1955: Fidel Castro leaves for Mexico

Cuba History Timeline Events
July 7, 1955
Finding the Cuban political climate inhospitable, Castro departs for Mexico in a self-imposed exile. Within three weeks he meets Ernesto “Ché” Guevara (date of meeting remains uncertain). Castro also meets with Alberto Bayo y Giroud, and in August makes arrangements with Bayo to train M-26-7 guerrilla forces. Cuban-born Bayo was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War (on the Soviet-backed Republican side) who fled to Mexico after the defeat of the Republicans by the Falange lead by Francisco Franco. Mexico had been allied with the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. Like Castro, Bayo is the son of a Spaniard who fought for the side of Spain in Cuba's War of Independence, and was virulently anti-American.

Alberto Bayo, 1959 (Charlie Seiglie/Bohemia)

based on Manuel Márquez-Sterling's Cuba 1952-1959 and
Cuba 1952-1959 Interactive Timeline