The victory of the Liberation Army in the Battle of Maffo was decisive in the final triumph of the War of Liberation. Every military action planned by Fidel Castro against Batista forces was carried out successfully.
With the capture of Jiguaní on December 19 and Palma Soriano on December 27, Maffo -almost an extension to the south of Contramaestre- was the only redoubt that remained in the hands of Batista’s army, among the strong groupings dislocated in Bayamo and Santiago de Cuba. To the extent that the enemy defending that place prolonged the resistance, the solution became more important to conclude with total success the Santiago Operation. Few combats or battles of the liberation war lasted so many days.
In this town, the enemy was fortified in the buildings of the Bank of Agricultural and Industrial Development of Cuba (Banfaic), located about 300 meters north of Maffo.
For the capture of that locality, the Commander in Chief assigned forces from the I and III Fronts. From the beginning, the idea for the combat was to achieve the capture of the objective through encirclement and constant harassment, while trying to prevent the arrival of reinforcements. To act otherwise would have cost numerous casualties.
Around the Banfaic, the men of captains Rafael Verdecia, Reinaldo Mora, Rubén Fonseca and lieutenants Arsenio Peña, Leopoldo Cintra, Paco Reyes, Raúl Escalona, Porfirio Verdecia and Pedro García occupied positions. Other forces also participated, such as the bazooka squad of Lieutenant Raimundo Montes de Oca, the mortar platoon of Captain Aeropajito Montero and the machine gun platoon of Captain Fidel Vargas. The presence of a squad of the Pelotón de Marianas was outstanding; five brave women inspired the rebel fighters, one of them, Flor Pérez, was seriously wounded.
The actions for the capture of Maffo were directed by the Commander in Chief himself, who at the same time attended to the development of the offensive on all fronts. For this reason, he designated Captain Rafael Verdecia as Chief of Operations in this sector.
Maffo under the effects of gunfire
On December 10, 20 days of violent combats began. The enemy tried to soften the rebel harassment by carrying out over Maffo and its surroundings, in almost every day, criminal and indiscriminate bombardments and strafing with the air force.
On December 14 a truce was proposed to the enemy to reach a peaceful settlement, but there was no understanding. The command remained obstinate in the face of this and other rebel offers.
On the 15th, Fidel, in a message sent to Raul, said: “A hard fight is being waged here. Today is the fifth consecutive night of the attack on Maffo. The air force has razed the town to the ground… the people of Maffo are defending themselves like wild beasts and they have already cost us 13 casualties…”.
From the north of Baire, forces of a battalion of the enemy tried to advance -on the 16th- towards Banfaic, to help the 102nd company, but they were intercepted in the region of Anacahuita by the ambushes of Reinaldo Mora, Ernesto Rosales and Crisógenes Vinageras, who forced the reinforcement to retreat towards Jiguaní. An enemy report recognizes that this battalion had 33 casualties that day, including dead, wounded and missing.
