Landing of the Granma

Landing of the Granma
Granma is a yacht that was used to transport 82 fighters of the Cuban Revolution from Mexico to Cuba in November 1956 to overthrow the regime of Fulgencio Batista. The 60-foot (18 m) diesel-powered vessel was built in 1943 by Wheeler Shipbuilding of Brooklyn, New York, as a light armored target practice boat, US Navy C-1994, and modified postwar to accommodate 12 people. "Granma", in English, is an affectionate term for a grandmother; the yacht is said to have been named for the previous owner's grandmother.
Background
Exile of Moncada attackers
In 1953, beginning their first attack against the Batista government, Fidel Castro gathered 160 fighters and planned a multi-pronged attack on two military installations. On 26 July 1953, the rebels attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago and the barracks in Bayamo, only to be defeated decisively by the far more numerous government soldiers. It was hoped that the staged attack would initiate a nationwide revolt against Batista's government. After an hour of fighting most of the rebels and their commander fled to the mountains. The exact number of rebels killed in the battle is debatable; however, in his autobiography, Fidel Castro wrote that six were killed during the fighting, and an additional 55 were executed after being captured by the Batista government. Due to the government's large number of men, Hunt revised the number to about 60 members taking the opportunity to flee to the mountains along with Castro. Among the dead was Abel Santamaría, Castro's second-in-command, who was imprisoned, tortured, and executed on the same day as the attack.
Numerous important revolutionaries, including the Castro brothers, were captured soon afterwards. During a political trial, Fidel spoke for nearly four hours in his defense, ending with the words "Condemn me, it does not matter. History will absolve me." Castro's defense was based on nationalism, representation and beneficial programs for the non-elite Cubans, justice for the Cuban community, and his patriotism. Fidel was sentenced to 15 years in the prison Presidio Modelo, located on Isla de Pinos, while Raúl was sentenced to 13 years. However, in 1955, yielding to political considerations, the Batista government freed all political prisoners in Cuba, including the Moncada attackers. Fidel's Jesuit childhood teachers succeeded in persuading Batista to include Fidel and Raúl in the release. Fidel Castro left Cuba for exile in Mexico.
Conception
In Mexico, Fidel Castro soon met with Spanish Civil War veteran Alberto Bayo. Castro informed Bayo he had a plan to invade Cuba but had no money for weapons or a single volunteered soldier. Despite the lack of resources Bayo decided to assist Castro's plan because giving military advice would not cost him anything. With time Fidel would be joined by his brother Raul Castro, and his old comrade Antonio "Ñico" López. Lopez would bring Raul Castro to a nearby hospital where an exiled Che Guevara was working as a doctor. Guevara, who had met Lopez previously in Guatemala was invited to meet with Fidel Castro by Lopez. The Castro brothers, Lopez, and Guevara were to be the first volunteers for the expedition. On the evening of July 8, 1954 Guevara and Fidel Castro met in the home of Maria Antonia Gonzalez. The apartment later became a headquarters for the rebels. Castro realised he had little money for his plans and in October travelled to New Jersey and Miami to raise money from Cuban exiles for his invasion.
Preparations
The yacht was purchased on October 10, 1956, for MX$50,000 (US$15,000) from the United States-based Schuylkill Products Company, Inc., by a Mexican citizen—said to be Mexico City gun dealer Antonio "The Friend" del Conde—secretly representing Fidel Castro.
The builder, Wheeler Shipbuiding, then of Brooklyn, New York, now of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, also built Ernest Hemmingway's boat Pilar. It is still unknown who removed the light armor and expanded the cabin postwar to convert the navy training boat into a civilian yacht.
Castro's 26th of July Movement had attempted to purchase a Catalina flying boat maritime aircraft, or a US naval crash rescue boat for the purpose of crossing the Gulf of Mexico to Cuba, but their efforts had been thwarted by lack of funds. The money to purchase Granma had been raised in the US state of Florida by former President of Cuba Carlos Prío Socarrás and Teresa Casuso Morín.
Soon after midnight on November 25, 1956, in the Mexican port of Tuxpan, Veracruz, Granma was boarded surreptitiously by 82 members of the 26th of July Movement including their commander, Fidel Castro, his brother, Raúl Castro, Che Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos. The group—who later came to be known collectively as los expedicionarios del yate Granma (the Granma yacht expeditioners)—then set out from Tuxpan at 2 a.m. After a series of vicissitudes and misadventures, including diminishing supplies, sea-sickness, and the near-foundering of their heavily laden and leaking craft, they disembarked on December 2 on the Playa Las Coloradas, in the municipality of Niquero, in modern Granma Province (named for the vessel), formerly part of the larger Oriente Province. Granma was piloted by Norberto Collado Abreu, a World War II Cuban Navy veteran and ally of Castro. The location was chosen to emulate the voyage of national hero José Martí, who had landed in the same region 61 years earlier during the wars of independence from Spanish colonial rule.
Operation
Santiago de Cuba uprising
A rebellion organized by the 26th of July movement and planned by Haydée Santamaría, Celia Sánchez, and Frank País occurred in Santiago de Cuba. It was planned in occurrence with the landing of the Granma. The rebellion happened on November 30 but was destroyed quickly by police. The Granma itself wouldn't arrive in Cuba until days later on December 2. It was made two days late due to bad weather during the voyage to Cuba.
Granma landing
We reached solid ground, lost, stumbling along like so many shadows or ghosts marching in response to some obscure psychic impulse. We had been through seven days of constant hunger and sickness during the sea crossing, topped by three still more terrible days on land. Exactly 10 days after our departure from Mexico, during the early morning hours of December 5, following a night-long march interrupted by fainting and frequent rest periods, we reached a spot paradoxically known as Alegría de Pío (Rejoicing of the Pious). –Che Guevara
Batista predicted correctly that the landing would occur, and his troops were ready. Consequentially, the landing party was bombarded by helicopters and airplanes soon after landing. Since the terrain on the coastline provided little cover, the party was an easy target. Many casualties ensued, most of them during battle at further inland. The survivors continued to the foot of Pico Turquino in the Sierra Maestra to perform guerilla war.
Initially, Batista did not know who exactly were among the casualties, and international media widely reported that Fidel had died. This was, however, not the case. Of the 82, about 21 had survived. According to the most credible version, the survivors were Fidel, Raúl, Guevara, Armando Rodríguez Ramiro Valdés, Universo Sánchez, Efigenio Ameijeiras, René Rodríguez, Camilo Cienfuegos, Juan Almeida Bosque, Calixto García, Calixto Morales, Reinaldo Benítez, Julio Díaz, Luis Crespo Cabrera, Rafael Chao José Morán, Carlos Bermúdez, and Fransisco González. All others had been either killed, captured, or left behind.
Granma yacht expeditioners
The 82 expeditioners were:
Fidel Castro
José Smith Comas
Juan Almeida Bosque
Raúl Castro
Pablo Díaz
Félix Elmuza
Armando Huau
Che Guevara
Antonio López
Teniente Jesús Reyes
Cándido González
Onelio Pino
Roberto Roque
Mario Hidalgo
César Gómez
Rolando Moya
Horacio Rodríguez
José Ponce Díaz
José Ramón Martínez
Fernando Sánchez-Amaya
Arturo Chaumont
Norberto Collado
Julio Díaz
René Bedia
Evaristo Montes de Oca
Esteban Sotolongo
Andrés Luján
José Fuentes
Pablo Hurtado
Emilio Albentosa
Luis Crespo
Rafael Chao
Ernesto Fernández
Armando Mestre
Miguel Cabañas
Eduardo Reyes
Humberto Lamothe
Santiago Hirzel
Enrique Cuélez
Manuel Echevarría
Fransisco González
Mario Fuentes
Noelio Capote
Raúl Suárez
Gabriel Gil
Luis Arcos
Alfonso Guillén Zelaya
Miguel Saavedra
Pedro Sotto
Arsenio García
Israel Cabrera
Carlos Bermúdez
Antonio Darío López
Oscar Rodríguez
Camilo Cienfuegos
Gilberto García
René Reiné
Norberto Godoy
Enrique Cámara
Raúl Díaz
Armando Rodríguez
Calixto García
Calixto Morales
Reinaldo Benítez
René Rodríguez
Jesús Gómez
Francisco Chicola
Universo Sánchez
Efigenio Ameijeiras
Ramiro Valdés
Tomás Royo
Arnaldo Pérez
Rolando Santana
Ramón Mejias
José Morán
Legacy
Soon after the revolutionary forces triumphed on January 1, 1959, the cabin cruiser was transferred to Havana Bay. Norberto Collado Abreu, who had served as main helmsman for the 1956 voyage, received the job of guarding and preserving the yacht.
Since 1976, the yacht has been displayed permanently in a glass enclosure at the Memorial Granma adjacent to the Museum of the Revolution in Havana. A portion of old Oriente Province, where the expedition made landfall, was renamed Granma Province in honor of the vessel. UNESCO has declared the Landing of the Granma National Park—established at the location (Playa Las Coloradas)—a World Heritage Site for its natural habitat.
The Cuban government celebrates December 2 as the Day of the Cuban Armed Forces, and a replica has also been paraded at state functions to commemorate the original voyage. In further tribute, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party has been named Granma. The name of the vessel became a symbol for Cuban communism.
References
Works cited
External links
Wheeler Yachts Home Page
Che Guevara's account of the Granma's voyage
Fidel Castro recalls the Granma crossing
Landing of the Granma on historyofcuba.com
The Voyage of the Granma
Che Describes his Departure to Cuba from Mexico Aboard the Granma
Motor yachts
Cuban Revolution
Museum ships in Cuba
Che Guevara