Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, Oct 16. -Never has a lawyer had to practice his profession under such difficult conditions; never has such a series of overwhelming irregularities been committed against a defendant, Fidel Castro stated before magistrates on this day in 1953.
In his own defense at the trial for his participation in the attack on the Moncada barracks in the then eastern capital, and the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks in Bayamo, the revolutionary leader denounced the coup d'état perpetrated by Fulgencio Batista the previous year.
Despite his plea, the young lawyer was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Despite being behind bars, Fidel summarized his nearly four-hour argument before the court in the manifesto "History Will Absolve Me."
The document, made known clandestinely, confronted the distortions of the tyranny by exposing the true motivations for the attack on the military institutions and denouncing the crimes and tortures committed against the assailants, in addition to addressing the political, economic, and social ills afflicting the country.
In the text, Fidel listed the main measures that the triumphant revolution would adopt to address Cuba's six fundamental problems at that time: land, industrialization, housing, unemployment, education, and the people's health.
The manifesto, taken from prison and distributed clandestinely, became known as the Moncada Program.
The judicial farce to which Fidel was subjected demonstrated the moral courage of the revolutionary fighter considered one of the greatest statesmen of the XX century. (Text and photo: PL)
