“Havana Presidential Palace Attack (1957)”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The attack on the presidential palace in Havana took place at around 3:30 PM on the 13 March 1957. The Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil had the objective of killing Fulgencio Batista. The attack failed.^[1] According to one of the attackers, Faure Chomón the Revolutionary Directorate, they were following the “golpe arriba" strategy and together with Menelao Mora Morales sought to overthrow the government by killing President Batista.^[2]

Plan

The plan, as explained by Faure Chaumón Mediavilla, had been to attack the Presidential Palace by a commando consisting of fifty men and simultaneously support this operation with more than one hundred men would occupy the radio station Radio Reloj at the Radiocentro CMQ Building complex to spread the news of the death of Batista and to encourage the town to support the command that the operation to support the taking over of the University where the general headquarters would be installed.^[1] The attack on the palace would result in the elimination of Fulgencio Batista, the purpose of taking of Radio Reloj, was to announce the death of Batista and to call for a general strike and to incite the people of Havana to join the armed struggle.^[1]

The plan to capture of the Presidential Palace by up of fifty men, under the direction of Carlos Gutiérrez Menoyo and Faure Chomón, this command was to be supported by a group of 100 armed men whose function would be to occupy the tallest buildings in the surrounding area of the Presidential Palace (La Tabacalera, the Sevilla Hotel, the Palace of Fine Arts) and, from these positions, support the main command taking over the Presidential Palace. However, this support operation was not carried out as the men who were to participate never arrived at the scene of the events because of last-minute hesitation. Although the revolutionaries reached the third floor of the Palace, they could not execute Batista.^[1]

They spoke in code order to frustrate a potential infiltration or a divulging of the attack in any conversation, it had been agreed early on that they would refer to Palacios as "la casa de los tres kilos."^[1]

Reprisal

The failed attack provoked a strong reprisal by the Batista police as they launched one of the worst waves of repression and violence Havana had experienced. Police squads, on their own initiative, went after opposition leaders who had not participate in the attack, including Carlos Márquez-Sterling. One of the casualties was an attorney and former senator Dr. Pelayo Cuervo Navarro, a figure in the opposition and leader of the "Ortodoxo" Party. Pelayo Cuervo was assassinated by the police the night of March 13.^[3] Pelayo Cuervo was buried at Colon Cemetery.

Trial

The Havana Urgency court announced there would be a trial on April 5, 1957, for those charged in the March 13 attacks. Two individuals were under arrest to be tried: Orlando

Olmedo Moreno, wounded during the attack, and Efrain Alfonso Liriano. All others connected with the attack either escaped or were killed.^[4]

Participants

Twenty men out of the one hundred of Batista's presidential guard were killed.^[5] Forty-two men participated in the attack against the Palace, 34 were from the Partido Autentico, and the rest from the Student Directory.^[6]

On March 13 several students that had taken part in the Presidential Palace attack were killed by Lt. Colonel of the Police Esteban Ventura Novo in the afternoon on the 20 April 1957, at apartment 201 of No. 7 Humboldt Street. JP Carbó was additionally sought by police for the assassination of Col. Antonio Blanco Rico, Chief of Batista's secret service. The event as been called “The Humboldt 7 Massacre. "In 1964 the revolutionary courts of the Castro government tried and convicted Marcos Rodríguez Alfonso, aka “Marquitos”, for tipping the police to the Humboldt hideout. Marcos was executed by a firing squad.^[8]

Radio Reloj

The action of Radio Reloj, located in the Radiocentro CMQ Building at Calle 23 and L in El Vedado, was directed by José Antonio Echeverría who was accompanied among others, by Fructuoso Rodríguez, Joe Westbrook, Raúl Diaz Argüelles, Julio García Olivera, including reading a prepared statement announcing the execution of Batista. The operation failed because Batista was never killed and the troops that guarding the Radio Reloj transmission tower in Arroyo Arenas knocked down the transmission. José Antonio was shot and killed by a Batista patrol car on the corner of November 27 and L, on his way back to the University.^[1]

Redress

The public act of redress by the people of Havana for the assault of March 13 on the Presidential Palace took place on April 7 of 1957. It was reported that more than 250,000 people attended. Following is a report:

HAVANA, April 7—Thousands of persons marched to the Presidential Palace this afternoon to signify their support of President Fulgencio Batista. Representatives of labor, commerce, industry, Government, political parties and supporters of the Administration filled the park in front of the palace and all adjacent streets. Placards and banners carried by the marchers proclaimed approval of General Batista’s policies, his public works program and his efforts to suppress the revolutionary activities of his enemies.One large banner said, “For Batista, in the Past, Now and Forever.”Another read “Five Hundred American Residents of the Isle of Pines Have Faith in Batista.”The keynote of the demonstration was “Peace.”Flocks of white doves were released during the demonstration to signify a demand for peace. Precautionary measures were taken by the Government to protect the demonstrators. Policemen armed with rifles surrounded the palace. On all near-by roofs policemen and soldiers armed with rifles and machine guns were on duty.^[10]}}

"Golpeando Arriba"

On January 22, 1959, Fidel Castro explained to journalists gathered in the Copa Room of the Havana Riviera hotel, among other topics, that hitting up, "golpear arriba," was one of the "false concepts about the revolution" because "tyranny is not a man; tyranny is a system (...) We were never supporters of tyrannicide or military coups, [which tended] to inculcate the people a complex of impotence "^[2] A few months earlier Castro had reprimanded Guevara for having signed a pact with Rolando Cubela, Chomon's lieutenant in the DR-13-3 guerrilla in Escambray mountains, the "Pacto del Pedrero". The letter is dated in Palma Soriano on December 26, 1958, in its crucial passage reads:

"You are committing a serious political error by sharing your authority, your prestige and your strength with the Revolutionary Directorate. There is no sense in raising a small group whose intentions and ambitions we know so well, and which in the future will be a source of problems " ^[2]}}

Gallery

References

1. ^¹{{cite web |url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/palace-attack.htm|title=The Cuban Revolution Attack on the Presidential Palace (March 13, 1957)|access-date=2018-10-22}}
2. ^¹²{{cite web |url=https://www.cubaencuentro.com/opinion/articulos/13-de-marzo-crisis-del-golpe-arriba-328849|title=13 de Marzo: crisis del golpe arriba|access-date=2018-10-22}}
3. ^{{cite web |url=http://cuba1952-1959.blogspot.com/2009/06/1957-presidential-palace-attack.html|title=Palace Attack Trial Set April 5, 2 Set Charged|access-date=2018-10-28}}
4. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cuban-rebels/HP-3-26-1957-1.pdf|title=Palace Attack Trials |access-date=2018-09-15}}
5. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cuban-rebels/TH-3-14-1957-1.pdf|title=Rebel Suicide Wiped Out|access-date=2018-11-01}}
6. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/1957/ElMundo-3-22-1957-8-asaltantes.pdf|title= Verdades del Ataque al Palacio Presidencial el 13 de Marzo de 1957|access-date=2018-10-22}}
7. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/1957/ElMundo-3-22-1957-8-asaltantes.pdf|title=No Eran Estudiantes los Que Asaltaron el Palacio|access-date=2018-10-28}}
8. ^{{cite web |url=http://cuba1952-1959.blogspot.com/2009/07/1957-humboldt-7-massacre.html|title=1957: Humboldt 7 Shootings|access-date=2018-10-28}}
9. ^¹²³⁴⁵{{cite web|url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/book/Ataque-Palacio.pdf|title=LA SIERRA y el LLANO |access-date=2018-11-01}}
10. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cuban-rebels/NYT-4-8-57.htm|title=Thousands of Cubans March in Havana to Show Support for Batista|access-date=2018-10-22}}