Cuba Archive - Case 823

Case ID: 823

Title: Sargento de Tercera

First name: Victor Manuel

Last name: Castro Lora

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: Manolito

Name also reported as: N/A

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: Day:1 / Month:9 / Year:1930

Civil Status: Unknown

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

Citizenship: Cuba

Last known address: Eduardo Dominguez Street, El Caney Ward

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: One day

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: N/A

Associated Event: 1959 San Juan Hill Massacre

Case description:

Army sergeant accused of assassinating Juan Rolando Ferrer. executed by order of Raúl Castro just days after the triumph of the Revolution with 70 other members of the armed forces, police, and Batista paramilitaries. Four had been subjected to a nighttime 4-hour trial lacking due process and the rest didn’t even get a sham trial. They were all taken that same night to the Madrevieja Shooting Practice Field, at San Juan Hill, lined up in pairs in front of a large ditch dug up earlier that day, and shot by a firing squad. The massacre took place from the early morning hours of January 12th into the morning. The mass grave was then filled with a bulldozer and, according to witness reports, at least one of the victims was buried alive. In September 1963, torrential rains from Hurricane Flora unearthed the bodies from their shallow grave; they were placed in cement casings and thrown into the Bartlett Deep off the coast of Oriente province
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Sargento del ejércitos acusado del asesinato de Juan Rolando Ferrer.
Fue ejecutado pocos días después del triunfo de la Revolución por orden de Raúl Castro con 70 otros miembros de las fuerzas armadas, la policía y paramilitares de Batista. Cuatro habían tenido un juicio nocturno sumario sin debido proceso de ley y el resto ni siquiera eso. Esa misma noche todos fueron ejecutados en pares  por un pelotón de fusilamiento frente a una gran zanja cavada ese mismo día en al Campo de Prácticas de Tiro de Madrevieja, Loma de San Juan. La masacre comenzó de madrugada el 12 de enero y continúo hasta la mañana. Luego, la excavadora llenó de tierra la fosa y, según testigos, al menos una de las víctimas fue enterrada con vida. En septiembre 1963, las lluvias torrenciales del huracán Flora desenterraron los cadáveres, por lo que fueron colocados en carcasas de cemento y arrojados a la Fosa de Bartlett en la costa sur de la provincia de Oriente.

Sources:

Written testimony of cousin, February 20, 2005. U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Dispatch No. 82, Feb. 19, 1959, p. 1. U.S. Department of State, Foreign Service Dispatch No. 751, 29 January 1959, p. 4.   Ejecutados en Santiago de Cuba 68 militares y masferreristas, Revolución, La Habana, Jan. 14, 1959, p. 6.  Justicia revolucionaria - Cuatro Fusilamientos en Santiago de Cuba, Revolución, Jan. 13, 1959. Jorge Bez Chabebe, Jorge, Dios me hizo cura, Jul. 2014, p. 49-53.  Luis González-Lalondry, Masacre en Santiago, Jan. 12, 2014, https://libertadusa.com/2014/01/masacre-en-santiago-los-crimenes-de-raul-castro/. Cuba, The vengeful visionary, Time Magazine. Jan. 26, 1959. José Alvarez, Los fusilamientos de la Loma de San Juan, Cubanet, Jan. 16, 2019.  Masacre de la Loma de San Juan, Jan. 12, 2014, https://todoporcuba.wordpress.com, 2014/01/12/masacre-de-loma-de-san-juan-enero-12-1959/.  Alonso, Alberto, 1973.  Ruíz, 1965, p. 240. Ruiz, 1965, p. 240. Conte-Aguero, 1962, p. 152. Alberto Alonso, 1973, p. 13-14. Beruvides, 1993, p. 102. Cuban Information Archives, Document 0087, p. 2. WAQI-Radio Mambí, p. 6. Cuban American National Foundation, Quilt of Fidel Castro's Genocide, 1994. Circuito Sur, July 2002, p. 18. Nuestra Cuba, 1998, p. 7. Circuito Sur, July 2002, p. 18. Impresora Nacional, 1995, p. 9. Jacobo Manchover, El terror revolucionario. Los fusilados de

Conflict of Evidence:

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Execution: by firing squad

Occupations: - Military Specific Occupations - Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Armed Forces: served Batista government

Affiliations: N/A

Other Victims Same Event: N/A

Case Record - Victor Manuel Castro Lora