On this day, 27 July 1933, bus drivers in Havana went on strike, and other drivers soon walked out in sympathy. This was the start of the unrest that culminated in a general strike of Cuban workers and students that effectively shut down the nation and forced the brutal dictator Gerardo Machado from power.
Machado made a last-minute deal with trade union leaders and the central committee of the Cuban Communist Party, claiming that they would be legalised and given government support if they ended the strike, but the agreement was rejected by workers, and the strike continued, even after police killed twenty demonstrators. On August 9, the military decided to stop supporting Machado, and two days later his government collapsed.
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