Cuba Archive - Case 6277

Case ID: 6277

Title: Sor

First name: Aida Rosa

Last name: Pérez

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: N/A

Name also reported as: Sor (Sister) Aida Pérez López

Age: 42

Gender: Female

Date of Birth: N/A

Civil Status: Unknown

Date of death/disappearance: Day:12 / Month:12 / Year:1967

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: State Security Pavillion, Military Hospital

Location of death - city: Havana

Location of death province - at TOD: N/A

Location of death province - current: N/A

Location of death - country: Cuba

Trial held?: Yes

Docket Number: N/A

Sentence details: Twelve years imprisonment

Arrest or detention at time of death: Yes

Date of arrest: N/A

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: State Security Pavillion, Military Hospital

How long imprisoned/detained: N/A

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: N/A

Associated Event: N/A

Case description:

Daughter of the owner of the Aida theater in the city of Pinar del Río and Catholic nun who had in 1964 reportedly left her religious order and her convent in Guatemala for health reasons (congenital heart disease). She was arrested several times for alleged political activities. In 1965 she was held for several months at the State Security office in the city of Pinar del Río and charged as an 'enemy of the revolution,' sentenced without evidence to a twelve-year prison sentence. Her 1965 trial by a revolutionary tribunal took place at 2:30 A.M. in the dungeons of La Cabaña Fortress prison. She served the first two years of her sentence at the Guanajay National Women's Prison and at a hard penal work farm in Guanajay, both in the province of Pinar del Río.  Due to heart problems, she was transferred to a cell in the G-2 State Security pavilion at the Military Hospital in Havana, and died of a heart attack. The family had tried insistently to have her released on medical leave. After she died, the prison staffer that came to pick up her body said mockingly, according to a witness: "This is the type of bag I like to carry."
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Hija del dueño del teatro Aida en la ciudad de Pinar del Río y monja católica que había abandonado su orden religiosa y su convento en Guatemala en 1964 por razones de salud (enfermedad cardíaca congénita). Fue arrestada varias veces por presuntas actividades políticas. En 1965 fue retenida durante varios meses en la oficina de Seguridad del Estado en la ciudad de Pinar del Río y acusada como 'enemiga de la revolución', sentenciada sin pruebas a una pena de prisión de doce años. Su juicio de 1965 ante un tribunal revolucionario tuvo lugar a las 2:30 a.m. en los calabozos de la prisión de la fortaleza de La Cabaña. Cumplió los primeros dos años de su condena en la prisión nacional para mujeres de Guanajay y en una granja de trabajo penal ambas en la provincia de Pinar del Río. Debido a problemas de salud, fue trasladada a una celda en el pabellón de Seguridad del Estado G-2 en el Hospital Militar de La Habana, y murió de un ataque cardíaco. La familia había tratado insistentemente de liberarla con licencia médica. Después de su muerte, el empleado de la prisión que vino a recoger su cuerpo dijo burlonamente, según un testigo: "Este es el tipo de bolsa que me gusta llevar".

Sources: Conflict of Evidence:

Email testimony of Cuban Catholic priest, from Spain on September 6, 2002, claims that Aida Rosa had to resign from her order because of health problems (cardiac problems) in 1954 and that soon afterwards moved to Cuba, so that when she died, she was an ex-nun.  Instituto de la Memoria Histórica Cubana contra el Totalitarismo, 2002, p. 27, reports her dying in prison in a G-2 State Security cell in the city of Pinar del Río on December 12, 1967.  Circuito Sur, July 2002, p. 66, reports her as a nun subjected to beatings and dying in prison in the province of Pinar del Río in December 1967.  Instituto de la memoria histórica, www.cubamemorial.net/listado, reports her dead as a result of a lack of medical attention at the G2 State Security office in Havana on December 12, 1967.  Clarinada, diciembre 2008, reports her dead as a result of a lack of medical attention at State Security in Havana on December 12, 1967.  Clarinada, diciembre 2009, reports her as a sister in Hermanas de las Caridad, dead in a cell at State Security in Pinar del Río on December 12, 1967.

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Medical condition/Denial of medical care

Occupations: - Community and Social Services Occupations

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Prisoner / Detainee: Political cause

Affiliations: N/A

Other Victims Same Event: N/A

Case Record - Aida Rosa Pérez