November 30 uprising, a demonstration of courage and fortitude

The uprising in Santiago de Cuba on November 30, 1956 was intended to support of the landing of the yacht Granma, after a telegram with the agreed password—"Work ordered sold out. Editorial Divulgación"—sent to the city, as well as to Havana and other provinces, announced that the expeditionary force led by Fidel had departed from Tuxpan.

Frank País had explained to the group leaders that the goal was to surround and harass the Moncada Barracks with a mortar and to attack the Maritime Police and a gunsmith’s shop to get weapons. The idea was also that the arriving combatants would join the fray across the region.

From the early hours of the morning of November 30, a group of young revolutionaries showed their courage and fortitude by taking to the streets in Santiago, clad for the first time in the olive green uniform and wearing the red and black armband, symbol of the 26th of July Movement as shouts of ‘Long live free Cuba!’ were heard despite the sound of gunshots.

Their purpose was to call the attention of the army of Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship to distract them from the landing of the Granma, which had set sail on November 25 with 82 men on board who were bent on starting the liberation war in Cuba.

The revolutionaries tried to seize the Maritime Police headquarters, the National Police building and the Moncada garrison, but they were outnumbered and outgunned and their plans were thwarted. They only managed to take the Harbormaster’s Office, where they found weapons to supply the 26th of July Movement.

There were other battles throughout the eastern province and actions and acts of sabotage throughout the country.

The struggle in Santiago continued until Sunday the 1st, when the order came to withdraw as war planes flew overhead and the army tried to kill the rebels as many local residents sheltered them, treated the wounded, and kept them informed about the movements of the enemy.

The military were far from imagining that the uprising in Santiago, supposedly defeated, would start the countdown for the tyranny.

The armed forces mistakenly believed that their harsh crackdown on the revolutionary movement in Santiago de Cuba and the assassination and detention of many members of the expeditionary force would entail the end of the rebellion. However, the uprising was the first action leading up to the definitive stage of armed struggle.