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Cuba’s President Raul Castro, left, and Uruguay’s President Jose Mujica review the honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at Revolution Palace in Havana, Cuba. – (AP Photo/Ernesto Mastrascusa, Pool)

HAVANA. — Cuba yesterday commemorated the 60th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada Barracks, which is considered the beginning of the revolution led by Fidel Castro. President Raul Castro chaired a ceremony to mark the anniversary, called National Rebellion Day, in the eastern city of Santiago, before an audience of about 10 000 local citizens.
Several heads of state, including Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Uruguay’s Jose Mujica and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, also attended the event.

On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro led a group of rebels to attack the Moncada Barracks, a military fortress of strongman Fulgencio Batista, and the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes garrison in the nearby city of Bayamo.
Both operations failed from the military point of view, but marked the starting point of the uprising against Batista, who was ultimately ousted in 1959. — Xnhua.