The Bloody Christmas, are one of the sadest pages of our history.
After the landing of Granma yacht, in December 1956 succeeded in Cuba a series of crimes against the enemies of Fulgencio Batista.
These crimes are known as "Bloody Christmas", made it to be framed in the festivities of Easter were baptized with that name. During that fact were murdered 23 revolutionary young.
In a meeting held in the Army in Columbia military camp, planned the possibility of a landing in Holguin province and was given permission to avoid the occurrence of actions related to the uprising occurred on November 30th of that year in Santiago de Cuba.
The operation, misnamed "Christmas present", would liquidate each of the revolutionaries, without stop them, the order was from 12:00 am on December 24th and conclude before sunrise and extend until Dec. 26th if not finish in that time.
The operation finished on Dec. 26th, and 23 revolutionaries of Holguin and Las Tuna were killed. Many of them were uprooted from their homes, brutally tortured and their bodies abandoned on the roads, in the field, under a bridge, hanging from a tree, scenes that shocked the town. Only committed the crime of opposing the Batista dictatorship.
Their lifeless bodies appeared savagely tortured, hanged or shot, with the express purpose of spreading terror and insurgent extinguish the flame that was already burning in the Sierra Maestra.
Also killed the young Rafael Orejón Forment, Head of Action and Sabotage of July 26th Movement in Nicaro.
The crime was a serious blow to the revolutionary movement as their key leaders and other prominent members were killed. The new underground movement was organized in the territory.
The blood of the martyrs of the "Bloody Christmas" was not shed in vain. The terror did not stop the determination to fight the people, nor the rapid development of the Rebel Army to achieve later the overthrow of tyranny.
