Cuba Archive - Case 8955

Case ID: 8955

Title: N/A

First name: Manuel

Last name: Paradela Gómez

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: N/A

Name also reported as: Manuel Pasadela Gómez

Age: 44

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: Day:20 / Month:5 / Year:1920

Civil Status: Unknown

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

Citizenship: Spain

Last known address: 1st Parallel #353

Last known city: N/A

Last known province-TOD: Camagüey

Last known province current: N/A

Last known country: Cuba

Location death-address: Shooting field

Location of death - city: N/A

Location of death province - at TOD: Camagüey

Location of death province - current: N/A

Location of death - country: Cuba

Trial held?: Yes

Docket Number: N/A

Sentence details: N/A

Arrest or detention at time of death: Yes

Date of arrest: N/A

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: N/A

How long imprisoned/detained: Fifty-six days

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: State Security of Camaguey

Associated Event: N/A

Case description:

Owner of a truck company and civic leader. Accused of being a counterrevolutionary and a C.I.A. agent, he was arrested with two fellow conspirators on charges of spying for the C.I.A. and held at the G-2 State Security headquarters in Camagüey. The three were tried (summary trial) 52 days after their arrest and taken from their trial directly to their execution. The bodies were not returned to the family 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 families to retrieve the bodies. Upon examining the bodies, it was evident that their blood had been drained before the execution; this practice was reported throughout the island in the early 1960s, as the Cuban government was selling blood products to Vietnam.
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Propietario de una empresa de camiones y líder cívico. Acusado de ser un contrarrevolucionario y de ser un agente de la C.I.A., fue arrestado con dos compañeros y acusados de espionaje. Estuvieron detenidos en la sede de la Seguridad del Estado G-2 en Camagüey. Los tres fueron juzgados (juicio sumario) 52 días después de su arresto, llevados del juicio directamente a la ejecución. A la familia no se les dieron los cuerpos para el entierro, pero un pariente de uno de los fallecidos conocía a un hombre que había ayudado a enterrarlos en una fosa común y permitió que las familias recuperaran los cuerpos. Al examinar los cadáveres, era evidente que su sangre había sido drenada antes de la ejecución.  Esta práctica se reportó en toda la isla a principios de los años 60, ya que el gobierno cubano estaba vendiendo productos sanguíneos  a Vietnam.

Sources: Conflict of Evidence:

Lasalle, 1995; United States Information Agency, 1993, Year 1965; Beruvides, 1993, p. 154; Cuban American National Foundation, Quilt of Fidel Castro's Genocide, 1994; WAQI-Radio Mambí, p. 84; Nuestra Cuba, 1998, p. 88; Richard Eder, The New York Times, 3 June 1964, p. 12, columns 1-3; and Circuito Sur, July 2002, p. 63, report him as Manuel Pasadela Gómez, alias Manuel Paradela Gómez, living in the city of Camagüey, a prisoner executed by firing squad on October 20, 1965 at the age of thirty-five in the city of Camagüey on charges of conspiracy with the C.I.A.  Richard Eder, The New York Times, 3 June 1964, p. 12, columns 1-3, reports him executed by firing squad in the city of Camagüey on June 2, 1964.  Circuito Sur, July 2002, p. 63, reports him executed by firing squad in the city of Camagüey on June 2, 1964.  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 Marcelino Martínez Tapia, 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: - Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Anti-Castro insurgent or resistance member

Affiliations: - Lions Club - Cabelleros de la Luz - Acción Cívica

Other Victims Same Event: - Case 5391: Alberto Cesareo Fernández Medrano - Case 5392: Marcelino Martínez Tapia

Case Record - Manuel Paradela Gómez