Cuba Archive - Case 6135

Case ID: 6135

Title: N/A

First name: Javier

Last name: Calvo Formoso

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: N/A

Name also reported as: N/A

Age: 21

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: Day:7 / Month:10 / Year:1937

Civil Status: Unknown

Date of death/disappearance: Day:28 / Month:12 / Year:1958

Citizenship: N/A

Last known address: N/A

Last known city: La Habana

Last known province-TOD: La Habana

Last known province current: Ciudad de La Habana

Last known country: Cuba

Location death-address: N/A

Location of death - city: Guajaybón

Location of death province - at TOD: Pinar del Río

Location of death province - current: Pinar del Río

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: Day:27 / Month:12 / Year:1958

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: N/A

How long imprisoned/detained: N/A

Death attributed to: Batista regime

Death attribution detail: Army troops

Associated Event: N/A

Case description:

Calvo and three others (Julián Martínez Inclán, Ramón Pérez Lima and Jose Ignacio Martí Santa Cruz) all members of ACU, Agrupación Católica Universitaria  (University Catholic Association), had left Havana with a former member of the Rebel Army from the Escambray mountains, Captain Manuel Zabalo, to travel for Pinar del Río to support the Rebel Army. The group was arrested on December 27th in the town of Bahía Honda and transferred to an Army post at Las Pozas. All four were tortured and taken by military transport to a military unit under the command of Lieutenant Valerio Dupeyrón and Captain Jacinto García Menocal at the foot of Pan de Guajaybón, the highest mountain in the region. They were hanged  In the early hours of December 28th.  Captain Menocal later committed suicide in January 1959 in the province of Pinar del Río when he was surrounded by Rebel Army troops.
Javier was born in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. A few months later, his parents moved to Cuba. An outstanding student of deep religious conviction, he began to study Medicine at the University of Havana and joined the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU). In December 1956, in the second year of medical school, the government closed down the university due to increasing political unrest and Javier transferred to the Catholic University of Villanueva. At that time, he became a member of the opposition group Directorio Revolucionario, a student underground movement working to overthrow the Batista government. In the fall of 195, he had started to teach Psychology at the high school Colegio de Belén.
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El 26 de diciembre de 1958, él y otros tres miembros de ACU -University Catholic Association- (Julián Martínez Inclán, Ramón Pérez y José Ignacio Martí Santa Cruz) salieron de La Habana con el capitán Manuel Zabalo, ex guerrillero de las montañas del Escambray. Viajan a la sección norte de Pinar del Río en apoyo del Ejército Rebelde. El grupo fue detenido en la localidad de Bahía Honda el 27 de diciembre y trasladado al puesto del Ejército en Las Pozas, donde todos fueron torturados. Llevado en un transporte militar al pie de Pan de Guajaybón, la montaña más alta de la región, en las primeras horas del 28 de diciembre de 1958, fueron ahorcados por una unidad militar bajo el mando del teniente Valerio Dupeyrón y el capitán Jacinto García Menocal. El capitán Menocal se suicidó más tarde en enero de 1959, después de haber sido rodeado por las tropas del Ejército Rebelde en la provincia de Pinar del Río.

Sources: Conflict of Evidence:

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Extrajudicial killing

Occupations: - Not in the labor force

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Anti-Batista insurgent or resistance member

Affiliations: - Agrupación Católica Universitaria - Directorio Revolucionario

Other Victims Same Event: - Case 10144: Julián Martínez Inclán - Case 10307: Ramón Pérez Lima - Case 10138: José Ignacio Martí Santa Cruz

Case Record - Javier Calvo Formoso