guerrilla warfare, and Castro halted their offensive using land mines and ambushes.<ref name="Verano">{{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=181–183}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=131–133}}.</ref> Many of Batista's soldiers defected to Castro's rebels, who also benefited from local popular support.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=158}}.</ref> In the summer, the MR-26-7 went on the offensive, pushing the army out of the mountains, with Castro using his columns in a pincer movement to surround the main army concentration in Santiago. By November, Castro's forces controlled most of Oriente and Las Villas, and divided Cuba in two by closing major roads and rail lines, severely disadvantaging Batista.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=158}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=194–196}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=135}}.</ref>

The US instructed Cantillo to oust Batista due to fears in Washington that Castro was a socialist,<ref name="WarCriminal"/> which were exacerbated by the association between nationalist and communist movements in Latin America and the links between the Cold War and decolonization.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pettinà |first1=Vanni |date=26 August 2010 |title=The shadows of Cold War over Latin America: the US reaction to Fidel Castro's nationalism, 1956–59 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14682741003686115 |journal=[[Cold War History (journal)|Cold War History]] |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=317–339 |doi=10.1080/14682741003686115 |s2cid=153870795 |access-date=12 February 2023 |archive-date=13 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213064020/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14682741003686115 |url-status=live  | issn=1468-2745}}</ref> By this time the great majority of Cuban people had turned against the Batista regime. Ambassador to Cuba, E. T. Smith, who felt the whole CIA mission had become too close to the MR-26-7 movement,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/105062/setting-the-scapegoat-who-will-be-blamed-cuba|title=Setting Up the Scapegoat Who Will Be Blamed for Cuba?|first=Gilbert A.|last=Harrison|date=13 March 1961|access-date=4 March 2019|magazine=The New Republic|archive-date=22 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822045939/https://newrepublic.com/article/105062/setting-the-scapegoat-who-will-be-blamed-cuba|url-status=live}}</ref> personally went to Batista and informed him that the US would no longer support him and felt he no longer could control the situation in Cuba. General Cantillo secretly agreed to a ceasefire with Castro, promising that Batista would be tried as a [[war criminal]];<ref name="WarCriminal">{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=158–159}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=196, 202–207}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=136–137}}.</ref> however, Batista was warned, and fled into exile with over {{US$|300&nbsp;million}} on 31 December 1958.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=158–159}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|pp=203, 207–208}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=137}}.</ref> Cantillo entered Havana's [[Museum of the Revolution (Cuba)|Presidential Palace]], proclaimed the [[People's Supreme Court of Cuba|Supreme Court]] judge [[Carlos Piedra]] to be president, and began appointing the new government.<ref>{{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=212}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=137}}.</ref> Furious, Castro ended the ceasefire,<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=160}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=211}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=137}}.</ref> and ordered Cantillo's arrest by sympathetic figures in the army.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|p=160}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=212}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|p=137}}.</ref> Accompanying celebrations at news of Batista's downfall on 1 January 1959, Castro ordered the MR-26-7 to prevent widespread looting and vandalism.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=161–162}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=211}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=137–138}}.</ref> Cienfuegos and Guevara led their columns into Havana on 2 January, while Castro entered Santiago and gave a speech invoking the wars of independence.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=142–143}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=214}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=138–139}}.</ref> Heading toward Havana, he greeted cheering crowds at every town, giving press conferences and interviews.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=162–163}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=219}}; {{harvnb|Coltman|2003|pp=140–141}}.</ref> Castro reached Havana on 9 January 1959.<ref>{{harvnb|Balfour|1995|p=58}}.</ref>