Mario Chanes de Armas (October 25, 1927 in Havana, Cuba – February 24, 2007 in Hialeah, Florida) was a former Cuban revolutionary and ally of Fidel Castro.
He was a veteran of the attack on the Moncada barracks in July 1953 and served time in Batista's New Model Prison on the Isle of Pines with fellow revolutionary Fidel Castro.
[1] As Castro continued to reject calls for elections in the months after the revolution, opining that they would usher in a return to "the old discredited system of corrupt parties and fraudulent balloting which marked the Batista era",[2] Chanes de Armas became increasingly active in the opposition movement against the new government.
He took part in forced labour as slowly as he could, digging ditches or chopping up blocks of marble in the fierce, dripping Cuban heat.
He and his followers were called plantados, planted squarely—though sparsely—as trees across Mr Castro's path.He was in prison for one day short of 30 years.