Cuba Archive - Case 395

Case ID: 395

Title: Lieutenant Colonel

First name: Bonifacio

Last name: Haza Grasso

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: N/A

Name also reported as: Bonifación Haza, Bonifacio Laza, Bonifacio Asa Graso, Bonifacio Haza Grasse, Bonifacio Grasso, Bonifacio Lasaparla, Bonifacio Lasa Parla, (No first name) Asa

Age: 48

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: Day:11 / Month:11 / Year:1910

Civil Status: Married

Date of death/disappearance: Day:12 / Month:1 / Year:1959

Citizenship: Cuba

Last known address: 125 Rey Pelayo III Street

Last known city: Santiago de Cuba

Last known province-TOD: Oriente

Last known province current: Santiago de Cuba

Last known country: Cuba

Location death-address: San Juan Hill

Location of death - city: Santiago de Cuba

Location of death province - at TOD: Oriente

Location of death province - current: Santiago de Cuba

Location of death - country: Cuba

Trial held?: No

Docket Number: N/A

Sentence details: N/A

Arrest or detention at time of death: Yes

Date of arrest: N/A

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: N/A

How long imprisoned/detained: N/A

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: FAR - Revolutionary Armed Forces

Associated Event: 1959 San Juan Hill Massacre

Case description:

Haza was put in charge of the National Police in Santiago de Cuba under Batista in 1958 and on January 1, 1959 negotiated at El Caney, outside the city of Santiago, with Fidel Castro for a peaceful transition of power after Batista fled the country. Convinced that Fidel Castro would keep his promise to restore the 1940 Constitution, he agreed to have the police maintain order, avoid looting and other public disorders, then escorted Castro and his rebel group to Santiago's Céspedes Park to hold an exchange with members of the Armed Forces and police. Raúl Castro promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel and Aide to the Chief of the Armed Forces, On Jan. 8th, however, he was unexpectedly arrested and accused of allegedly assassinating student Fernando Proll Céspedes. On Jan. 11th and without a trial, Raúl Castro ordered his execution and that of 70 members of the armed forces, police, and Batista supporters. On January 12th, from around 2AM until 10AM, the men were lined up in pairs and shot by firing squad in front of ditches dug up earlier that day at San Juan Hill. At his request, Haza was the last man executed; hoping to be spared as a Baptist reverend attempted to plead his case directly with Fidel Castro. A bulldozer then filled the mass graves while some of the men were still alive. In 1963, torrential rains from Hurricane Flora unearthed the bodies from their shallow graves; they were thrown in cement casings into the ocean’s Bartlett trench, off the coast of Oriente province. Cuban official media reported in 2017 that Haza had killed opposition leader Frank País, but his family reports he was sick at home that day. Baptist reverend Celestino González was convinced that Haza, who had saved his life and that of another reverend from Batista's goons, was innocent of all imputed crimes, and was planning to gather similar witnesses for his trial, which never took place. Huber Matos, former revolutionary Commander and political prisoner of the Castros, later expressed his surprise that individuals who had collaborated with the Rebel Army had been executed, including Haza, who had been collaborating with Matos and was not known to have committed any crimes. 
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Estuvo a cargo de la Policía Nacional en Santiago de Cuba bajo el gobierno de Batista y después de que Batista huyó del país, negoció con Fidel Castro y el Ejército Rebelde el 1 de enero de 1959 en el Caney la transición pacífica del poder, convencido de que Fidel Castro mantendría su promesa de restaurar la Constitución de 1940. Acordó  que la policía mantuviera el orden y evitara los saqueos y otros desórdenes públicos y luego escoltó a Fidel Castro y su grupo rebelde al parque Céspedes de Santiago para intercambiar con miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas y la policía. Raúl Castro lo ascendió a Teniente Coronel y Ayudante del Jefe del Ejército. Inesperadamente, el 8 de enero 1959 fue arrestado, acusado de asesinar al estudiante Fernando Proll Céspedes, y del asesinato de Alberto Sambrán.  (Se reporta que Proll había sido asesinado por el Jefe de la SIM Teniente Enrique Despaigne.) Fue ejecutado por órdenes de Raúl Castro junto a un grupo de 70 miembros de las fuerzas armadas, la policía y los partidarios de Batista. A petición suya, Haza fue el último hombre ejecutado; con la esperanza de ser salvado cuando un reverendo bautista intentó defender su caso directamente con Fidel Castro. Los medios oficiales cubanos informaron en 2017 que Haza había matado al líder de la oposición, Frank País, pero su familia informó que estaba enfermo en su casa ese día. El reverendo bautista Celestino González estaba convencido de que Haza, que le había salvado la vida a él y a otro reverendo a manos de los matones de Batista, era inocente de todos los delitos imputados y planeaba reunir testigos similares para su juicio, que nunca se llevó a cabo. Huber Matos, ex comandante revolucionario y luego preso político de los Castro, luego relató que le sorprendió mucho que hubieran fusilado a personas que habían cooperado con el Ejercito Rebelde, incluyendo a Haza, ya que había estaba conspirando con él y no tenía antecendentes de haber cometido crimenes.

Sources:

Testimony of son, in writing,11/08/2017. U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Dispatch No. 82, 19 February 1959, p. 1. U.S Department of State, Foreign Service Dispatch No. 751, 20 January 1959, p. 4. Pedro Corzo entrevista al Padre Jorge Bez Chabebe sobre los cubanos fusilados por Raúl Castro, Cuba: Encuentros con la Memoria, 17/6/2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCi6XUiulPc. (see minutes 31:28 -  33:00).  Bonifacio L. Haza, Escritos sobre la arena, Publish Green, 2012.  Bonifacio L. Haza, Escritos sobre la arena II, 2017. Letter from Rev. Celestino González to Rev. Eliseo Rodriguez with an account of Haza's execution, Jan. 26, 1959. Testimony of Luis Haza (son) in Blazquez, 1997. Luis de la Paz, ‘Escritos sobre la arena’, testimonio de una masacre castrista, El Nuevo Herald, 5 abril 2015. José Marmol, El Nuevo Herald, 15 June 1999, p. 14-a. Ruíz, 1965, p. 241. Beruvides, 1993, pp. 126 and 134. Cuban American National Foundation, Quilt of Fidel Castro's Genocide, 1994. Circuito Sur, July 2002, p. 41;  Barquín, 1975, p. II-771.  United States Information Agency, 1993, Year 1959. Conte-Aguero, 1962, p. 161. Huber Matos-Benitez, 2002, p. 269. Cuban Information Archives, Document 0087, p. 2. Alberto Alonso, Enero 1972, p. 14. Bez Chabebe, Jorge. Dios me hizo cura, julio 2014, p. 49-53. Luis de La Paz, Familia de violinista que tocó para Trump niega acusación de Cuba de que su padre mató a Frank País, El Nuevo Herald, 16 julio 2017. Masacre de la Loma de San Juan enero 12, 2014, https://todoporcuba.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/masacre-de-loma-de-san-juan-enero-12-1959/. J. Alvarez, Los fusilamientos de la Loma de San Juan, Cubanet, 16/1/2019. “Vida Loca de Raúl Castro”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg7pJmGdpOE (min. 8:00).

Conflict of Evidence:

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Execution: by firing squad

Occupations: - Protective Service Occupations

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Government official (civilian, police, State Security, etc.)

Affiliations: N/A

Other Victims Same Event: N/A

Case Record - Bonifacio Haza Grasso