Havana is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. It is the most populous city, the largest by area, and the second largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean region. The population in 2012 was 2,154,454 inhabitants, and its area is 728.26 km2 (281.18 sq mi) for the capital city side and 8,475.57 km2 for the metropolitan zone.
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of the Sergeants until his overthrow in the Cuban Revolution in 1959. He served as elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944, and military dictator from 1952 to his 1959 resignation.
The Cuban Revolution was the military and political overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship, which had reigned as the government of Cuba between 1952 and 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, which saw Batista topple the nascent Cuban democracy and consolidate power. Among those opposing the coup was Fidel Castro, then a novice attorney who attempted to contest the coup through Cuba's judiciary. Once these efforts proved fruitless, Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led an armed attack on the Cuban military's Moncada Barracks on 26 July 1953.
Julio Antonio Mella McPartland was a Cuban political activist, journalist, communist revolutionary, and one of the founders of the original Communist Party of Cuba. Mella studied law at the University of Havana but was expelled in 1925. He had worked against the government of Gerardo Machado, which had grown increasingly repressive. Mella left the country, reaching Central America. He traveled north to Mexico City, where he worked with other exiled dissidents and communist sympathizers against the Machado government. He was assassinated in 1929, but historians still disagree on which parties were responsible for his death. The 21st century Cuban government regards Mella as a communist hero and martyr.
Ramón Grau San Martín was a Cuban physician who served as President of Cuba from 1933 to 1934 and from 1944 to 1948. He was the last president born during Spanish rule. He is sometimes called Raymond Grau San Martin in English.
The Museum of the Revolution is located in the Old Havana section of Havana, Cuba, in what was the presidential palace of all Cuban presidents from Mario García Menocal to Fulgencio Batista. The building became the Museum of the Revolution during the years following the Cuban Revolution. The palace building was attacked by the Directorio Revolucionario 13 de Marzo in 1957.
Hotel Tryp Habana Libre is one of the larger hotels in Cuba, situated in Vedado, Havana. The hotel has 572 rooms in a 25-floor tower at Calle 23 and Calle L. Opened in 1958 as the Habana Hilton, the hotel famously served as the residence of Fidel Castro and other revolutionaries throughout 1959, after their capture of Havana.
Pedro Luis Boitel was a Cuban poet and dissident who opposed the governments of both Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro. In 1961, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Plaza de la Revolución, "Revolution Square", is a municipality and a square in Havana, Cuba.
Jorge Mañach y Robato was a Cuban writer and attorney, considered among the most distinguished of his time.
Fabio Grobart was a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary and politician who played an important role in the 1959 Cuban Revolution that overthrew Fulgencio Batista and led to Fidel Castro's rise to power.
Gonzalo Güell y Morales de los Ríos was a Cuban lawyer and a career diplomat (1919–1959).
Blas Roca Calderio was a Cuban politician and Marxist theorist who served as President of the National Assembly of People's Power from 1976 to 1981. He was also general secretary of the pre-1959 revolution Communist Party of Cuba for 28 years and editor of the communist newspaper Hoy. He was a signatory of the 1940 Constitution of Cuba, and chaired the committee that wrote the country's first socialist constitution in 1976.
Aureliano Sánchez Arango was a Cuban lawyer, politician and university professor.
Ernesto Dihigo y López Trigo was a prominent Cuban jurist, diplomat, and professor. He served as the Cuban Foreign Minister during the administration of the presidency of Carlos Prio Socarras (1950-1951). He served as the Cuban Ambassador to the United States from January 1959 until February 1961 after the regime of Fulgencio Batista was overthrown by Fidel Castro.
The Popular Socialist Youth was a youth organization in Cuba, the youth wing of the Popular Socialist Party. Raúl Valdés Vivó was the general secretary of the organization. By 1960, the organization was estimated to have around 13,000 members. Raúl Castro was a member of the organization for some time.
Italian Cubans are Cuban-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Cuba during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Cuba. Italian emigration into Cuba was minor in comparison with other waves of Italian emigration to the Americas.
José Antonio Echeverría Bianchi was a Cuban prominent figure in the Cuban Revolution against President Fulgencio Batista. Echeverría was the President of the Federation of University Students and a founding member of the militant organization Directorio Revolucionario 13 de Marzo. He is known for his role in the attack on the Presidential Palace and the Radio Reloj radio station of Cuba. Echeverría's nickname was "Manzanita," which means "Little Apple."
The 1957 Havana Presidential Palace attack was a failed assassination attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista at the Presidential Palace in Havana, Cuba. The attack began at around 3:30 pm on March 13, 1957, carried out by Menelao Mora, a group of members of the Partido Auténtico, and the student opposition group Directorio Revolucionario 13 de Marzo, but was unsuccessful in its goal of killing Batista. According to one of the group's founding members, Faure Chomón, they were following the golpe arriba strategy and sought to overthrow the government by killing Batista.
Faure Chomón Mediavilla was a Cuban historian and politician. He was one of the founding members and leaders of the Directorio Revolucionario 13 de Marzo. After the triumph of the Revolution he joined Fidel Castro's government. Early in his career, he served as the Secretary of Communication and Transportation and Ambassador to the Soviet Union. Later he served as Ambassador to Vietnam and Ecuador as well as historian of the Revolution. He was also member of the National Assembly of People's Power from 1976 to his death.
