War crimes trial against members of the Cuban Air Force

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fidel Castro in April 1959

The war crimes trial of 43 members of the Cuban Air Force took place in Santiago de Cuba in February and March 1959 , a few weeks after Cuban President Fulgencio Batista fled the country and Fidel Castro took power at the head of the Cuban Revolution . After the pilots, gunmen and mechanics accused of allegedly criminal air strikes during the guerrilla war were finally acquitted in a revolutionary tribunal for lack of evidence, Castro surprisingly disregarded the criminal laws he had previously decreed and ordered a second trial that was without new evidence ended with long prison sentences. The event stood in stark contradiction to the principle of the rule of law , which Castro had advocated as a goal of his revolutionary movement since 1953, and, as a prominent example of political justice at home and abroad, caused one of the first major negative reactions to the still young Cuban revolution and its unrestricted guide.

prehistory

Airplane cockade of the Cuban Air Force 1955–1959

After Fulgencio Batista fled the country with the leading representatives of his government on the morning of January 1, 1959, the Cuban armed forces surrendered without a fight to the rebel army commanded by Fidel Castro . Castro and the July 26th Movement, which he led , had already promised the soldiers impunity for following military orders in guerrilla warfare and announced that after they came to power, according to a set of rules promulgated by the rebel army in 1958, they would only punish convicted war criminals. Apart from this, the members of the armed forces should keep their positions and continue to serve under the new government. On his "Freedom Caravan" called triumphal procession from Santiago de Cuba to the capital Havana in the first week of the year 1959, Castro met in Camagüey on January 4th for a conversation with pilots of the Cuban Air Force ( Fuerza Aérea del Ejército de Cuba , FAEC) and secured them admitted that they had nothing to fear from the revolutionary judiciary. He also offered them the takeover of the state airline Cubana de Aviación . In a public speech on the same day he said that he wanted to " bomb the Sierra Maestra with gifts" with them . A few weeks later, however, he had 43 members of the Luftwaffe arrested on the charge that they had been guilty of the most serious war crimes in the course of the guerrilla war. Since the first days of the takeover of power, dozens of members of the military and police as well as actual and alleged civil supporters of the former Batista government had been executed by the revolutionaries - for the most part after swiftly conducted so-called revolutionary tribunals, in numerous cases without any trial.

The first trial

Provincial Hospital of Santiago de Cuba, 1959 venue for the trials

From February 13 to March 2, 1959, the first trial against members of the Air Force took place in Santiago de Cuba before a revolutionary tribunal appointed by Fidel Castro in the province of Oriente as the highest court martial . It was chaired by the major (comandante) of the rebel army Félix Pena Díaz, supported by the major and pilot Antonio Michel Yabor and the lieutenant and lawyer Adalberto Parúas Toll. 19 pilots, 19 gunmen and 5 aircraft mechanics were charged. The charges included genocide , murder and several other offenses in connection with more than 600 under Batista's command carried out air strikes on populated areas in the eastern part of Cuba in the second half of 1958. These air strikes had caused eight civilian deaths. The captain of the rebel army Antonio Cejas Sánchez acted as prosecutor . A hostile mood against the accused was prevalent in the local media: On the day the trial opened, a prominently placed report appeared in a daily newspaper in Santiago under the title “Sagua, the Cuban Lidice ”, in which the small town of Sagua de Tánamo, which was hit by air strikes during the war was compared to the Czech village, which was completely destroyed in a serious war crime by German troops in World War II with hundreds of murder victims. The prosecutor, who had also led the investigation at the same time, spent ten hours explaining the incriminating material and had his lecture recorded on tape and broadcast on radio stations in the region and the text printed out in the newspapers. At the same time, however, he had media coverage of the defense pleadings prevented. In conclusion, Cejas called for the death penalty for 22 of the accused, imprisonment between five and seven times 30 years for 21 other accused, as well as acquittal for two mechanics.

After the tribunal, after extensive hearings with witnesses, could not find any conclusive evidence for the charges raised, its chairman, in agreement with the two assessors, acquitted the defendants on all counts on March 2 and ordered their immediate release. The existence of genocide or murder could not be established, nor could the defense's argument that rebels were in the attacked villages, which had thereby become legitimate targets, could be refuted. The prosecution also failed to assign individual attacks to specific defendants. After the verdict was announced, protests took place in Santiago demanding the execution of the acquitted. On the orders of the military commander of the Oriente province , the major of the rebel army Manuel Piñeiro , the Air Force members were not released but were transferred to the Boniato prison on the northern outskirts of the city.

Castro's intervention

Former seat of the Santiago de Cuba Bar Association in today's Calle Félix Pena

On March 3, Fidel Castro, who had replaced the liberal law professor José Miró Cardona in the office of Prime Minister on February 16, declared the sentence to be invalid. He described it as a "serious mistake that must not be allowed to" "acquit these criminal Air Force personnel". "It would be the height of the folly of a people and a revolution to free those who have proven themselves to be the most cowardly murderers and servants of tyranny." Castro continued, the revolutionary tribunals needed no more evidence than the "destroyed cities and villages and the." Dozens of bodies of children and women who were "killed by bullets and bombs" - the verdict with the actual death toll of eight had not been published by the government. Then he justified the required punishment as a preventive measure: As a matter of the security of the population, the revolution should under no circumstances give "these poor creatures" the opportunity to "fly against Cuba again and continue to write their ominous story of grief and tragedy." He claimed that the judgment was based not on legal but on political considerations. For this reason it was invalid and a new tribunal would have to be held to properly assess the case. Revolutionary jurisprudence is not based on legal regulations, but on the “moral conviction” of the people. On the same day, demonstrations against the acquittal continued in Santiago. Piñeiro, who is responsible for the security of the region and who has been Castro's close confidante since 1955, announced that the acquitted would not be released, but that a revision procedure would be carried out at the request of the public prosecutor .

Also on March 3, the defense lawyers of the 43, with the support of the bar associations of Santiago and Havana, turned to Castro and the public, pointing out that the criminal law paragraphs passed and published by the rebel army in 1958 were a reassessment of those negotiated during the first trial Facts did not admit. A revision procedure should only refer to the facts that have already been declared as proven. The bar associations demanded an assurance of the necessary guarantees for the review process to be able to practice their profession and reminded Castro of his promise that the revolution would restore respect for the law. To make sure it was noticed by the public, the Santiago Bar Association financed a large advertisement in the Havana national newspaper Diario de la Marina under the heading “To Public Opinion: The Santiago Bar Association on the Air Force Trials in Santiago ”, which contained the full verdict of the First Tribunal, the laws enacted by the revolutionary movement on appeal and review of criminal proceedings, and open letters to Prime Minister Fidel Castro and President Manuel Urrutia .

In addition to the fact that Castro's intervention contradicted the rules expressly set out in the Code of Criminal Procedure, which, by official decision of his government, formed the legal basis for the revolutionary tribunals, he also broke the internationally recognized rule of law “ Ne bis in idem “(Prohibition of double punishment), according to which a finally judicially clarified facts may not be used in a second decision against the person concerned.

The second process

The appeal hearing began on March 5th and ended with the pronouncement of the verdict on March 7th. The specially appointed revolutionary tribunal this time consisted of five high representatives of the rebel army, all members of the highest military rank (major / comandante), chaired by Piñeiros. The four assessors were Carlos Iglesias Fonseca, Demetrio Montseny, Belarmino Castillas and Pedro Díaz Lanz , commander of the rebel air force. In the position of public prosecutor, Juan Escalona was initially planned to replace Cejas, but was replaced by the incumbent Defense Minister and Major Augusto Martínez Sánchez before the proceedings began . The defense lawyers remained the same seven lawyers as in the first trial, but the defendants were not allowed to attend the public hearing. The defense's objections, raised right at the beginning of the proceedings, that revision proceedings in cases of acquittals were inadmissible under the law, were rejected as unfounded by the tribunal chairman.

During the trial, a loud and emotional audience created an anti-defense, aggressive atmosphere, which the prosecutor stirred up by attacking the defense lawyers. Defense lawyer Carlos Peña-Jústiz said that he had learned from rebel army circles that orders had already been sent to Santiago from Havana to sentence eight of the accused to death and the others to long prison terms. Peña-Jústiz had already taken on the defense of four of the accused (including Gustavo Arcos ) in the criminal proceedings against the attackers led by Castro in 1953 at the Moncada barracks and later joined the movement of July 26th , in which he continued until the successful end of the Resistance against Batista had risen to the leader of the underground in Santiago.

Presidio Modelo prison on Isla de la Juventud , where the convicts were imprisoned

The proceedings had hardly any elements of a contest of legal arguments, but consisted essentially of denigrations directed against the defense. Prosecutor Martínez described the Peña-Jústiz 'line of defense as a "chain of lies" and directed sharp personal attacks against defense attorney Arístides D'Acosta, whom he described as a representative of the Batista dictatorship and who was abused by the public and without protection from the court to be taken was urged to leave the courtroom. Martínez argued that the Air Force members were just as murderers as Batista because there was no uprising against the dictatorship within the Air Force.

While the trial was still ongoing, Castro reiterated the question of the guilt of the defendants, saying on national television that if not the death penalty , the Air Force would at least deserve long prison terms with forced labor . The accused are "the umbilical cord between the reactionaries and the war criminals." He also accused the bar associations of Santiago and Havana, which had urged him to comply with the laws he promulgated, of anti-revolutionary stance. The "reactionary opposition to his government" is set in motion. “There is undoubtedly a connection between certain lawyers in Santiago and the anti-revolutionary campaign.” He also announced that he would travel to Santiago in person before the verdict was pronounced in order to explain the facts to the people in a speech that was finally given a few days after the Pronouncement held.

At the end of his defense speech, Peña-Jústiz said to the Revolutionary Tribunal: "If you convict these guys who have already been acquitted, you are turning Fidel Castro into the Napoleon of the Caribbean and the revolution into a tyranny." He added that the Mexican one too General Porfirio Díaz, like other Latin American leaders, was a folk hero at the time he came to power, but then used violence to stay in power for 30 years.

On the evening of March 7th, the Revolutionary Tribunal announced its verdict: Twenty defendants were sentenced to 30 years in a labor camp, nine to 20 years and twelve to 2 years. Two of the mechanics were acquitted. No new evidence was presented during the second trial.

Reactions and consequences

On March 23rd, Castro explained his understanding of the extent to which he felt bound by the law: “We will respect the laws, but the laws of the revolution; we will respect rights, but rights of the revolution - not the old rights, but the new rights that we will create. For the old law: no respect. For the new law: respect. Who has the right to change the constitution? The majority. Who has the majority? The revolution. ”On May 8th he added:“ We are not compelled to break laws because we make them ourselves. ”According to an adjutant later testimony, Castro told him to confirm his rejection of the acquittal of Santiago:“ I am not bound by anything Law. There is none here but revolutionary justice. There is no other constitution here than the will of the revolution. I am first and foremost the leader of the revolution and only afterwards Prime Minister. ”After the trial in Santiago, other members of the former air force were also sentenced to long prison terms with forced labor in three smaller trials in Camagüey, Santa Clara and Havana, so that the total number of those convicted comes up over 75 amounted.

Bust of Félix Pena, chairman of the original Revolutionary Tribunal

Even before the second trial was completed, the three members of the first revolutionary tribunal announced their resignation and, contrary to Castro's criticism, publicly stressed that they had followed the laws of the revolution with their acquittal. Alluding to Castro's famous plea “ History will acquit me ” from 1953, they declared that they would face “the judgment of history” with a clear conscience. In the meantime, several soldiers' committees of the rebel army visited the editorial offices of newspapers and radio stations in Santiago to express their solidarity with the court chairman Félix Pena, who was discredited by the first acquittal, and his attitude. He is an honorable and courageous revolutionary who has spoken right. On April 14, 1959, Pena was shot dead in Havana, according to official reports it was suicide . As the son of the city and a respected resistance fighter against Batista's dictatorship, his funeral took place with great sympathy from the population, but without Castro's presence or comment or a mention of the media controlled by the revolutionary government. Pena was shortly before his wedding and the subsequent honeymoon to Europe, where he was to take up a position in Bonn as a military attaché to the Cuban embassy . According to the Cuban historian Luis Aguilar, the chief Pena's bodyguard was later shot dead in what was officially an accident. Adalberto Parúas and Antonio Michel, the other two members of the first revolutionary tribunal fled, and later into exile, where from it against the built Castro autocracy inserting. Several defense witnesses were arrested and the defense lawyers were banned from practicing their profession. Defense attorney Peña-Jústiz was later held as a political prisoner from 1961 to 1965.

Reactions abroad

There were also reactions abroad to Castro's interference in the revolutionary judiciary, both among sympathizers and opponents of the revolution. In a telegram known as “friendly advice”, Colombian senators, who then called the dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla , who ruled until 1957, to account, called on Castro to continue to be the “worthy standard bearer of law and justice”, which he said in his “heroic Struggle for the Restoration of the Principles of Freedom and Democracy “so far. It was not until twenty years after the double trial that the matter was presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAKMR) founded by the Organization of American States . After the Cuban government had not responded to the Commission's invitation to comment since 1979, the IAKMR accepted the presentation submitted to it in 1981 as correct and condemned the Cuba government for violating the fundamental rights of these political prisoners. According to this, all 28 members of the Air Force who had been sentenced to long prison terms were still imprisoned in the summer of 1979, with the only exception of the seriously ill and prematurely released pilot Eulelio Beruvides (whose young daughter had contacted the Pope from Miami in 1964 with a petition). In fact, the prisoners were released during 1979.

The most violent protests against Castro's surprising breach of the rule of law came from the United States , with the more than 400 standing executions of the revolutionary leadership at the same time causing even greater opposition in public discussion, both among politicians and in the media. When Castro traveled to the USA the following month and made numerous appearances there as a democrat and anti-communist, his perception in the American public improved significantly.

Historical classification

The German historian Michael Zeuske sees the trial of Air Force members as a turning point in the public perception of the policy of the revolutionary regime towards his opponents: “Only after Castro's massive interventions in the trial of Batista pilots in March 1959 was the intervention clearly identified as 'Revolutionary violence' and in the beginning as 'terror'. ” Boris Goldenberg also cites the double trial in his portrayal of the Cuban Revolution as a moment in which, in Cuba, in the up to then large parts of the population, the euphoric mood of optimism for the first time“ critical voices raised ”.

The comparison of Castro with Napoleon, drawn by defense attorney Peña-Jústiz on the occasion of the unprecedented interference in the judiciary, appeared even more frequently in the following decades when evaluating the system of rule established by Castro. Even Zeuske, who was fundamentally positive towards the Cuban revolutionary government, recognized “ caudillist - Bonapartist elements” in the Cuban system . The goal, cited by Castro as an important motivation for the prison sentences of the Air Force members, to prevent future criminal offenses - as a punishment in advance independent of proven guilt - later even found its way into the criminal code as a problematic peculiarity of the Cuban legal system. Thus, to this day, Paragraph 72 defines the criminal offense, which is also used against opposition groups, of "criminal offenses" (Peligrosidad Social Predelictiva) as a "tendency to commit crimes" which the court attaches to "behavior contrary to the norms of socialist morality" of a defendant and can prove a maximum of four years imprisonment.

Immediately before his escape, Michel, a member of the first tribunal, managed on January 16, 1960 to publish his letter of resignation as an open letter to Fidel Castro as a major in the Revolutionary Air Force in the daily Avance . In it, he referred extensively to the previous year's trial and wrote that this was the first time he had seen Castro say one thing in private before then pretending something completely different in public. This method has now become a habit. Castro had betrayed the goals of the revolution and was now for his part declaring all revolutionaries to be traitors who were not prepared to follow him in realizing plans of foreign origin that resulted in a totalitarian system. In June 1959, the Luftwaffe chief Díaz Lanz, who was involved in the second judgment, had fled and in October Major Huber Matos had declared his withdrawal from the leadership of the revolution and was subsequently sentenced to twenty years imprisonment for high treason at Castro's instigation .

In the official Cuban historiography, the double trial of Santiago and the intervention of Castro are not taken into account. In the article on the major of the rebel army Félix Pena in the official online encyclopedia EcuRed , it is only mentioned briefly that he was “wrong” in the “[not] imposing the penalties” in the revolutionary tribunal he chaired against the pilots. which was due to "his lack of experience in these proceedings". The Cuban journalist and historian Luis Aguilar, who fled into exile in 1960 and Castro's former classmate, cites the process, which was annulled on Castro's orders, as an example of the point in time when “the Cuban Revolution died” - at the same time the whole country was covered with signs which read: "The people are the revolution - the revolution is Fidel." Nobody else counted and this was the hour of birth of the dictatorship.

literature

  • Ronald S. Christenson (ed.): Political Trials in History: From Antiquity to the Present , Transaction Publishers, 1991, pp. 86-88, ISBN 978-0-88738-406-6
  • Francisco José Moreno: The Cuban Revolution v. Batista's Pilots, in: Political Trials. ed. by Theodore L. Becker, Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis 1971, ISBN 978-0-672-60744-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Guillermo A. Estévez and Juan Clark: Juicio a pilotos en 1959 reveló esencia castrista , in: Nuevo Herald of March 8, 2009, accessed via Diario el Progreso on January 13, 2013 (Spanish)
  2. ^ Fidel Castro: Discurso pronunciado en la Plaza de la Ciudad de Camagüey. In: Website of the Cuban government. January 4, 1959. Retrieved January 17, 2013 (Spanish).
  3. ↑ Alberto García Torres: continuo el juicio contra los Aviadores en Santiago de Cuba. In: Diario de la Marina. February 15, 1959. Retrieved January 14, 2013 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ Un juicio en la historia (see web links), p. 7f
  5. ↑ Un juicio en la historia, p. 17
  6. ↑ En Cuba (PDF). In: Bohemia, March 8, 1959, Digital Library of the Caribbean, p. 45, accessed June 13, 2019 (Spanish)
  7. ↑ Alberto García Torres: Pide la pena de muerte el fiscal para varios pilotos en el juicio que se les sigue en Santiago de Cuba. In: Diario de la Marina. February 26, 1959. Retrieved January 15, 2013 (Spanish).
  8. ↑ a b Revolution and Criminal Justice (see web links), p. 12
  9. ↑ Cuba: Cuarenta y tres aviadores absueltos , in: La Vanguardia of March 4, 1959, accessed on January 12, 2014 (Spanish)
  10. ↑ Un juicio en la historia, p. 20
  11. ↑ La absolución de 43 aviadores a cargo de un Tribunal militar disgusta a Fidel Castro , in: La Vanguardia of March 5, 1959, accessed on January 12, 2013 (Spanish)
  12. ↑ a b c d quoted from van der Plas: Revolution and Criminal Justice, p. 12
  13. ↑ Political Trials in History, p. 88
  14. ↑ Castro assails acquittals. In: New York Times, March 4, 1959, p. 11 (English)
  15. ^ Robert E. Quirk: Fidel Castro. P. 229, Norton, New York 1993 (English)
  16. ↑ Manifestación en Santiago de Cuba por la absolución de los aviadores , in: Diario de la Marina of March 4, 1959, accessed on January 12, 2013 (Spanish)
  17. ↑ a b Alberto García Torres: Actuará como Fiscal en juicio contra aviadores el Ministro de Defensa ( continued ), in: Diario de la Marina of March 4, 1959, accessed on January 12, 2013 (Spanish)
  18. ↑ Lo que dicen los defensores , in: Diario de la Marina of March 4, 1959, accessed on January 12, 2013 (Spanish)
  19. ↑ A la opinión pública , display of the Bar Association in Santiago: Diario de la Marina on 4 March 1959; accessed on 14 January 2013 (Spanish)
  20. ^ Revolution and Criminal Justice, pp. 12f
  21. ↑ a b c d e Alberto García Torres: Criticó duramente el Fiscal al letrado defensor D'Acosta ( continued ), in: Diario de la Marina of March 5, 1959, accessed on January 12, 2013 (Spanish)
  22. ↑ a b c d Castro denuncia “la oposición antirrevolucionaria” ( continued ), in: ABC of March 7, 1959, accessed on January 12, 2013 (Spanish)
  23. ^ Antonio Rafael de la Cova: The Moncada Attack. Birth of the Cuban Revolution. P. 274, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia 2007 (English)
  24. ↑ Ariel Remos: El juicio a los aviadores de la fuerza aérea cubana , in: Diario de las Américas of August 24, 2008, accessed via La Nueva Cuba on January 12, 2013 (Spanish)
  25. ^ Hugh Thomas : Castro's Cuba. P. 260, Siedler, Berlin 1984
  26. ↑ Alberto García Torres: Nuevas censuras del Fiscal en el juicio a los pilotos , ( continued ) in: Diario de la Marina of March 6, 1959, accessed on January 14, 2013 (Spanish)
  27. ↑ Prisión y trabajos forzados es la sanción adecuada para los pilotos, Opina F. Castro ( continued ), in: Diario de la Marina of 7 March 1959 accessed on 12 January 2013 (Spanish)
  28. ^ Castro llega a Santiago para intervenir en el nuevo juicio de los aviadores absueltos. In: ABC. March 8, 1959, Retrieved January 16, 2013 (Spanish).
  29. ↑ Fidel Castro: Discurso pronunciado (…) en Santiago de Cuba , speech of March 11, 1959, accessed on the website of the Cuban government, accessed on August 2, 2013 (Spanish)
  30. ↑ quoted from Guillermo A. Estévez and Juan Clark: Juicio a pilotos en 1959 reveló esencia castrista , in: Nuevo Herald of March 8, 2009, accessed via Diario el Progreso on January 13, 2013 (Spanish)
  31. ↑ 43 aviadores, juzgados por una causa de que ya habían sido absueltos , in: ABC of March 7, 1959, accessed on January 13, 2013 (Spanish)
  32. ↑ Imponen pena de prisión a los aviadores en Santiago de Cuba ( continued ), in: Diario de la Marina of March 8, 1959, accessed on January 12, 2013 (Spanish)
  33. ^ Tom Gjelten: Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause. P. 214f, Penguin, New York 2008 (English)
  34. ↑ quoted from van der Plas: Revolution and Criminal Justice, p. 13
  35. ^ Boris Goldenberg: Latin America and the Cuban Revolution. P. 261, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1963
  36. ↑ Ricardo R. Sardiñas, in: Un juicio en la historia, p. 21
  37. ↑ History of the Cuban Military Aviation , in: Aviation News and Ressource Online Magazine o. D., accessed on January 21, 2013 (English)
  38. ↑ a b Félix Pena Díaz in the official Cuban online encyclopedia EcuRed , accessed on January 21, 2013 (Spanish)
  39. ↑ a b Antonio Michel Yabor's open letter to Fidel Castro from January 16, 1960, in: Un juicio en la historia p. 24f
  40. ↑ Arnaldo M. Fernández: La otra historia (VIII) ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / eichikawa.com archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: Emilio Ichikawa, January 6, 2010, accessed January 14, 2013 (Spanish)
  41. ↑ a b Luis E. Aguilar León: ¿Cuándo murió la revolución cubana? ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.alexlib.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 13, 2013 (Spanish)
  42. ^ Samuel Farber : Cuba since the Revolution 1959. A Critical Assessment. P. 35, Haymarket, Chicago 2011 (English)
  43. ^ Antonio Rafael de la Cova: The Moncada Attack. Birth of the Cuban Revolution. P. 347, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia 2007 (English)
  44. ↑ Jon Lee Anderson: Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. P. 408, Grove Press, New York 1997 (English)
  45. ↑ Amistosa recomendación colombiana a Fidel Castro , in: La Vanguardia of March 8, 1959, accessed on January 12, 2013 (Spanish)
  46. ↑ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Resolución No. 47/81, Caso 4677 (Spanish), resolution of June 25, 1981 (English version: resolution 47/81 ), accessed January 21, 2013
  47. ↑ Girl Asks Pope To Help Father , in: Pittsburgh Press, July 5, 1964, accessed via Google News on January 13, 2013
  48. ↑ Ya pasan de 400 los ejecutados , in: ABC of March 8, 1959, accessed on January 14, 2013 (Spanish)
  49. ↑ Cuba: One-Man Court in: Time of March 16, 1959, online version for a fee, accessed on January 21, 2013 (English)
  50. ^ Samuel Farber: The Origins of the Cuban Revolution Reconsidered. P. 79f, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 2006 (English)
  51. ↑ Michael Zeuske: Cuba in the 21st century. Revolution and reform on the island of extremes. P. 21f, Rotbuch, Berlin 2012
  52. ^ Boris Goldenberg: Latin America and the Cuban Revolution. P. 260f, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1963
  53. ↑ Michael Zeuske: Island of Extremes. Cuba in the 20th century. Final chapter of the 2nd edition, Rotbuch, Berlin 2004
  54. ^ Committee to Protect Journalists : Periodista cubano condenado a prisión por “peligrosidad social” , report from April 19, 2007, accessed on January 14, 2013 (Spanish, English version here )
  55. ^ Patrick Symmes: The Boys from Dolores. Fidel Castro's Classmates from Revolution to Exile. Pantheon, New York 2007 (English)