Fidel Castro wrested the reins of power over Cuba from military dictator Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959. My friend, Luis Haza, was eight at the time. His father, Colonel Bonifacio Haza, was in command of the National Police in Santiago de Cuba, nearly 300 miles southeast of Havana.
Batista had ruled with military might, leading a reign of terror that saw people taken from their homes, never…