Description:

Castro Fidel 1927 - 2016 Fidel Castro, holed up in the Cuban mountains, writes a battle content letter about the last major push of the Revolutionaries: "A lot of bullets are going to be needed."Among the finest letters extant of the recently deceased leader.



Six page letter, 4" x 5.5", on thin note paper consisting of three sheets written on recto and verso. Penned entirely in Castro's hand, with each page numbered at the top. Dated "Sierra Maestro/Sep 29, '58", and signed "!Buena suerte! /Fidel Castro". One 2mm intact tear to the top edge of one sheet outside of margins, expected center folds, paper lightly toned. Near fine condition.


A profound and revealing letter, penned by Fidel Castro just months before his "Movement" of armed Cuban rebels ousted the authoritarian government of then President Batista. Writing while stationed deep within the Sierra Maestra, Castro emphatically reports the outcome of the latest raid to his head of the Revolutionary Air Force, Pedro Luis, (aka Pedro Luis DÌ_az Lanz), one of his key personal responsible for smuggling weapons and ammunition from Costa Rica and Florida into Cuba. To put the importance of Pedro in perspective, in 1959 Time magazine reported Pedro Luis as "One of the authentic heroes of the Castro rebellion (who) was a beardless, unostentatious young flyer named Pedro Luis Diaz Lanz. He flew weapons from the U.S. to Fidel Castro, took Manuel Urrutia, the man who later became Cuba's President, into the Sierra Maestra, and served after the rebellion as Castro's personal pilot."

This stunning letter is written during the short period just after Castro's imprisonment when he was pardoned by Batista's government in 1955 ( the bizarre outcome of being considered no longer a political threat to Batista--needless to say a poor choice on Batista's part), and up to the period leading to Castro's overthrow of the Bastisa regime. This is during the period when Castro fled to the Sierra Maestramountain range and built an army with his brother Ra̼l Castro and Juan 'Almeida" Bosque to wage guerrilla warfare. The letter, written in Spanish is translated as follows with a prenote, quite possibly written in code, quoting a message from Zoilo. The letter also makes a direct reference to requiring Pedro to fly in more weapons and "bullets":

"Pedro Luis:

Zoilo sent the following message:

"We try operation tuesday to thursday. Arrival seven thirty to nine night. Airplane same destroy. Mark direction landing field entrance. The rest condition to exaggeration same agree for operation cancel. Confirm urgest this code.

Zoilo

This arrived a little delayed where I am. They responded in the plant to come. I send you the paper right now at night, so you have time to prepare everything.

Hopefully this time we have a little bit of luck. There is much need for your trips. There is a lot of fighting and the month of october will be of extraordinary activity.

The combat at Cerro was heavy (Cerro is a borough of Havana). The two 87 mortars work with extraordinary precision. The encampment; tents, the command post, were direct targets of our mortar shots They defended themselves with cannons, machine guns 50, mortars and other weapons. The object of the attack was to impede the removal of troops from here to Camaguey and other parts. Although we could not make them surrender, the strategic purpose was accomplished and they were defeated - no great number of casualties. Our troop suffered five casualties. All were mortal wounds. The people all performed very well and were valiant. I am sorry you didn't get to see that.

Almeida inflicted a defeat to the enemy causing them 25 casualties, occupying 10 weapons and 55 prisoners, among them the Lieutenant Colonel Nelson Carrasco Artiles, wounded and prisoner.

A lot of bullets are going to be needed, Pedro Luis. You all can not rest in the coming weeks.

Good Luck!

Fidel Castro"

A fantastic letter written by Castro. The reader can literally feel like they are holed up in the mountains discussing guerrilla strategy to overthrow a government. The sheer complexity and duration of this 'movement' for the 'people' had been brewing for years going back to a time to when Castro was still a young attorney and first attempted to evoke change from authoritarian rule using his legal background and hoping the pen would be mightier than the sword. At the time, Batista antagonized the Cuban population by forming lucrative links to organized crime, becoming as brutal and vicious as any dictator in modern history and was completely indifferent to popular concerns. In early 1952, via a more peaceful attempt, Castro had first legally petitioned for the overthrow of Batista, whom he had accused of corruption and tyranny. However, his constitutional arguments were rejected by the Cuban courts. Castro was known to have remarked " I am convinced more than ever of the dictatorship's intention, masked in many ways, to remain in power for twenty years, ruling as now by the use of terror and crime and ignoring the patience of the Cuban people, which has its limits". After deciding that the Cuban regime could not be replaced through legal means, Castro resolved to launch an armed revolution; and with the support of the begrudged masses the path to change was forged.

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