Foco based on Cuban Revolution
Background
Cuban Revolution
Foco theory was originally based on Che Guevara's experiences in the Cuban Revolution. In which he was party of a guerilla army of 82 members who landed in Cuba on board of the Granma in December 1956 and initiated a guerrilla war in the Sierra Maestra. During two years, the poorly armed escopeteros, at times fewer than 200 men, won victories against Fulgencio Batista's army and police force, which numbered between 30,000 and 40,000 in strength. The 26th of July Movement itself had a rural guerilla army as well as an urban underground that participated in the revolution. Che Guevara often accused the urban section of the movement as being without proper radicalism, which stirred internal controversy. The urban wing was responsible for arming the rural guerillas and engaged in its own urban warfare campaign. During the final months of the revolution an alliance of the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil, Popular Socialist Party, Authentic Party and 26th of July Movement was able to overthrow the Batista government. In their new provisional government the M-26-7 rebel army garnered the most popularity and influence.Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution
Che Guevara played an integral role as one of the first historians of the Cuban Revolution. After the revolutionaries victory, Guevara published various articles in Cuba of his experiences in the revolution. These articles helped formalize his foco theory and a history of the Cuban Revolution that stressed the role of the rural guerillas as the main revolutionary force. This idea of the lone rural guerrillas deciding the revolution became immediately popular among the rebel army while consolidating their new government, and became a driving force in Cuban politics as a nation-building myth. Many early propnents saw the potential of repeating the model of the Cuban Revolution throughout Latin America, and often encouraged it.