An attempted army pronunciamiento (coup) of July 14, 1936, was frustrated when Spain’s left-wing republican government issued arms to the general population. The result was a three-year war in which the nationalist insurgents owed their eventual victory to direct intervention by Italy, logistical support by Germany, and a British blockade. The republican cause was clamorously supported by progressives throughout Europe and the Americas, who saw it as the first stage in the coming struggle against fascism. The few friendly foreign governments included Mexico, Chile (at the end of the war), and the Soviet Union, which did its utmost to ensure that the Communists would dominate in the bitterly divided Republic.
Many of the Loyalist (Republican) refugees from the war were violence-prone and brought their activism and rivalries with them to Cuba. Some, such as Rolando Masferrer, (temporarily) supported the Communists, many others were strongly anti-Communist. Joining groups like the Movimiento Socialista Revolucionario, Acción Revolucionaria Guiteras, and Unión Insurrecional Recvolucionaria in the 1040s, they contributed to the gangsterismo practiced by these organizations. Many were prominent in the “Caribbean Legion.”
