Cuba Archive - Case 2993

Case ID: 2993

Title: Comandante

First name: William Alexander

Last name: Morgan

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: N/A

Name also reported as: William A. Morgan Ruderth

Age: 33

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: Day:19 / Month:4 / Year:1928

Civil Status: Married

Date of death/disappearance: Day:11 / Month:3 / Year:1961

Citizenship: United States

Last known address: 146 Street between 23 and 25 Streets, Reparto Country Club

Last known city: Havana

Last known province-TOD: La Habana

Last known province current: Ciudad de 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: No. 565 of 1961

Sentence details: Capital punishment

Arrest or detention at time of death: Yes

Date of arrest: N/A

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: Initially, G2 heaquarters, then La Cabaña Fortress prison

How long imprisoned/detained: N/A

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: Mario Marín, informant. Prosecutor: Fernando Flores Ibarra

Associated Event: N/A

Case description:

U.S. born U.S. citizen and former U.S. Army veteran who joined the Rebel Army in Cuba to fight against the Batista regime. After the Castro brothers betrayed the democratic principles of the struggle and forged ties with the Soviet Union, Morgan broke with the revolution and started to help insurgents in the mountains, taking guns and hand grenades by truck from a government fishing farm he was operating. Betrayed by an informer, Morgan and a fellow resistance member, Jesús Carreras Zayas (also a former Rebel Army Commander), were arrested October 21, 1960. They were sentenced to death after a sham trial that began on March 15, 1961, presided by the notorious prosecutor Fernando Flores Ibarra (“Charco de Sangre'). Mario Marín, a young man who had been Morgan's driver, was the informer who had turned them in. His mother had been ill with tuberculosis and Morgan had obtained a place to give her the best treatment, at his expense (in Topes de Collantes). At the trial, when the witness against him was announced, Morgan turned to see his accuser and, according to Carreras’ wife, with deep sadness said "Now, I do not want to continue living." Morgan was denied a phone call to his mother in the United States before his execution and wrote her a letter that blasted the Cuban government for abandoning the goals of "the revolution for which I fought," stating: "For no man has a right to impose his will or belief on others." and "The way of freedom is hard and the road is covered with the blood of those who must die so that the rights of man can live." Just days after his death, Morgan’s 23 year-old wife, Olga, was arrested and was imprisoned until 1973. In 1980, she fled Cuba for the United States with their two daughters during the Mariel boatlift and established residence in Toledo, Ohio.
The Morgan family has persistently requested from the Cuban government the repatriation of William's remains, for burial in his native Ohio. Olga died April 16, 2024.
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Ciudadano estadounidense nacido en los Estados Unidos y ex veterano del Ejército de los Estados Unidos que se unió al Ejército Rebelde en Cuba en su lucha contra el régimen de Batista. Después de que los hermanos Castro traicionaron los principios democráticos de la lucha y comenzaron a forjar lazos con la Unión Soviética, Morgan rompió con la revolución y, para ayudar a los insurgentes en las montañas, comenzó a sacar armas y granadas de mano en camión desde una granja pesquera del gobierno que estaba operando. . Traicionados por un delator, Morgan y Jesús Carreras Zayas (excomandante del Ejército Rebelde), compañero de la Resistencia, fueron detenidos el 21 de octubre de 1960. Acusados ??de suministrar armas a los rebeldes del Escambray, fueron condenados a muerte tras un juicio simulado que comenzó el 15 de marzo de 1961, presidido por el notorio fiscal Fernando Flores Ibarra (“Charco de Sangre”). Mario Marín, un joven que había sido chofer de Morgan, fue el delator que los entregó. Su madre había estado enferma de tuberculosis y Morgan había conseguido un lugar para darle el mejor tratamiento, costeando los gastos (en Topes de Collantes). En el juicio, cuando se dio a conocer el testigo en su contra (no nombrado hasta el momento), Morgan se volvió para ver a su acusador y, según la esposa de Carreras, quien estaba muy cerca, con incredulidad y profunda tristeza dijo "ahora no quiero seguir viviendo ".
A Morgan se le negó una llamada telefónica a su madre en los Estados Unidos antes de su ejecución y le escribió una carta en la que criticaba al gobierno cubano por abandonar los objetivos de "la revolución por la que luché" y declarando: "Porque ningún hombre tiene derecho a imponer su voluntad o fe a los demás ". y "El camino de la libertad es duro y el camino está cubierto con la sangre de los que deben morir para que los derechos del hombre puedan vivir". Pocos días después de su muerte, su viuda de 23 años, Olga, fue arrestada y encarcelada hasta 1973. En 1980, huyó a los Estados Unidos con sus dos hijas durante el éxodo del Mariel y estableció su residencia en Toledo, Ohio. La familia Morgan ha solicitado persistentemente al gobierno cubano la repatriación de los restos de William para su entierro en su Ohio natal. Olga falleció el 16 de abril 2024.

Sources:

Telephone testimony of widow, 2006. Written testimony of Justo Carrera's daughter, Jan. 7, 2018.  Written testimony of friend, 1/5/2008. Written testimony of Carrera Zayas' daughter, 4/26/1961. Aran Shetterly, The Americano, 2007. Ruby Hart Phillips, New York Times, 3/10/1961, p. 8 and 3/12/1961, p. 32 Clark, 1990, p. 151. New York Times, 3/13/1961, p. 9.  U.S. Information Agency, 1993, Year 1961. Encinosa, 1989, p. 154. Beruvides, 1993, p. 149. Ana Rodríguez, 1995, p. 128. Franqui, 1988, p. 346. Valladares, 1985, p. 27. Ariel Remos, Diario Las Américas, 11/11/ 1998. Cuban American National Foundation, Quilt, 1994. Directorio Revolucionario, 1965, p. 26. WAQI-Radio Mambí, p. 23. Gómez Estrada, 1990, p. 149. Encinosa, 1994, p. 67. Chicago Tribune, 10/3/1997. Ruíz, 1965, p. 202. Faria, 2002, p. 107. Ruíz, 1972, pp. 52 & 57. Barquín, 1975, p. ii-708. Circuito Sur, July 2002, p. 58. Nuestra Cuba, 1999, p. 17. Instituto Memoria Histórica, p. 8. L. González Infante, Rostros-Faces, p. 231. M. Sallah and A. Chardy, An American rebel's final defiant words before execution by Castro; The Miami Herald, April 28, 2012.  M. Sallah and A. Chardy, Widow fights to reclaim American rebel's remains, The Miami Herald, April 28, 2012. Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss, Yankee Comandante in Fidel Castro's Cuba, The Miami Herald,  1/17/2015. Sarah Moreno, Castro lo fusiló pero no pudo matar la leyenda. La vida del Comandante Yanqui llegará al cine, El Nuevo Herald, May 6, 2020. Un día como hoy, Comité Internacional de ex-Presos Políticos Cubanos, e-mail of March11, 2022. Un día como hoy, Comité Internacional de ex-Presos Políticos Cubanos, e-mail of June 11, 2022. Michael Sallah, Muere líder revolucionaria y ex presa cubana que desafió a Castro y se casó con el ‘Comandante Yankee,’ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette / El Nuevo Herald, 17 de abril de 2024.

Conflict of Evidence:

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Execution: by firing squad

Occupations: - N/A

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Anti-Castro insurgent or resistance member

Affiliations: - Fomer member of the Rebel Army in the Escambray mountains. - "U.S. Army veteran

Other Victims Same Event: - Case 2848: Justo Jesús Carreras Zayas

Case Record - William Alexander Morgan