By Javier Herrera
HAVANA TIMES – On Tuesday, January 8, 1959, Fidel Castro entered Havana leading the “Caravan of Liberty,” which practically marked the beginning of the end of freedom in Cuba. A large group of poorly dressed men in olive-green military uniforms, armed and bearded, aboard jeeps and trucks, were hailed as heroes by an impassioned crowd.
Fidel Castro’s entrance into Havana marked the end of more than two years of a bloody civil war, where rebels attacked the regime through terrorist acts, selective assassinations, and military actions. The coup regime led by Fulgencio Batista responded with fierce repression, disregarding any human rights or the right to life.
The people, tired of the sad situation on the island, placed all their hopes in the victorious “26th of July Movement,” the official name of the insurgent group led by Fidel. The entry into Havana was impressive, with a sea of people flooding the streets to welcome the epic bearded figures laden with promises of peace and prosperity for the young republic that had seen its democratic path interrupted.
Fidel Castro, a populist and charismatic leader, told the people what they wanted to hear. With more promises than bullets in his backpack, Fidel addressed the people, sweetening their ears with promises of social redemption, peace, free universal education, free healthcare, democracy, and elections within 6 months… and I could spend hours recounting the promises that, for the most part, were not fulfilled or dissolved in future actions of the new regime imposed by Fidel himself.
On that January 8th, the people handed over the des
