26th of July Movement
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The 26th of July Movement (Spanish: Movimiento 26 de Julio; M-26-7) was the revolutionary organization led by Fidel Castro that in 1959 overthrew the Fulgencio Batista regime in Cuba. Its name originated from the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks, an army facility in the city of Santiago de Cuba, on July 26, 1953. The movement was reorganized in Mexico in 1955 by a group of 82 exiled revolutionaries (including Fidel and his brother Raúl Castro, as well as the Argentinian Che Guevara). Their task was to form a disciplined guerrilla force to overthrow Batista. Some members of the movement remaining in Cuba carried out acts of sabotage and acted as provocation there.
On December 2, 1956, 82 men landed in Cuba, having sailed in the boat Granma from Tuxpan, Veracruz, ready to organize and lead a revolution. The early signs were not good for the movement. They landed in daylight and were attacked by the Cuban Air Force, killing most of those who landed. The landing party was split into two and wandered lost for two days, most of their supplies abandoned where they landed. Of the 82 who sailed aboard the Granma, only 12 eventually regrouped in the Sierra Maestra mountain range. There they encountered the Cuban Army. Guevara was shot in the neck and chest during the fighting, but was not severely injured. (Guevara, who had studied medicine, continued to give first aid to other wounded guerrillas). This was the opening phase of the war of the Cuban Revolution, which continued for the next two years. It ended in January 1959, after Batista fled Cuba on New Year's Eve. The movement's forces marched into Havana.
After the revolution's success, the 26th of July Movement was joined with other bodies to form the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which in turn became the Communist Party of Cuba in 1965.
The flag of the 26th of July Movement is on the shoulder of the Cuban military uniform.
