Killing of Twelve People in Cabañas, Cuba (1958)

Cabañas is a village and consejo popular of the municipality of Mariel, located in Artemisa Province on the northeast coast of western Cuba. Prior to 1970, the area was administered as part of Pinar del Río Province. The town sits on Cabañas Bay, home to an industrial and fishing harbor as well as a significant base of the Cuban Navy.

Between November and December 1958 — during the final phase of the Cuban Revolution — the town was the site of a series of killings carried out by anti-communist forces. The killings reportedly began when authorities killed two farmers whom they believed were connected to an earlier guerrilla attack on government bases. Following this initial act, soldiers reportedly killed dozens of people suspected of being communists, as well as witnesses to the earlier deaths, over the following weeks until December 1958.

The names of twelve people killed during this episode have been recorded. The exact total number of victims, the identities of the alleged perpetrators, and the disposition of any legal proceedings remain unresolved. The killings occurred in the weeks leading up to the end of the Batista government and the culmination of the Cuban Revolution.