That action was the Rebel Army’s longest battle in central Cuba. In about 20 days from the beginning of the actions, the main towns in the north of Sancti Spíritus and part of then Las Villas were liberated.
For Gerónimo Besánguiz, who was the director of the Comandante Camilo Cienfuegos Historical Complex since its foundation in 1989, it was the maturation of the final assault against the Yaguajay barracks, where forces under the command of Captain Alfredo Abón Lee took refuge.
He explained that several attempts to get the soldiers to surrender only became pretexts and waits. On December 24, 1958, the local Red Cross negotiated the first truce in what would be the longest battle of the entire Las Villas campaign.
Prensa Latina learned that during the first visit, Camilo proposed to the Chinese man –as the Batista officer was known– that he surrender, without getting his approval, and in the afternoon he returned to the barracks with bundles of tobacco and cigarette packages that he personally distributed.
The rebel commander’s aplomb intoxicated the soldiers, who later acknowledged the naturalness of a leader of Fidel Castro’s troops, who risked his life to capture Yaguajay.
All this plot to fraternize Batista supporters and rebels ended with the refusal of Abón Lee, who claimed to be waiting for an order from the higher command… the beginning of the siege of the forces of the Northern Front of Las Villas did not take long to begin.
The rebel troops did not take long to occupy the Narcisa and Vitoria sugar mills, while reinforcements arrived, more than 100 men, from the second battle for the capture of Zulueta.
On December 23, Camilo received Commander Ernesto Guevara, the top military leader of the Rebel Army in Las Villas, who was fighting to capture of the main towns in the south with support from the March 13 Revolutionary Directorate and other groups.
One day later, when he was returning from his camp in Alicante, where he had gone with Che to speak with Fidel, in Sierra Maestra, he received the good news of the enemy’s retreat to the barracks.
According to some specialists, with these events and the failure to abandon the besieged area by sea and the resistance to surrender, Colum 2 Antonio Maceo and the forces of Félix Torres and other movements began the final assault.
The creativity of the Narcisa workers joined the offensive with their famous Dragon 1 – a kind of tank– which attacked the fortress on several occasions until it successfully blew up a dynamited train that destroyed the stable.
Che, already in the middle of the battle of Santa Clara, decided to return to Yaguajay on December 30, this time bringing a bazooka and promising to send a mortar hours later.
Gerónimo acknowledged that it was a psychological war that destabilized the guards and a quick victory was achieved with little waste of ammunition and without human losses, leaving the stage set to go and support Che in the capture of Santa Clara.
Some combatants of the Northern Front of Las Villas who were close to Camilo remember that when saying goodbye to Che, he said to him with words of friendship, sincerity and respect, Better take my hat to Santa Clara, as a sign that the fight would continue until the final victory.
jg/oda/rga
