Raul Modesto Castro Biography and Timeline

Birth of Raul Modesto Castro

Birth of Raul Modesto Castro

Siege of Moncada Barracks

Raúl Castro participates in the July 26 attack on Moncada Barracks and is later imprisoned for his role in the failed uprising.

Moncada Barracks

A member of the 26th of July Movement that attacked the Moncada Barracks, and he spent 22 months in prison as a result of this action

Role range: 1953-1959

Moncada Barracks

Participates in the failed Moncada attack.

Role range: 1953-1953

Moncada Prison Sentence

Raúl Castro receives a thirteen-year prison sentence for his participation in the July 26 attack on the Moncada Barracks.

Arrest of Raul Modesto Castro

A member of the 26th of July Movement that attacked the Moncada Barracks, and he spent 22 months in prison as a result of this action

Role range: 1953-1959

Trial

Is tried and sentenced after the failed Moncada attack.

Role range: 1953-1959

Political Amnesty

Raúl Castro is released from prison under the May 1955 political amnesty granted to surviving participants in the Moncada attack.

Amnesty

Is released with other Moncada prisoners.

Role range: 1953-1959

Mexico Exile Organisation

Raúl Castro works with the exile group in Mexico as it recruits, trains and prepares for an armed return to Cuba.

26th of July Movement

Raúl Castro befriends Ernesto Guevara in Mexico City and helps bring him into Fidel Castro's circle of Cuban revolutionaries.

Role range: 1953-1959

26th of July Movement

Raúl Castro maintains contact in Mexico with Nikolai Leonov, then a junior Soviet embassy official whom Castro had first met during travel in 1953.

Role range: 1953-1959

Coup

Receives guerrilla training in Mexico before the Granma expedition.

Role range: 1953-1959

Granma Departure

Raúl Castro sails from Tuxpan aboard the Granma with the expeditionary force organized to reopen armed struggle against Batista in Cuba.

Granma Landing

Raúl Castro lands in eastern Cuba with the Granma expeditionaries and joins the survivors who attempt to reach the Sierra Maestra.

Granma Landing

Participates in the preparations of the expedition of the ship Granma, embarking for Cuba on December 2, 1956

Role range: 1953-1959

Granma Landing

Part of the tiny group of survivors who manage to reach a safe haven in the Sierra Maestra mountains

Role range: 1953-1959

Granma

Participates in the preparations of the expedition of the ship Granma, embarking for Cuba on December 2, 1956

Role range: 1953-1959

KGB (Committee for State Security)

Maintains contact with Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Leonov.

Role range: 1953-1959

Frank Pais Eastern Front

Appointed Comandante and assigned the mission to cross the old province of Oriente leading a column of guerrillas to open, to the northeast of that territory, the "Frank Pais Eastern Front"

Role range: 1953-1959

Oriente Campaign

Appointed Comandante and assigned the mission to cross the old province of Oriente leading a column of guerrillas to open, to the northeast of that territory, the "Frank Pais Eastern Front"

Role range: 1953-1959

Promotion to Comandante

Appointed Comandante and assigned the mission to cross the old province of Oriente leading a column of guerrillas to open, to the northeast of that territory, the "Frank Pais Eastern Front"

Role range: 1953-1959

Frank Pais Eastern Front

Opens the Frank Pais Eastern Front in Oriente.

Role range: 1958-1959

Second Eastern Front

Raúl Castro establishes a separate rebel command in northeastern Oriente that becomes known as the Second Eastern Front.

Foreign Hostage Crisis

Forces under Raúl Castro detain dozens of American and Canadian civilians during a dispute over United States policy before releasing the captives over the following weeks.

Second Front Expansion

United States consular reporting estimates that Raúl Castro's force has grown from about 150 fighters to between 2,000 and 3,000 men by mid-1958.

Oriente Campaign

By October 1958, after being reinforced by Fidel, the two brothers had about 2,000 fighters and they were operating freely throughout Oriente province

Role range: 1953-1959

Oriente Campaign

Expands rebel control in eastern Cuba.

Role range: 1958-1959

Capture of Santiago

The victorious rebel army heads to Santiago de Cuba, the capital of Oriente province

Role range: 1953-1959

Oriente Campaign

The victorious rebel army heads to Santiago de Cuba, the capital of Oriente province

Role range: 1953-1959

Capture of Maffo

Captures Maffo during the final Oriente campaign.

Role range: 1958-1958

Capture of Santiago

Santiago de Cuba surrenders as Batista's regime collapses.

Role range: 1953-1959

Capture of Santiago

Takes control of Santiago after Batista flees.

Role range: 1953-1959

Constitution of Cuba

Appointed a member of the National Leadership of the Integrated Revolutionary PO Organisations

Integrated Revolutionary PO

Appointed a member of the National Leadership of the Integrated Revolutionary PO Organisations

Cuban Missile Crisis

Raul Castro visited Moscow while Soviet and Cuban officials finalized secret military arrangements.

Role range: 1959-2008

Cuban Missile Crisis

Raul Castro placed Cuban armed forces on wartime readiness as the United States announced its quarantine and increased regional military preparations.

Role range: 1959-2008

Cuban Missile Crisis

Raul Castro helped manage Cuban military readiness after Moscow announced that the strategic missiles would be withdrawn.

Role range: 1959-2008

Constitution of Cuba

The Integrated Revolutionary PO Organisation is dissolved

Integrated Revolutionary PO

The Integrated Revolutionary PO Organisation is dissolved