Contents

Machurucuto raid

Battle

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Machurucuto raid
Machurucuto Machurucuto raid (Venezuela)
Date 8 May 1967 – 11 May 1967(5 days) Location Machurucuto, 70 miles east of Caracas, Venezuela Result Venezuelan government victory
Belligerents
Venezuelan rebels  Cuban guerrilla Supported by:  Cuba	Venezuelan National Guard  Venezuelan Army
Commanders and leaders
Fidel Castro	Raúl Leoni
Strength
12	200–300
Casualties and losses
10 dead 2 captured	unknown

The Machurucuto raid, also known as the Invasion of Machurucuto, was a battle involving the Venezuelan Army and National Guard troops against Cuban trained guerrillas. On 10 May 1967, a dozen guerrillas landed in Venezuela at the beach of Machurucuto. The Army of Venezuela and the National Guard engaged them on the night of 10 May and the battle lasted into 11 May. Two men were captured while the remaining were killed in battle. The guerrillas had completed paramilitary training in Cuba so they could recruit guerrillas in the Venezuelan Andes region to overthrow President Raúl Leoni.^[1]

On 8 May, twelve guerrillas arrived on the coast of Machurucuto in two rafts. While preparing to land one of the rafts capsized drowning one guerrilla. The rest disembarked on the coast and abandoned their rafts.

A fisherman spotted the two rafts and notified the armed forces. They discovered and engaged the guerrillas on the evening of 10 May and the battle lasted until the morning of 11 May. In the fighting, ten guerrillas were killed and two captured; Venezuelan casualties are unknown.

Soon after, the government of President Raúl Leoni held a press conference denouncing Cuban aggression against Venezuela and showing the two captured Cubans, Manuel Gil Castellanos and Pedro Cabrera Torres. Cuba was denounced by Venezuela to the Organization of American States (OAS). Cuba did not acknowledge the action even when the investigation of the AK47s in possession of the guerrillas were identified as weapons sold by Czechoslovakia to Cuba. The government of Venezuela broke all relations with Cuba following the incident and with further relations not occurring until 1974.^[2]

• Operation Gideon (2020)
• Cuba–Venezuela relations

• Boersner, Demetrio (31 August 2001). "Desembarco cubano en Machurucuto, 1967". Tal Cual (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 May 2020.