April 9 Cuban strike
The April 9 strike was a general strike organized and called upon by M-26-7 via radio, lasting from April 9 to 10th 1958. It spanned across [Republic of Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)|Cuba (1902–1959)|Cuba] and eventually the strike lost momentum and died out mid-day on April 10. 100 soldiers died in the strike due to political repression by the Fulgencio Batista government of Cuba.
Background
Guerrilla war: 1956–1959
Before the strike, anti government activity had been strong on the island, with the M-26-7 conducting bombings and sabotage. Police responded with mass arrests, torture, and extrajudicial executions. In March 1957, the DRE launched a failed attack on the presidential palace, during which José Antonio Echeverría, a lead figure of the Revolutionary Directorate of 13 March Movement was shot dead. Batista's government often resorted to brutal methods to keep Cuba's cities under control. Castro's guerrillas increased their attacks on military outposts, forcing the government to withdraw from the Sierra Maestra region, and by spring 1958, the rebels controlled a hospital, schools, a printing press, slaughterhouse, land-mine factory and a cigar-making factory. By 1958, Batista was under increasing pressure, a result of his military failures coupled with increasing domestic and foreign criticism surrounding his administration's press censorship, torture, and extrajudicial executions. Influenced by anti-Batista sentiment among their citizens, the US government ceased supplying him with weaponry. The opposition called a general strike, accompanied by armed attacks from the M-26-7. Beginning on 9 April, it received strong support in central and eastern Cuba, but little elsewhere.The strike
On April 9th, 1958 at about 11:00 AM a radio broadcast was heard across Cuba. An announcer claiming loyalty to M-26-7 said:"Attention Cubans, this is the 26th of July Movement calling to a Revolutionary General Strike! Today is the day of freedom, the day of the Revolutionary General Strike. Forward, Cubans, as from this moment the final struggle begins in all of Cuba that will only end with the overthrow of the dictatorship! Workers, students, professionals, bosses, join the revolutionary general strike, from this moment".
Throughout the island, the underground struggle gained momentum and spread to towns and cities under the leadership of the 26th of July Movement and with the participation of the “March 13” Revolutionary Directorate and the Popular Socialist Party. In response to the national workers’ strike on April 9, organized by the 26th of July Movement’s leadership, a group of young people from Sagua, armed with knives, revolvers, and shotguns, took to the streets at 11:00 a.m. and subdued Fulgencio Batista’s officers. The purpose of the strike was to unleash a mass movement that would bring about the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship. the strike had its greatest influence in Havana and central Villa Clara province.