In 1956, Fidel Castro, from exile in Mexico, had promised that in that year they would be free or be martyrs. Three years earlier, in 1953, the assaults on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks were the small engine that started the big engine of the Revolution.
By December 1958, the tyranny of Fulgencio Batista, who had come to power through a coup d'état in March 1952, was in its final death throes and rebel victory was only a matter of time.
In the East, the rebel troops led by Fidel were tightening the siege of Santiago de Cuba. While in Las Villas the invading columns led by commanders Ernesto, Che, Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, won battle after battle and were preparing to deliver the mortal blow to the tyrant Batista; the first, with the siege and taking of the city of Santa Clara, in central Cuba, and the second, with the combat of Yaguajay.
Batista's troops were totally demoralized and the North American embassy, which had been unconditional to the dictator, had turned its back on him and was looking for a negotiated solution to thwart the revolutionary triumph.
There was fighting on the battlefront, but there was also a silent fight, behind the scenes, to prevent Fidel's arrival in Havana and deny victory to the rebels. Batista's resignation and the creation of a Civic-Military Junta was the ace up the sleeve of the Yankee embassy.
Fidel meets on December 30, 1958 in the old Oriente center with General Eulogio Cantillo. None of what was agreed was fulfilled by the military soldier.
In the early morning of January 1, 1959, Batista and a group of his friends fled to the Dominican Republic; Meanwhile, others of his henchmen and criminals make their way to the United States, where they received undeserved diplomatic refuge. In the Cuban capital, a Government Board chaired by Judge Piedra was formed, with the purpose of repeating what happened in 1933 after the fall of Machado; that is, prevent the rebel victory.
Fidel orders his commanders not to stop the offensive. He tells Raúl to occupy the Moncada barracks. Che, who has just liberated Santa Clara, continues his march towards Havana and settles in the Cabaña fortress. Meanwhile, Camilo, now the Hero of Yaguajay, takes over Columbia with his troops, the main military fortress of the recently defeated regime.
And to the people, in a vibrant public address from Palma Soriano, the supreme rebel leader called on them not to be fooled: "The dictatorship has collapsed as a consequence of the crushing defeats suffered in recent weeks, but that does not mean that the Revolution has already triumphed. Military operations will continue unalterably until an express order is received from this command, which will only be issued when the military elements that have risen up in the capital place themselves unconditionally at the orders of the revolutionary leadership. Revolution, yes; military coup, no!"
That same night of January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro, from the balcony of the Santiago de Cuba City Hall, proclaimed the triumph of the Revolution and in allegory of what happened in 1898, he stated that on this occasion the mambises would enter Santiago. from Cuba.
In his first address to the people of Santiago, the Commander in Chief declared: "The time has come for you, our people, our good and noble people, our people who are all enthusiasm and faith; our people who love for free, who trust for free, who reward men with affection beyond all merit, will finally have what they need. And only here I have to tell you, with modesty, with sincerity, with deep emotion, that here in us, in your revolutionary fighters, you will always have loyal servants, who will only have as their motto to serve you."
The bright January of 1959 would mark the beginning of a new stage in the History of Cuba. Four centuries of colonial and neocolonial domination were left behind. For the first time, the Greater Antilles enjoyed complete freedom for all of its children, without any tutelage and assured sovereignty.
Upon entering Havana on January 8, 1959, the rebel leader prophesied that perhaps everything would be more difficult from then on, and so it has been, but the path forged in that luminous first month of 1959 would lead to the first socialist revolution in the Western Hemisphere and after more than six decades we remain firm and unwavering on the marked course.
