Cuban Revolution, The

Beginning in February, 1958 Castro began the first Guerrilla offensive by coming out of the Sierra Maesta Mountains and attacking the Bastiano troops in the plains. The Bastiano army counter-attacked in June of 1958, driving the Guerrillas back into the mountains. When the Bastiano army attempted to destroy the Guerrillas in their mountain strongholds, the Bastiano army was all but destroyed itself. With all the newly acquired weapons, the Guerrillas launched a final offensive that ended in the only major battle of the war at the town of Santa Clara. The defeat of the Bastiano Western forces caused the rest of the army to begin deserting. When Fulgencia Batista fled in January of 1959, the Guerrillas triumphantly declared the island was officially free. The improbable victory of the Guerrillas resulted in the only communist country in the Western Hemisphere.