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53
YEARS AGO
When Raúl Castro assumed responsibility for the
assault on the Moncada Garrison
BY
MARTA ROJAS —Granma
daily staff writer—
THIS is a facsimile which I kept from the front
page of the Santiago de Cuba Oriente
newspaper, datelined July 30, 1953. For its
eloquence it is worth reproducing.
A youthful Raúl Castro Ruz, captured before Fidel
and when he did not know his brother’s fate, but did
know that Abel Santamaría, second chief of the
movement, had been assassinated, assumed full
responsibility for the Moncada assault.
The photo, taken in the Santiago de Cuba Bivouac
has a caption that reads:
"THIS YOUNG man, who does not seem to be more
than 18 years old, brother of the man charged with
being chief of the insurrectional movement, Dr.
Fidel Castro, name of Raúl Castro Ruz, was arrested
yesterday in the vicinity of San Luis.
"According to reports, this individual was the
man who personally directed the assailants of the
Moncada Garrison last Sunday, who took cover in the
Palace of Justic after having managed to flee in the
resulting confusion, when the aggression was
repelled by the Moncada garrison. (Photo: Senén
Caravia)."
After all the events of the Moncada assault,
Raúl, who knew the Santiago topography, left the
city. He thought about going to his home in the
northern area of the eastern region. However, 72
hours later, he was captured by a pair of Rural
Guards. From the first moment he did not disclose
his identity. He said that he had gone to the
Santiago de Cuba Carnival but, having no money left,
had to return to his parents’ house. The excuse was
not accepted: he was taken to the area barracks.
That was how they operated with any young suspect.
Santiago was the inevitable destination. At that
stage, the regime had drowned the survivors of the
assault in their own blood.
In the statement taken from the young Raúl Castro
Ruz (they wrote Ruiz) in the Bivouac, he stated that
"first the government had to be destroyed, in order
to subsequently sort out the country so that it
could progress as it should; to undertake an
Agrarian Reform, but one that is not only giving
land to the campesinos, one that is something more
than that: giving them land and making it productive;
this system has been evil since the Republic began;
Cuba is full of illiterate people, injustices are
being committed, money is being stolen from the
people, the Batista regime had to be defeated in
order to initiate the Revolution."
Later, in September, when the Moncada trial
(Cause 37) took place, the prosecution berated him
because in the court hearing he declared himself a
rank and file combatant, in open contradiction to
his statements in the Bivouac.
With his arms crossed behind him, his head held
high, his hair cut like a brush and a discreet smile
on his lips, Raúl stood to attention before the
court and replied:
"When they took a statement from me in the
Bivouac, I assumed responsibility for the Movement
because I supposed that they had killed Fidel, I
knew that Abel had been assassinated and somebody
had to assume responsibility for that action which
was frustrated in the first attempt. But, with Fidel
being alive, fortunately, things have fallen back
into place. I am a simple soldier who was assigned a
post and a mission.
This is a story that should not be ignored in the
context of today’s events.
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