Posted on 05/28/2010 7:25:57 AM PDT by The Bronze Titan
Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez, center, accompanied by South America's leaders, addresses the unveiling ceremony of the Latin American Heroes Salon during celebrations for the bicentennial of the May Revolution at the government palace in Buenos Aires, Tuesday, May 25, 2010. The May Revolution opened the road to the independence of Argentina from Spain in 1816. Hanging on the wall, images of, from left, Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Argentina's leader late Gen. Juan Domingo Peron and Chile's President late Salvador Allende. (AP Photo/ Eduardo Di Baia)
216 DOCUMENTED VICTIMS OF CHÉ GUEVARA IN CUBA: 1957 TO 1959
=========================================================
* * - Document written by José Vilasuso, a lawyer who worked under "Ché" in the preparation of indictments
that often resulted in the death sentence during the first months of the Communist government in 1959
In January of 1959 I worked under the well known leader of the Purging Commission, Ciro Redondo Column,
fortress of La Cabaña. I was a recent Law School graduate and had the enthusiasm of one who witnesses
his own generation assume power.
I was part of the team assembling the details of the cases against those accused of committing crimes
during the previous government, such as murder, embezzlement, torture, betrayal, etc. Through my desk
passed the files of accused men such as Commander Alberto Boix Coma and the journalist Otto Meruelo.
Most of the indicted were military of low ranks, or politicians of no renown or charisma. On their side,
the witnesses were ardent youth, vengeful, utopian, or simply malicious, anxious to earn revolutionary honors.
I remember a Lieutenant Llivre, with an eastern-Cuba accent who would instigate us with “We must set up the show,
we must bring real revolutionary witnesses who can shout ‘justice!, justice!, firing squad!, esbirros*!.
This is what moves people.” The commissioner of the Marianao section once exhorted us: “We have to get all of
these heads. All of them”
At the beginning, the Tribunals were composed of civilian and military lawyers, under the direction of
Captain Mike Duque de Estrada and Lieutenants Sotolongo and Rivero (who later went crazy), and the prosecutors
Tony Suarez de la Fuente (Pelayito) also known as “Pool o’blood” (Charco de Sangre) among others. Then, most of
us quit given the excesses. Later, others without any legal training occupied our positions.
There were relatives of victims of the previous regime who were put in charge of judging the accused.
The first case on which I worked was that of Ariel Lima, a former revolutionary who had gone to the
government side. His fate was sealed. He was dressed in prison uniform. I saw him handcuffed with his teeth
chattering. According to the Law of the Guerrillas the facts were judged without any consideration to general
juridical principles. The right of Habeas Corpus had been suspended.
The statements of the investigating officer constituted irrefutable proof of wrongdoing. The defense lawyer
simply admitted the accusations and requested the generosity of the government in order to reduce the
sentence. In those days, Guevara was visible in his black beret, cigar in mouth. Cantinflas-like face and
bandaged arm in sling. He was extremely thin and his slow and cold tone demonstrated his “posse” of
“gray eminence” of the Revolution and total adherence to Marxist theory. Many people congregated in his
office and engaged in lively discussions about the revolutionary process. However, his conversation used to
be full of irony, he never showed any alteration in temperament or paid any attention to different opinions
He reprimanded in private more than one colleague; in public, he chastised us all: “Don’t delay these trials.
This is a revolution, the proofs are secondary. We have to proceed by conviction. They are a gang of criminals
and murderers. Besides, remember that there is an Appeals Tribunals”
This Appeals Tribunal never decided in favor of the appeal. It simply confirmed the sentences.
It was presided by Commander Ernesto Guevara Serna.
The executions took place in the early morning hours. Once sentence was passed, the relatives and
friends exploded in horrible cries, supplications of pity for their children, their husbands, etc,
Desperation and terror spread throughout the room. Several women had to be taken out by force. The next
step was “goodbye” a room where they embraced for the last time, united by pain. Those embraces of minutes
looked like the prelude of a long trip. Once alone, there were some men who resisted until the time of the
discharge of the guns. Others went shaking, dejected, overwhelmed. One policeman, as a last wish wanted
permission to urinate. Many learned only that day what a priest was.
More than one died shouting :”I am innocent” A brave captain commanded his own execution.
To witness such a butchery was a trauma that will accompany me to my grave and it is my mission to
let this be known. During those hours the walls of that medieval castle received the echoes of the
rhythmic footstep of the squad, the clicking of the rifles, the command voices, the resounding of the shots,
the sorry howling of the dying and the shouting of officers and guards upon their final shots.
The macabre silence when everything was consummated.
In front of the wall, full of holes by the bullets, tied to posts, the agonizing corpses remained,
soaked in blood and paralyzed in indescribable positions, spastic hands, painful expressions of shock,
unhinged jaws, a hole where an eye used to be before. Some of the bodies had the skulls destroyed and
exposed brains due to the last shot.
Executions took place from Monday to Saturday, and each day about one to seven prisoners were executed,
sometimes more. Death sentence cases had a blanket authorization of Fidel, Raul and Ché, and were
decided by the Tribunal or by the Communist Party. Each member of the firing squad got fifteen pesos per
execution. The officers got twenty five. In Oriente province summary sentences were profusely applied,
but I don’t have reliable figures. Nevertheless, in La Cabaña, until June of 1959, about six hundred
prisoners were executed, plus and indefinite number of prison sentences… all this after a revolutionary
process in which about four thousand people lost their lives on both sides.**
No wonder Argentina went from one of the richest countries in 1900 to an economic basket case when those 3 losers are hailed as heroes. Why not add some portraits of Lenin, Stalina and Hitler. Peron was a big fan of Hitler.
We are witnessing the unbelievable. Governments and respective ‘elected leaders’ of ‘civilized’ nations worshiping and honoring despots and outright murderers. They have sided with the worst of this hemisphere’s history! I hope and pray that one day they will pay dearly for this.
It is incredible that Argentina would choose to exalt the scum who have dominated its history since the nineteen thirties. The nation of Domingo Faustino Samiento, author and educator, and Jorge Luis Borges, writer extraordinaire, to name only two of the great ones, began the long plunge into irrelevance with the rise of Fascism in the nineteen thirties. It is ironic that the Italians who supported Fascism and Peron have now begun a reverse migration and are returning to Italy from Argentina, the failed state. They are following in the steps of Jewish citizens who began their departure decades ago.
Basically Argentina is populated by people from the Club Med countries so really no surprise they keep blowing it and finding scapegoats.
Irony being what it is in South American history, many or most of the worshipers in this "Hall of Heroes" are destined to be stood up against a wall by the descendants of the very people they are worshiping.
Some hero's...Two Communist and One Fascist --- All Murders
Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, and Honduras are the only countries left with any sensible understanding/direction of liberty and freedom.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.