In May 1955 rebel leader Fidel Castro and his followers were freed from a prison in Cuba. Castro and his group promptly left for Mexico to reorganize their plans to overthrow Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar. A year later Castro and 81 followers returned to Cuba and took refuge in the Sierra Maestra Mountain Range. The following two years Castro carried out a successful guerilla campaign as sympathizers joined the effort by the hundreds. After calling for total war against Batista's regime, Castro captured Santa Clara, the capitol of Las Villas province, on December 31, 1958. Realizing...