Smoke rises over Havana harbor following the explosion

People near the docks run from the blast

At 3:10 p.m. on 4 March 1960, the freighter La Coubre (sometimes erroneously called "Le Coubre"), a 4,310-ton French vessel carrying 76 tons of Belgian munitions, exploded while it was being unloaded in Havana harbor. Unloading explosive ordnance directly onto the dock was against port regulations since ships with such cargoes were supposed to be moored in the center of the harbor and their high-risk cargo unloaded onto lighters. ^[1] The decision to unload La Coubre directly onto the Tallapiedra dock had apparently been made by Raúl Castro, the Minister of the Cuban Armed Forces (FAR). Image File history File links LC_explosion_cloud. ... Image File history File links LC_explosion_cloud. ... Image File history File links LC_explosion_panic. ... Image File history File links LC_explosion_panic. ... Look up March in Wiktionary, the free dictionary March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Havana (Spanish in full: San Cristóbal de La Habana, usually shortened to just La Habana; UN/LOCODE: CU HAV) is the capital of Cuba and, with a population of 2. ... Lighter riding the current under Tower Bridge, London, circa 1928 A lighter is a type of flat-bottomed barge used to transfer goods to and from moored ships. ... Fidel Castro (left) and Raúl Castro (right). ... National security Under Castro, Cuba became a highly militarized society. ...

At the instant of the explosion, Che Guevara was passing nearby on his way to the National Bank of Cuba, of which he was president, and detoured to the harbor to find out what had occurred there. He spent the next hours giving medical attention to the scores of crew members, Castro armed forces and dock workers [1] who had been injured, many of them with fatal wounds. Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (June 14, 1928 â€“ October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara or el Che, was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary, politician, and Cuban guerrilla leader. ...

Thirty minutes after the first explosion, while hundreds of people were involved in a FAR-organized operation to rescue victims and secure the ship, a second even more powerful explosion occurred, resulting in many additional fatalities. Although the exact toll remains uncertain, it is estimated that there were at least 75 dead and approximately 200 injured, with some sources giving figures that are much higher. National security Under Castro, Cuba became a highly militarized society. ...

Cuban Government sources sometimes attribute this event as an act of sabotage carried out by William Alexander Morgan.^[2] William Alexander Morgan was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 19, 1928 [1]. His life origens are obscure and his death legendary (Abella, 2000). ...

The weaponry destroyed include FAL, fully automatic Belgian FN rifles,.308 caliber ammunition e.g. [2]. The Afro-Cuban dock workers were probably members of the reputedly very violent Abakuá e.g. [3] [4] [5]. [6]. There are reports that the Abakuá reputed to be vengeful [7] resists the goverment's pressure, and others that it admires [8] [9] and provides a special guard for Castro [10]. It is probable that these dockworkers have an uneasy pact with Castro, as is so elegantly described by Jerome Du Bois (2004) [11]. Some report that there were a large number of executions after the explosion [12], others state that these dock worker were not qualified to unload explosives

La Coubre was towed to a dry-dock in Havana harbor where it underwent extensive repairs. It returned to service and continued to be owned and operated by the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique until 1972, when it was sold to Cyprus and re-named the Barbara. Saint Barbara is patron of arsenals and in Spanish refers to a ship's weapon storage facility [13]. Saint Barbara is also considered an Africo Cuban deity (Santa Barbara-Changó), a god of thunder and explosions who is worshipped by the Abakuá among others [14].

Source notes

March 19 is the 78th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (79th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

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