Cuba Archive - Case 5392

Case ID: 5392

Title: Dr.

First name: Marcelino

Last name: Martínez Tapia

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: Marcelino Martínez

Name also reported as: Tapia Marcelino Martínez, Marcelino Martínez

Age: 59

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: Day:25 / Month:9 / Year:1915

Civil Status: Unknown

Date of death/disappearance: Day:1 / Month:6 / Year:1964

Citizenship: Cuba

Last known address: General Gómez #14

Last known city: Santa Cruz del Sur

Last known province-TOD: Camagüey

Last known province current: Camagüey

Last known country: Cuba

Location death-address: Shooting field

Location of death - city: Camagüey

Location of death province - at TOD: Camagüey

Location of death province - current: Camagüey

Location of death - country: Cuba

Trial held?: Yes

Docket Number: N/A

Sentence details: Capital punishment

Arrest or detention at time of death: Yes

Date of arrest: Day:5 / Month:4 / Year:1964

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: Was arrested at his office

How long imprisoned/detained: N/A

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: N/A

Associated Event: Anti-Castro insurgency/resistance

Case description:

Lawyer/notary and former congressman member of the resistance who   was well-known and beloved in Camaguey. He was arrested with two fellow conspirators on charges of spying for the C.I.A. All three were held at the G-2 State Security headquarters in Camagüey and tried (in a summary trial) 52 days later; they were taken from their trial directly to their execution. The families were not given the bodies for burial, but a relative of one of the deceased knew a man who had helped bury them in a common grave and allowed the retrieval of the bodies. Upon examining the bodies, it was evident that their blood had been drained before their death; this practice was reported in the early 1960s, when the Cuban government was selling blood products to Vietnam. 
He was buried him in his native city of Santa Cruz del Sur with only three family members allowed to attend. He left behind a mother, three sisters, and two brothers.
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Abogado, notario y ex congresista miembro de la Resistencia muy conocido y querido en Camagüey. Fue acusado de ser un contrarrevolucionario, agente de la C.I.A. y arrestado con dos compañeros conspiradores, acusados de espionage. Fueron detenidos en la sede del  G-2 de Seguridad del Estado en Camagüey y juzgados juntos (en un juicio sumario) 52 días después de su arresto. Del juicio fueron llevados directamente a la ejecución. No se entregaron los cadáveres para el entierro, pero un familiar de uno de los fallecidos conocía a un individuo que había ayudado a enterrarlos en una fosa común y permitió a las familias recuperar los cuerpos. Al examinarlos, era evidente que les había drenado la sangre antes de su muerte. Dicha práctica fue reportada a principios de los años 60, cuando el gobierno cubano vendía productos sanguíneos a Vietnam. A su familia se le permitió enterrarlo en su ciudad natal, Santa Cruz del Sur, con sólo tres familiares presentes. Dejó atrás a su madre, tres hermanas y dos hermanos.

Sources: Conflict of Evidence:

WAQI-Radio Mambí, p. 48; Beruvides, 1993, p. 142; Nuestra Cuba, 1998, p. 43; Circuito Sur, July 2002, p. 53; Cuban American National Foundation, Quilt of Fidel Castro's Genocide, 1994; and L. González Infante, Rostros-Faces, p. 213 report thre date of death at June 2. 1964.
Cuban American National Foundation, Quilt of Fidel Castro's Genocide, 1994, erroneously has him executed by firing squad in Santa Cruz del Sur in 1961, and in the city of Camagüey in 1962.  United States Information Agency, 1993, Year 1968; and Cuban American National Foundation, Quilt of Fidel Castro's Genocide, 1994, report him as Marcelino Martínez, a prisoner last living in Santa Cruz del Sur, province of Camagüey, executed by firing squad in the city of Camagüey in 1968.  E. Ros, El clandestinaje, 2006, p. 399, reports the victim executed by firing squad on the same day and in the same province as Alfredo Cesareo Fernánez Medrano and Manuel Paradela Gómez, on June 2, 1964, in Camagüey, on charges of spying for the CIA.

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Execution: with prior blood extraction

Occupations: - Legal Occupations

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Anti-Castro insurgent or resistance member

Affiliations: N/A

Other Victims Same Event: - Case 5391: Alberto Cesareo Fernández Medrano - Case 8955: Manuel Paradela Gómez

Case Record - Marcelino Martínez Tapia