05-07-2013, 04:53 PM
Guerrilla Warfare
Guerrilla Warfare.pdf (Size: 1.22 MB / Downloads: 23)
ESSENCE OF GUERRILLA WARFARE
The armed victory of the Cuban people over the Batista dictatorship was not only the triumph of
heroism as reported by the newspapers of the world; it also forced a change in the old dogmas
concerning the conduct of the popular masses of Latin America. It showed plainly the capacity of
the people to free themselves by means of guerrilla warfare from a government that oppresses
them.
We consider that the Cuban Revolution contributed three fundamental lessons to the conduct of
revolutionary movements in America. They are:
-Popular forces can win a war against the army.
-It is not necessary to wait until all conditions for making revolution exist; the insurrection can
create them.
-In underdeveloped America the countryside is the basic area for armed fighting.
Of these three propositions the first two contradict the defeatist attitude
GUERRILLA STRATEGY
In guerhlla terminology, strategy is understood as the analysis of the objectives to be achieved in
the light of the total military situation and the overall ways of reaching these objectives.
To have a correct strategic appreciation from the point of view of the guerhlla band, it is
necessary to analyze fundamentally what will be the enemy's mode of action. If the final objective
is always the complete destruction of the opposite force, the enemy is confronted in the case of a
civil war of this kind with the standard task; he will have to achieve the total destruction of each
one of the components of the guerrilla band. The guerhlla fighter, on the other hand, must
analyze the resources which the enemy has for trying to achieve that outcome; the means in
men, in mobility, in popular support, in armaments, in capacity of leadership on which he can
count. We must make our own strategy adequate on the basis of these studies, keeping in mind
always the final objective of defeating the enemy army.