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The Cuban Revolution: The Road to Power

State of the Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2022

Andrés Suárez
Andrés Suárez*
Affiliation:
University of Florida
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The Prevalent Theory of Revolution—After Restricting the Dimensions of the phenomenon under study to only one aspect, that ending with the seizure of power—distinguishes between preconditions and precipitants. Preconditions are “the crucial concern of men of affairs….” Precipitants, “by their very nature,” are ephemeral phenomena and cannot be anticipated. The conservative bias of this elaboration is obvious. By definition revolution is subsumed into the category of “civil strife,” thus eliminating all those phases of the process potentially as creative as the one following the seizure of power. Theoretical relevance, then, is assigned only to those elements of the phenomenon susceptible of preventive treatment—the preconditions. Finally, the events able to unleash the revolutionary process are relegated to the conditions of accidents—“they only happen”—and, consequently, are disregarded.

Type
Topical Review
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , Fall 1972 , pp. 5 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © 1972 by the University of Texas Press

References

Notes

1. Harry Eckstein, “On the Etiology of Internal War,” History and Theory, 3:2 (1965).

2. Ted Robert Gurr, “Psychological Factors in Civil Violence,” World Politics (Jan., 1968). See also D. P. Bwy, “Political Instability in Latin America: The Cross-Cultural Test of a Causal Model,” and the Comments by Anthony Leeds, LARR, 3:2 (1968).

3. Eckstein, op. cit.

4. Roger Mercado, “Las guerrillas en el Perú,” Fondo de Cultura Popular (Lima, 1967); Héctor Béjar, “Peru, 1965,” Siglo XXI (México, 1969); Américo Pumaruna, “Perú, revolución, insurrección, guerrillas,” Ruedo Ibérico (Paris, Mayo, 1967); Fabricio Ojeda. Hacia el poder revolucionario (Havana, 1967); Edgard Rodríguez, “La crise du mouvement revolutionnaire latino-américain et l'expérience du Venezuela,” Les Tempes Modernes (Juillet, 1970); Arnaldo Cardona Fratti, “Guatemala, dogma and revolution,” Tricontinenal (Sept.-Oct., 1968); Antonio Mercader y Jorge de Vera, Tupamaros: Estrategia y acción (Montevideo, n.d.); Joã Quartim, “La guerilla urbaine au Bresil,” Les Temps Modernes (Nov., 1970).

5. Régis Debray, ¿Revolución en la Revolución? (Habana, 1967). English trans. from the author's French and Spanish by Bobbie Ortiz (N.Y., 1967).

6. Debray's work has originated a copious literature. See Regis Debray and the Latin American Revolution, ed. by L. Huberman and Paul M. Sweezy (N. Y., 1968), especially the article written by “two Cuban revolutionaries,” Simón Torres and Julio Aronde; Joáo Quartim, “Regis Debray and the Brazilian Revolution,” New Left Review (Jan.-Feb., 1970); Douglas Bravo, “Rectification tactique ou strategique,” Les Temps Modernes (Juillet, 1970); No puede haber una revolución en la revolución (Buenos Aires, 1967); Roque Dalton, ¿Revolución en la revolución? y la critica de la derecha (Habana, 1969).

7. Debray's letter to the Monthly Review (Feb., 1969), and his recent interview in Chile, only partially reproduced in Latin America (Jan. 8, 1971), where he calls his pamphet “an abstract book,” which operates “on an abstract level.”

8. Cole Blasier, “Studies of Social Revolution: Origins in Mexico, Bolivia, and Cuba,” LARR, 2:3 (1967).

9. “Relatos del Asalto al Moncada,” ed. by the Comisión de Orientación Revolucionaria de la Dirección Nacional del PURS (Habana, 1964).

10. Marta Rojas, La generación del centenario en el Moncada (Habana, 1964).

11. Autores varios, Mártires del Moncada (Habana, 1965).

12. The story by Jesús Montané, originally published in La Calle (July 26, 1959): Relatos, 87.

13. See the text in 13 Documentos de la Insurrección, 19 (Habana, 1959).

14. Gregorio Selser, La revolución cubana, 45 (Buenos Aires, 1969).

15. Luis Conte Agüero, 26 cartas del presidio, 37 (Habana, 1969).

16. Charles E. Chapman, A History of the Cuban Republic, 370 (N.Y., 1927).

17. On the M.N.R. see fragments of a letter written by its leader, Rafael García Barcena, 13 Documents, p. 9, and Jaime Suchlicki, University Students and Revolution in Cuba, 1920-1968 (Coral Gables, 1969).

18. On the “Triple A” or “Frente Nacional Democrático (AAA),” see 13 Documentos, p. 23.

18a. Calixta Guiteras Holmes, Biografía de Antonio Guiteras, 8 (Havana, 1960).

19. Carlos Franqui, Cuba: El libro de los doce, 21 (México, 1966).

20. Robert Taber, M-26: Biography of a Revolution, 41 (N.Y., 1961).

21. The confession of their failure—betrayal for the youngsters—made by such distinguished members of the generation of the “Thirties” as Jorge Mañach, Juan Antonio Rubio Padilla, and Raúl Roa, can be read in Actualidad y destino de Cuba (Habana, 1950).

22. See the two very perceptive works by Carlos González Palacios, “Revolución y pseudorevolución en Cuba” (Habana, 1948), and Luis Aguilar León, Pasado y ambiente en el proceso cubano (Habana, 1957). González Palacios was a member of the “generation of 1930,” which according to Aguilar León, who was 27 years old in 1952, “had abnormally prolonged its influence in Cuba” (p. 77).

23. Nydia Sarabia, “Santiago espera al Granma,” Verde Olivo (Sept., 1965). Torres and Aronde, op. cit., corroborate the date.

24. Ernesto (Che) Guevara, Obra revolucionaria. Intro. and selection by Roberto Fernández Retamar, 251 (México, 1967).

24a. Germán Sánchez, “El Moncada: Asalto al Futuro;” and José A. Tabares, “Apuntes para la Historia del Movimiento Revolucionario 26 de Julio;” Pensamiento Crítico, No. 31, Agosto, 1969.

25. The previous affiliation of Hart and Pérez was well known in Cuban revolutionary circles.

26. The author was involved in this conspiracy. Also the civilian delegate of the military group, Justo Carrillo, has corroborated such agreement in a communication dated February 18, 1971. Such collaboration continued after the conspiracy failed. In the Pact of Mexico, signed by José Antonio Echeverría and Fidel Castro, both declared: “The F.E.U. [University Student Federation] and the 26th of July consider Colonel Barquin, Mayor Borbonet, and the other officers in prison or demoted, the most dignified representation of our army.” 13 Documentos, p. 38.

27. Ricardo Rojo, My Friend Che, 27 (N.Y., 1968).

28. Teresa Casuso, Cuba and Castro (N.Y., 1961).

29. Faustino Pérez, “Yo vine en el ‘Granma’,” Bohemia (Jan. 11, 1959).

30. Fernando Sánchez Amaya, Diario del ‘Granma‘ 18 (Habana, 1959).

31. Fidel Castro, “¡Basta ya de mentiras!” Bohemia (July 15, 1956).

32. Both manifestos have been reproduced in Pensamiento Critico (No. 21, 1968). See also Rolando P. Bonachea and Nelson P. Valdés, “Una bibliografía del Fidel Castro, 1948-1958,” Aportes (Oct., 1970).

33. Already in 1958 Castro acknowledged that History Will Absolve Me was written on the Island of Pines, and therefore it is not the text of the speech given by him at his trial in Santiago de Cuba. See Jorge Ricardo Masetti, Los que luchan y los que lloran, 201 (Buenos Aires, 1969). The preface by the author is dated September 1958. See also Francisco de Armas, “Como se editó en la clandestinidad la primera edición de ‘La Historia me Absolverá,‘ ” Relatos, p. 143.

34. The author has been expressly denied authorization by his sources to use some information about those events, collected in exile.

35. K. S. Karol, Guerrillas in Power, 141 (N.Y., 1970).

36. Letter from País to Castro, July 7, 1957, Pensamiento Critico (June, 1969).

37. F. Pérez, op. cit.

38. Interview with Crescendo Pérez, Bohemia (Feb. 8, 1959).

39. Gral. Alberto Bayo, Mi aporte a la Revolución Cubana, 14 (Habana, 1960).

40. See also Alberto Bayo, One Hundred Fifty Questions to a Guerrilla, In: Jay Mallin, ed., Strategy for Conquest, 310 (Coral Gables, 1970). Mallin furnishes some information both about the author and the pamphlet, p. 32 and 314, but it is obviously inadequate. He overlooks especially Bayo's activities in Central America. About these see Ricardo Argüello, La verdad en marcha (México, 1950), where very strong imputations are made of Bayo's integrity and his qualifications as a military man.

41. Col. H. A. Aaron, “Guerrilla War in Cuba,” Military Review (May, 1965); “Why Batista Lost,” Army (Sept., 1965); H. A. Aaron, “The Seizure of Political Power in Cuba, 1956-1959” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Georgetown University, 1964).

42. Lucas Morán Arce, “Guerrilla Warfare in the Sierra Maestra,” 27 (Master's thesis, University of Florida, 1970).

43. Theodore Draper, Castroism! Theory and Practice, 23 (N.Y., 1965).

44. On this uprising see: the interview with Frank País, published in the underground newspaper Revolución (Feb., 1957), and reproduced in Pensamiento Crítico (June, 1969); E. Vázquez Candelas, “Evocación de los caídos del 30 de noviembre,” Revolución (Nov. 30, 1960); Nydia Sarabia, “La jornada heróica del 30 de noviembre,” El Mundo (Nov. 24, 1963); and Eduardo Yasells, “El 30 de noviembre,” Verde Olivo (Nov. 28, 1965).

45. F. Pérez, op. cit.

46. Interview with Crescendo Pérez, op. cit.

47. Enrique Meneses, Fidel Castro (N.Y., 1968).

48. Juan Hidalgo, “Guillermo García: El primer campesino que se unió a Fidel en la Sierra Maestra,” Hoy (July 21, 1963).

49. País, op. cit.

50. Fautino Pérez, “La huelga de Abril,” Granma (Sept. 4, 1967); partially reproduced in Pensamiento Critico (May, 1969). A condensed version of Faustino's account appears in Granma, April 13, 1969.

51. On the April general strike there is information in Bohemia (April 19, 1959); El Mundo (Dec. 2, 1964), and (April 10, 1965). See also a Manifesto signed by Castro on March 26, 1958, in Verde Olivo (Sept. 20, 1964). Some interesting documents appear in Jules Dubois, Fidel Castro, Rebel Liberator or Dictator? Ch. 8 (Indianapolis, 1959).

52. For example, the Triple A, already mentioned, under the leadership of the ex-Minister of Education Aureliano Sánchez Arango: Acción Libertadora, headed by Justo Carrillo, one of the members of the Directorio Estudiantil Universitario of the 1930s; and Organización Auténtica, under the control of ex-President Carlos Prío.

53. On this attack see Faure Chomon, “El ataque al Palacio Presidencial,” Bohemia (March 15, 22 and April 5, 1959); and Julio García Olivera, “Operación Radio-Reloj,” Verde Olivo (March 17, 1969).

54. In Cuba the words “guerrilla” and “guerrillero” referred to those Cubans fighting with the Spanish Army during the two Wars of Independence.

55. I am referring to the extremist line taken by Castro from the middle of 1966 until 1968 and especially at the time of the First Conference of Latin American Solidarity. See Primera Confetencia de la Organización Latinoamericana de Solidaridad (Montevideo, 1967). According to the editors, this is a textual reproduction of the version published in Cuba. Also see The First Conference of the Latin American Solidarity Organization (LASO), a study prepared by the Special Consultative Committee on Security at its Ninth Regular Meeting, 1967 (OEA/Ser. L/X/11.18).

56. Pensamiento Crítico (May 1969).

57. About this “historical” interview, Herbert Matthews offers plenty of information in The Cuban Story (N.Y., 1961).

58. On the DR, see, “El aporte del D.R. en la lucha contra la tiranía,” Bohemia (Jan. 11, 1959); Enrique Rodríguez Loeches, Rumbo al Escambray (n.p., n.d.); Juan Nuiry Sánchez, José Antonio a través de su testamento político. Homenaje de la Universidad de la Habana en el octavo aniversario de su muerte (Habana, 1965); and Faure Chomon, “Despues de Palacio,” Bohemia (March 15, 1968).

59. Letter from País to Castro July 7, 1957, mentioned above.

60. On Frank País, Jefe Nacional de Acción del “26,” buried with the rank of Colonel, the only one in the Rebel Army, see “Documentos de Frank País,” Revolución (July 30, 1964); Bohemia (July 30, 1965, and July 28, 1967). Also Pensamiento Crítico (June, 1969), and Moran, op. cit., who worked in the under ground close to País.

61. País to Castro, July 7, 1969.

62. Andrés Suárez, Cuba: Castroism and Communism: 1959-1966 (Boston, 1967).

63. Mario Llerena, “El Manifesto Ideologico del 26 de Julio,” Humanismo (México, July-August, 1957). Llerena was referring here to Nuestra razón, a document dated in Havana, Nov., 1956, but published in Mexico and written probably by Llerena himself. Under the title “Manifiesto-programa del Movimiento 26 de Julio,” it appeared later in Enrique González Pedrero, La revolución cubana (México, 1959). It seems that a somewhat different version of this document was circulated in Cuba through the underground newspaper Revolución: see Matthews, op. cit., p. 79. But the “26th” never had an official program. Even after Guevera arrived at the Escambray, the National Coordinator of the “26th,” Marcelo Fernández, talked to him about the need for such program. Guevara promised to send some ideas, but Batista collapsed without the program being written. Enrique ***Oltunski, “Gente del Llano,” Casa de las Americas (Jan.-Feb., 1967). The Manifestos issued by Castro from the Sierra Maestra are in Selser, op. cit. See also, Luis Rodolfo Sainz Montes de Oca, “La generación del centenario,” and “¿Por que luchamos?”, both written by a “26th” member in April and May 1957, and reproduced in Pensamiento Crítico, No. 22 (1968).

64. José Barbeito, Realidad y masificaciõn: Reflexiones sobre la Revolución Cubana, 115 (Caracas, 1964).

65. On the Second Oriental Front see Marta Rojas, “El Segundo Frente Oriental,” Bohemia (June 14, 21, 28, July 5 and 19, 1959). Raúl Castro, “Operación anti-aérea,” Verde Olivo (Sept. 15 and 22, 1963); English trans. in Jay Mallin, op. cit. Comandante Gilberto Cervantes Núnez, “La columna 18 en el Segundo Frente Oriental,” Verde Olivo (June 6, 1965); Euclides Vásquez Candelas, “Segunda Fase de la Operación Flor Crombet en el Segundo Frente Oriental,” Bohemia (Dec. 24, 1965); and “Second Oriental Front,” Granma (English Weekly) (March 22, 1970). Also E. Yassels, “La Fuerza Aérea en el Segundo Frente Oriental Frank País,” Verde Olivo (April 17, 1966), and Dickey Chapelle, “How Castro Won,” Marine Corps Gazette (Feb., 1960). On the Peasant Congress, see Granma (English weekly) (Sept. 27, 1970).

66. La Sierra y el Llano (Casa de las Américas, Habana, 1969), is a collection of narratives previously published, some of them insightful, like the one by Rodriguez Loeches and the Campaign Diary of Raúl Castro. But the book does nothing to clarify the relations between the two sectors of the revolutionary movement. Complementary data on the military activities in the Second Oriental Front can be found in the collection of narratives written by some of the participants and edited by Luis Pavón as Días de Combate (Habana, 1970).

67. On the Cienfuegos uprising, Julio Camacho, “El alzamiento de Cienfuegos,” Revolución (Sept. 5, 1962) and “La acción del 5 de Septiembre,” Verde Olivo (Sept. 6, 1964); and Faustino Pérez “Antecedentes del alzamiento de Cienfuegos,” Revolución (Sept. 4, 1962).

68. On the Las Villas invasion, see Camilo Cienfuegos, “Informe de la invasión,” Verde Olivo (Oct. 29, 1961); Oscar Fernández Mel, “De las Mercedes a los Gavilanes,” Verde Olivo (Aug. 25, 1903); and “La Sierra, la invasion, Las Villas,” Verde Olivo (Nov. 28, 1967); William Galvez, “Diario de la Columna Invasora ‘Antonio Macéo,‘ ” Verde Olive (Nov. 1, 1964); Sergio del Valle, “Dairio de la Invasión,” Verde Olivo (Apr. 12, 1964), and “La columna Invasora entra en Las Villas,” Verde Olivo (Nov. 1964); Faure Chomon, “Cuando el Che llegó al Escambray,” Bohemia (Dec. 10, 1965); and Ernesto Guevara, “A Fidel Castro (sobre la invasión),” Obra, 253.

69. Neill Macaulay, A Rebel in Cuba (Chicago, 1970).

70. The Cuban press is lavish in accounts of the heroic deeds of the guerrillas in Oriente. Reading these materials is not always rewarding. See among others, William Galvez, “La muerte de un asesino,” Verde Olivo (Dec. 31, 1967); “La Plata, primera victoria del Ejercito Rebelde,” Verde Olivo (March 26, 1967); “Larita y la guerra de guerrillas,” Bohemia (Apr. 19. 1959); Rogelio Acevedo, “Siempre en la primera linea de combate,” Verde Olivo (Oct. 31, 1965); “El ataque a Bueycito,” Verde Olivo (Aug. 26, 1962); Angel Frías, “La Federal y Cuatro Compañeros,” Verde Olivo (Sept. 1, 1963); Enrique Lussón, “El ataque al Cuartel de Boniato,” Revolución (Apr. 8, 1963); Eddy Suñol, “Una escapada a la muerte,” Verde Olivo (Nov. 1, 1964). The authors are almost all guerrilla commanders. On the underground, see Jesús Soto Acosta's Bibliografía de la prensa clandestina revolucionaria (1932-1938) (Habana, 1965).

71. Draper, op. cit., 34.

72. Theodore Draper, Castro's Revolution, Myths and Realities, 156 (N.Y., 1962).

73. Boris Goldemberg, “The Rise and Fall of a Party: The Cuban C. P. (1925-1959),” Problems of Communism (July-Aug., 1970).

74. Robert J. Alexander, Communism in Latin America (2nd ed., New Brunswick, 1960).

75. Suárez, op. cit.

76. Krushchev Remembers, Intro., commentary and notes by Edward Crankshaw, 488 (Boston, 1970).

77. Jorge García Montes and Antonio Alonso Avila, Historia del Partido Comunista de Cuba (Miami, 1970).

78. José Pardo Llada, Memorias de la Sierra Maestra, 88 (Habana, 1960).

79. Gianni Corbi, an interview with Carlos Rafael Rodríguez in “Report on Cuba,” L'Expresso (Italy), (Jan. 26, Feb. 2, 9, 16, and 23, 1964); (JPRS 24.080, April 8, 1964).

80. For example, Raúl Castro, “Operación Anti-Aérea,” op. cit.

81. Fulgencio Batista, Respuesta (México, 1960); Piedras y leyes (México, 1961; English trans., The Growth and Decline of the Cuban Republic, N.Y., 1964); Cuba Betrayed (N.Y., 1962); Paradojas (México, 1963); Paradojismo (México, 1964).

82. Pedro Barreras, “Porqué el Ejercito no derrotó a Batista,” Bohemia Libre (Aug. 6, 13, 27 and Sept. 6, 1961); Florentino Rosell, La Verdad (Miami, 1960?); Esteban Ventura Novo, Memorias (Miami, Nov. 1960). See the letters by General F. Tabernilla Dolz, and his son T. Tabernilla Palmero in José Suárez Núñez, El Gran Culpable (Caracas, 1963). See also the two articles by Harold H. Aaron, op. cit., and Carl John Regan, “The Armed Forces of Cuba: 1933-1959” (Master's thesis, University of Florida, 1970).

83. Suárez Núñez, op. cit.

84. James N. Rosenau (ed.), Linkage Politics (N.Y., 1969).

85. Rufo López Fresquet, My 14 Months with Castro, 110 (N.Y., 1966).

86. Earl E. T. Smith, The Fourth Floor (N.Y., 1962).

87. Hearings before the Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs. House of Representatives. Ninety-First Congress. Second Session, 99 (Washington, D.C., 1970).

88. Suárez Núñez, op. cit., p. 142, states that he saw in the official records of the Dominican Republic the names of Pedro Miret and Antonio Díaz, both close collaborators of Castro, as visitors to that nation during the years of the struggle against Batista.

89. Jacques Arnault, Cuba et le marxisme, 53 (Paris, 1962).

90. Boris Goldemberg, The Cuban Revolution and Latin America, 168 (N.Y., 1965).

91. Suárez, op. cit. In “¡Frente a Todas! Castro mentions his ”indictment introduced before the Tribunal de Cuentas on March 4, 1952, and published in ¡Alertai the following day, denouncing by full name the 2,120 positions that the groups had in the Government“ (Selser, p. 98). Castro is referring here to the ”action groups.“ This item does not appear in Bonachea and Valdés, Una Bibliografía de Fidel Castro, mentioned above. About such groups, crucial to understanding Castro's political style and techniques, see Raúl Roa, ”La universidad y el gangsterismo,“ ”Aún es tiempo,“ and ”Paso al fente contra el bonchismo,“ in 15 años después (Habana, 1950); Mario García del Cuete, ”Uníon Insurreccional Revolucionaria,“ Bohemia (June 15, 1947); and Ambrosio Abedul, ”Policarpo Soler: una vida el servicio del crimen y la traición,“ Bohemia (Aug. 30, 1959).

91a. Since this paper was written two important works have appeared about Castro and the action groups: Nelsón P. Valdés y Rolando E. Bonachea, “Fidel Castro y la política estudiantil de 1947 a 1952,” Aportes, No. 22, Oct., 1971; and the relevant chapters in Hugh Thomas, Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom (N.Y., 1971).

92. José Domingo Cabus, Castro ante la Historia (México, 1963); Luis Conte Agüero, Los dos rostros de Fidel Castro (México, 1960).

93. Lee Lockwood, Castro's Cuba, Cuba's Castro (N.Y., 1969).

94. Herbert L. Matthews, Fidel Castro (N.Y., 1969).

95. Lee Sauvage, “Fidel Castro y Herbert Matthews o el caso del historiador amoroso,” Cuadernos (Paris, Feb., 1962).

96. Hugh Thomas, Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom (N.Y. 1971).

97. For example, the Justo Carrillo and Mario Llerena MS.

98. The group of officers involved in the conspiracy of April 3, 1956, was considered one of the more honest in the Army, and for this reason they were nicknamed “los puros” (from purity). But Thomas confuses “puros” in this sense with “puros” (cigars) and he writes, wrongly, that they were called “contemptuously” by Grau in the last sense (p. 884). On another page (1032), Thomas refers to this group with the name of “Prustas.” I suppose he means “puristas.” But they were never called in this way, and for a very simple reason. 'Puristas“ were the members of Partido Unión Revolucionaria (PUR), a front party founded by the Communists at the end of the thirties, and no one ever suspected the ”puros“ had had anything to do with communism. On p. 821, Thomas calls the March 10th coup ”the golpe of the sunsundamba.“ I have never heard such an expression. What does ”sunsundamba“ mean? And who is the Col. Lambea mentioned on p. 839? One might continue at length with such specific queries.

99. The Director of the Escuela Normal de la Habana, Dulce María Escalona, is the sister, not the wife, of the communist leader Arnaldo Escalona (p. 798). Emilio Tró never was “the police boss of Marianao,” (p. 811), but an instructor at the Police Academy. Tró was not attacked at “the police headquarters of Marianao in 1948” (p. 840) but a year before, in 1947, and when he was visiting the house of a friend, Mayor Morín Dopico. It was not “unconsciously” that “Castro's movement took for its colours the black and red of the anarchist flag” (p. 828): it was accidental. The original colors were black and orange, but it happened that the orange pieces of cloth were difficult to find in the market. And so on….

100. It seems to me revealing of this liberal approach to history the expression used by Thomas concerning Justo Fuentes, the vice-president of FEU, assassinated in 1949. He is called “a Negro gangster and part-time student” (p. 813). There are not similar expressions for the white gangsters and part-time students, some of them, by the way, killed in the fight against Batista.