The six-story building with 65 different shopping departments was reduced to rubble and its steel beams twisted, after the explosion of several incendiary flasks that generated a fierce fire.

The incident caused the death of employee Fe del Valle, head of the fourth floor and of the children’s department, who, upon witnessing the events, decided to enter the facility to rescue the funds of a delegation of the Federation of Cuban Women that was being kept there.

The perpetrator of the sabotage, which also caused 18 injuries and around 20 million dollars in economic losses to Cuba, was Carlos Gonzalez, a worker in the store’s record department and member of the terrorist group Movimiento de Recuperacion del Pueblo (People’s Recovery Movement).

While waiting for his co-conspirators, he was left on a beach, where he was apprehended by the militiamen, to whom he confessed his involvement in the events.

El Encanto, located in central Galiano Street in Havana, was the center of the new terrorist operations against Cuba, after the triumph of the Revollution, on January 1, 1959.

The blasting of the building was the prelude to what would be the future mercenary invasion days later through Playa Giron in Matanzas province (west).

The chain of attacks also included the sabotage of the French steamship La Coubre that took place a little more than a year after, on March 4, 1960.

Cuban sources state that between 1960 and April 1961, the CIA introduced 75 tons of explosives and 45 tons of weapons, carried out 110 bomb attacks, exploded 200 bombs, derailed six trains and set fire to 150 factories and an equal number of sugar cane fields.

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