{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='A look at Castro\u0026#39;s final push that toppled Batista 50 years ago' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c124d8eafeecae150049' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c124d8eafeecae150049' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nA look at Castro\u0026#39;s final push that toppled Batista 50 years ago\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eFILE: Sierra Maestra, Cuba - December 9, 20081. Zoom out from Sierra Maestra mountains2. Mid of sign reading (Spanish) \"Historic Pathway. La Plata Command Headquarters\"3. Zoom out from man riding donkey on pathway4. Tilt up of Luis Angel...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eFILE: Sierra Maestra, Cuba - December 9, 2008\u003cbr/\u003e1. Zoom out from Sierra Maestra mountains\u003cbr/\u003e2. Mid of sign reading (Spanish) \"Historic Pathway. La Plata Command Headquarters\"\u003cbr/\u003e3. Zoom out from man riding donkey on pathway\u003cbr/\u003e4. Tilt up of Luis Angel Segura, curator of La Plata National Monument\u003cbr/\u003eFILE: Sierra Maestra, Cuba - 1950s\u003cbr/\u003e5. Wide of Fidel Castro and militants walking on path in Sierra Maestra mountains \u003cbr/\u003eFILE: Sierra Maestra, Cuba - December 9, 2008\u003cbr/\u003e6. Segura walking\u003cbr/\u003eFILE: Sierra Maestra, Cuba - 1950s\u003cbr/\u003e7. Castro and militants at La Plata Command Headquarters\u003cbr/\u003e8. Various of Castro smoking cigar in La Plata Headquarters\u003cbr/\u003e9. Castro writing\u003cbr/\u003eFILE: Sierra Maestra, Cuba - December 9, 2008\u003cbr/\u003e10. Wide of Segura in front of La Plata Command Headquarters\u003cbr/\u003e11. Interior of La Plata Command Headquarters \u003cbr/\u003e12. Close up of bullet hole in refrigerator \u003cbr/\u003e13. Wide of Segura in front of hut\u003cbr/\u003e14. Mid of hut\u003cbr/\u003eFILE: Sierra Maestra, Cuba - 1950s\u003cbr/\u003e15. Various of Castro and militants listening to \"Quinteto Rebelde\" in La Plata Command Headquarters\u003cbr/\u003eFILE: Sierra Maestra, Cuba - December 9, 2008\u003cbr/\u003e16. Pan right of \"Quinteto Rebelde\" group with and Ruben La O'Zamora singing (Spanish) \"Be respectful of Che Guevara, avoid a problem with Fidel, you must think about what Raul says.\" \u003cbr/\u003e17. Mid of Alejandro Medina, one of founder members of \"Quinteto Rebelde\" group, and others musicians walking with their instruments\u003cbr/\u003e18. Medina and musicians shaking hands with Segura\u003cbr/\u003e19. Tilt up from medals to Medina's face\u003cbr/\u003e20. Tilt up from guitar to Alcides La O'Zamora's face \u003cbr/\u003e21. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alcides La O'Zamora (70), One of the founding members of \"Quinteto Rebelde\":\u003cbr/\u003e\"We're still participating. Everyone leaves, but not us. We're just revolutionaries, plain and simple. For us to be revolutionaries is the greatest thing of all because the Revolution has given us everything.\"\u003cbr/\u003e22. Set up shot Ruben La O'Zamora signing\u003cbr/\u003e23. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ruben La O'Zamora (73), Musician Founder of \"Quinteto Rebelde\":\u003cbr/\u003e\"For me it is a great honour to be a revolutionary and to be one until I die. I have what I need as the saying goes.\" \u003cbr/\u003e24. Zoom in \"Quinteto Rebelde\" singing (Spanish) \"The Comandante said so, the Comandante said so, Cuba continues to go.\" \u003cbr/\u003eIn the Sierra Maestra mountains of Cuba's eastern provinces, rebel leader Fidel Castro planned the final push that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista and brought himself to power 50 years ago. \u003cbr/\u003eIt was here he drafted his famous letter to his closest confidante, Celia Sanchez in which he vowed the United States would \"pay dearly\" for the support it gave Batista and that his life's destiny was to be a thorn in America's side. \u003cbr/\u003eThere are a lot of wholehearted supporters of Castro and the communist system here in the island's wild east, where what the guerrilla rebellion Cubans universally call \"the revolution\" was born. \u003cbr/\u003eBut like everything in this country, things are far more complicated than they seem on the surface. \u003cbr/\u003eLife is still very primitive and painfully poor in these parts. \u003cbr/\u003eMany of the greatest supporters of Cuba's system are very old and also quietly worry that younger Cubans will abandon communism once their elders are gone. \u003cbr/\u003eMany who came of age at the same time Castro's revolution took place worry it won't outlive them. \u003cbr/\u003eThey almost never divulge that openly, but the fears are there, lurking just below the surface.\u003cbr/\u003eLuis Angel Segura, 55, guides tourists along a mule trail that turns into an unending troth of slippery, slimy mud in the winter when the rains come to eastern Cuba. \u003cbr/\u003eBut even though he talks like a true believer, Segura has his frustrations. \u003cbr/\u003eHe, like almost everyone you talk to here, wants farmers to have the freedom to grow sugar cane for themselves and use it to produce juice they can sell to tourists at a profit and also to grow coffee and fruit they can sell to tourists making their way up the mountain.\u003cbr/\u003eSegura takes visitors to the \"Comandancia de la Plata,\" named after the Plata or Silver river which flows clear and cold down from the high peaks.\u003cbr/\u003eFidel Castro lived here in a hut with wooden walls and a roof of palm leaves. His toilet was a hole in the ground down a small but steep hill nearby.\u003cbr/\u003eBut his was a more luxurious existence than most guerrilla warriors. Supporters even hauled a comfortable double-bed and a kerosene-fuelled fridge up into the mountains for him. There's a gapping hole in the fridge's right side, suffered in a clash with Cuban troops. \u003cbr/\u003eSome biographers say Castro used it to store beer, though most of the guides that take tourists up to the site swear it was only to keep vaccines and other medicines cold.\u003cbr/\u003eNear Comandancia, about 600 people still live in the highest outreaches of the mountains. Families grow coffee and malanga which they sell to the state.  \u003cbr/\u003eDonkeys are more common than horses to make it up into the mountains loaded down with goods.\u003cbr/\u003eRuben La O'Zamora, 73, is the lead singer for a quintet that Castro formed to perform on Radio Rebelde, a secret station he set up in the mountains for propaganda purposes. \u003cbr/\u003eLa O'Zamora fought in the ragtag rebel army that brought Fidel Castro to power 50 years ago New Year's Day.\u003cbr/\u003eHis friend Alejandro Molina founded the quintet and plays guitar. \u003cbr/\u003eToday, La O'Zamora and his musical mates live next-door to one another. They are still skinny enough to comfortably fit into their olive-green rebel uniforms. Molina's is weighed down heavily with medals. \u003cbr/\u003eAll were part of the rebels' \"columna uno\" which marched into Havana on January 8, 1959.\u003cbr/\u003eLike a lot of people in these parts, he refers to pre-1959 Cuba simply as \"La Tirania,\" or \"the tyranny.\" In Havana and other big cities the time before Castro is simply known as \"when there was capitalism.\"\u003cbr/\u003eAnd many complain that the revolution took hold here but hasn't really come back. If Havana is stuck in the 1950s, this part of the island feels like it's stuck in 1900. Horseback or bicycle is still a far more important mode of transportation than cars the few of which on the road are American classics from the 1950s. \u003cbr/\u003eAlcides La O'Zamora, Ruben's brother and a fellow member of the Radio Rebelde quintet, agreed that though life in eastern Cuba is simple, \"here we are happy. We are fine, fine, fine.\"\u003cbr/\u003eNon-stop talk about how Cuba was before 1959 can be infuriating for foreigners, but many people talk that way because they truly believe it. \u003cbr/\u003eThey have simple lives and simple needs and things like free elections and freedom of speech and the press don't seem to bother them.\u003cbr/\u003eThey live in single-story, concrete houses just like their neighbours, though the head of the provincial Communist Party came by personally to present each of them shiny new electric mo-peds, a gift for the revolution's 50th anniversary.\u003cbr/\u003eAfter the revolution, the five spent 20 more years in Cuba's regular army, then retired and went their separate ways, but Castro ordered houses built side-by-side for each of them in Canay de Mercedes, a coffee- and sugar-growing mountain town.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' 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