COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY UPRISINGS

COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY UPRISINGS:

The struggle against mutinous bandits in the six provinces into which the country was then divided lasted for almost five years from mid 1960 to late 1964. During that period, more than 260 armed bands consisting of more than 2,000 bandits were neutralized. These bands were organized, led, financed and equipped by the United States government through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). These individuals without morals or scruples tried to defeat the Revolution by means of terrorism and crime. The sad balance of 549 patriots dead, many of them murdered, and 200 disabled, shows how bloody that criminal aggression was.

In difficult conditions, the homeland's soldiers fought against the enemies. Soldiers of the Rebel Army, members of the Revolutionary National Police and of the Revolutionary National Militias, the latter with more than 80,000 troops, united in a single army to wipe out the internal counterrevolution.

This struggle helped to strengthen Cubans' military skill and to creatively apply historical experience and knowledge of contemporary military art in a just war. The use of large and small sieges, the utilization and knowledge of the terrain, ambushes, the combing of areas and hand-to-hand combat were forms and methods used by the troops who fought against banditry. Many of those rookie militia members are now high-ranking officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

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