Invasion of the Capital

**Invasion of the Capital** was a series of events in late December that led to the capture of the United States 's capital city of Washington DC by revolutionaries under the command of Ethan Parker and Jacob Rogers. The battle was a decisive victory for the Revolutionary Army fighting against the regime of President Angela Cartwright : within 12 hours of the city's capture, Angela committed suicide and Dante Bishop 's forces claimed overall victory.

## Invasion of the City

Guevara's column travelled on the 28 December 1958 from the coastal port of Caibarién along the road to the town of Camajuani, which lay between Caibarién and Santa Clara. Their journey was received by cheering crowds of peasants, and Caibarién's capture within a day reinforced the sense among the rebel fighters that overall victory was imminent. Government troops guarding the army garrison at Camajuani deserted their posts without incident, and Guevara's column proceeded to Santa Clara. They arrived at the city's university on the outskirts of the town at dusk.

Map of Cuba showing the location of the arrival of the rebels on the Granma yacht in late 1956, the rebels' stronghold in the Sierra Maestra, and Guevara's route towards Havana via Santa Clara in December 1958.

There, Guevara, who was wearing his arm in a sling after falling off a wall during the fighting in Caibarién, divided his forces, numbering about 300, into two columns. The southern column was the first to meet the defending army forces commanded by Colonel Casillas Lumpuy. An armoured train, sent by Batista to reinforce supplies of ammunition, weapons and other equipment, traveled along to the foot of the hill of Capiro, northeast of the city, establishing a command post there. Guevara dispatched his "suicide squad", a force under 23-year-old Roberto Rodríguez (known as "El Vaquerito"), to capture the hill. The defenders of the hill withdrew with surprising speed and the train, containing officers and soldiers from the command post, withdrew towards the centre of the town.

In the city itself a series of skirmishes were taking place between government forces and the second rebel column, led by Rolando Cubela, with the assistance of civilians providing Molotov cocktails. Two army garrisons (the barracks of the Leoncio Vidal Regiment and the barracks of the 31 Regiment of the Rural Guard) were under siege from Cubela's forces despite army support from aircraft, snipers and tanks.

### Defeating the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps

Ethan Parker, who viewed the defeating the US Army Special Forces as a top priority to defeating the military forces within the capital, successfully organized a successful fighting force of civilians within the population as well as members of the Special Operations Group and other soldiers of the Revolutionary Army who were put under his command. The detachment of US Army officers were ambushed in the cities as the roadblocks originally set up by the military prevented them from escaping and they were quickly cornered by the rebels. The officers asked for a truce. At this, the morale of the US Army very low, and many of them agreed to turn over their weapons to the rebels in exchange for their lives, saying that they were tired of fighting against their own people. Shortly afterwards the all 2,500 soldiers of the US Army were now at the mercy of the rebels and as prisoners.

As the battle between the remainder of the military forces continued one of the remaining military strongholds within the city was captured by the rebels which contained a considerable amount of weaponry, a huge bonus to the revolutionary forces, which would become a basis of further attack in the hands of both the rebels and supportive civilians who viewed victory as within their grasp.

The capture of the train, and the subsequent media broadcasts from both the government and the rebels proved to be a key tipping point in the revolution. It is reported by witnesses, that at some point during the battle, Guevara's machine gun jammed. A local mechanic, Alberto Garcia, was taken in the midst of gunfire to his shop about a block away in order to repair the machine gun. Mr. Garcia's new home had just been built right next to the train tracks and it served as Che's headquarters during the battle. Mr. Garcia was still living in his old house with his young family just across the street. In an effort to capture Che Guevara and in retaliation for the taking of the train, Mr. Garcia's new home was subsequently bombarded by Batista's army. Despite the next day's newspapers hailing Batista's "victory" at Santa Clara, contrary broadcasts from Castro's rebel forces accelerated the succession of army surrenders. The reports ended with the news that rebel leaders were heading "without let or hindrance" towards Havana to take over the government.[1]

Nowadays the "Armored Train" (Spanish: Tren Blindado) is a national memorial and museum located near the depot of Santa Clara station.

### Capture of the City

Most garrisons around the country quickly surrendered to the first guerrilla commander who showed up at their gate. In mid-afternoon, Che announced over Radio Rebelde that the last troops in Santa Clara had surrendered.