A Cuban ruler who shifted between electoral legitimacy and military power
On January 1, 1959, as rebel forces advanced, Batista resigned and fled Cuba.
Fulgencio Batista was a soldier and politician from a poor rural background who shaped Cuban politics after the Sergeants’ Revolt of 1933. Elected president under the new constitution in 1940, he pursued social reforms and supported the Allies, but returned to power through a coup when electoral defeat appeared likely in 1952. His second rule suspended constitutional liberties and became an authoritarian order tied to U.S. capital and organized crime in Havana, while inequality and repression helped broaden armed resistance. Overthrown by the Cuban Revolution in 1959, his exile was one of the starting points for the subsequent escalation of U.S.–Cuban hostility.
Career timeline
1921Private, Cuban Army
1923–1933Sergeant stenographer, Rural Guard
1933–1940Chief of Staff of the Cuban Army, de facto ruler
Cuban revolutionary commander credited with defeating the 1961 Bay of Pigs landing (Brigade 2506)
During the Bay of Pigs invasion of 17 April 1961, Fidel Castro ordered him to command the militia and regular-army battalions fighting Brigade 2506; late on 19 April 1961 he was among the forces that broke through to Playa Girón and forced the invaders' surrender.
Cuban Communist and military leader, and later vice-president of the Council of Ministers. Born in Santiago de Cuba, he joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) after the 1959 revolution and held many state posts, including minister, vice-president and deputy. He was among the longest-lived historic leaders of the Cuban Revolution.
Career timeline
1978–2012Vice-president of the Council of Ministers
Leader of the hemisphere's first socialist revolution: forty-seven years against imperialism
“History will absolve me.” — courtroom speech after Moncada, 1953
Leader of Latin America's first successful socialist revolution. He opened the struggle against the Batista dictatorship with the 1953 Moncada attack, seized power through guerrilla war in 1959, and defended socialist Cuba for forty-seven years against US blockade and pressure.
Career timeline
1953The Moncada attack — 'History will absolve me'
1954Clandestinely published his courtroom defense as History Will Absolve Me
1956–1959Lands from the Granma; guerrilla war in the Sierra Maestra
1959Overthrows Batista; the revolutionary government
1961–1962Repels the Bay of Pigs invasion; the Missile Crisis
The internationalist icon who traded a stethoscope for a rifle
“Create two, three, many Vietnams.” — Message to the Tricontinental, 1967
Argentine Marxist revolutionary. As a guerrilla comandante of the Cuban Revolution, he played a key role in overthrowing the Batista regime in 1959. He then devoted himself to the international revolutionary struggle, leading guerrilla campaigns in the Congo and Bolivia, where he was captured and executed in 1967.
Career timeline
1948–1953Medical student; the journeys across Latin America
1955Meets Castro in Mexico; joins the 26th of July Movement
1956–1959Guerrilla comandante; takes Santa Clara
1959–1965President of the National Bank; Minister of Industry
1960Published Guerrilla Warfare
1965–1967Guerrilla campaigns in the Congo and Bolivia
Cuba
Communism
1930–1989
✕ Executed by firing squad
Cuban general of the African expeditionary campaigns
As commander of the Cuban expeditionary force in Ethiopia from 1977, he directed the Jijiga counter-offensive that, with Soviet military advisers, broke the Somali army. Sources date the recapture of Jijiga to 4 or 5 March 1978.
Arnaldo Ochoa Sánchez (1930–1989) was a divisional general of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and a Hero of the Republic of Cuba. Born in Cacocum, he joined Column 2 under Camilo Cienfuegos in 1958 and fought in the Sierra Maestra, helped defeat the Bay of Pigs invasion, and sat on the Communist Party of Cuba's Central Committee for more than twenty years. He fought against the FNLA in Luanda in 1975 and in 1977 took command of the Cuban expeditionary force in Ethiopia during the Ogaden War. Awarded the Hero title in 1984, he was convicted of drug trafficking and treason in 1989 and executed by firing squad on 13 July. Sources give his second given name as Tomás or Teodomiro and his age at death as 58–59 or 57.
Career timeline
1958Joined Column 2 under Camilo Cienfuegos and fought in the Sierra Maestra.
1961Fought against Brigade 2506 at the Bay of Pigs.
1975Fought against the FNLA in Luanda, Angola.
1977–1978Commanded the Cuban expeditionary force in Ethiopia during the Ogaden War.
1984Awarded the title Hero of the Republic of Cuba by Fidel Castro.
1987–1988Headed the Cuban military mission in Angola and took part in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.
1989Tried on drug-trafficking and treason charges and executed by firing squad on 13 July.
