- Fidel is surprised and taken prisoner in the mountains by a military patrol. After the failed Moncada attack, he had gone up into the Sierra Maestra with a small group of combatants in order to continue the armed struggle.
Chronology
- In sheets of a lined notebook he writes a letter to his brother Ramón where he says "(...) I do not regret at all my ideas; It is my firmest conviction that I sacrifice myself for my country and do my duty. That is undoubtedly an encouragement. More than my personal sorrows, I am saddened by the memory of my good comrades who fell in the struggle".
- He sends a letter to his brother Ramón expressing his concern about their parent’s reception of the news and their understanding of the events: "Are they calm? Do they understand that I am imprisoned for doing my duty? I do not know what my fate will be when the trial is over, but I think we will see each other later ..."
The first hearing of the trial against the Moncada attackers is held with the presence of over one hundred soldiers with machine guns and bayonets. Fidel assumes his self-representation and is interrogated for two hours. Lina Ruz attends the hearing and gets to hug her sons.
The second hearing of the trial is held against the Moncada attackers and the murders committed by the dictatorship are denounced.
- His mother Lina Ruz turns 50. He writes a letter to his parents in which he says: "I want above all that you do not get the idea that prison is an ugly place for us, it will be never be the case when you are in it for defending a just cause and construe the legitimate feeling of the nation. "
He writes a letter to his sister Agustina full of sensitivity and tenderness. In it he says: "Agustina, do not feel sad because your brothers are in jail. Think of the History of our country, a history you have studied and you will understand the meaning of our sacrifice. "
Two doctors appear in Fidel's cell on the orders of Colonel Chaviano to certify that he was supposedly ill and could not attend the court room the day after the third hearing of the trial against the assailants to the Moncada barracks. The dictatorship believed Fidel was causing them tremendous damage with his denunciations in the trial.
That same night he writes a letter of complaint to the Emergency Court.
Melba Hernández produces Fidel's letter before the Emergency Court denouncing the attempt to prevent him from appearing at the trial and demands the cessation of the total solitary confinement to which Fidel has been subjected to for 57 days.In retaliation Melba Hernández Attorney At Law is held incommunicado upon returning to prison that day and Fidel is confined to the most remote section of the prison.
Forensic doctors certify that Fidel is in a good state of health, however he is not allowed to attend the hearings of the trial in the Emergency Court.
- The book "History will absolve me" is published.
Send from Isle de Pines a letter, in his name and his other fellow prisoners, addressed to all members of the July 26 Movement where he criticizes the inertia in the revolutionary action, regrets that his self-defense has not reached the people and expresses his concern for the comrades in exile.
- He writes a letter in which he talks about his life in solitary and analyzes the politicking of the parties of the time. He also outlines his ideas of how revolutionary or partisan actions should be conducted: "If one day I could do something, the first thing I would do is to turn the party meetings into a real means of propaganda, indoctrination, discipline, agitation and grass-root awareness rising; casting away for good clowning and the boast of unnecessary eloquence which is what one finds everywhere these days. "