Cuba Archive - Case 3015

Case ID: 3015

Title: N/A

First name: Juan

Last name: Pereira Varela

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: Juanín

Name also reported as: Miguel Ángel, Juan Perera

Age: 21

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: N/A

Civil Status: Unknown

Date of death/disappearance: Day:17 / Month:12 / Year:1961

Citizenship: N/A

Last known address: N/A

Last known city: Ciudad de Pinar del Río

Last known province-TOD: Pinar del Río

Last known province current: Pinar del Río

Last known country: Cuba

Location death-address: North coast

Location of death - city: Pinar del Río

Location of death province - at TOD: Pinar del Río

Location of death province - current: Pinar del Río

Location of death - country: Cuba

Trial held?: No

Docket Number: N/A

Sentence details: N/A

Arrest or detention at time of death: No

Date of arrest: N/A

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: N/A

How long imprisoned/detained: N/A

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: Militia

Associated Event: Anti-Castro insurgency/resistance

Case description:

University student and leader of the underground resistance killed in a shootout with Castro's militia. His location was betrayed by police informer Jorge Medina Btinguier. According to Enrique Ros, in El clandestinaje y la lucha armada, his place of landing should have been Coloma, Pinar del Río, but the Cuban authorities had changed the lighthouse lights, which were supposed to be his point of reference, and the G2 (State Security) encircled and captured him.
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Pereira Varela (Juanín) quien fue muerto el 17 de diciembre de 1961 en la costa norte de Pinar
del Río, Cuba. Juanín estudió en el Colegio Baldor &#8212;allí fue campeón de natación&#8212; y luego en la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de La Habana. De pensamiento cristiano formó parte de la Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU). Cuando en Cuba el castrismo acabó con la libertad Juanín comenzó a luchar en el Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE). Después del desastre de Playa Girón fue nombrado Secretario General del DRE y cumplió con todas sus responsabilidades. Fue a Pinar del Río a esperar un grupo que se infiltraba y allí fue
asesinado por la fuerza represiva del régimen totalitario.

Sources: Conflict of Evidence:

Written testimony of friend, Memorial Cubano, February 22, 2004, reports him as Juan Pereira, from Marianao, executed in December 1961.  Instituto de la Memoria Hístorica Cubana contra el Totalitarismo, 2002, p. 14, has him killed in shootout with police on December 18, 1961.  Encinosa, 1994, p. 122, has him assassinated on December 18, 1961.  Cuban American National Foundation, Quilt of Fidel Castro's Genocide, 1994, lists a victim with similar name (Juan Perera) and alias (Miguel Ángel), executed in 1962 in Havana.  Organization of American States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Fifth Special Report, 1976, p. 2, has him executed by firing squad without a trial.  Circuito Sur, July 2002, p. 63, has him executed by firing squad without trial in the city of Pinar del Río on December 18, 1961.  Conte Aguero, 1963, pp. 70-71, has him captured, tortured, and later shot in December 1961.  Clarinada, diciembre 2008, reports the victim as Juanín Pereira, killed in combat on the coast of Pinar del Río on December 18, 1961.

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Combat: Fatality or Missing in Action

Occupations: N/A

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Anti-Castro insurgent or resistance member

Affiliations: - Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil - Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU).

Other Victims Same Event: N/A

Case Record - Juan Pereira Varela