 On a visit to Santiago de Cuba, Smith witnessed firsthand the funeral and burial of Frank Pais, one of the leaders of the M-26-7 movement.After his death, well over 200,000 people attended the event, which convinced Smith that something had to be done about the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.Smith was also critical of what he perceived as Washington's ambivalent attitude towards the growing 26th of July movement led by Fidel Castro.