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.

 

The July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre: 29 years demanding justice

"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." - Milan Kundera.

Three Cuban families totaling about 70 persons looking for a better life away from the regime boarded the Cuban tugboat "13 de Marzo" in the early morning hours of July 13, 1994. 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..

On July 12, 1994, around 6:00 p.m., Cuban state security knew that the "13 de Marzo" tugboat was going to be taken and had nine hours to prepare their response. What happened on July 13, 1994, was planned ahead of time.

They left the port at 3:00am on July 13, 1994 and almost immediately were being pursued by other tugboats, also of the Maritime Services Enterprise of the Ministry of Transportation. Seven miles from the Cuban coast line at a location known as "La Poceta" 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:

"Polargo 2," one of the boats belonging to the Cuban state enterprise, blocked the old tug "13 de Marzo" in the front, while the other, "Polargo 5," attacked from behind, splitting the stern.  The two other government boats positioned themselves on either side and sprayed everyone on deck with pressurized water, using their hoses.

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 while mothers held up their children begging for mercy 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 in the Nightline program:

"We saw in the distance a boat with a Greek flag that appeared to be what stopped them. 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.

On August 5, 1994 Fidel Castro made a speech to the official news media justifying the incident and praising the men on the ships that attacked and sank the "13 de Marzo"tugboat:

"The workers' behavior was exemplary, there's no denying it, because they tried to stop them from stealing the boat.  What are we to say to them now, let them steal the boats, their livelihood?  The actions of the Coast Guard crews were irreproachable, they saved 25 lives.  So, this is what happened and as soon as information became available, more details were given. 

Within three years of the crime, the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 1995, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 1996, and Amnesty International in 1997 all issued findings based on the facts available at the time. The report prepared by the IACHR was the most detailed. Human Rights Watch emphasized the importance of the IACHR report in their 1999 report "Cuba's Repressive Machinery: Human Rights Forty Years After the Revolution" in the chapter on impunity:

 On October 16, 1996, the commission approved a public report concluding that on July 13, 1994, Cuba violated the right to life of forty-one people who died when Cuban government boats rammed, flooded, and sank the 13 de Marzo, a hijacked tugboat loaded with civilians fleeing Cuba. The report also found that Cuba violated the right of personal integrity of the thirty-one survivors of the sinking, and violated the rights to transit and justice of all of the seventy-two persons who attempted to leave Cuba. The report provides shocking survivors' testimony of the Cuban government's deliberate attempts to sink the boat. Statements by President Castro and the Interior Ministry regarding responsibility for the incident provide a disturbing counterpoint to the victims' experiences. Clearly, the government's effort was to exculpate itself from responsibility, rather than conduct a serious investigation and punish those responsible for this incident.

Following the massacre, family members expected their loved ones' bodies to be returned to them. The authorities set up rapid response brigades to prevent anyone from entering their homes. The Cuban government used armed individuals to intimidate survivors and victims' families.

Jorge García who lost several family members in the July 13, 1994 attack 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. His daughter, María Victoria García, was one of three of his family who survived the massacre and 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. Jorge and his daughter are now exiled in Miami. During a question and answer session at Florida International University on July 13, 2004 he explained his 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.''

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, who was murdered on July 22, 2012 by state security agents, addressed the significance of this crime.

"Behind the Christ of Havana, about seven miles from the coast, "volunteers" of the Communist regime committed one of the most heinous crimes in the history of our city and of Cuba." ... "Let the silenced bells toll. But let them toll for all the victims of terror that in reality is only one sole victim: the Cuban people that without distinctions, suffers the loss of each one of their children."

The following persons were executed extrajudicially by the Castro regime on July 13, 1994, in the "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre.

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) 

This is a heinous crime, but the purpose behind it is much more disturbing. Milan Kundera, a Czech-born novelist who grew up under communism and understood its true nature. His observation regarding communist regimes in Eastern Europe is applicable to communist Cuba as well.

"Anyone who thinks that the Communist regimes of Central Europe are exclusively the work of criminals is overlooking a basic truth: The criminal regimes were made not by criminals but by enthusiasts convinced they had discovered the only road to paradise. They defended that road so valiantly that they were forced to execute many people. Later it became clear that there was no paradise, that the enthusiasts were therefore murderers."

 

Requiescat in pace Milan Kundera.and the 37 victims of the July 13, 1994 tugboat massacre.

Vigil for Justice for July's Cuban and Chinese martyrs

"To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” - Elie Wiesel, Night 
  

July 13th marks 26 years since 37 men, women and children were massacred by Cuban government agents who sank the tugboat they were on and used high pressure hoses to drown them. July 13th also marks three years since Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo died of "multiple organ failure" while still under the custody of the Chinese communists. Friends and family had expressed concern that he was not receiving proper medical care.
The moral failing of the West to back Chinese democrats in 1989 in order to pursue commercial interests with their communist oppressors led to the modernization and empowerment of Communist China into an economic and military super power that has reshaped the international global order.

The consequences are seen today with an aggressive communist regime in China that covered up a pandemic and allowed it to spread around the world and cripple the global economy. At the same time Communist China's  influence has corrupted international bodies, like the World Health Organization. 

Over the past three decades we have witnessed a modernized military that backs rogue regimes in North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba. This is part of the reason that human rights have been in decline around the world over the past fifteen years.
Inside China the human rights situation has also deteriorated. The political show trial of Chinese scholar, dissident and Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo in 2009 who spent eight years unjustly imprisoned and died of medical neglect while in the custody of the Chinese communists. This treatment of a Nobel Laureate demonstrates the regime's cruelty and indifference to international opinion.


We have witnessed this with Communist China ignoring its treaty obligations with the United Kingdom and taking over Hong Kong through security legislation 27 years earlier than agreed to. Now the free people of Hong Kong will be subjected the totalitarian regime of Beijing.



The same holds true in Cuba where the embrace of commercial priorities, especially during the previous Administration coincided with the deaths of many high profile dissident leaders. On July 22, 2012 Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante were killed for dedicating their lives to a nonviolent transition to democracy and freedom in Cuba.
Harold Cepero (age 32) was a youth leader in the Christian Liberation Movement of which Oswaldo Payá was a founder. In 2002 he was expelled from the university for his role in a petition drive to reform Cuban laws to bring them in line with international human rights standards. At the time he wrote a statement on the injustice of what was taking place not only for him, but Cuban society as a whole:

"They are wanting to perpetuate something that it is not even known if it is fair, and in this manner they are denying the progress of a society that wants something new, something that really guarantees a dignified place for every Cuban. They are pressuring people or preventing them from expressing their true feelings, they are cultivating fear in the nation."

Fear is being cultivated both in China and in Cuba by the secret police to perpetuate their respective totalitarian regimes, and they are using the internet to do it.  We must combat the effort to erase the past with actions that observe these anniversaries. Join us on July 13th at 12:00pm for a vigil at the Cuban embassy (2630 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009) to remember the 37 victims of the "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo who died on July 13th, and Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante who were killed on July 22nd. 

We will continue to remember.

July 13, 2017
Liu Xiaobo, Age: 61

July 22, 2012
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Age: 60
Harold Cepero Escalante, Age: 32

July 13, 1994
Hellen Martínez Enriquez. Age: 5 Months
Xicdy Rodríguez Fernández. Age: 2
Angel René Abreu Ruíz. Age: 3
José Carlos Niclas Anaya. Age: 3
Giselle Borges Alvarez. Age: 4
Caridad Leyva Tacoronte. Age: 5
Juan Mario Gutiérrez García. Age: 10
Yousell Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte. Age: 11
Yasser Perodín Almanza. Age: 11
Eliécer Suárez Plasencia. Age: 12
Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte. Age: 17
Miladys Sanabria Leal. Age: 19
Joel García Suárez. Age: 20
Odalys Muñoz García. Age: 21
Yalta Mila Anaya Carrasco. Age: 22
Luliana Enríquez Carrazana. Age: 22
Jorge Gregorio Balmaseda Castillo. Age: 24
Lissett María Alvarez Guerra. Age: 24
Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro. Age: 25
María Miralis Fernández Rodríguez. Age: 27
Leonardo Notario Góngora. Age: 28
Jorge Arquímedes Levrígido Flores. Age: 28
Pilar Almanza Romero. Age: 31
Rigoberto Feu González. Age: 31
Omar Rodríguez Suárez. Age: 33
Lázaro Enrique Borges Briel. Age: 34
Julia Caridad Ruíz Blanco. Age: 35
Martha Caridad Tacoronte Vega. Age: 35
Eduardo Suárez Esquivel. Age: 38
Martha Mirella Carrasco Sanabria. Age: 45
Augusto Guillermo Guerra Martínez. Age: 45
Rosa María Alcalde Puig. Age: 47
Estrella Suárez Esquivel. Age: 48
Reynaldo Joaquín Marrero Alamo. Age: 48
Amado González Raices. Age: 50
Fidencio Ramel Prieto Hernández. Age: 51
Manuel Cayol. Age: 56 

Acts of remembrance to mark 25 years since the "13 de marzo" tugboat sinking

“For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” - Elie Wiesel, Night

Twenty five years have passed but the victims are not forgotten, the survivors continue bear witness, and this crime is part of our collective memory along with our continued demand for justice.

July 13th marks 25 years since 37 men, women and children were massacred by Cuban government agents who sank the tugboat they were on and used high pressure hoses to drown them. July 13th also marks two years since Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo died of "multiple organ failure" while still under the custody of the Chinese communists. Friends and family had expressed concern that he was not receiving proper medical care.  On July 22, 2012 Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante were killed for dedicating their lives to a nonviolent transition to democracy and freedom in Cuba.

Five years ago visual artist Rolando Pulido created an artwork that became a visual reference at protests observing the 20th anniversary of the "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre. He has now updated it to mark the protest to be held tomorrow night (Wednesday, July 10 at 8pm) at the Cuban Embassy (2630 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009) to mark 25 years without justice with a 25 minute silent vigil.

On Saturday at the Museum of the Cuban Diaspora located at 1200 Coral Way, Jorge Garcia, who lost 14 family members in the "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre will give a presentation of an edition of his book on the subject that has now been translated to English.  Ramon Saul Sanchez and Marcel Felipe are co-hosting the event. Below is a tweet from Ramon Saul Sanchez of Movimiento Democracia announcing the event.

Te invitamos a la Conmemoracion del 25to Aniversario de la Masacre del Remolcador 13 de Marzo y la presentacion del libro en ingles de Jorge Garcia, este sabado 13 de julio, 2 PM, en el Museo de la Diáspora Cubana, 1200 Coral Way. Tel. 305 785 0669.

— Ramon Saul Sanchez (@saulsanchez) July 8, 2019

Jorge Garcia and survivors of the massacre, such as Sergio Perodin, have done the hard work of bearing witness both for the dead and the living. It is a heavy burden they carry, but a necessary one to safeguard memory from the malicious fictions propagated by the Castro regime's propagandists.

Below is a playlist of videos beginning with Inspire America Foundation's announcement of the event on Saturday, July 13 at 2pm. The videos are mostly in Spanish, but some are subtitled in English. Please share them widely with others, and let them know about this terrible crime.

Justice for the Forgotten: Remembering Oswaldo, Harold and 37 tugboat massacre victims

“In Cuba there are missing and it is known who has disappeared them, the latter are heroes for the government….There are more than 20 murdered children waiting to be claimed and mothers and grandmothers who were not allowed to look for them when they were killed off the coast of Havana” – Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, El Nuevo Herald, March 18, 2005*

24 years ago on July 13, 1994 in the early morning hours, a few miles off the coast of Havana several families risked all to get to freedom on board the "13 de Marzo" tugboat and paid the ultimate price. Castro's state security agents had learned of their plans, rather than preempt and stop the journey before it started, the repressive apparatus opted to make an example of them in an act of state terror that will never be forgotten by those touched by this crime. 37 men, women and children were killed.

Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas denounced the crime, demanding justice and years after he continued to hold the Castro regime accountable. He also called on Cubans to exercise their freedoms. This desire for freedom was intolerable for the dictatorship.

Six years ago on July 22, 2012 in Eastern Cuba two human rights and pro-democracy leaders who had organized a petition drive 16 years ago that shook the dictatorship to its very core were murdered in a successful effort by Cuban state security to silence and stop those who could not be intimidated by threats of prison, violence or even death. Cuba remains a totalitarian, communist dictatorship where human rights have and continue to be systematically violated, and dissent is not tolerated.

Truth and memory in defiance of the attempt to whitewash and forget. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel explained in his 1986 Nobel Lecture why it is important to remember:  "To forget the victims means to kill them a second time. So I couldn't prevent the first death. I surely must be capable of saving them from a second death." ... "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."

It is our duty to continue the call for justice for the 37 victims of the "13 de marzo" tugboat massacre and for Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante. On Friday, July 13th at 12 noon wherever you are hold a copy of the image at the top of the page and hold a 13 minute moment of silence, take a picture at the end of your demonstration and post it on social media.

The dictatorship killed the dreamers, but the dream lives on.

"You can blow out a candle
But you can't blow out a fire
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher."

Peter Gabriel, Biko

#100Victims: Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte (1976-1994) - died on the way to freedom

Based out of Poland the twitter account #100Victims (@100Victims remembers the victims of communism 1917-2017. They have been tweeting 100 faces in representation of the 100 million killed over a period of 100 days

Mayulis Mendez Tacoronte was just seventeen when she was murdered by agents of the Castro regime. #100 victims offered the following summary of what happened to this young woman.

Student. She was attending gastronomic class in a technical college. She died on the 13th of July 1994, when the communist authorities sunk the tugboat on which a group of Cubans tried to flee their country. The other victims from her family were her mother Martha, 5-year-old sister Caridad and 11-year -old brother Yousell.

 37 Cubans were murdered on July 13, 1994 approximately six miles from Havana when the "13 de marzo" tugboat was sunk and Mayulis, her mother Martha, little sister Caridad and little brother Yousell are part of the thirty seven lost that day.

Maleconazo: A rumor of freedom that shook the Castro dictatorship

"We now know that any method or model which purportedly aims to achieve justice, development, and efficiency but takes precedence over the individual or cancels out any of the fundamental rights leads to a form of oppression, to exclusion and is calamitous for the people." - Oswaldo Paya, Strasbourg, December 17, 2002

Near the Havana Sea Wall on August 5, 1994

Cubans have been fleeing the dictatorship in Havana for decades, but there is one episode that stands out that shook the Castro regime to its very core. It has become known as the Maleconazo. Less than a month after the "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre of July 13, 1994 a thousand Cubans were marching and shouting for freedom. On that same night as the uprising, Fidel Castro, was re-framing the circumstances surrounding the attack and sinking of the tugboat that claimed the lives of 37 men, women and children. The following account is taken and translated from the Spanish newspaper ABC and from testimony by "13 de Marzo" tugboat survivor Sergio Perodin.



What happened? 
500 Cubans gathered on August 5, 1994 on the pier "de la Luz", to take the launch that goes to Regla and Casablanca because there was a rumor that it would again be diverted to Florida. It was a rumor of a path to freedom that these 500 people had seized upon. 

Cubans marching and shouting for freedom on August 5, 1994

Military trucks arrived and announced the suspension of the launches departure and dispersed the crowd.  People walking along the Malecón (The Havana Sea Wall)  joined the dispersed crowd and gathered near the  Castillo de la Real Fuerza (Castle of the Royal Force). A thousand Cubans began to march shouting Freedom through the streets of Havana. 

That 500 Cubans would gather to flee the island is not a new phenomenon but that another 500 would join them  to march and call for freedom was something new and an unexpected development for the security services.

After marching for a kilometer, a hundred Special Brigade members and plain clothes police confronted the protesters.

Plainclothes regime agent aiming his gun at protesters August 5

The demonstrators dispersed into the neighborhood of Central Havana, burning rubbish bins, smashing the windows of the dollar stores and clashing with the police with stones and sticks. Regime agents responded with physical beat downs, several gun shots and their own mobilization of repressive actors.

That same day Fidel Castro took to the official airwaves and as usual blamed the dictatorship's problems on the United States but had to address the event that took place on July 13, 1994 saying:

 "...it [the United States] wants at all costs to undermine the country's economic effort, as part of its overall plan to destroy the Revolution.  Radio broadcasts, subversive propaganda, all of this is spearheaded from outside and is encouraged abroad.  But, to be sure, this concrete fact--this phenomenon--has been much more clearly in evidence in recent weeks, starting with the accident involving the tug '13 de Marzo'.  I believe that one of the most infamous and most grossly cynical acts of the United States Government occurred because of this accident."

An exhaustive investigation by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the events of the attack and sinking of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat on July 13, 1994 found that "[t]he evidence clearly shows that the sinking of the tug "13 de Marzo" was not an accident but rather a premeditated, intentional act," and held the Cuban State responsible for violating the right to life of all those killed that day aboard the tugboat. 

The beginning of the massacre had been witnessed from the Malecón and according to one of the survivors, Sergio Perodin: "People in Havana Malecon (a popular seafront place), couples, fishermen, began to shout asking the Polargo's crew not to sink us." 

Twenty three days later 1,000 Cubans were marching through the streets of Havana and clashing with regime officials and Fidel Castro was trying to justify the events surrounding the "13 de Marzo" tugboat sinking portraying the perpetrators of the massacre as heroes and defaming the victims.

ABC newspaper in Spain outlines what happened on August 5, 1994

Mass arrests followed and on Saturday, August 6, 1994 the Malecón and various Central Havana streets were closed off. Communist youth patrolled the streets. Several police officers and demonstrators hurt during the protests were hospitalized.  

It appears that what had started provoked by a rumor of freedom frustrated by repressive forces then combined with outrage from the previous month's massacre of innocents turned into a popular protest that initially caught the Castro regime by surprise. For the first time in 35 years a mass popular protest was able to sustain itself long enough to be reported on by international media before it was crushed by the regime's repressive actors.

Two decades later and the Maleconazo is still remembered in the popular consciousness of Cubans. The Cuban punk rock group, Porno para Ricardo named a song and album after the protests. Below is a video the banned group produced for the 18th anniversary of the August 5th uprising in Cuba.

A Cruel and Brutal Crime Witnessed at the Guantanamo Naval Base on June 26, 1993

 Never Forget

Cuban Patrol Boat near Guantanamo Naval Base

Twenty one years ago today on June 26, 1993 at 11 a.m., three Cuban patrol boats surrounded a group of swimmers trying to reach the Guantanamo Naval Base, lobbing grenades and spraying them with automatic weapons fire. At least three corpses were lifted out of the water with gaffs. The Clinton Administration reported the incident witnessed by U.S. personnel on the base. This was but one of five separate "incidents" documented in the summer of 1993 that didn't make much of an impact at the time.

However, both a year later and 19 years later two other incidents would take place that would not be so easily covered up and forgotten. Next month marks the dates of two crimes that shocked the Cuban people and reverberated around the world.

One took place twenty years ago on July 13, 1994 a tugboat named the "13 de Marzo" in the early morning hours made its way out of  Havana Harbor with families seeking a better life in freedom. Six miles off the coast line they were surrounded and attacked by other tugboats as state security agents aboard the Cuban coast guard witnessed the massacre. Before everyone on the "13 de Marzo" tugboat could be murdered a Greek trawler passing by witnessed what was going on and the operation was brought to a halt.

Extrajudicially executed by the Castro regime on July 13, 1994

 The death toll came to 37 men, women and children. Apparently leaving Cuba for a better life without the Castro regime's permission was punishable by death.

Enough time has passed that the reports and investigations into what happened on July 13, 1994 have been published by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Inter American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Commission and the Castro regime found to be responsible for the massacre.

The second, just two years ago, demonstrated that even staying in Cuba and working for non-violent democratic change is still punishable by death as was seen in the suspicious deaths of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante on July 22, 2012 under circumstances that have still not been cleared up but appear to have involved a state security operation. 

Oswaldo and Harold

 The names of the three Cubans who tried to swim for freedom but instead died in a hail of automatic weapons fire and exploding hand grenades may not be known but their deaths cannot be forgotten nor the need for accountability for those who attacked them and those who gave the orders to kill defenseless swimmers. It is amazing that in a world where so many are concerned about the plight of emigrants that what the Castro regime does to its own emigrants is ignored.

The Christian Liberation Movement has organized a month of remembrance for Oswaldo and Harold presenting information surrounding the circumstances of their deaths on July 22, 2012 and exile organizations are planning activities and acts of remembrance to mark 20 years without justice for the victims of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat massacre.

July 13, 2013: Nineteen years after the massacre; still no justice

 37 identified victims of the July 13, 1994 "13 de Marzo" Tugboat Massacre

July 13, 1994 at three in the morning three extended Cuban families set out for a better life aboard the "13 de Marzo" tugboat from Havana, Cuba and were massacred in a heinous crime committed by the Cuban government. The most extensive international report on the the events that took place was prepared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. A Cuban women who lost 14 relatives, including her 10 year old son, Juan Mario Gutiérrez García described what she experienced.

María Victoria García Suarez and her son Juan Mario

 María Victoria García Suarez:  No, they never told us to stop.  Then what they did was to shoot water at us.  Then the time came when we saw that we could not go on because it was going to be fatal and we stopped because the water was getting in.  Then we stopped and we told them:  "Look, we're turning back, we have already stopped, and they saw that we had stopped, and it was then that they split the side and turned the boat  around."  When they turned you around, what happened to you?  Those of  us on deck, we all went under and the boat sank immediately, but those of us in the water tried to get to the surface.  It was very deep.  I was carrying my son, I was holding him, I did not let go of him and then I pulled him up, but I don't know how to swim, then I came up but I went under again.  Then when I came up there was a woman who had drowned, she was floating beside me, then I grabbed her and carried my son--the waves were high--then  I could­n't... I couldn't, he had already drowned... 

The Victims

Hellen Martínez Enriquez. Age: 5 Months 
Xicdy Rodríguez Fernández. Age: 2 
Angel René Abreu Ruíz. Age: 3 
José Carlos Nicle Anaya. Age: 3 
Giselle Borges Alvarez. Age: 4 
Caridad Leyva Tacoronte. Age: 5 
Juan Mario Gutiérrez García. Age: 10 
Yousell Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte. Age: 11 
Yasser Perodín Almanza. Age: 11 
Eliécer Suárez Plasencia. Age: 12 
Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte. Age: 17 
Miladys Sanabria Leal. Age: 19 
Joel García Suárez. Age: 20 
Odalys Muñoz García. Age: 21 
Yaltamira Anaya Carrasco. Age: 22 
Luliana Enríquez Carrazana. Age: 22 
Jorge Gregorio Balmaseda Castillo. Age: 24 
Lissett María Alvarez Guerra. Age: 24 
Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro. Age: 25 
María Miralis Fernández Rodríguez. Age: 27 
Leonardo Notario Góngora. Age: 28 
Jorge Arquímedes Levrígido Flores. Age: 28 
Pilar Almanza Romero. Age: 31 
Rigoberto Feu González. Age: 31 
Omar Rodríguez Suárez. Age: 33 
Lázaro Enrique Borges Briel. Age: 34 
Julia Caridad Ruíz Blanco. Age: 35 
Martha Caridad Tacoronte Vega. Age: 35 
Eduardo Suárez Esquivel. Age: 38 
Martha Mirilla Carrasco Sanabria. Age: 45 
Augusto Guillermo Guerra Martínez. Age: 45 
Rosa María Alcalde Puig. Age: 47 
Estrella Suárez Esquivel. Age: 48 
Reynaldo Joaquín Marrero Alamo. Age: 48 
Amado González Raices. Age: 50 
Fidencio Ramel Prieto Hernández. Age: 51 
Manuel Cayol. Age: 56

This atrocity is not an aberration of the Cuban dictatorship but part of its totalitarian DNA. The men responsible for giving the orders and carrying them out 19 years later have still not had to answer for this crime.  Today, let us remember those who died, their names and how many were just children and youth who never got to live out their lives.

Cuba's Day of National Rebellion: August 5, 1994

August 5, 1994 in Havana, Cuba during "El Maleconazo" uprising

18 years ago today the word "liberty"was chanted through the streets of Havana, Cuba by thousands of Cubans spontaneously gathered in protest against the dictatorship and desiring freedom.

Part of the reason that they were out there was the "13 de Marzo"tugboat massacre that had taken place less than three weeks earlier just six miles from the Malecon in Havana. Family members and survivors bravely spoke out and the news of what happened had gotten out.



Thousands of Cubans beginning in the early hours of August 5, 1994 took to the streets shouting for freedom and continued throughout the day.

The response by the regime was violent repression and police shooting at unarmed civilians and beating them down with night sticks. After things were under control the dictator Fidel Castro appeared on the scene.

State security agent with gun drawn during August 5 uprising

The end result was another mass exodus of Cubans. Eighteen years later the Cuban punk rock band Porno para Ricardo recalls those days of protest and frustration in their song "El Maleconazo". The video begins with a call for more Maleconazos.

Remembering "13 de Marzo" Tug Victims in Cuba: Threats and arrests

Despite requests by Amnesty International that nonviolent demonstrators not be threatened for observing the anniversary of the "13 de Marzo" tugboat sinking over the past 18 years activists have continued to be threatened, imprisoned and assaulted. 2012 is proving to be no different.

Angel Moya was arrested on July 10, 2012, along with his brother, for distributing pamphlets about the July 13, 1994 tugboat massacre. A slaughter in which agents of the Castro regime purposefully attacked and sank the tugboat carrying families seeking a better life outside of Cuba extrajudicially executing 37 men, women and children. Those responsible have still not been brought to justice.

Minardo Ramos, the Secretary of the Confederation of Independent Workers of Cuba (CTIC) was arrested on July 12, 2012 at his apartment in Central Havana. He was taken to Zanja police headquarters and interrogated by political police that call themselves: Ignacio and Rolando between 10:00am and 1:00pm to warn Minardo Ramos not to pay homage to the victims of the “13 de Marzo” tugboat sinking.



Jorge Garcia Perez "Antunez" tweeted from Cuba that Central Opposition Coalition members in Santa Clara detained and beaten while trying to place flowers for the victims of the 13 de Marzo Tugboat on July 13, 2012. Earlier today Antunez tweeted that numerous activists of the FRONT were arrested in Santa Cruz del Sur  carrying a floral offering for the "13 de Marzo" tugboat martyrs.