Cuba Archive - Case 782

Case ID: 782

Title: N/A

First name: Rafael

Last name: García Muñiz

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: Felo

Name also reported as: N/A

Age: 23

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: N/A

Civil Status: Unknown

Date of death/disappearance: Day:19 / Month:3 / Year:1959

Citizenship: Cuba

Last known address: Calle Serrano, Reparto Santo Suarez

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: 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: Summary trial held the first week of March 1959, the appeal the following week

Sentence details: Capital punishment

Arrest or detention at time of death: Yes

Date of arrest: Day:30 / Month:1 / Year:1959

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: Arrested together with all policemen at his station.

How long imprisoned/detained: Less than two months.

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: Ché Guevara was in command at La Cabaña and presided over his appeal.

Associated Event: N/A

Case description:

Executed by firing squad, he had been a policeman for less than a year, a member of the radio patrol car division (car # 100), and was very recently married when the Revolution came to power on January 1st 1959. His family insists he had committed no crimes and had performed his duty faithfully. For this reason, he had not gone into hiding and had been asked to stay on his post. However, his peers convinced him that staying on the job was abetting Communism and he quit on Jan. 28, 1959. The following day, he was arrested and, with his other two squad members, accused of murdering three members of the resistance who had broken into an armory and stolen a cache of arms. On the day of that murder, they had been on duty guarding a high government official at his house and had only come upon the three men who were fleeing but did not search them and let them go. The three members of the resistance were later arrested and assassinated. Rafael was tried on March 13th with his two squad members and he and Elipidio were sentenced to death. At the appeal, held on March 18th, a member of the 26th of July Movement who was to testify of Rafael's innocence was silenced and the prosecutor prevented another witness from testifying who intended to prove their innocence. Rafael and Elpidio were executed at 1:20AM on March 19th a few hours after the appeal, that concluded at 11pm. The third member of the squad, "el viejo Serrano," was sent to prison due to his age as he was over 60. The family was not allowed to say goodbye before the execution and was not provided a death certificate. After Rafael had been sentenced to death, his brother Sergio had gone with a contact who knew Ché Guevara to see him. Guevara was in command at La Cabaña and was in charge of the appeals tribunal. They pled for his life and explained he was innocent, but Guevara responded that he must die for having worn the blue uniform of Batista's police. 
Pelayo Fernández Rubio,  "charco de sangre," was the prosecutor. Pprosecutor was Pelayo Fernández Rubio,
______________

Rafael fue uno de 64 fusilados cuando Che Guevara estuvo al mando de la Cabaña desde enero hasta noviembre de 1959 y directamente a cargo de las apelaciones de los tribunales revolucionarios. Había sido policía radiopatrulla solo seis meses y estaba recién casado cuando la revolución llegó al poder el 1ro de enero de 1959. Su familia insiste que él no había cometido crimen alguno y que solo había realizado su deber fielmente, por lo que no se había escondido y lo habían mantenido en su puesto inicialmente. Sin embargo, convencido por sus compañeros de que permanecer en la policía era colaborar con el comunismo, se dio de baja. Al día siguiente fue arrestado y acusado, junto a los otros dos miembros de su radiopatrulla, de asesinar a tres miembros del movimiento 26 de julio que habían robado un arsenal de armas de una armería. Pero el día de dicho asesinato, estaban de guardia en la casa de un alto personero de gobierno. Después de ser sentenciados a muerte, el hermano de Rafael, Sergio, fue con un contacto a ver a Ché Guevara y pidieron por su vida, explicándoles que era inocente. Guevara respondió que debía morir por haber usado el uniforme azul de "la policía de Batista".  En la vista de apelación, el fiscal, era Pelayo Fernández Rubio, "charco de sangre," impidió testificar a los testigos que podían probar su inocencia. La apelación terminó a las 11pm y García y Mederos fueron fusilados a la 1:20am, sin permitirse que se despedieran de sus familias, a las que no se les proporcionó un certificado de defunción.  El tercer compañero, el viejo Serrano, escapó la muerte y fue a prisión por tener más de 60 años.

Sources: Conflict of Evidence:

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Execution: by firing squad

Occupations: - Protective Service Occupations

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Government official (civilian, police, State Security, etc.)

Affiliations: N/A

Other Victims Same Event: - Case 6162: Elpidio Mederos Guerra

Case Record - Rafael García Muñiz