Operation Verano

BelligerentsRepublic of Cuba26th of July MovementCommanders and leaders

General Eulogio Cantillo
General Alberto del Rio Chaviano

Major José Quevedo Pérez

Fidel Castro
Che Guevara
Raúl Castro
Camilo Cienfuegos
Major José Quevedo Pérez

René Ramos Latour†Strength 12,000 men 300 menCasualties and losses 207 killed
30 wounded
433 captured

27 killed

50 wounded

Operation Verano (, "Operation Summer") was the name given to the summer offensive in 1958 by the Batista government during the Cuban Revolution, known to the rebels as La Ofensiva. The offensive was designed to crush Fidel Castro's revolutionary army, which had been growing in strength in the area of the Sierra Maestra mountains since their arrival in Cuba on board the Granma yacht in December 1956. The offensive was met with resistance, notably at the Battle of La Plata and the Battle of Las Mercedes, and failed in its objective. The failure left the Cuban army dispirited and demoralized. Castro viewed it as a victory and soon launched his own offensive.