Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, Oct 16. - Cuba today remembers the self-defense plea of ??the young lawyer Fidel Castro in the trial for the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, 71 years ago, known as History Will Absolve Me.
On July 26, 1953, the revolutionary leader led the attempted surprise takeover of those two military fortresses in eastern Cuba, which marked the beginning of the armed struggle against the tyranny of Fulgencio Batista (1952-1959).
By assuming his defense in the criminal process for these events, Fidel Castro turned from accused into accuser of the dictatorship, and denounced the crimes against the people of the island, and the cold-blooded murder of some 50 captured young participants in the action. .
The killing did not stop for a minute, an hour or a whole day, but in a whole week; the beatings, torture, throwing from the roof and shooting did not stop for a moment, like an instrument of extermination handled by perfect artisans of crime, he said.
The Moncada barracks became a workshop of torture and death, and some unworthy men turned the military uniform into butchers' aprons, he added.
The speech, later printed for clandestine dissemination under the title History Will Absolve Me, was the presentation of the political agenda of the new stage of struggle against the Batista dictatorship.
The text pointed out the evils of Cuba at that time, summarized in six fundamental problems: land, industrialization, housing, unemployment, education and health, and they were part of the transformation program of the triumphant revolution. January 1, 1959.
When referring to the document, from the prison on Isla de Pinos, where he was confined, Fidel Castro wrote: "Its importance is decisive; it contains our program and ideology, without which it is not possible to think of anything great."
Furthermore, the complete denunciation of the crimes that have not yet been sufficiently disclosed is the first duty we have towards those who died, he noted. (Text and photo: PL)
