On 2 December 1956, a Wheeler Shipbuilding recreational yacht by the name of Granma made landfall on the southern coast of Cuba. The 82 men led by exile Fidel Castro and calling themselves the 26 July Movement (in commemoration of Castro’s failed assault on the Moncada barracks in 1953) had goals of overthrow Fulgencio Batista’s regime.

The attack did not go as planned. Landing in the middle of the day, the would-be revolutionaries were beset by Batista’s forces, with the Cuban air force bombarding them as they ran towards the tree line. They were separated as they ran through Cuba’s forests, and the rumors have it that a local guide betrayed some number of the fighters and killed many.

The vast majority of the 82 that landed on the beach that day were killed. Fulgencio Batista announced, “the murderer and terrorist Fidel Castro is dead. We have killed him and his Soviet hordes as they attempted to land on our tranquil beaches. Long live Cuba!”

Castro, though miscalculating his attack, had not miscalculated the anger that the Cuban people have against Batista. In the major cities student led resistance groups have begun protesting the Batista government, and dozens make a pilgrimage to the Playa Las Coloradas to commemorate the revolutionaries.