Cienfuegos, September 5 (RHC)-- Cuban President Raul Castro presided over the commemoration activity Tuesday morning in Cienfuegos -- marking the 60th anniversary of the popular armed uprising in that south-central city.

On this date 60 years ago, on September 5, 1957, revolutionary officers of the Navy commands and July 26 Movement attacked the Southern Naval District in Cienfuegos.  Rebel forces almost held the entire city, taking over the stations of the Maritime Police, the National Police, City Hall and other important locations.

The city was in rebel hands for nearly 24 hours.  Then Batista sent his troops to Cienfuegos, which indiscriminately strafed and bombed entire neighborhoods, leaving scores of dead and wounded.

Although the rebel action was a setback, it represented a victory for the struggle, for its tremendous national impact and the fact that for a day, a major city in Cuba was a free territory, the first of the Revolution in the country.