In Cuba, July 26 is a national holiday and is celebrated as the National Revolutionary Festival. On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro and a small band of revolutionary rebels, attacked the Moncada Military Barracks in the city of Santiago de Cuba. Fidel Castro subsequently named the revolutionary movement which led the Cuban people to overthrow the US-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959, the Movimiento 26 Julio or M-26-7. It marks the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. |