100 Pesos Assault to the Moncada Garrison

The Moncada Barracks attack of July 26, 1953 — a failed assault led by Fidel Castro against Batista's second-largest military installation in Santiago de Cuba — became the founding myth of the Cuban Revolution despite ending in disaster, with roughly a third of the 160 attackers killed or captured. Castro's trial speech, "History Will Absolve Me," was smuggled out of prison in writing concealed in matchboxes. The attack's date gave the revolutionary movement its permanent name.

This 1989 issue marks the 36th anniversary. The .999 fineness places it among Cuba's finer commemorative gold issues of the period.