The second programme in this series looks at the events which led to dictator Batista's downfall and Fidel Castro's rise to power. It also quotes the views of the seven US Presidents who have served since the revolution and those of some of Castro's supporters and friends. Castro's first military operation in 1953 an attack on the military barracks in Santiago was a fiasco. Of the 132 rebels, 70 died and Castro himself was eventually captured and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. The programme shows how Castro used the time he spent in prison to prepare himself and his followers for the struggle which was to follow. In 1955, a general amnesty was declared in which Castro and his friends were released, from which time they waged a guerrilla war against the Batista regime.

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This film was first broadcast: 02 Aug 1984

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