Failed Attack on Moncada

In 1953 Fidel Castro and a group of rebels attacked the Moncada barracks, a military headquarters in the south. Dictator Batista firmly controlled the country and easily suppressed the attack. Castro and his men were detained. In spite of the failure this was the beginning of Castro's growing popularity and the basis for his coup in 1959. Every year on July 26, the attack is commemorated in Havana as the beginning of the Cuban Revolution.