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The Underground. The new hope nourished a deadly and dedicated underground in and out of Cuba, devoted to terror, arms smuggling, espionage, fund raising. The rebels planted bombs in Havana, sometimes 100 in a night, in gambling joints, movie houses. The police and Batista's dreaded Military Intelligence Service counter-terrorized Cuba by killing suspected underground members, leaving their bodies on busy sidewalks to be seen by stenographers going to work. In reprisal a Santiago mother placed a wreath at night on the exact spot where her son was slain. An arrogant cop kicked the flowers away next morning and was blown to bits by the bomb beneath.
Abroad, rebel sympathizers perfected means for buying and smuggling arms. Castro's brother Raul, commanding a column of recruits as big as Fidel's, kept an airstrip open on mountain pastures. By spring of 1958 arms flights became big and frequent—notably from rich Venezuela, which had just thrown off a dictatorship. Cubans in Florida regularly flew planeloads of arms from small airports in Broward County and at Ocala and Lakeland, once made a fire-bomb run.
The arms were whatever the world's dealers had to offer—Italian sporting rifles, ancient Mausers, nickel-plated revolvers, Springfields, Garands and carbines. Delivered, they cost an average of $1,000 each. Castro handled each munitions shipment with care and glee before passing it on to new recruits. "Bullets come by vintages, like wine," he explained, "especially Latin American bullets. Mexican '55 is a good year, '52 not so good."
To buy arms, the rebels had money to spare. Collections in the U.S. came to $25,000 a month. Rich Havana sympathizers donated as much as $50,000 each, and the dues from the Havana underground yielded another $25,000 monthly. Contributions and nonredeemable "bond issues" in Venezuela raised $200.000. Companies operating in eastern Cuba began paying "taxes" to the rebels. As a hedge against the future. Sugar Baron Julio Lobo, one of Cuba's richest men, kicked in $100,000.
Toward the end of 1958, the rebels began moving west. Ex-Dishwasher Camilo Cienfuegos marched a column into the hills of Camagŭey. In December the rebels launched a "battle for Santa Clara"-a city of 150,000 in Las Villas. A column led by Che Guevara quickly took the streets, the Batista army as quickly retreated to its fortress post, and in five days of shooting 60 died.
The rebels knew that they were gaining, but they did not realize that victory was so close at hand. On Christmas Eve a priest climbed the hills to report to Castro that General Eulogio Cantillo, commander of Moncada Barracks, would like to have a chat. Castro celebrated by coming down to the family farm at Mayari, his first visit in four years. "Oh, what a party we had that night!" says his mother. "His soldiers were all over the place, and he bought $1,000 worth of beef to feed the people from all around."