The French
freighter ''La Coubre'' () exploded in the harbour of
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. ,
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, on 4 March 1960 while it was unloading 76 tons of grenades and munitions. Seventy-five to 100 people were killed, and many were injured.
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
alleged it was an act of
sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
on the part of the United States, which denied any involvement.
Events
![La Coubre explosion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/La_Coubre_explosion.jpg)
''La Coubre'', a 4,310-ton French vessel, was on 4 March 1960 unloading her cargo of 76 tons of Belgian munitions she had transported from the port of
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, in Belgium to Havana. Unloading explosive ordinance directly onto the dock in Havana was against port regulations. Ships with such cargoes were supposed to be moored in the center of the harbor and their high-risk cargo unloaded onto
lighters
A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or ...
.
The ship exploded at 3:10 pm. Thirty minutes after the first explosion, while hundreds of people were involved in a rescue operation organized by the
Cuban military
The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias; FAR) are the military forces of Cuba. They include ground forces, naval forces, air and air defence forces, and other paramilitary bodies including the Territorial Tro ...
, a second, more powerful explosion resulted in additional fatalities and injuries.
At the time of the explosion,
Che Guevara
Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...
(who was a trained doctor) was in a meeting at the
National Institute of Agrarian Reform
The National Institute for Agrarian Reform ( es, Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria, INRA) was an agency of the Cuban Government that was formed to institute the Agrarian Reform Law of 1959.
INRA also implemented the Second Agrarian Reform La ...
(NIAR) headquarters. He drove to the scene and spent the next few hours giving medical attention to the crew members, armed forces personnel, and dock workers who had been injured. The death toll was between 75 and 100; more than 200 people were injured.
Reaction
![KordaFilmRollChe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/KordaFilmRollChe.jpg)
Speaking the next day at a funeral for 27 dock workers killed by the explosions,
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
said that the United States was responsible for the explosion, "the work of those who do not wish us to receive arms for our defense", a charge U.S. Secretary of State
Christian Herter
Christian Archibald Herter (March 28, 1895December 30, 1966) was an American diplomat and Republican politician who was the 59th Governor of Massachusetts from 1953 to 1957 and United States Secretary of State from 1959 to 1961. His moderate t ...
denied on 7 March in a meeting with the Cuban chargé d'affaires in Washington followed by a formal note of protest delivered to Cuban Foreign Minister
Raul Roa
Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul.
Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...
on 15 March.
On 7 March, the ''
Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...
'' reported charges made by Jack Lee Evans, an American who had just returned from Havana where he had been working for and living with
William Alexander Morgan
William Alexander Morgan (April 19, 1928 – March 11, 1961) was a United States citizen who fought in the Cuban Revolution, leading a band of rebels that drove the Cuban army from key positions in the central mountains as part of Second Nation ...
, an American who had commanded rebel forces during the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cou ...
. He said he had boarded the ''La Coubre'' on 2 March with Morgan and others to transport machine guns and ammunition to the NIAR. He said he had learned of a plot by an
anti-communist
Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
dockworker to explode the ship, did not think Morgan was involved, and now feared for his life. Morgan denied ever being aboard the ship and said of Evans: "The kid has to be out of his mind to say a thing like that." Morgan was arrested seven months later, accused of supporting counter-revolutionaries, and executed in March 1961.
Alberto Korda
Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, better known as Alberto Korda or simply Korda (September 14, 1928 – May 25, 2001), was a Cuban photographer, remembered for his famous image ''Guerrillero Heroico'' of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.
...
took photos at the March 5 memorial service at Havana's
Colón Cemetery, including the photo ''
Guerrillero Heroico
''Guerrillero Heroico'' ( en, "Heroic Guerrilla Fighter") is an iconic photograph of Marxism, Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara taken by Alberto Korda. It was captured on March 5, 1960, in Havana, Cuba, at a memorial service for victims of the ...
'', which has become an iconic image of Che Guevara.
Fate of La Coubre
''La Coubre'', named for a point of land along the Atlantic coast of France,
La Coubre, was towed to a dry-dock in
Havana Harbor
Havana Harbor is the port of Havana, the capital of Cuba, and it is the main port in Cuba (not including Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, a territory on lease by the United States). Other port cities in Cuba include Cienfuegos, Matanzas, Manzanillo, ...
where she underwent extensive temporary repairs for five months to make her sufficiently seaworthy to be towed to France. La Coubre was towed by the Dutch merchant ''Oostzee'' to Le Havre, arriving 26 September 1960. Two tugboats moved La Coubre to the French port of
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...
on the
Seine
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
. Here she underwent her permanent repairs, completed in April 1961.
When returned to service she continued to be owned and operated by the French
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, and commonly named "Transat"), typically known overseas as the French Line, was a French shipping company. Established in 1855 by the Péreire brothers, brothers Émile and Issac Péreire under the ...
until 1972, when she was sold to the Dorothea shipping company in
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
and renamed ''Barbara''. Later the vessel was renamed ''Notios Hellas'' and ''Agia Marina'' until 1979 when she was sold to a Spanish company to be scrapped.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Coubre Explosion
Explosions in 1960
March 1960 events in North America
Explosions in Cuba
Transport disasters in Cuba
Che Guevara
1960 in Cuba
History of Havana
Cuba–United States relations
Maritime incidents in 1960
Shipwrecks in the Caribbean Sea
20th century in Havana
Terrorist incidents in Cuba
Cuban Revolution
Mass murder in 1960
Massacres in Cuba
Disasters in Havana