The Battle of Santa Clara was the most crucial stage in
the victory of the Revolution in Cuba. The rebels, in an
attempt to infiltrate the west, took complete control of
Villa Clara in just three days, opening the way to Havana.
The capture of the region, as well as the detention of a
train in Santa Clara, packed to the brim with weapons, ammunition, and
military supplies which were loaded onto the train to be
distributed to military units in the east of the island, were decisive in the end of the Batista regime.
This military victory is commemorated with a Freight Car
Museum in the spot where the armored train was derailed.
Receiving intelligence that a train loaded with military
ammunition was in Santa Clara on its way to the troops in
the east of island, Che
Guevara ordered Captain Ramón Pardo Guerra Guile to seize
the train on December 28, 1958. With Che Guevara's own
participation, an 18-man detachment under the command of
Ramón Pardo, belonging to the Ciro Redondo Column, attacked
the train consisting of two locomotives and 18 cars at the
place where the open-air museum (Freight Car Museum) stands
today. Using a borrowed bulldozer, the train was derailed.
The rebels had only rifles and homemade Molotov cocktails.
408 officers and soldiers under the command of Colonel
Casillas Lumpuy, who had killed the sugar factory leader
Jesús Menéndez years ago and was the head of the Leoncio
Vidal Regiment in Santa Clara, were waiting ready in the
train. The train
was loaded with powerful weapons, including cannons,
bazookas, rocket launchers, machine guns of various
calibers, rifles, and abundant ammunition.
After a firefight lasting about 1,5 hours, Batista's soldiers surrendered, and all the military ammunition, along with the train, was seized, depriving Batista’s army on the east of reinforcements. Che Guevara cleverly used Molotov cocktails during the train's capture. The heat radiating from the burning Molotov cocktails weakened the resistance of the soldiers inside the iron-clad train, and they feared they would be burned inside.
This brilliant military victory of the
rebels led Batista to realize the end was near. He fled to
the Dominican Republic without waiting for the fall of Santa
Clara at dawn on January 1, 1959. Revolutionary forces under
his command of Fidel Castro and Camillo Cienfuegos entered
Havana on January 8, 1959, seized control, and declared the
victory of the revolution.
It was decided to erect a monument to commemorate this
historic military victory, and to transform the area where
the train was captured into an open-air museum. The initial
artistic design for this museum which was called Freight Car
Museum, was created by artist Ramón Rodríguez Limonte, and
the first monument was unveiled on December 29, 1971. The
open-air museum was officially opened on July 13, 1987,
after renowned sculptor José Delarra completed its final
design, placing wagons on the museum grounds. In the years
following this date, the museum was enriched by the addition
of the original bulldozer that Che used to lift the railway
lines and cause derailment, and the carriage that was placed
to convey the impression of movement.
The permanent exhibitions inside the wagons feature
historical documents, weapons, photographs, and objects
related to the military operation.
