On the wee hours of March 10th, 1952, the Cuban people were surprised by
the sinister plot to take over the country: an uprising led by Fulgencio
Batista Zaldivar, who had been the “strong man” from 1934 to 1944.

Once the coup against corrupt, but officially elected president Carlos
Prío Socarrás, succeeded, Batista took over, repealed the Constitution of
the Republic, imposed the so-called Constitutional Statutes, dissolved the
House of Representatives and the Senate and started a brutal dictatorship.

The new regime oponed even wider the gates of the country to American
interests, and with US support increased the corruption levels and
murdered thousands of Cubans, installing effectively one of the bloodiest
dictatorships in the history of Latin America.

Cuba lived after that March 10th one of the hardest periods during its
neo-colonial stage.

Batista created, perfected and organized his repressive apparatus to crash
any opposition it might arise against his corrupt and criminal policies.
The Army, police corps and the navy joined forces with the Cuban
Investigation Bureau, the Army Intelligence and the Bureau to Suppress
Communist Activities, as well as paramilitary groups.

The taking-over completed the discrediting of old traditional political
parties of the time: conservatives, liberals, democrats and republicans;
others divided themselves into several factions and the Orthodox Party,
who enjoyed a majority among the preference of Cubans, was an easy prey
for opportunism, passivity and division.

The coup and the Batista dictatorship fuelled the need for a profound
social revolution to fight the illegalities and lack of basic principles
in Cuban politics.

In the fight against the dictatorship stands out the Centennial
Generation, led by Fidel Castro, raising the ideals of the Cuban National
Hero Jose Marti and of the patriots that rose in arms against Spain in 1868.

After 5 years, 5 months and 5 days after the July 26, 1953, when the
armed struggle started in Santiago de Cuba, the Revolution triumphed and a
a new process of deep social transformations Cuba needed began