 The first major political crisis arose over what to do with the captured Batista officials who had been responsible for the worst of the repression . During the rebellion against Batista 's dictatorship , the general command of the rebel army , led by Fidel Castro , introduced into the territories under its control the 19th century penal law commonly known as the Ley de la Sierra ( Law of the Sierra ) . This law included the death penalty for serious crimes , whether perpetrated by the Batista regime or by supporters of the revolution . In 1959 , the revolutionary government extended its application to the whole of the republic and to those it considered war criminals , captured and tried after the revolution . According to the Cuban Ministry of Justice , this latter extension was supported by the majority of the population , and followed the same procedure as those in the Nuremberg Trials held by the Allies after World War II . 
