Cuba Archive - Case 2578

Case ID: 2578

Title: N/A

First name: Carlos Antonio

Last name: Rodríguez Cabo

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: N/A

Name also reported as: Carlos A. Rodríguez / Carlos Rodríguez Calvo / Antonio Rodríguez Calvo / Carlos Rodríguez Cobo / Carlos Rodríguez Cobas

Age: 36

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: Day:4 / Month:11 / Year:1924

Civil Status: Unknown

Date of death/disappearance: Day:18 / Month:4 / Year:1961

Citizenship: Cuba

Last known address: Santo Domingo Street

Last known city: Guanabacoa

Last known province-TOD: La Habana

Last known province current: La Habana

Last known country: Cuba

Location death-address: La Cabaña Fortress prison

Location of death - city: Havana

Location of death province - at TOD: La Habana

Location of death province - current: Ciudad de La Habana

Location of death - country: Cuba

Trial held?: Yes

Docket Number: Trial held on 4/16/1961.

Sentence details: Capital punishment

Arrest or detention at time of death: Yes

Date of arrest: N/A

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: La Cabaña Fortress prison

How long imprisoned/detained: N/A

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: N/A

Associated Event: Anti-Castro insurgency/resistance

Case description:

Executed by firing squad with seven other members of the anti-Castro resistance.  Their death sentence had been delivered in a 20-minute summary trial held at La Cabaña Fortress prison as the Bay of Pigs invasion was beginning a day earlier.  A ninth individual was tried, Tomás Fernández-Travieso, but because he was a minor was instead sentenced to 30 years of prison (of which he served 19). The eight men awaited their execution together in a special cell and, for hours, prayed the rosary before being taken one by one to the wall for their execution. Other prisoners could hear the firing squad and coup de grace shots delivered at the end of each execution.
Carlos was the General Secretary of the Textile Workers Union, and was accused of crimes against the stability of public powers and of sabotage by placing a bomb on the  electric transformer of Campo Florido and counterrevolution.  In a letter from prison, he wrote: 'Those who fight for just causes and for freedom, derive satisfaction while living or honor in death.'  The family learned of his execution on the radio.
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Ejecutado por un pelotón de fusilamiento con otros siete miembros de la resistencia anticastrista. Su sentencia de muerte fue dictada en un juicio sumario de 20 minutos celebrado en la prisión de la Fortaleza de La Cabaña un día después de haber comenzado la invasión de Bahía de Cochinos. Un noveno individuo fue juzgado, Tomás Fernández-Travieso, pero como era menor de edad fue sentenciado a 30 años de prisión (de los cuales cumplió 19 años). Los ocho hombres esperaron su ejecución juntos en una celda especial y, durante horas, rezaron el rosario antes de ser llevados uno a uno al paredón para su ejecución. Otros prisioneros pudieron escuchar los disparos del pelotón de fusilamiento y el tiro de gracia al final de cada ejecución.
Carlos era el Secretario General del Sindicato de Trabajadores Textiles, y fue acusado de delitos contra la estabilidad de los poderes públicos y de sabotaje por colocar una bomba en el transformador eléctrico de Campo Florido. En una carta desde la prisión, escribió: "Aquellos que luchan por causas justas y por la libertad, obtienen satisfacción mientras viven o son honrados en la muerte". La familia se enteró de su ejecución en la radio.

Sources:

Testimony of sister, Dolores González, Memorial Cubano, Miami, 2/22/2004. Written testimony of another sister, Memorial Cubano, Miami, 2/22/2004. Copy of sentence. Copy of letter from prison dated 4/15/1961.  United States Information Agency, 1993, Year 1961. Beruvides, 1993, pp. 167 and 169. Testimony of Tomás Fernandez Travieso (witness) in 'Ocho fusilados,' El Nuevo Herald, 17 April 1991, p. 8-a.  José Sergio Velázquez, 'Solicitan pena de muerte...,' El Mundo, date unknown. José Sergio Velázquez, ' Aplican Pena de Muerte,' El Mundo, date unknown. Encinosa, 1994, p. 94. Ruìz, 1972, pp. 82-83. Cuban American National Foundation, Quilt of Fidel Castro's Genocide, 1994. Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil, 1965, p. 32. WAQI-Radio Mambì pp. 35 and 36. Nuestra Cuba, 1998, p. 29. Instituto de la Memoria Histórica Cubana Contra el Totalitarismo, 2002, p. 9. Circuito Sur, July 2002, p. 73 and p.75. Nuestra Cuba, 1999, p. 30 and p. 32.
Tomás Fernández-Travieso, Testigo del sacrificio (hace 55 años), April 2016. http://eldiariodelamarina.com/testimonio-testigo-del-sacrificio/
(Testimony of fellow prisoner, Tomás Fernández-Travieso, member of the resistance group Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil, who bid eight fellow prisoners farewell before they were executed on 4/17/1961. Efemérides Cubanas, http://www.ueppc.com/?page_id=4178. Un día como hoy, Comité Internacional de ex-Presos Políticos Cubanos, e-mail of April 19, 2022.

Conflict of Evidence:

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Execution: by firing squad

Occupations: - Architecture and Engineering Occupations

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Anti-Castro insurgent or resistance member

Affiliations: - Rescate Revolucionario

Other Victims Same Event: - Case 2532: Carlos Manuel Calvo Martínez - Case 2533: Virgilio Campanería Ángel - Case 2602: Alberto Tapia-Ruano Eligio-de-la-Puente - Case 2581: Filiberto Rodríguez Ravelo - Case 2579: Efrén Rodríguez López - Case 2576: Lázaro Reyes Benítez - Case 2531: José Calderín

Case Record - Carlos Antonio Rodríguez Cabo