19 Brigade fighters remained in Cuba — behind bars or in graves
Ten were executed, nine were kept in prison for up to 25 years
By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@elnuevoherald.com
By Christmas Eve 1962, nearly all of the 1,179 members of Brigade 2506
who had been held in Fidel Castro's prisons had been freed and arrived
in Miami. But 19 remained in Cuba – nine in prison, 10 in graves.
The last prisoner was not released until 25 years after the Bay of Pigs
invasion: Ramon Conte, who had escaped from prison in 1969 and spent 2½
years living underground in Cuba before he was recaptured.
Five brigadistas captured in the Bay of Pigs assault were tried on Sept.
8, 1961, and executed that same night for crimes allegedly committed
before the invasion. They were sent to the firing squad because of
Castro's personal resentment:
• Antonio Valentin Padron was a Rural Guard lieutenant in Castro's
hometown of Biran when Castro attacked the Moncada army barracks in
1953. The execution was carried out even after he told Castro that he
had protected Castro's mother and father from army retaliation after
Moncada.
• Ramon Calviño was a Castro supporter who switched sides and joined
the police under dictator Fulgencio Batista.
• Jorge Kim Yun was accused of killing a Castro army soldier in 1959 or
1960.
• Roberto Perez Cruzata was a former Castro army sergeant accused of
killing the relative of communists close to Castro.
• Rafael Soler was accused of killing a communist labor leader in the
port of Havana.
Another five of the dead were members of Brigade infiltration teams who
were smuggled into Cuba before the invasion. They were:
• Luis Oria, killed three days before the Bay of Pigs landing on April
17,1961 in a shootout with Castro forces in eastern Camagüey province.
• Manuel Blanco Navarro, a captain in the pre-Castro army, executed
Sept. 21, 1961.
• Jorge Rojas Castellano, a pre-Castro police captain, executed Sept.
21, 1961.
• Antonino Diaz Pou, who was infiltrated from the U.S. Navy base in
Guantánamo and was executed Dec. 6, 1961.
• Manuel Lorenzo Puig, executed April 20, 1961 — one of the estimated 30
members of the anti-Castro underground rounded up and executed in the
days just before and after the Bay of Pigs invasion.
Castro also refused to accept ransoms for the release of another nine
brigadistas captured at the Bay of Pigs but tried separately from the
bulk of the invaders on charges of treason. They were sentenced to 30
years in prison and hard labor:
• Jose Franco Mira, a pre-Castro policeman who died in prison in 1968.
• Andres de Jesus Vega Perez, a pre-Castro policeman who died in prison
in 1982.
• Rogelio Milian, former soldier and policeman, freed during the 1979
release of about 3,000 political prisoners amid the controversial
"dialogue" between Castro and exiles.
• Pedro Armando Santiago Villa, former policeman, freed in the 1979 release.
• Nicolas Henandez, former soldier, freed in 1979.
• José Rafael Machado, friend of Batista, freed in 1979.
• Pedro Reyes Bello, former Castro rebel army lieutenant, freed in 1979.
• Ricardo Montero Duque, a pre-Castro army officer, freed in June of
1986 following the intercession of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
• Ramon Conte Hernandez, the last Bay of Pigs prisoner to be released,
arrived in Miami Oct. 18, 1986, also with the help of Kennedy. He had
clashed with Castro during his university days and fought against the
communist infiltration of labor unions.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/15/2169892/19-brigade-fighters-remained-in.html
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