Today marks 66 years of the events of Canasta Mountain Range, where Guantanamo revolutionaries raised arms against the Batista dictatorship.
Coincidentally on July 26, 1953, when youth led by Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, in the cities Santiago de Cuba and Bayamo, respectively, in Guantanamo, in the territory of Canasta Mountain Range, a group of revolutionaries from the region, led by Miguel Bertrán, rose up in arms against the Batista dictatorship.
Since the coup d'etat starring Fulgencio Batista, on March 10, 1952, in Guantanamo, as in the whole country, there were signs of popular disagreement due to the unconstitutionality of the regime in power. Among those convinced that the needs of the people would not be resolved in peacefull way, the 24-year-old farmer Miguel Bertrán Bertrán along with twenty young people decided to organize, practice shooting and intelligence work.
The inexperienced movement was aimed at assaulting the headquarters of the 16th Silverio del Prado Squadron of the Guantanamo Rural Guard, occupying weapons and ammunition, then entering the Sagua-Baracoa Mountain Range, and from there starting the guerrilla struggle against Batista, to which would make up the new forces.