Armed with courage, convinced of the end to the regime of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, 56 members of the mission left Cuba and arrived in the country on board a Curtiss C-46 camouflaged with the colors and symbols of the Dominican Air Force, on Sunday, June 14, 1959.
65 years later, the Dominican Republic remembers the “glorious feat of Constanza, Maimon and Estero Hondo,” where exiled Dominicans and expeditions from Venezuela, Cuba, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and the United States fought and gave their lives to liberate the country. Country of Trujillismo.
Before carrying out this operation, the fighters received military training in Cuba, specifically in a camp located on the “Mille Cumbres” farm in Pinar del Rio province. Another part was trained in parallel at Madruga, located in Havana.
At around 6:00 p.m., this first group of fighters, led by Enrique Jiménez Moya, landed in the province of Constanza, because weather conditions forced the Venezuelan pilot Julio César Rodríguez and the former commander of the Dominican Air Force Juan de Dios Ventura Simó to change course, as his plans had been It consists of landing in San Juan de la Maguana.
After their arrival, an armed confrontation broke out with the army, in which a number of soldiers and an officer were killed. The fighters quickly abandoned the plane and entered the mountains, splitting into two groups: 34 men under the command of Jiménez Moya took refuge in El Río and Terreo, while 20 others led by Cuban Delio Gómez Ochoa headed to Los Botados.
According to plans, the plane’s arrival was scheduled to take place simultaneously with the arrival of two boats piloted by other members of the expedition, but the latter was delayed due to the obstacles that arose.
On June 15, Dominican aircraft bombed the mountains of Constanza or areas where rebels were suspected. Later, there was the first casualty of the guerrillas against the soldiers, as one of their fellow guerrillas was mortally wounded.
By the 19th, 20 guerrillas had already been captured and liquidated, and a day later there were 42 dead and two prisoners, including among the dead the pilot Juan de Dios Ventura Simo.
On June 20, the second group was able to disembark in Mimoun on the boat “Carmen Elsa”, with a total of 121 men under the command of José Horacio Rodríguez, while in Estero Hondo 48 members of the expedition who were traveling on the ship “Tenina” with José Antonio. Campos Navarro came down as captain.
These revolutionaries were unable to establish solid resistance, as the tyrant ordered the dispersal of the clash with soldiers, trucks, and weapons to confront the heroes of freedom.
Both operations, on June 14 and 20, ended in failure, with most of the rebels killed in combat, executed, and others tortured.
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Survivors
The Dominicans Ponceo Po Salita, Maiofanix Vargas, and Francisco Medardo Germán, and the Cubans Delio Gomez Ochoa, a veteran of the Sierra Maestra, and Pablito Mirabal, survived the exploits of June 14th.
Although unsuccessful, these heroes were able to sow the seeds of rebellion in the Dominican people.
Likewise, this served as inspiration for naming the political group organized for internal resistance the “June 14 Movement,” of which Manolo Tavares Giusto was president.
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