Castro Rise The Power Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz became involved with political protests as a young student. After Batista’s coup in 1952, he went to court and tried to have the Batista dictatorship declared illegal. However, his attempt to peacefully bring down the Batista government did not work, and so in 1953, Castro turned toward violent means. On July 26, 1953, Castro led a group of men to attack the Moncada military fortress. However, his little rebellion was immediately crushed by the Batista army. In fact, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Santiago had to make the government promise that the rebels would live, if they would stop fighting