Chronology

He dictated to Jesús Montané a message for Melba Hernández in which he replied to a report sent by Ñico López and gave instructions to the Movement about the elections in the Orthodox Youth and other matters.

He sent telegrams to Antonio González Jaen, of the New York Orthodox Committee and to Angel Pérez Vidal, of the Cuban Civic Movement, announcing his arrival by train in that North American city on Saturday, 22 October.

He gave the closing speech at an event in the Chapultepec Forest organized by Puerto Rican, Venezuelan, Dominican, Nicaraguan, Guatemalan, Cuban and other Latin American exiles, as well as by young Mexicans, to commemorate the 87th anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban independence struggle in 1868.

That Monday afternoon, he went to the Mexico City airport with Raúl, Juan Manuel Márquez, Jesús Montané and other militants to meet members of the National Directorate of the 26th of July Movement, Pedro Miret Prieto and Melba Hernández Rodríguez del Rey, who had arrived on a flight from Havana.

He booked the tickets to the United States. He had the financial support of the Mexican engineer Alfonso Gutiérrez ("Fofó"), Orquídea Pino’s husband. He immediately sent a message to the Cuban emigration coordinators in New York confirming his imminent arrival in that city.

That evening, he went to the apartment at Nápoles No. 40 in Mexico City, accompanied by Jesús Montané and Melba Hernández. There Ernesto Guevara and his wife Hilda Gadea offered him a farewell dinner before he left for the United States. The Venezuelan Lucila Velásquez was also invited.

He left Mexico City for the United States with Juan Manuel Márquez to begin a tour through several North American cities to unite the 26th of July Movement and the Cuban emigrants.

That Sunday afternoon, together with Juan Manuel Márquez, they arrive in New York City on the Silver Meteor train, the first stop on their tour of various North American cities. About 200 Cubans, convened by the New York Orthodox Committee, the Cuban Civic Movement and the Committee of Cuban Emigrants and Exiles, welcomed him at the Pennsylvania train station, located at 34th Broadway Street and 7th Avenue.

Time later, in a letter, Juan Manuel Márquez commented: “In New York, the welcome given to Fidel was moving because of the crowds and the sincerity”.

He spoke to Cuban emigrants at the Casa Dominicana on Broadway, between 137th and 138th Streets. He made a brief plea for New York emigrants to support the line proclaimed by the 26th of July Movement as the only way to fight tyranny.

Cuban journalist Vicente Cubillas takes Fidel and Juan Manuel Márquez to the New York studio of photographer Osvaldo Salas. They wanted to take photos of the revolutionary leader in Central Park and other places José Martí visited at the end of the 19th century, during the preparations for the struggle of independence.

Cuban journalist Vicente Cubillas takes Fidel and Juan Manuel Márquez to the New York studio of photographer Osvaldo Salas. They wanted to take photos of the revolutionary leader in Central Park and other places José Martí visited at the end of the 19th century, during the preparations for the struggle of independence.

That evening he went with Juan Manuel Márquez to a meeting with a large number of sympathizers in Union City, New Jersey. The meeting was dispersed by the police as its organizers had forgotten to apply for a permit.

In the early hours of the morning, he signed the document of constitution of the 26th of July Patriotic Club of New York, whose presidency would be integrated by three delegates representing its member organizations: the Orthodox Committee of New York, the Cuban Civic Movement and the Workers' Committee of Cuban Emigrants and Exiles.

He travels from New York to Miami by car along with his comrades.