Cuba. Fidel Castro is released from prison by Batista. Two years earlier, there had been an attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba. The attempt had failed, and among those arrested were Fidel Castro and his men. Fidel’s mother rushed to Santiago to contact Galician Archbishop Enrique Pérez Serantes, begging him to pressure her son’s life. Before the court, Fidel delivered an hours-long speech, which Zanatta described as “the harangue of a fiery Jesuit.” Fidel was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but on May 15, 1955, he was released under an amnesty mandated by Batista.
