Escambray rebellion: Difference between revisions

* [[Anti-communistscommunist]]s

'''Supported by''':<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.svg}} [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] (1959–1961)<br />{{flagcountry|Dominican Republic}} (1959–1961)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Clodfelter|first1=Micheal|title=Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-20151492–2015, 4th ed|date=2017|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786474707|page=637}}</ref> <br />[[Partido Auténtico]]{{sfnp|Brown|2017|loc=Paragraph 6}}

| commander1 = {{flagdeco|Cuba|1902}} [[Osvaldo Ramírez García|Osvaldo Ramírez]]{{KIA}}<br /> {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Revolutionary Directorate.svg}} [[William Alexander Morgan|William A. Morgan]]{{Executed}}<br /> {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Revolutionary Directorate.svg}} [[Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo]]{{POW}}<br />Sinesio Walsh{{POW}}{{sfnp|Brown|2017|loc=Paragraph 35}}

| commander2 = {{flagicon|Cuba}} [[Fidel Castro]]<br />{{flagicon|USSR}} [[Francisco Ciutat de Miguel]]<br /> {{flagicon|Cuba}} Lizardo Proenza<br />{{flagicon|Cuba}} Raúl Menéndez Tomassevich<br />{{flagicon|Cuba}} [[Manuel "Piti" Fajardo|Manuel Fajardo]]{{KIA}}{{sfnp|Brown|2017|loc=Paragraph 36}}<br />{{flagicon|USSR}} [[Francisco Ciutat de Miguel]]

* {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Revolutionary Directorate.svg}} Remnants of the [[Second National Front of Escambray]]

| units2 = [[File:FAR emblem.svg|20px]] [[Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces]]<br />[[National Revolutionary Militia]]<br />Department of State Security{{sfnp|Brown|2017|loc=Paragraph 39}}

| casualties2 = '''Armed Forces''':<br />500 soldiers killed<br />1,000+ soldiers wounded<br />'''Militia''':<br> Unknown3,500 killed

| casualties3 = 1,000–7,000 total deaths<ref>Joanna Swanger. "Rebel Lands of Cuba: The Campesino Struggles of Oriente and Escambray, 1934–1974." Pagep. 243.</ref>

The '''Escambray rebellion''' was an armed conflict from 1959 to 1965 in the [[Escambray Mountains]] during which several insurgent groups fought against the [[Cuba]]n government led by [[Fidel Castro]]. The military operation against the rebellion was called the '''Struggle Against Bandits''' ({{lang-es|Lucha contraContra Bandidos}}, or LCB) by the Cuban government.{{sfnp|Brown|2017|loc=Paragraph 66}}

The rebels were a mix of former soldiers of the [[Fulgencio Batista|Batista]] soldiersregime, local farmers, and leftist ex-guerrillas who had fought alongside Castro against Batista during the [[Cuban Revolution]]. The end result was the elimination of all insurgents by Cuban government forces in 1965.

The uprising began almost immediately after the success of the [[Cuban Revolution]] in 1959. It was led by an ex-guerrilla that had fought against Batista before, but rejected the socialist turn the Cuban Revolution had taken and the ensuing close ties with the [[Soviet Union]]. Small landowning farmers, who disagreed with the socialist government's collectivization of Cuban farmlands also played a central role in the failed rebellion. The uprising was also secretly backed by the [[CIA]] and the [[Eisenhower administration]] because of Castro's ties with the Soviet Union.<ref name="Warner, Michael">{{Cite book|title=The CIA's internal probe of the Bay of Pigs affair|last=Warner |first=Michael |date= |publisher=[Forgotten History]|oclc=176629005|url=https://www.cia.gov/static/7b51cd5fb4a1a1751ec567340b8c9a1c/Internal-Probe-Bay-Pigs.pdf|access-date=3 May 2022|archive-date=3 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503215342/https://www.cia.gov/static/7b51cd5fb4a1a1751ec567340b8c9a1c/Internal-Probe-Bay-Pigs.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The CIA provided some aid to the insurgents but withdrew all support after the failed [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] in 1961, ensuring their ultimate defeat. Some of the failures could be attributed to Castro's "roll up" of CIA operatives in Cuba.<ref name = "Volkman">Volkman, 1995.{{Page?|date=April 2023}}</ref> After the Bay of Pigs failure, Osvaldo Ramirez returned to the [[Escambray Mountains]] and declined an offer by Castro's emissary, Comandante Faure Chomón, to surrender. <ref name = "FariaFaria88-89">Faria, Cuba in Revolution, pp. 88-8988–89.</ref>

The main tactic of the Cuban government was to deploy thousands of troops against small groups of rebels, forming progressively-constricting rings of encirclement.<ref name = "Encinosa">Encinosa, Unvanquished, pp. 73–86.</ref> The communist leaders that Castro sent to clear the Escambray Mountains were ordered to exterminate the rebels. They were to "comb the brush elbow to elbow" until they had completely cleared the hills of anti-communist rebels.<ref name = "FariaFaria105-115">Faria, pp. 105-115105–115.</ref> The leaders of the ''Lucha contraContra bandidosBandidos'' counter-insurgency forces were Commandantes Raul Menendez Tomassevich, a founding member of the [[Communist Party of Cuba]],<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.blythe.org/nytransfer-subs/2001-Caribbean-Vol-3/Cuban_General_Raul_Tomassevich_Dies | title = Cuban General Raul Menendez Tomassevich Dies | publisher = Associated Press | access-date = 24 December 2007 | date = 17 August 2001 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081022125155/http://www.blythe.org/nytransfer-subs/2001-Caribbean-Vol-3/Cuban_General_Raul_Tomassevich_Dies | archive-date = 22 October 2008 }}</ref> and Lizardo Proenza.<ref name = "Escambray">{{cite web | url = http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/book/escambray-27.htm | title = Escambray: La Guerra Olvidada | last = Encinosa | first = Enrique G | publisher = Latin American Studies | pages = 27 | access-date = 31 July 2007 | archive-date = 21 May 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180521175233/http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/book/escambray-27.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name = "Che">{{cite web | url = http://www.escambray.cu/che/montanas.html | title = Montañas | publisher = Escambray | access-date = 31 July 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928005659/http://www.escambray.cu/che/montanas.html | archive-date = 28 September 2007 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name = "Secretos">{{cite web | url = http://secretoscuba.cultureforum.net/Informacion-General-c3/Crimenes-de-Fidel-Castro-f20/TODO-SOBRE-LA-GUERRA-EN-EL-ESCAMBRAY-p45803.htm | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130221180428/http://secretoscuba.cultureforum.net/Informacion-General-c3/Crimenes-de-Fidel-Castro-f20/TODO-SOBRE-LA-GUERRA-EN-EL-ESCAMBRAY-p45803.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 21 February 2013 | title = Todo Sobre la Guerra en el Escambray | publisher = Secretos de Cuba }}</ref>

Both their smaller numbers and the lack of outside assistance, particularly supplies, eventually led to the rebels' defeat.<ref name = "Faria">Faria, pp. 105Faria105-115.<"/ref> Cuban forces used sweeps by long columns of [[National Revolutionary Militias|militiaNational Militia]], which cost the government substantial losses but ultimately won the war. The Spanish-Soviet advisorAdvisor [[Francisco Ciutat de Miguel]], who was also present at the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]], played a major role in the pacification operation. Castro employed overwhelming force, at times sending in as many as 250,000 men, almost all of whom (including 3,500 out of the 4,000 government fatalities) were militia.<ref name="Cubanet">{{cite web | url = http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y02/may02/30a6.htm | title = Cuba News | publisher = Cuba Net | date = 2 May 2002 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051205154606/http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y02/may02/30a6.htm | archive-date = 5 December 2005}} (see Puebla).</ref> The insurgency was eventually crushed by the Castro's use of their vastly-superior numbers. Some of the insurgents ultimately surrendered but were immediately executed by firing squad. Only a handful managed to escape.<ref name = "Escambray 18">{{cite web | url = http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/book/escambray-18.htm | title = Escambray: La Guerra Olvidada | last = Encinosa | first = Enrique G. | pages = 18 | publisher = Latin American Studies | access-date = 8 December 2005 | archive-date = 4 October 2005 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051004185943/http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/book/escambray-18.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name = "Franqui">Franqui (1984), pp. 111–115.</ref>

The WarStruggle Against the Bandits lasted longer and involved more soldiers than the previous struggle against Batista's forces.<ref name = "Ros">Ros (2006) pp. 159–201.</ref><ref name="Cuba">{{cite web|title=Anti-Cuba Bandits: terrorism in past tense |url=http://www.escambray.cu/Eng/Bandits/FpasadoE.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070222204658/http://www.escambray.cu/Eng/Bandits/FpasadoE.htm |archive-date=22 February 2007}}</ref>

* {{cite journal| last = Brown| first = Jonathan| title = The bandido counterrevolution in Cuba, 1959-19651959–1965| journal = Nuevo Mundo Mundos Nuevos| date = 2017| url = https://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/71412| doi = 10.4000/nuevomundo.71412| doi-access = free}}