Cuba commemorates Revolutionary Armed Forces Day (FAR) this Tuesday. Coinciding with the 69th anniversary of the Granma yacht landing. An event that marked the beginning of the armed struggle against the government of Fulgencio Batista.
On December 2nd, 1956, 82 expeditionaries led by Fidel Castro arrived on the southeastern coast of the island. After setting sail on November 25th from Tuxpan, Mexico.
Hours later, they were ambushed by Batista’s army. Most were killed or captured, and the survivors dispersed throughout the Sierra Maestra mountains. Located in the eastern provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Granma.
In the mountain village of Cinco Palmas, a small group gathered with just seven rifles. It was there that Fidel Castro uttered his famous phrase: “Now we will win the war.”
That handful of men laid the foundations for the Rebel Army, which in just over two years would defeat the dictatorship led by Batista (1952-1958) and triumph on January 1st, 1959.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) were officially founded on December 2nd, 1961. In homage to that feat, with the mission of mobilizing the people in defense of national sovereignty from the first moments of any aggression.
With information from Prensa Latina
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