On August 28, 1897, a large force of over 1,200 officers and soldiers under the command of General Calixto García, laid siege to the heavily fortified city of LasTunas in Oriente province. General García gathered veteran forces from most of the military regiments in Oriente, as far as Baracoa, Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba.
Fidel Castro: The Early Years
According to the Baptism Certificate from Santiago de Cuba’s Cathedral, dated January 19, 1935, Fidel Castro was born on August 13, 1926 in Birán, Oriente.
Machado’s Downfall. On August 12, 1933, with the Cuban army’s support, the U.S. Ambassador Benjamin Sumner Welles, presented Gerardo Machado a plan for his resignation as President of Cuba.
The Death of Cánovas del Castillo
Ernesto Lecuona (8/6/1895-11/29/1963). Pianist and composer. A child prodigy who is known to have played at age five, he had a superb technique as a pianist, giving piano recitals and popularizing Cuban and Afro-Cuban melodies in North and South America, France and Spain.
Eduardo René Chibás y Ribas Agramonte – Founder of the Partido del Pueblo (Ortodoxo). Son of a wealthy Santiago engineer, “Eddy” became a prominent student leader, and one of the originators of the Directorio Estudiantil Universitario (1930s).
The death of Frank País. On July 30, 1957, the National Coordinator of the “26 of July Movement,” Frank País was killed by agents of Colonel José María Salas Cañizares, a sociopath that terrorized the youths of Santiago de Cuba.
The Moncada Attack. For Fidel Castro, the essence and purpose of his clandestine “movement” was power, therefore the mandatory rules to achieve total control were violence, terror and death. These were the dominant forces driving Castro’s criminal obsession with supreme authority of the government.
The Surrender of Santiago de Cuba - After the destruction of the Spanish warships at the entrance of Santiago’s Harbor, the city was surrounded by U.S. and Cuban troops and the water supply sources at “Cuabitas” were cut off. The Spanish government was in shock. On July 16, 1898, Santiago de Cuba capitulated.
Carlos Prío Socarrás (1903-1977). President of Cuba, 1948-1852. Born in Bahía Honda on July 14, he became involved in politics at an early age, becoming active in the Directorio Estudiantil Universitario while studying law at the University of Havana in the 1930s.
At dawn on July 13, 1895, at the plains of Peralejo, 10 miles from the historic city of Bayamo, General Antonio Maceo deployed his forces to do battle with Spain’s Captain General of Cuba, Arsenio Martínez Campos.
Juan Gualberto Gómez (1854-1933). Journalist and public figure. Born in Matanzas, July 12, he became, at an early age, active in the campaign for Cuban independence. He went to Paris and studied engineering, but, needing an income, became a journalist.
José de La Luz y Caballero (1800-1862). Born on July 11, 1800 he was an educator and, along with Félix Varela and José Antonio Saco y López, one of Cuba’s leading intellectuals of the mid-19th century.
The Land Assault (El Caney y San Juan Hill). After “Las Guásimas,” the American and Cuban forces advanced toward Santiago’s outer defenses and prepared for an attack.
The Naval Battle of Santiago de Cuba. With the possibility of being captured in the harbor if Santiago fell to the U.S., the Captain General of Cuba, Ramon Blanco, ordered Admiral Cervera’s squadron to fight their way out.
Tomás Estrada Palma (1835-1908), the first president of an independent Cuba, 1902-1906. Born near Bayamo, July 9, he attended schools in Havana and the University of Seville, from where family matters forced his return before graduation.
United States Trade Embargo. Following Cuban confiscation of American petroleum refineries for refusing to process Soviet crude, the United Sates forbade all exports to Cuba with a temporary exception of certain foods and medicine on June 29, 1960.
Evaristo Estenoz (18-?-1912) former soldier in the Independence War, 1895-1898 who became the leader of the Agrupación Independiente de Color, and who, on May 20, 1912, led several bands of Blacks in an uprising against the white-dominated government, although - Afro Cuban apologists have claimed the revolt was provoked either by the annexationist Frank Steinhart (hoping for another intervention by the United States) or by President Juan Miguel Gómez y Gómez.
The Spanish-Cuban-American War (1898) was entering its decisive stage when at dawn on June 22, the U.S. Army began landing at the Daiquiri Beach that had been secured by Cuban forces under the command of General Demetrio Castillo Duany and Colonel Carlos Gonzalez Clavel. (A force of over one thousand Cuban veteran fighters).
General Antonio Maceo y Grajales (1845-1896). Cuban mulatto patriot and hero of the Independence War of 1895-1898. Born near Santiago de Cuba, June 14, son of Marcos Maceo, a Venezuelan mulatto émigré, and a free Cuban Black, Mariana Grajales. His childhood was passed on the small family farm, where he was privately educated, and in making occasional trips to sell its produce in Santiago.
