The Constanza, Maimon and Estero Hondo Expedition, June 14 and 20, 1959.

It was scheduled to arrive by air and sea on Dominican soil on June 14. However, the two vessels provided by the Cubans arrived on the north coast six days later, due to sabotage and bad weather.

The aerial landing took place on Sunday, June 14, with 54 expedition members aboard the C-46 Curtiss aircraft, at the Constanza military airport. The air raid route was directed by Juan de Dios Ventura Simó and the expedition commanded by Enrique Jimenes Moya. The plane, acquired in Miami using part of the $250,000 donated by the Venezuelans, was camouflaged with the insignia of the Dominican Military Aviation and returned to Cuba, piloted by Venezuelan Julio César Rodríguez and Cuban co-pilot Orestes Acosta.

The air landing, in general, was successful and without casualties. The expeditionaries managed to move towards the mountains in two groups, one led by Enrique Jimenes Moya with 33 men, which advanced towards Tireo, while the other 20 expeditionaries advanced towards the mountains of El Botao, under the direction of Cuban commander Delio Gómez Ochoa. The regime deployed some 3,000 soldiers, moving trucks and airplanes, which were joined by groups of peasants and civilians. Early on June 15, the skies over Constanza were blackened by the bombing of the Dominican Military Aviation. While they were going into the mountains, one of the expeditionaries lost the backpack containing the plans for the maritime landings. This was a setback, as it revealed the precise plans for the maritime landings that had not yet been carried out.

On June 20, the Carmen Elsa disembarked at Maimón, with 96 expedition members, commanded by José Horacio Rodríguez and finally captained by José Messón. In turn, the Tínima disembarked in Estero Hondo with 48 expeditionaries, commanded by José Antonio Campos Navarro. The landings were fought by the Army and the Military Aviation, with the deployment of another 3,000 soldiers. The expeditionaries of Maimon and Estero Hondo were heavily attacked by the Navy, with the presence of a coast guard, a war corvette and a destroyer ship, in addition to bombardments by the Dominican Military Aviation.

The smaller part of the expeditionaries from both fronts fell in combat. Most of them were taken prisoner by military and civilians, some were killed immediately or sent to the San Isidro Air Base, where they were finally interrogated, tortured and shot.

A last redoubt of 5 expeditionaries from Constanza was taken prisoner on July 10, composed of the Dominicans Poncio Pou Saleta and Merardo Germán, while the Cubans Delio Gómez Ochoa, Frank López and the teenager Pablito Mirabal, were captured the following day.

There is evidence of the survival until September 1959 of two expeditionaries who had disembarked in Maimon, managing to remain alive in isolation. They were the American Larry Bivins -a veteran of the Korean War- and the Spaniard Francisco Alvarez, who was the last to die on September 14, after being tortured, as his remains show.

Listado de Expedicionarios

Antonio Achecar Kalaf: Augusto Alfonseca Espaillat; Alberto Alfonseca, (Tte. cubano): «Miguel Aliés Messón; Juan Antonio Almánzar Diaz; José Vicente Almonte: Antonio Gonzalo Almonte Pacheco; José Antonio Batista Cernuda: Enrique Betaccourt Carril (Tte. cubano): Carios Cabral Manzano: Juan Francisco Cabrera Liz; José Luis Calleja Ochoa (Cap. cubano); Juan Evelio Cárdenas Soto (venezolano): David Chervony (puertorriqueño): Esperanza De los Santos Polanco; Alejandro Domenech Russo; Edwin Erminy (venezolano): Miguel Angel Feliú Arzeno; Pedro Pablo Fernández Báez; Francisco Merardo Germán Santos; Delio Gómez Ochoa (mayor cubano); Antonio González, (venezolano): Ing. Leandro Guzmán Abréu; Rafael Ant. Henriquez Rodriguez; José Ant. Hungría Fermin; Enrique Jiménez Moya (Comandante en Jefe); Leopaldo Jiménez Nouel; Frank Lopez Fonseca (Tte. cubano); Ramón López López (Cap. cubano): Victor Mainardi Méndez (cubano): Héctor Mateo Calcagno; Dr. Rafael Augusto Mella, Parias Mirabal Guerra (cubano); José Isaac Molina González (venezolano); Max Montesinos (cubano); Dr. Rafael Moore Garrido; José Arismendi Patiño Martinez; Rafael Tomás Perelló Diaz; Federico Pichardo Diaz; Poncio Pou Saleta; Juan Enrique Puigsubiré Miniño: Oscar Reyes Medina (Tte. cubano); Gaspar Ant. Rodriguez Bou; Rafael Rodriguez; Cosme Rojas Pérez; Ramón Ruiz(cubano); Rinaldo Sintjago Pou (2do. Comandante); José Ant. Spignolio Mena; Alcibiades Tavárez Pepín; Alejandro Torres; Mayobanex Vargas y Vargas; Oscar Luis Vega Acosta (Tte. cubano); Juan de Dios Ventura Simó; Charles White (norteamericano).

Moisés Agosto Concepción (puertorriqueño); Silvio Almonte Fernández, Dr. Miguel Álvarez Fatigo Branéisco Álvarez Martínez (español); Miguel Amarante Sevillano; Alejandro Arrechedera Rodríguez(venezolano); Ramón Asensio Valverde; Diego Ávila Piller: Nicolás Virgilio Báez Jiménez; Alejandro Báez y Báez; Enrique Belliard Sosa: Dr. Toribio Bencosme Rodríguez; José Fabio Berbés; Larry Bivins (norteamericano); Pedro Julián Bonilla Aybar; Héctor Cabral Brito; Domingo Cabrera Martínez; Julio Camacho (venezolano); Juan Capellán Cabrera: Julio César Castillo Cruz; Fernando Cestero Martínez; Dr. José Cordero Michel: Raúl Cruz (cubano); Ramón Aníbal De Castro Sánchez; Jesús Bdo. Del Castillo Díaz; Héctor Del Giudice Herrera; Manuel José Del Orbe; Manuel Delgado López; Augusto Dohse Jorge; Silvio Augusto Domínguez López; Guillermo Ducoudray Mansfield, Julio Raúl Durán García; Gabriel E. Fernández-Mármol Pérez; Juan Domingo Figueroa Reyes: Bienvenido Fuertes Duarte; Ercilio García Bencosme; José Freddy Genao Espaillat; Fernando Godoy; Luis González Castellanos (Tte. cubano); Eugenio Ant. Grullón González; Francisco Grullón Martínez; Freddy Guerra Aponte; Nelson Hernández González (venezolano); Generoso Hernández (venezolano): Sergio Manuel Ildefonso Cordero; Antonio Jiménez Cabrera; César Federico Larancuent Rijo; Dr. José Caonabo Lora Martínez; Andrés Lozano Guzmán; Luis Lugo: Conrado Martínez Hernández; Eduardo S. Martínez Saviñón; José Martínez Morales; Juan José Mateo Adames; Luis Alfonso Medina Rosales(venezolano); Danilo Ant. Mendoza; José Messón Acosta; Mosén; Dr. Antonio Mota Ricart; Guillermo Padilla Hernández; Manuel de Js. Parache Hernández; Gustavo Adolfo Patiño Martínez; Ramón Paulino Estrella; José MI. Ramón Peña González: Andrés E. Pérez Rodríguez; Roberto Pichardo Caminada (cubano): Lucas Pichardo Saldaña; José Ant. Puello; Luis Rafael Quezada; Rafael Ramírez Domínguez; Dr. Ramón Aquiles Ramírez Guzmán; Luis 0. Ramos Reyes (puertorriqueño); Sócrates Ravelo Ramírez; Rubén Rey Vásquez; Juan Reyes Reyes (puertorriqueño); Herminio Ripoll; Víctor Rivera; Saturnino Rizek Bergés; José Ant. Rodríguez Gómez; Aldo Rodriguez Pérez (cubano): William Rodriguez Santos; Dr. José Horacia Rodriguez Vásquez (Comandante); Alberto Rodríguez (cubano); José Luis Rodriguez (venezolano): José Andrés Rolán Pérez; José Ant. Sánchez Pérez (Tte. cubano); Francisco Sánchez; Andrés Santana Read; Angel Nicolás Soriano Francisco; Ramón Alfonso Suárez Suárez; José Tavárez Cabrera; José Taveras García; Juan Emiliano Urtarte Schaffers: Danilo Valdez Borges; Ricardo Vassallo Alfonso (cubano) y un expedicionario de nombre desconocido.

Juan Bautista Almente Fernández; Antonio Bienvenido Almonte; Luis Álvarez (puertorriqueño); Carlos Aponte Willard; José Ant. Arias Quintero (venezolano); Simplicio Belford Santos: Hermes Bueno Almaguer (Tte. cubano): José Antonio Campos Navarro (Comandante): Miguel Ángel Carrasco Aguasvivas; Pedro Antonio Casado Jiménez; Rubén Cordero García; Máximo Emilio D'Oleo Gimbernard; Rafael Fernando Fernández Moreau; Froilán Flores (cubano): Vicente Mario Gómez Montán, Persio Oscar Grullón Castro; Francisco Napoleón Hermón Machuca; Alberto Herrera Moreno; Cristian Roberto Jordán Soto (guatemalteco); Pedro Linares Badillo (venezolano); Manuel Lorenzo Carrasco: Dr. Felipe Maduro Sanabia; Victor MI. (Silin) Mainardi Reyna; Francisco Martín Fernández (español): Jaime Ml. Martínez Rodríguez; Dr. Octavio Mejía-Ricart Guzmán; Miguel Ángel Menéndez Vallejo; Antonio de Js. Minaya Fernández; Ogando; Héctor Budo. Olivier Romero; Luis Fernando Ozuna; Arcadio Ramón Peguero Reyes; Alberto Perdomo Ramírez; Manuel de Js. Perozo Chicón; Héctor Enrique Ramírez Castillo: Tomás Rodríguez (cubano); Rafael Ross Thomén; Luis Conrado Ruiz: Elpidio Sanabia Minaya: Guillermo A. Sánchez Sanlley; Miguel Olivo Saviñón Guerrero: Segura: Martín Senior Paz; Alfonso José Sintjago Flores (venezolano); José Ant. Toribio Rodríguez; Francisco A. Ubiera; José Rafael Federico Valverde Cruz y un expedicionario de nombre desconocido.