Ana Belen Montes was released from federal prison Friday night after serving over 21 years. A partial summary of the harm she did.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.-George Santayana

 

Earlier version taken from CubaBrief.

Ana Belen Montes, the Pentagon's top analyst for Cuba who was arrested on September 21, 2001 for spying for the Castro regime for 17 years was released Friday night (January 6, 2023) from the Federal Medical Center (FMC) - Carswell, in Forth Worth, Texas where she was being held. Montes was in federal prison for over 21 years. 

It is important to set the record straight, and revisit the damage that she did to U.S. national security, and her successful campaign as an agent of influence to downplay the threat Cuba poses to the United States, and other democracies in the region.

For example the information she passed to Havana, in 1987 it is believed got 65 U.S. allied Salvadoran soldiers in Central America killed, and at least one American.

Montes regularly briefed the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the National Security Council, and the State Department downplaying Cuban military capabilities, and providing their feedback to the Castro regime's Intelligence Directorate (DI). 

Her actions during the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown on February 24, 1996, and the influence operation she conducted to direct blame away from Castro, and onto the victims, first drew the attention of investigators.

Ten years after joining the DIA, Ana Belen Montes received the National Intelligence Certificate of Distinction from Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet on February 21, 1997. 

Another example, a few months after being recognized by the CIA director, she drafted a Pentagon report in 1997 stating Cuba had a “limited capacity” to harm the United States that Fidel Castro described as “an objective report by serious people.”

Montes managed to be selected as a team leader to analyze the effectiveness of U.S. air force bombing in Afghanistan after the September 11th attacks in 2001. Officials, rightly feared, that with Havana's long history of selling secrets to enemies of the United States that if Montes obtained the Pentagon’s war plans for Afghanistan, that the Castro regime would pass it on to the Taliban, and this sped up her arrest.

The full extent of the damage that she did to the United States remains mostly classified as can be seen in the highly redacted damage assessment prepared by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense published on June 16, 2005.

At a congressional hearing in 2012, the woman charged with the damage assessment testified Montes was "one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history." "Former National Counterintelligence Executive Michelle Van Cleave told Congress that Montes 'compromised all Cuban-focused collection programs' used to eavesdrop on high-ranking Cubans, and it 'is also likely that the information she passed contributed to the death and injury of American and pro-American forces in Latin America,'” reported Jim Popkin in The Washington Post in 2013.

One of the most damaging spies in US history, Ana Montes was released from prison on Friday. For 17 years, she quietly shared intel w Cuba, who very likely shared it w Russia. Insights from retired FBI agent @petelapp, who led operations to break into her home to gather evidence. pic.twitter.com/HkwFJOqE4X

— Sasha Ingber (@SashaIngber) January 7, 2023

Retired FBI agent Peter Lapp, who led the covert operation against Montes, found the "most damaging non-human intelligence she provided to the Cubans"  was information about "a U.S. secret satellite program" that was so sensitive "that prosecutors were banned from using it had the case gone to trial."  Information was not related to Cuba, but investigators believe that Fidel Castro passed it on to other regime's hostile to the United States.

Montes with her Cuban handlers conducted an influence operation so effective that even after her arrest, the misleading analysis she provided continued to be repeated by policymakers. Her claim that Cuba posed no threat to the United States continued to circulate in government a decade after her arrest, and was used as the basis to request that President Obama remove Cuba from the list of state terror sponsors in 2013. 

"The damage done by Ana Belen Montes to both U.S. National Security and in the formulation of U.S. Foreign policy cannot be underestimated, nor the reality that she was not alone in infiltrating the U.S. government to work for a foreign power. American allies and friends and at least one American soldier were killed by the treachery committed by this foreign agent. Furthermore, the disinformation provided by her DI handlers that she inserted in U.S. government reports continued to have an impact on policy long after she went to prison," observed Ambassador Otto J. Reich, currently president of the Center for a Free Cuba and former Assistant Secretary of State and member of the National Security Council staff.

The belief that the Castro regime is harmless does not make it true.  Montes whitewashed the dictatorship's six decade record of terrorism and sponsoring terrorism (including on U.S. soil), the brutality visited upon Cubans, the role in spreading repression in Nicaragua and Venezuela, and the Castro brothers role in carrying out genocide in Ethiopia. Nevertheless, this and much more points to the ongoing threat of the Castro regime that Montes minimized.

Yes, Ana Belen Montes did great harm and we should be vigilant to the ongoing threat by the Castro regime's spies, but the priority of free Cubans remains the freedom of Cuba, more immediately the freeing of over 1,000 Cuban prisoners of conscience, like Maykel Castillo Perez, so that they can be reunited with their families.

Teenager run-over and killed by drunk Cuban state security agent

 "The greatest incitement to guilt is the hope of sinning with impunity."- Cicero

On December 19, 2013 at 11:12pm Iván Hernández Carrillo tweeted the following disturbing news that a teenager was walking on a sidewalk in Cuba early on Saturday night when he was run down by a drunken state security agent who was speeding in his car and the youth died six days later.  The agent goes by the name Alejandro Met and continues operating with impunity and the victim's family say that there is a cover up underway.

In TwitLonger the Cuban dissident and independent journalist presented the facts in greater detail followed by an English translation:

#Cuba State Security Official driving drunk runs over young 19 year old causing his death: 
On Saturday December 14 around 8 pm a car driven by a state security officer in a state of intoxication called Alejandro Met ran over Leoban Morales Navarro, a young 19-year-old on the sidewalk who died this morning at 10:00 am as a result of injuries and wounds that caused brain death. The official of the political police continues in the street without the authorities investigating what happened. Including, according to the family of the teenager, trying to hide the evidence that the officer was traveling at excessive speed in a populated area and driving under the influence of alcohol. Family members ask for a transparent investigation and to bring before the courts the military official that occasioned the death of the young man.

This is not the first time that something like this has happened.

On July 15, 2011, Amado Interian, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in MININT (The Ministry of the Interior) shot and killed 14 year old Angel Izquierdo for stealing a fruit.

Cuba is a dictatorship and its agents can and do operate with complete impunity. Even a visiting foreign national was gunned down, his wallet taken and the official responsible never identified or brought to justice. This was the fate of a young Dane, Joachim Løvschall, in March of 1997. If not for the courage and persistence of the family we would have never known of these incidents.

How many others are there that we've never heard of because family members were intimidated into keeping silent? Will you spread the word of this latest atrocity and back the family's demand for a transparent investigation?

Petition Demanding International and Transparent Investigation into the deaths of Paya and Cepero

"I'm not going to accept the version the government's giving. In no way do I accept it." - Ofelia Acevedo, Oswaldo Paya's widow

On July 22, 2012 Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, founder and leader of the Christian Liberation Movement and Harold Cepero Escalante, member of the cited movement, lost their lives on the Las Tunas-Bayamo highway, in the island of Cuba. In the wrecked car traveled together with them, Ángel Francisco Carromero and Jens Aron Modig, Spanish and Swedish citizens respectively.

In the absence of official information to clarify to the families of the deceased the truth of the accident that killed Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero, we ask, as required by respect for truth and the duty of care to the pain of the victims of this tragic event, to proceed in the shortest possible to make known the truth of what happened.

In the words of Ofelia Acevedo, widow of Oswaldo Payá, founder and new leader of the Christian Liberation Movement, the families of the two dead dissidents do not look for the guilty, but for the truth. We join this claim and demand the opening of a transparent investigation conducted by an international organization whose sole purpose is the pursuit of truth.

Only in this manner can the contradictions that from the outset have surrounded the deaths of Payá Sardiñas and Cepero Escalante dissipate. We also ask, according to international law and the most basic duties of justice to be met by any government in the world that the process of inquiry into the truth of the death of Payá Sardiñas and Cepero Escalante, guarantee the Spanish and Swedish citizens that traveled aboard the wrecked car, care and fair legal defense and according to law.

Original Spanish text of the petition and form to add your name available here.

One Year After Mazorra

Negligence, Indifference & A Madhouse of Death in Cuba

Fernando Comas one of the patients who died at Cuba's
National Psychiatric Hospital "Mazorra" in 2010 (Photo BBC Mundo)

Today marks one year since the world learned about the deaths of 26 psychiatric patients at the Cuban Psychiatric Hospital in Havana known as Mazorra. Yoani Sanchez denounced this atrocity last year along with other dissidents, but today on her twitter account provided an update on what has and hasn't happened since then:

They are trying to hide during these days the first anniversary of the deaths of dozens of patients at a psychiatric hospital because of starvation and cold. The results of the police investigation into the deaths at Mazorra were never made public. Official figures spoke of 26 dead, but it is clear to everyone now that the number of dead exceeded 40 victims. After that various twitterers created the tag #despidanabalaguer (#firebalaguer) calling for the minister of Public Health to be fired. Although Balaguer was removed he was never prosecuted for negligence. He was the minister and had to know what was occurring. Autopsy pictures of the dead patients were leaked. More than 300 lurid photos of emaciated skeletal bodies.

Nelly López, mother of Fernando Comas, one of the victims (Photo BBC Mundo)

BBC World in Spanish reported on the fact that a large number of Cubans are demanding accountability surrounding this crime and fear that it will not be forthcoming ending the article with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche: "All suppressed truths become poisonous." In the same article Nelly López, the mother of one of the victims, Fernando Comas, explains that she has been waiting for a year for an official explanation that she has asked everyone but no official replies just rumors.

[Warning the video below contains graphic images of the victims]

Unfortunately this tragedy should not have come as a surprise to human rights observers of Cuba. Amnesty International had raised the issue first in their report Psychiatry: A Human Rights Perspective in 1995:

In Cuba, there have been allegations in recent years that not only the criminally insane but also political prisoners have been sent to forensic wards of state psychiatric institutions where they are kept in unhygienic and dangerous conditions and where they are exposed to ill-treatment either at the hands of staff or fellow inmates. In 1988 Amnesty International visited the Havana Psychiatric (Mazorra) Hospital in Havana. The delegation was permitted to visit one of the forensic wards - the Sala Carbó Serviá. However, the existence of a second forensic ward, the Sala Castellanos, was denied by a hospital official. It was this ward which was alleged to present harsh conditions and to be used for the punishment of prisoners.

Amnesty International reported how prisoner of conscience Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet was sent to Mazorra on November 29, 1999 to Mazorra. He was sent to Mazorra by State Security agents and forced to undergo psychiatric examinations on several occasions including November 29th.

Cuba's National Psychiatric Hospital "Mazorra"

Amnesty also reported how on December 4, 1998 Cuban dissident Milagros Cruz Cano, who is blind, was detained by State Security agents while waiting for a bus. She was initially held at the Maria Luisa police station in Havana where she was: "beaten by police officers which resulted in a swollen cheek and a bruise and scab below her eye. She was then transferred to Mazorra psychiatric hospital in Havana where she was held in an isolated cell called Córdoba. The conditions of detention were said to be degrading as she was held in a cell with iron bars which other patients and guards could see into and where she had to carry out all personal hygiene. She was released on December 14, 1998 without charge."

Observers need to take into account that in addition to negligence and indifference to human suffering that led to a situation in which more than 40 patients died of malnutrition and exposure to cold in a tropical country that this psychiatric hospital was also employed in the mistreatment and torture of Cuban dissidents and human rights activists.

Earlier today Yoani Sanchez concluded her tweets on Mazorra calling for the publication of the report of this crime stating:

I dare to venture a label to require the publication of the results of the investigation into Mazorra #muertosmazorra (#mazorrasdead)

Its easy for someone writing from abroad to second this call to action because, unlike in Cuba under the current regime, living in a part of the world were freedom of expression is respected means not having to contemplate the consequences of being harassed and prosecuted by the state for denouncing a crime. Nevertheless, there are brave people in countries like Belarus, Cuba, China and Vietnam that risk everything to do just that. Those who don't face those dangers and are people of good will could at least assist them in relaying their message to the rest of the world and not let their calls for justice remain unanswered.

Cuba: Negligence, Indifference & the Madhouse of Death

26 mental patients dead due to negligence and indifference

Foto from EFE of Cuban healthcare facility today

What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil. Elie Wiesel, The Perils of Indifference

Over the past week while the world has rightfully focused on the natural disaster that has killed tens of thousands of innocent Haitians destroying the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere necessitating an international wave of solidarity and assistance to prevent an even greater tragedy. Neighboring Cuba continues to suffer through a man made disaster that over the past week has been guilty of indifference to those too infirm to take care of themselves leading to 26 needless deaths.

The New York Times reported on Friday, January 15, 2010 that after Cuban human rights activist Elizardo Sánchez, of the "illegal" Cuban Commission for Human Rights, denounced the confirmed deaths of at least 20 mental patients at the Psychiatric Hospital known as Mazorra on Thursday due to "criminal negligence by a government characterized by its general inefficiency" and that a day later the Cuban government confirmed that 26 patients had died due to “prolonged low temperatures that fell to 38 degrees” after in an interview with El Nuevo Herald the day before Sánchez expressed his outrage at the regime's silence over the man made tragedy:

“Never in the history of the republic have so many hospital patients died -- avoidable deaths. …The most irritating thing is that the government is keeping silent. … This is a great tragedy, not a hurricane, not an earthquake, but criminal negligence by a government characterized by its general inefficiency.”

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights reported that the government did not do enough for the patients due to problems like faulty windows. According to The Miami Herald report on the interview "[a]pparently there was no warm clothing, and above all no concern that the patients be warmly clothed,'' said the representative of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights adding that "[a]t 5 p.m. on Monday they received a very limited dinner. By Tuesday morning, they were dead." Let no one forget that Dr. Darsi Ferrer documented the lack of windows in hospitals and for his efforts has been beaten, threatened, and has now been imprisoned without trial since July of 2009. Back in November the myth of Cuban healthcare was outlined on this blog.



According to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights, Cuba does not accept the cooperation of the International Commission of the Red Cross (ICRC) or other nongovernment organizations that "could prevent situations dangerous to the health of people in psychiatric hospitals, prisons . . . and other entities." For example since 1959 the ICRC was only granted access to Cuban prisons once in 1989 over 20 years ago.

It makes one wonder whether in addition to Mazorra there is another madhouse at the Council of State of the Cuban dictatorship or worse a profound indifference to human suffering of those who cannot fend for themselves by those running an absolutist totalitarian dictatorship?

"El fraude de los 20 mil muertos" por Armando M. Lago, PhD

 

El fraude de los 20 mil muertos

Por Armando M. Lago, PhD

Según el historiador británico Lord Hugh Thomas, el ex-presidente de
Cuba, Ramón Grau San Martín, inició el fraude de las supuestas
20,000 muertes causadas por el régimen de Batista. Sin embargo, fue la
revista Bohemia la que, en su edición del 11 de enero de 1959,
difundió y propagó el gran engaño con el artículo titulado "Más
de 20 mil muertos arroja el trágico balance del régimen de
Batista". Pero el propio director de Bohemia, Miguel Ángel Quevedo
acabó con la gran ficción. En su carta de despedida, escrita momentos
antes de suicidarse en agosto del 1969, culpa del fraude de los 20 mil
muertos al editor de la sección "En Cuba", Enrique de la Ossa, a
quien califica de "dipsómano" (alcohólico).

Como parte del abarcador estudio "Registro de la Memoria Cubana",
me encuentro realizando un censo de las muertes ocurridas en Cuba por
motivos políticos y militares durante el proceso revolucionario
cubano. Aquí se resumen las conclusiones de la investigación de la
etapa insurreccional, la cual doy por comenzada el 10 de Marzo de 1952,
día del golpe militar de Batista, y finalizada el 31 de diciembre de
1958, día de su huída de Cuba.

El estudio incorporó un examen exhaustivo de fuentes provenientes del
exilio cubano -incluyendo a Barquín, Montaner, Franqui, Leovigildo
Ruíz, y de la Cova, entre muchos otros. Se utilizaron fuentes de la
isla, tales como la revista Bohemia, memorias de Fidel Castro y de
Ernesto (Che) Guevara y obras de historiadores cubanos. Aunque la
investigación incorporó todas las fuentes que se conocen, no por eso
es totalmente exhaustiva. Pudiera haber muertes no reportadas en la
literatura conocida, aunque es casi seguro que no sería un número
considerable.

El total de muertes documentadas es de 2,719, de la cuales las tropas
de Fidel Castro* fueron responsables de 912 (el 33.6 %) y los soldados
de Batista de 1,807 (el 66.4 %). La Tabla al final presenta un resumen
detallado de las muertes causadas por ambos mandos.

(Fuerzas revolucionarias me parece muy benévolo, sobre todo en
comparación con «régimen de Batista». «Soldados» y «tropas» son
términos responsables, certeros y no emiten juicios de valor)

El fraude de Bohemia

Los casos de muerte presentados en Bohemia suman 898, pero el artículo
de 1959 que hace alusión a las 20,000 muertes en su título -que no
está firmado por autor alguno- no incorpora las muertes causadas por
los combates en la Sierra Maestra. Tampoco señala que las fuerzas de
Castro fueron responsables de 912 muertes, una tercera parte de todas
las muertes documentadas para dicho período.

Los corresponsales de Bohemia sí hicieron un buen trabajo sobre las
muertes que reportaban y daban claves sobre las identidades de los
responsables de los asesinatos. Por ejemplo, cuando algún soldado,
policía o civil era asesinado por los guerrilleros, o reportaban que
las víctimas llevaban letreros colgados del cuello identificándolos
como chivatos o elogiando al Movimiento 26 de Julio, o indicaban que
habían sido víctimas de jóvenes desconocidos. En algunos casos,
incluso, señalaban los nombres de los guerrilleros o policías
responsables del asesinato. Si los asesinos eran policías o soldados
del régimen de Batista, utilizaban una especie de clave al reportar
que las víctimas llevaban bombas inactivas, mechas de dinamita o
materiales incendiarios, o que se habían dejado sobre los cadáveres
artículos de Bohemia, Carteles, o Life sobre desmanes y violaciones de
derechos humanos. Las listas de víctimas que aparecen en las revistas
Bohemia están avaladas por los autores que he mencionado.

Análisis de muertes del período insurreccional (1952-1958)

La Tabla muestra que la policía y el ejército de Batista fueron
responsables de 659 asesinatos extra-judiciales, mientras que los
guerrilleros asesinaron extrajudicialmente a 195 policías, soldados y
civiles considerados como chivatos. Esta desproporción de asesinatos
por los batistianos es la que hace que el régimen de Batista haya sido
responsable de un mayor número total de víctimas que los
guerrilleros.

Contando tanto combates rurales como urbanos, las tropas de Castro
perdieron 445 guerrilleros en combates, pero le causaron al ejército
de Batista bajas aún mayores, de 487 soldados. Los guerrilleros
también perdieron dos hombres en accidentes de jeeps y nueve en
escapes de tiros o tiros al aire (balas perdidas). En conclusión, la
guerrilla rural revolucionaria ganó las batallas de las sierras y le
administró al ejército de Batista 1.1 muertes por cada guerrillero
muerto en combate.

La cifra de guerrilleros y soldados muertos en las sierras y en áreas
rurales asciende a 1,235, lo que representa el 44.5% del total de
muertes reportadas en la literatura (2,719). Se llegó al número de
muertes ocurridas en áreas rurales sumando los muertos en combates,
los fusilamientos de campesinos, los prisioneros de guerra asesinados
por fuerzas batistianas en el Central Macareno y en Alegría de Pío y
los prisioneros del Corinthia asesinados por el Coronel batistiano
Fermín Cowley, jefe de la guarnición de Holguín y del norte de
Oriente. También se añadieron las víctimas de los bombardeos de la
Aviación de Batista y los guerrilleros muertos por accidentes en las
sierras. Resulta extraño que se considere a la revolución cubana como
una revolución campesina cuando vemos que la mayoría de las muertes
ocurrió en áreas urbanas.

Sorprende constatar el elevado número de campesinos fusilados por los
guerrilleros en las sierras, acusados de ser informantes y espías
(chivatos) del ejército de Batista. En resumen, la "Revolución
Campesina" fusiló a casi igual número de campesinos que el
ejército de Batista (96 campesinos aparecen fusilados por la guerrilla
mientras que 105 campesinos fueron fusilados por el ejército
batistiano). Para todos los fusilados en la Sierra Maestra se pudo
encontrar identidad, fecha y circunstancias del fusilamiento. Se
encuentra a Fidel y a Raúl Castro, al Che Guevara, a Jesús
Carrera-Zayas y a Camilo Cienfuegos, entre otros, fusilando campesinos.

Bien, ahora nos toca acceder al nivel número 3, donde deberíamos
entrar en relación natural con el individuo concreto que deseamos
conocer, permitiendo que de él emanen aquellos rasgos que le
definirían como personalidad irrepetible.

Con respecto a la lucha de guerrillas en áreas urbanas, la policía y
el ejército de Batista fueron responsables de la muerte de 418
guerrilleros en combates urbanos en los Cuarteles Moncada, Céspedes, y
Goicuría, en la insurrección naval de Cienfuegos, en tiroteos
ocurridos en áreas urbanas y como resultado de la fuga de presos. Por
otro lado, los comandos guerrilleros mataron a 88 soldados, policías y
marineros en el Cuartel Moncada, el asalto al Palacio Presidencial y en
tiroteos en áreas urbanas. En este sentido, las tropas batistianas
ganaron la guerra de guerrillas urbana con una tasa de 4.75
guerrilleros muertos por cada batistiano.

Los asesinatos de mujeres

De 26 muertes de mujeres por motivos políticos reportadas en Cuba
durante la dictadura de Batista, 9 fueron asesinadas por la policía y
el ejército, 2 mueren en bombardeos de la aviación batistiana, y una
muere en combate. Mientras tanto, 6 mueren por causa de explosiones de
bombas y actos de sabotajes por parte de los guerrilleros, 7 mueren
como inocentes víctimas de tiroteos, y 2 mujeres guerrilleras mueren
en accidentes de jeeps en las sierras.

Comparación con el período castrista

Aunque la investigación de las muertes por motivos políticos y
militares durante la época castrista (pos-1958) no ha concluido, lo
que ya se ha podido documentar indica que el régimen castrista ha
sobrepasado con creces la tasa anual de muertes del régimen
batistiano.


Tabla: Resumen de muertes por motivos políticos en Cuba durante el
período de insurrección de la Revolución Cubana, 1952-1958


I. Muertes causadas por fuerzas de Batista 448 Guerrilleros muertos en
combate en las campañas de las sierras (4/1956, 35/1957, 409/1958)
37 Guerrilleros y civiles muertos en bombardeos de la Fuerza Aérea
(1958)
15 Guerrilleros asesinados luego de rendirse en combates, Central
Macareno y otros (1958)
21 Guerrilleros prisioneros de guerra asesinados en Alegría del Pío
(1958)
20 Prisioneros de guerra de la expedición Corinthia asesinados (1957)

105 Fusilamientos de campesinos colaboradores de la guerrilla (40/1956,
14/1957, 51/1958)
646 Sub-total de muertos de la guerra rural

8 Guerrilleros muertos en combate en el asalto al Moncada (1953)
10 Guerrilleros muertos en combate en el asalto al Cuartel Céspedes de
Bayamo (1953)
60 Marineros y guerrilleros muertos en combate en la insurrección
naval de Cienfuegos (1957)
25 Guerrilleros muertos en combate en el asalto a Palacio Presidencial
(1957)
16 Guerrilleros muertos en combate en el asalto al Cuartel Goicuría
(1956)
1 Asesinato de prisioneros de guerra en el cuartel Goicuría (1956)
56 Asesinato de prisioneros de guerra del Moncada (1953)
15 Asesinato de prisioneros de guerra del Cuartel Céspedes de Bayamo
(1953)
9 Civiles asesinados en Santiago en represalia por el asalto al Moncada
(1953)
664 Asesinatos extra-judiciales (6/1952, 7/1953, 6/1954, 14/1955,
38/1956, 23/1957, 570/1958)
1 Soldados leales a Prío muertos en el tiroteo en el Palacio
Presidencial (1952)
12 Desapariciones de guerrilleros arrestados (2/1955, 4/1957, 6/1958)
147 Guerrilleros muertos en tiroteos urbanos durante la Huelga General
(1958)
125 Guerrilleros muertos en otros tiroteos urbanos (7/1953, 2/1955,
24/1956, 33/1957, 59/1958)
12 Presos políticos asesinados en prisión (1/1954, 7/1956, 1/1957,
3/1958)
1 Muertes en prisión de guerrilleros por negligencia médica (1957)
8 Suicidios de guerrilleros bajo arresto (1/1956, 1/1957, 6/1958)
1170 Sub-total de muertos de la guerra urbana

1,816 Total




Año Víctimas
1952 7
1953 113
1954 6
1955 19
1956 152
1957 216
1958 1303
1816


II. Muertes causadas por fuerzas guerrilleras y anti-batistianas 487
Soldados muertos en combates en áreas rurales y sierras (2/1956,
33/1957, 452/1958)
96 Campesinos fusilados o ahorcados en sierras y áreas rurales
(1/1956, 46/1957, 49/1958)
3 Guerrilleros muertos en accidentes de jeep en las sierras (1958)
9 Guerrilleros muertos accidentalmente por tiros escapados o tiros al
aire (1958)
595 Sub-total de muertos de la guerra rural

3 Desertores guerrilleros ejecutados en México (1956)
22 Soldados muertos en combate en el Cuartel Moncada (1953)
3 Asesinatos de soldados y enfermeros en el Hospital Saturnino Lora del
Cuartel Moncada (1953)
12 Soldados y policías muertos en combates durante la Insurrección
Naval de Cienfuegos (1957)
191 Asesinatos extrajudiciales (1/1952, 2/1953, 4/1954, 2/1955,
10/1956, 36/1957, 136/1958)
2 Policías de Batista muertos en tiroteo en Palacio Presidencial
durante el golpe de estado (1952)
28 Guerrilleros y civiles muertos en bombardeos terroristas (3/1953,
1/1954, 1/1955, 1/1956, 11/1957, 11/1958)
52 Soldados, policías y civiles muertos en otros tiroteos urbanos
(4/1953, 1/1955, 7/1956, 5/1957, 35/1958)
1 Soldados muertos en fugas de prisión (1956)
2 Desapariciones de oficiales del gobierno de Batista (1958)
11 Secuestradores y civiles muertos en actos de piratería aérea
(1958)
3 Civiles muertos accidentalmente en tiroteos iniciados por fuerzas
guerrilleras (1957)
330 Subtotal de muertos de la guerra urbana
925 Total



Año Víctimas
1952 3
1953 34
1954 5
1955 4
1956 25
1957 146
1958 708
925




2,741 Total de muertes causadas por fuerzas pro y contra Batista
1952-1958

Fuentes consultadas

Alvarez-Tabío y Longa, Pedro y Otto Hernández. El combate del Uvero.
La Habana: Gente Nueva, 1980.

Barquín, Ramón M., Coronel. Las luchas guerrilleras en Cuba. Madrid:
Playor, 1975.

Bohemia: Ediciones de la Libertad. La Habana, Año 51, Nro.3, 18-25 de
enero de 1959.

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Nota del Editor: Una versión anterior de este texto apareció
publicada en Encuentro en la red, el jueves, 10 de octubre de 2002