R.I.P. María Victoria Garcia, truth-teller and survivor of the tugboat "13 de marzo" massacre.

María Victoria Garcia passes away in Miami. She was a survivor of the tugboat "13 de marzo" massacre, which remains an unpunished atrocity.

Three Cuban families totaling about 70 persons seeking a better life in freedom boarded the Cuban tugboat "13 de Marzo" on July 13, 1994. 17 were members of the Garcia family. The captain of the tug was among those who wanted to depart. Despite their best efforts, an informant had already reported them to State Security.  The Cuban dictatorship's actions on July 13, 1994, were premeditated.

The "13 de Marzo" left the port at 3:00am and almost immediately were being pursued by other tugboats of the Ministry of Transportation. Seven miles from the Cuban coast line the “13 de Marzo” tugboat was confronted by the tugboats. Amnesty International in their 1997 investigation reported that the vessels which attacked the “13 de Marzo” were Polargo 2”, “Polargo 3″ and “Polargo 5″ and identified as belonging to the Ministry of Transport. According to the IACHR report the attack did not appear improvised. The Amnesty International report mentions another vessel that "appeared to be directing operations was believed to belong to the Cuban Coast Guard, which is part of the Ministry of the Interior.”

 

Despite the “13 de Marzo” tugboat stopping and passengers attempting to surrender the other tugboats continued to ram the tug and use high pressure hoses to blast them overboard. Following this the attackers began to circle the wreckage with the aim of creating a whirlpool effect to ensure that all would drown. Sergio Perodin, one of the survivors who lost his wife and young son during the incident, explained how the massacre stopped when a boat with a Greek flag appeared in the area. "lt looked like the boat was watching what they were doing, the murder they were committing. So they stopped and decided to pick us up." It was then and only then that the attack was suspended and the survivors were picked up by the Cuban Coast Guard.

María Victoria García, was one of three members of the García family who survived the massacre. Fourteen members of the García family were murdered, including her 20 year old brother, and María Victoria's ten-year-old son Juan Mario Gutiérrez García.  

Juan Mario Gutiérrez García

Her father, Jorge García who survives his daughter also sat down and spoke on camera about what he had learned about the actions of the Cuban government both before and after the massacre.  He had been detained and interrogated on several occasions by state security. His longest detention was for 15 days.

María Victoria García spoke out but it nearly came at a great cost according to Jorge, "[t]hey tried on several occasions to kill my daughter, because she was the first to speak out and contradict the regime’s official narrative.

The massacre and the aftermath left her physically and psychologically scarred for the rest of her life..

Jorge and his daughter left Cuba for exile. He wrote a book about this crime that is a must read. During a question and answer session at Florida International University on July 13, 2004 he spoke of the need for justice:

''There are those who think that we should be full of rancor and a thirst for vengeance but I don't want revenge. I feel sorry for the people who assassinated my family. I can never be compensated for my loss. I will never be happy again with my family surrounding me. There will always be a tinge of sadness but I do want there to be a trial so that this situation can serve as a lesson and that these people or others like them in other parts of the world, don't do this kind of thing again. Not in Cuba. Not anywhere.''

María Victoria described what happened to Voces de Cuba in an interview nine years ago, about when she confronted an official saying, "I told the colonel that it had not been an accident, that they sank us."

The following persons were executed extrajudicially by the Castro regime on July 13, 1994, in the "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre, and thirty years later justice has still not been provided them and their loved ones.

Helen Martínez Enríquez ( 5 months)
Cindy Rodríguez Fernández (age 2)
José Carlos Nicole Anaya (3)
Angel Rene Abreu Ruiz ( age 3)
Yisel Borges Alvarez (4)
Caridad Leyva Tacoronte (age 5)
Juan Mario Gutiérrez García (age 10)
Yousell E. Perez Tacoronte (age 11)
Yasser Perodin Almanza (age 11)
Eliecer Suarez Plasencia ( age 12)
Mayulis Mendez Tacoronte (age 17)
Miladys Sanabria Cabrera ( age 19 )
Odalys Muñoz García (age 21)
Yuliana Enríquez Carrazana (age 22)
Yaltamira Anaya Carrasco (age 22)
Lissett María Álvarez Guerra (age 24)
José Gregorio Balmaceda Castillo (24)
Joel García Suárez (age 24)
Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro (age 25)
María Miralis Fernández Rodríguez (age 27)
Pilar Almanza Romero (age 28)
Leonardo Notario Góngora ( age 28)
Jorge Arquímides Lebrijio Flores (age 28)
Rigoberto Feut Gonzáles (age 31)
Omar Rodriguez Suarez (age 33)
Lázaro Enrique Borges Briel (age 34)
Julia Caridad Ruiz Blanco (age 35)
Martha Caridad Tacoronte Vega (age 36)
Eduardo Suárez Esquivel ( age 39)
Martha M.Carrasco Sanabria (age 45)
Augusto Guillermo Guerra Martínez ( age 45)
Rosa María Alcalde Puig (age 47)
Estrella Suárez Esquivel (age 48)
Reynaldo Joaquín Marrero (age 48)
Manuel Cayol (age 50)
Amado Gonzáles Raices (50)
Fidelio Ramel Prieto-Hernández (51) 

María Victoria García, survivor of the July 13, 1994 “13 de Marzo” Tugboat massacre, courageously spoke out about what had happened while still in Cuba. She denounced this mass murder carried out by the Cuban dictatorship. María Victoria died on January 4, 2023 at age 58 due to complications arising from heart surgery performed in December.. My prayers go out to her, her father Jorge A. García, and her friends and family. My sincerest condolences on this terrible loss.

 

 Requiescat in pace María Victoria Garcia, and the 37 victims of the July 13, 1994 tugboat massacre.