Terrorism and death in El Encanto store

On April 13, 1961, the El Encanto department store in Havana burned and was consumed by flames as a result of a terrorist action organized and supported by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.S. government, resulting in a very well conceived intentional fire, in which the worker Fe del Valle Ramos lost her life.

That pain still shakes her compatriots.

Information made public at that time, and later duly verified, showed that the criminal attack in one of the largest stores of its kind in the country was not an isolated event, although it was the only one of that magnitude to be carried out in the capital.

It was part of the project named Operation Pluto, dedicated to creating a favorable climate for the mercenary invasion of Bay of Pigs that would begin on April 17 of that year, and in which the Cuban people would finally be victorious.

Before continuing with the threads of the counterrevolutionary plot, in which the government and institutions and organizations involved in the northern power worked tirelessly since the triumph of the rebels, we will remember Fe del Valle, the exemplary worker of El Encanto who, faithful to the dictates of her conscience, was trying to save funds destined for children's centers, when her death occurred.

Witnesses of that fateful day recalled how, after the building had been evacuated from an unquenchable fire, she returned when she remembered that the money had been left at the mercy of the flames. She wanted it not to be lost and there she was trapped, unable to get out, while her colleagues were unaware of what she had done. She did not warn them because she probably thought she could do the task alone and relatively quickly.

This has forever defined her as a heroine of the people. Of humble origin, she was born on August 1, 1917 in the central town of Remedios, in the former province of Las Villas. This simple young woman, affectionately nicknamed Lula, was able to study up to the first year of high school.

In the midst of Gerardo Machado's dictatorship, her family was going through a hard economic situation and she decided to move to Havana in search of better opportunities for her life. She was 17 years old when she started working as an apprentice in hat making.

Later on, she got a job as a sales clerk in the large Fin de Siglo store, something that prepared her for her later entry into El Encanto, at a time when she was already collaborating in the urban struggle against the tyranny of Fulgencio Batista.

From there she made efforts to create a union, but they were unsuccessful. However, at the same time she showed that she was very responsible, efficient and skillful in her work, for which she was appointed head of a department.

She had a very affable character that woman with clear ideas about social justice and labor rights. This always won her the sympathy and appreciation of her subordinates.

Married since 1938 to a communist militant, the relationship strengthened her principles and helped her to fully embrace the cause of socialism.

The deliberate act of arson was part of the aforementioned covert operation, which was authorized by President John F. Kennedy and included sabotage, actions by bands of rebels in the countryside and counterrevolutionary organizations in the cities, assassinations of revolutionaries... Attacks on stores and businesses were also planned.

Nothing was left to improvisation. The CIA experts used pouches filled with explosives of synthetic origin, the volume of which fit surreptitiously and exactly into Eden cigarette packets, widely sold at the time. They would then be very easy to place "casually" in the indicated places.

So much sinister care made it possible that in the months prior to the invasion, some 75 tons of explosives and 46.5 tons of weapons and other means destined for urban terrorists and bands of rebels in areas of the Sierra del Escambray (Guamuhaya) secretly entered Cuba by air and sea.
A vigorous, albeit inexperienced, Cuban security continued to score successes in the confrontation with the enemy, in an unequal, but very courageous and patriotic fight.

The heavy deployment had made some criminals operating in the mountains and in the city to have pride and boast about trying to organize themselves better, handing out charges. Unfortunately, they were also committing outrages and murders wherever they went. It would be the beginning of a long epic that would be called Fight against bandits.

Antonio Veciana, one of the leaders of the People's Revolutionary Movement (MRP), was identified and arrested in the terrorist act that caused the El Encanto incident. He declared that his organization had recruited a store employee for the sabotage, who placed the devices on several floors and set them off at 6:00 p.m. after closing the store.

The executor had only asked to secure his escape from the country, towards US, by sea. He could not realize his dream, because the revolutionary justice arrived in time. He was arrested while he was waiting to be picked up on the coast of Baracoa beach, west of the capital.

Without mincing words, this other person immediately identified those who hired him and revealed all the details of the plan. It was as simple as that, although unfortunately the abominable act could not be avoided in time and a selfless worker like Fe left us so early in the morning, in a savage manner.