November 27, 1871: the light of a dark day

On November 27, 1871, Spanish colonialism perpetrated in Havana one of its most savage crimes on Cuban territory: the execution by firing squad of eight totally innocent first-year medical students, sacrificed more than anything else as an example to the sons and daughters of this land of freedom fighters since 1868.
The date has become one of the saddest and at the same time clamorous days in history, the compatriots of those young people have been able to find today, if you will, the brightness of that painful and somber event.

It is not a contradiction in terms. It is seen only by those who know how to value the courage, firmness and honesty with which many people with decorum faced the prevailing crime and hatred; and who saw the infamy committed as a poker of the decision of a people to win or die for their freedom.

The compatriots who were almost children return to the memory of Cuba and especially of the youngest ones, with the restorative force of homage and the clamor for their innocence, something that still makes sense even if it does not seem so.

Jose Marti and his soul friend Fermin Valdes Dominguez were contemporaries of those murdered and even the latter was one of the students tried in the summary trial from which, with almost providential luck, he only got out with a prison sentence.

That abominable crime, for many the most perverse of colonialism, responded to the increase of repression and hatred of a system seriously eaten away by the loss of most of its vassals in America, challenged by the Cubans.

It was backed by a sinister force, the famous repressive corps called the Havana Volunteers, formed by peninsulars and apostate Creoles, extremely violent and reactionary, of course, servants of the Spanish government.

They were the most visible instrument of the plot and the execution of the savage punishment of Cubans in rebellion.

To be aware of this is the most rational thing to do, since the facts indicate that at no time did the unbridled Volunteers get out of hand with the Hispanic rulers and put them against the wall, in order to quench their thirst for blood.

More or less defiance, their actions responded with proven fidelity to the mechanism set up by the authorities to punish the so-called infidelity of the Creoles. Their total freedom to sow terror and commit misdeeds with impunity from 1855 to 1898, even documented, proves this assertion.

It was not possible to save the young students in such a reactionary and criminal environment at the service of the government of the metropolis.

After two summary war trials, the eight students of the University of Havana were condemned to death and shot in the Explanada de la Punta -located in Malecon and Prado-, under the accusation of having damaged the tomb of the journalist and furious defender of the peninsular cause, Gonzalo de Castañon.

Their names were Anacleto Bermudez, Angel Laborde, Jose de Marcos, Juan Pascual Rodriguez, Alonso Alvarez de la Campa, Carlos de la Torre, Eladio Gonzalez and Carlos Verdugo. Something even more terrible and unprecedented happened with the last three, included by lot in the sentence.

With this they placated the hyenas or Havana Volunteers, who in the name of their idol Castañon, exceeded all limits.

Castañon, whose memory was never vilified by the students, on the other hand, did not even deserve a good memory, because according to the well-founded assessment of Jose Marti and many contemporaries, he was a "man of hatred", murdered for personal quarrels in the United States and then buried in Havana.
The repressors pulled by the hair and inflated the innocent event in which a group of students took part on the afternoon of Friday, November 24, 1871.

Won over by youthful impatience at the tardiness of their Anatomy professor, some boys from the first year of Medicine at the University of Havana decided to leave the Amphitheater, while others crossed over to the nearby Espada Cemetery, located on San Lazaro Street.

Some wandered around the courtyards, while others, amused, played with the cart that transported the corpses from the cemetery to the teaching dissection room. One plucked a flower from an offering placed in a vessel.

Let's agree that there was immaturity and disrespect for the rules in such a solemn place, but were they criminals or infidels for that?

The inappropriate uproar caused the anger of the caretaker, who was concerned above all for the integrity of the gardens and crops. This led him, however, to a vile and extreme action: to accuse them before the political governor of having scratched the glass of the tomb of Gonzalo de Castañon.
Quick as lightning, the governor ordered the arrest of the young men, who at first were the 46 students who were waiting for the absent professor.

The first hearing of the Council, with fabricated charges, severe penalties were imposed, but the verdict of death was not reached.

During that initial part of the trial, the performance of the defense attorney, the worthy Spanish army officer Federico Capdevila, stood out, as he bowed the knee to the ground out of pundonor and loyalty to his office.

But then barbarism came into action, as the Volunteers of Havana did not accept the verdict and rioted with great violence, threatening to revolt, in front of the building where the first hearing had been held.

Quickly a second trial had to be held, designed to please the haters and hired assassins, which imposed capital punishment for the young men mentioned. Eleven were sentenced to six years in prison, 20 to four and four to six months.

It is good to remember, when talking about this sad event, that one of those imprisoned, Fermín Valdés Domínguez, was able to finish his career in Spain after serving his sentence, and return to the island to practice his profession with dedication and be a freedom fighter.

In the beloved land he did not rest until he found the forbidden and unknown grave of his comrades, a common grave outside the cemetery, even forbidden to their relatives. He found it after a long, risky and self-sacrificing search.

When they were very young, Jose Martí and Fermin Valdes Dominguez courageously denounced the horrendous crime and the inhuman political imprisonment in Cuba, as soon as they reached their exile in the metropolis, while they were studying different careers at the University of Saragossa.

Today, on a new anniversary of an event that involved the promise of life, the purity of values and innocence, the new pines and the people ratify themselves patriots in the grateful memory and in the fight against injustice.