History Will Absolve Me (Spanish:"La historia me absolverá") is the concluding sentence and subsequent title of a four-hour speech made by Fidel Castro on 16 October 1953. Castro made the speech in his own defense in court against the charges brought against him after leading an attack on the Moncada Barracks. Though no record of Castro's words was kept, he reconstructed them later for publication in what was to become the manifesto of his 26th of July Movement. The trial helped propel Castro into the public consciousness as a leading figure in the resistance to the government of Fulgencio Batista.
Though sentenced to terms of up to 15 years for their roles in the Moncada attack[sentences], all of the rebels were released after an amnesty in 1955. Castro relocated to Mexico before returning to Cuba on the Granma yacht alongside other revolutionaries including Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Together they fomented the Cuban Revolution that was to take power in 1959.