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Machurucuto raid
Machurucuto raid is located in VenezuelaMachurucutoMachurucuto
Date8 May 1967 – 11 May 1967 (3 days)
LocationMachurucuto, Venezuela
Result Venezuelan government victory
Belligerents
Revolutionary Left Movement
 Cuban guerrillas
Supported by:
 Cuba		  Venezuelan National Guard
 Venezuelan Army
Commanders and leaders
Fidel Castro Raúl Leoni
Strength
12 200–300
Casualties and losses
2 dead
2 captured		 Unknown

The Machurucuto raid (Spanish: desembarco de Machurucuto, lit. 'Machurucuto disembarking'), also known as the invasion of Machurucuto (Spanish: invasión de Machurucuto), was a battle involving the Venezuelan Army and National Guard troops against Cuban trained guerrillas.

On 8 May 1967, a dozen guerrillas landed in Venezuela near the coastal town of Machurucuto, with one of them drowning. Venezuelan authorities engaged three of them on the night of 10 May and the battle lasted into 11 May, killing one and capturing the other two. The remaining eight linked up with guerrillas in the Andes who were attempting to overthrow President Raúl Leoni.

Events

Landing

On 8 May, four Cuban and eight Venezuelan guerrillas sailed into Venezuelan territorial waters in a warship disguised as a fishing boat, disembarking on two rafts once close enough to the coast. They brought with them AK-47s and 10,000 in both U.S. dollars and Venezuelan bolívars, which they planned to hand over to Revolutionary Left Movement forces stationed in the Andes who were attempting to overthrow the Venezuelan government.

Once they landed, the Venezuelans set off to the east, while the Cubans headed back to the warship. However, their raft capsized on the way back, leading to one of them (later identified as Lt. Pico) drowning and forcing the other three to swim to shore.

Confrontation

Local fishermen found one of the guerillas' rafts and notified the armed forces. On the evening of 10 May, troops found the three Cubans, commencing a battle which ended the following day. Two were captured; Venezuelan authorities stated the contingent's leader, Antonio Briones Montoto, was killed while trying to escape, but the Cuban government has disputed this, claiming he was covertly executed after the fact.

The eight Venezuelans managed to evade capture for 100 days and eventually reach friendly territory.

Aftermath

The two captured Cubans, Manuel Gil Castellanos and Pedro Cabrera Torres, wrote signed confessions detailing the raid. President Raúl Leoni held a conference soon after, where they were shown off to the press. Both of them committed suicide in prison.

Venezuela decided to abstain from invoking the Rio Pact, instead denouncing Cuba and requesting a meeting with the Organization of American States on 15 May. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba responded on 18 May, stating in a lengthy document that they did aid the guerrillas and that "hat is decided in Washington by the OAS and its master does not matter."

The Revolutionary Left Movement ceased its insurgency in 1969 and became a political party. Dissidents within the group formed splinter movements which continued guerrilla activities, but "their subversive activities shrnk to a minimum" during the 1970's.

See also

References

  1. ^ Bermudez, Angel (16 February 2019). "Cómo fue el "desembarco de Machurucuto"? El intento de intervención militar en Venezuela ideado en Cuba por Fidel Castro" [What was the "Machurucuto disembarking" like? The attempted military intervention in Venezuela planned in Cuba by Fidel Castro]. BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  2. ^ Corzo, Pedro (3 May 2019). "Invasión de Machurucuto, el primer intento cubano de subvertir la democracia venezolana" [The invasion of Machurucuto, the first Cuban attempt to subvert Venezuelan democracy]. Infobae (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 25 November 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Venezuela Smashes Cuban-led Landing, Seize Castro's Men". The Morning Record. Associated Press. 13 May 1967. p. 1. Retrieved 2 August 2024 – via Google Newspapers.
  4. ^ Ríoseco López-Trigo, Pedro (9 May 2022). "Antonio Briones Montoto, a 55 años de su muerte por la libertad de Venezuela" [Antonio Briones Montoto, 55 years after his death for the freedom of Venezuela]. Granma (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 May 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  5. ^ "Latin America: Castro's Targets". TIME. 19 May 1967. Archived from the original on 3 August 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  6. ^ Boersner, Demetrio (31 August 2001). "Desembarco cubano en Machurucuto, 1967" [Cuban disembarking in Machurucuto, 1967]. Tal Cual (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 April 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2024 – via Latin American Studies.
  7. "Cuba's Answer to Venezuelan Charges of 'Intervention'" (PDF). The Militant. 12 June 1967. pp. 4–5. Retrieved 3 August 2024 – via Marxists Internet Archive.
  8. Presutto, Fredy (6 May 1993). "Lessons Learned by Venezuela Fighting in Low Intensity Conflict" (PDF). United States Army War College. p. 9. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
Raúl Leoni
President of Venezuela (1964–1969)
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