Bohemia magazine publishes an article written by Fidel denouncing the assault and destruction of sculptor Manuel Fidalgo's studio. Fidalgo had made statuettes of José Martí with the following inscription engraved on their base: "For Cuba who suffers".
Chronology
On Friday April 1st 1959 he travels to Santiago de Cuba, capital city of Oriente province to arrange details for the revolutionary actions he was organizing.
He visits Palma Soriano and contacts members of the revisionary forces in that city.
He visits the miners in Charco Redondo, a place located in the current province of Granma.
He meets his brother Ramón Castro in the town of Marcané. Ramón accompanies him in his journey to Holguín, where he stays at the Victoria Hotel. He gets in touch in persons organizing the future revolutionary actions.
He visits his parent’s farm in Birán. He stays there for two days. It is the last time he sees his father Don Ángel Castro.
Between July 20th and 23rd the combatants who would participate in the actions in Bayamo and Santiago de Cuba are chosen and mobilized.
He works together with Raúl Gómez García in the Moncada Manifesto, which will be known as the ”Manifesto to the Nation”.
He travels by road with most of the combatants to Santiago de Cuba. Some combatants make the trip by bus or by train. They make stops Santa Clara, Bayamo and Palma Soriano.
- He arrives in Santiago de Cuba. In a house in downtown Santiago, together with Abel Santamaría, he receives the combatants who have arrived from Havana and he tells then that they will see action soon. Only a few decide not to participate in the revolutionary plan.
- He arrives at Siboney Farm at 10:00 pm and talks to the fighters before they go to sleep. In his words he says: "Comrades, you may win tomorrow or be defeated, but in any case this movement will triumph. If you win tomorrow it will be what Marti aspired to, if not, your gesture will serve as an example to the people of Cuba (....) As in 1868 and 1895 here in Oriente we will be the first to call for Freedom or Death".
At 3:00 a.m. he wakes the troops up and organizes the groups for action. The Moncada manifesto written under the guidance of Fidel by Raúl Gómez García and the poem "Ya estamos en Combate" (We are ready for combat). They sing the National Anthem.
At 4:45 a.m. the fighters leave in 16 cars towards the city with the Moncada Barracks, the Civil Hospital "Saturnino Lora" and the Palace of Justice as targets to be taken.
At 5:15 a.m. The attacks to the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Bayamo begin simultaneously.
The action, planned as the trigger for a popular uprising against the Batista dictatorship, fails from the military point of view due to fortuitous reasons but constitutes a great political blow to the tyranny and a mobilizing factor of the people for the struggle. Many of the assailants are taken prisoner by forces of the dictatorship and later assassinated.
Faced with the failure of the operation, Fidel orders the retreat to the Siboney Farm where some 36 fighters meet.
Along with 18 of the survivors, they go to the mountains through the area of the La Gran Piedra (Great Rock), divided into subgroups, to continue the armed struggle
He arrive at a bohío (hut) in the mountains where he hears with outrage on a small battery powered radio tyrant Batista words full of lies, and hatred about the day before.
He decides to sends 6 combatants to Santiago de Cuba, so they can be protected by the Church.