The method: export the counterrevolution to Cuba from the United States through undercover operations. The means: the Intelligence Community, organizations and bandits. The scenario: the main cities and mountainous regions of the Island. The final purpose: the direct intervention of U.S. forces in Cuba to overthrow the Revolution. Thus, Operation Mongoose arises, a vast project approved on November 30th, 1961 by President Kennedy, which increased subversive operations against Cuba.

Phase IV of the calendar of this operation indicated that during August and September they would begin what they called the "guerrilla operations" with an increase in actions and "resistance" throughout the Island. Material and financial support was provided in this new subversive operation on a large scale so that,  the role of the bands acquired one of the highest priorities within these plans.

Las Tunas was not an exception, since 1960, Pablo Pupo Cruz (Tuto) operated in the region of Manatí. In mid-February 1962, an uprising took place in the area of Cruz Alta, Majibacoa, east of Las Tunas by Aurelio Hidalgo de la Peña (El Guajiro) accompanied by the brothers Cástulo and Gusberto Guerra Hernández. They received the support of the leaders of the Christian Democratic Movement (MDC) and a network of collaborators composed of peasants from the region. They were former members of the Rural Commands that in 1959 had been under the orders of Manuel Artime Bueza, CIA agent, a key man in the organization of Operation Pluto and chief leader of the terrorist group Movement of Revolutionary Recovery (MRR).

On the night of March 2nd, 1962, the assault and burning of the Tunas-Puerto Padre bus took place on the stretch of the road near the place known as Sitio Piedra. It was established, thanks to the information provided by the agent Isidro Jorge Pérez, that the authors of the sabotage were Aurelio Hidalgo's men, with the support of bandits' collaborators Wilfredo Guerra and Antonio Torres.

  Ascanio Díaz Tamayo, martyr of the State
  Security Bodies in Las TunasSubsequently, Gusberto Guerra became independent and on April 2nd, 1962 he savagely murdered the collaborator of the State Security Bodies, Azcanio Díaz Tamayo, martyr of this department of the Ministry of Interior, in the neighborhood of La Estrella, Hermanos Mayo.

These crimes together with other atrocities committed by the lackeys of the Empire led to a strong offensive against the murderers. Thus, on August 31st, 1962, through Directive 00023, of the head of the General Staff of the Revolutionary Army Force (FAR by its Spanish acronym), the creation of the Fight Against Bandits Troops was officially established, and its chief of operations in the Oriente province was Captain Eleno Fajardo.

Since 1959, the unit of the Information Department of the Rebel Army was created in Las Tunas: a small group of tough combatants under the orders of Carlos Cuquejo Almaguer, who carried out the secret work, with the firm support of a significant number of collaborators, both secret and public.

Agent IsidroIn September 1962 and as a result of the secret work, several bandits and collaborators were located and a coordinated operational plan between the Security State Department and the Rebel Army is discussed. The objective was aimed at making a strong offensive against them, in which the agents Isidro and Napoleón, who came to occupy important positions within counter-revolutionary organizations, played a decisive role, facilitating their location and control.

Thanks to the courage of the latter, the operation carried out in September 1962 in Las Caballerías against the bandit Fernando Ortiz (Nando) was able to disperse the band and its ringleader died.

Precisely, in September 1962, other successful operations were carried out by combined forces of the Fight Against Bandits Troops, the National Revolutionary Militia, the Security State Department and the National Revolutionary Police, against the bands of Eberto Carmenate Borges (Beto) and El Guajiro Hidalgo.

The pressure of the revolutionary forces forced El Guajiro Hidalgo leaving the country on September 18th, 1962, on La Oriental vessel along with 15 other counter-revolutionary elements. Rafael Casanova Fernández (Fuca) was also on the ship, who was subsequently recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and designated as a guide for an infiltration team that landed in the area known as Los Morrillos, in the municipality of Puerto Padre, on July 20th, 1963.

The vessel La Oriental was captained by CIA boatman, Manuel Arias Cortés, who was recruited and trained by the Agency to carry out infiltration and ex-filtration activities of its agents in Cuba; operating in the place known as Punta Piedra, where he carried out several operations of this type.

These elements after being recruited by the CIA had received military training in the Everglades (swamp area of Florida), as well as preparation in secret writing for communications, explosives, sabotage and specialized espionage materials.

Among the missions of these spies were the realization of sabotage and attacks within the Island. They were provided with aerial photos and plans of different military and economic facilities of importance, mainly the Potosí rocker base and the Banes naval base, in the Holguín province; as well as the strengthening of the bandits, through the burial of weapon shipments and the creation of reception committees in the coastal areas.

The defeat of undercover operations of 1962; the capture of the main gangs' leaders operating in the country, as well as the resolution of the conflict that triggered the Missile Crisis, influenced the decision of the United States Government to end Operation Mongoose. It constituted a tacit recognition of their defeat, while they continued organizing and planning new covert actions and assassination plans of the main leaders of the Revolution, mainly the Commander in Chief.

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