Cuba Archive - Case 1578

Case ID: 1578

Title: Capitán

First name: Manuel

Last name: Beatón Martínez

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: N/A

Name also reported as: Beatón Manolo, Manuel Beatón

Age: N/A

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: N/A

Civil Status: Unknown

Date of death/disappearance: Day:15 / Month:6 / Year:1960

Citizenship: N/A

Last known address: N/A

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: Boniato Prison

Location of death - city: Santiago de Cuba

Location of death province - at TOD: N/A

Location of death province - current: N/A

Location of death - country: Cuba

Trial held?: N/A

Docket Number: N/A

Sentence details: Capital punishment

Arrest or detention at time of death: Yes

Date of arrest: N/A

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: Boniato Prison, Santiago de Cuba

How long imprisoned/detained: N/A

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: N/A

Associated Event: Anti-Castro insurgency/resistance

Case description:

Co-leader with his brother of an anti-Castro guerrilla group of small farmers that began operating in Oriente province in March 1960. They were captured on June 13, 1960, were tried the following day, and were executed by firing squad one day later immediately after the appeal hearing together with four members of their group. The Beatón brothers had both been members of the Rebel Army and were small farmers. Beatón was under Raúl Castro's command when he shot to death Captain Cristino Naranjo on Nov. 12, 1959, alleging a mistake (friendly fire). Naranjo had been investigating the mysterious disappearance of his friend Commander Camilo Cienfuegos. He later joined the resistance against the Castro government, was captured and executed. Reportedly, before his death, he confessed to a member of the military tribunal for his trial, Lt. Agustín Onidio Rumbaut, that Fidel, Raúl, Guevara, Raul's pilot Felix Torres and the informant Jorge Enrique Mendoza were responsible for Camilo's death. 
Members of the revolutionary tribunal: Senén Casas Regueiro, Cesar Suárez, Tte. Rumbait, Tte. Avila Ochoa, Tte. Guerra Avelón. Prosecutor: Juan Escalona. Members of the appeal tribunal: Comandante Demetrio Montsegny, Reineilo Jiménez Lage, Felipe Prieto Ibarra, Tony Beguez, Jorge Arebsu. Prosecutor: David Díaz de la Rocha. 
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Líder junto con su hermano de un grupo guerrillero anticastrista de pequeños agricultores que comenzó a operar en la provincia de Oriente en marzo de 1960. Fueron capturados el 13 de junio de 1960 y fusilados dos días más tarde junto con cuatro miembros de su grupo  Los hermanos Beatón habían sido miembros del Ejército Rebelde y eran pequeños agricultores.

Sources:

New York Times. 15 June 1960, p. 1, column 6. New York Times, 16 June 1960, p. 3, column 6.  Ruíz, 1970, p. 163. Encinosa, 1994, pp. 27-28, 49. United States Information Agency, 1993, Year 1960. Cuban American National Foundation, Quilt of Fidel Castro's Genocide, 1994. Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil, 1965, p. 15. Nuestra Cuba, 1998, p. 46. Gómez Estrada, 1990, p. 171. WAQI-Radio Mambí, p. 50. Instituto de la Memoria Histórica Cubana, 2002, p. 2. Circuito Sur, July 2002, p. 10. L. González Infante, Rostros-Faces, p. 30. Francisco Fernandez, Camilo, comandante de varias muertes y de ninguna, Ciber Cuba, Oct. 2016; www.ecured.cu, accessed August 2016; Gabriel Astengo, La Misteriosa Muerte de Cristino Naranjo, 
Cuba Informatica, Jan. 2, 2017. Video testimony of Jaime Costa, former Moncada and Granma expeditionary, Commander of the Rebel Army, member of the National Directorate of the 26th of July, in documentary film "Asesinaron a Camilo?" Instituto de la Memoria Histórica, Caiman Productions.

Conflict of Evidence:

Violation Status: Reported: Highly likely / Highly reliable source(s)

Cause of Death: - Execution: by firing squad

Occupations: - Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: - Brother/Sister in Case 1577: Cipriano Beatón Martínez

Victim Type: - Anti-Castro insurgent or resistance member

Affiliations: - Former Rebel Army Captain

Other Victims Same Event: - Case 1577: Cipriano Beatón Martínez - Case 1273: Arnaldo Jiménez Pérez - Case 1580: Felipe Martínez Norman - Case 5264: Celso Torres González - Case 2822: Domingo Socarrás

Case Record - Manuel Beatón Martínez