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Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán (February 6, 1932 - October 28, 1959?) was a Cuban revolutionary born in Havana.
Camilo Cienfuegos was active in underground activities against dictator Fulgencio Batista and played an important role in the Cuban Revolution. He was one of the revolution's four major figures, together with Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro and Che Guevara. He participated with them in the 1953 attack on the Moncada barracks, and during the revolution led the so-called second column of the rebel forces together with Che Guevara. After the revolution's victory he served in the army's high command, fought counterrevolutionary uprisings, and had a large hand in instituting agrarian reforms.
In October 1959, Cienfuegos was ordered by Castro to travel to Camagüey and arrest revolutionary Comandante Huber Matos, who had resigned his post in protest at the totalitarian tendencies of the Castro government. Cienfuegos complied with the order, but decided to head back to Havana immediately after having a private conversation with Matos. During his return trip, on October 28, 1959, his Cessna plane disappeared over the water on a nighttime flight from Camagüey to Havana, and he is presumed to have died in a crash. Anti-Castro groups have claimed it is likely Castro had him killed, but his death was generally considered to have been an accident. In 2001, a book by Carlos Franqui provided additional information, indicating that Cienfuegos's plane may have been shot down by a Cuban military aircraft on the orders of Fidel Castro and documenting several serious discrepancies in the official version of the story.
