LATIN AMERICAN REVIEW - CUBA: DEATH OF TWO HEROINES

• Document Type: FOIA
• Keywords: DEATHS OF TWO CUBAN HEROINES
• Keywords: REACTIONS TO CASTRO JUNE 1980
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0000843986
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: June 22, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 10, 2009
• Case Number: F-2009-01563
• Publication Date: August 22, 1980

 Cuba: Death of Two Heroines
The deaths this year of two important female per-
sonalities of the Cuban revolution could
ea
some Cubans to question the current course o e revo-
lution. The death of Celia Sanchez, 55, in January
after a long bout with cancer deprived President Fidel
Castro of the moderating influence and emotional support
of a principal adviser and confidante. The suicide of
Hayde Sa tamaria 51, in July has prompted questions
about her personal commit-
ment to we heroine from the earli-
est days of the revolution, Santamaria had long been
revered as an example of revolutionary courage and dedi-
cation. Their deaths have come at a time of seriou
difficulties for Cuba and concern about the future
Castro's Confidante
Celia Sanchez was Minister-Secretary of the Council
of State and one of a handful of women belonging to the
Communist Party Central Committee since its founding in
196 . Working directly under Castro's supervision, she
hal been responsible bince the triumph of the revolution
in 1959 for keeping a semblance of order in the Cuban
leader's public and private lives. She was tasked with
ensuring that all of Caatro's orders were carried out;
screening people who wished to see him; answering all
of his correspondence; responding to popular grievances;
and acting as a coordinator between Castro and other
high government officials. She also served as a bridge
between Castro and the Cuban people, interceding with
him to plead the cause of many petitions lost in the
Cuban bureaucracy.
Sanchez's d ath was a personal loss to President
Castro. She had served
as his secretary and most trusted con an a since the
guerrilla days of the Sierra Maestra. For most of the
1960s, her apartment in Havana had been Castro's home
22 August 1980
7
 "The Girl of Moncada"
'and Cuban revolutionary head-
quarters. He sought her opinion
on many matters requiring a dif-
ficult decision and generally
followed her recommendations.
Haydee Santamaria ranked with Sanchez as one of
those almost mythical figures from the earliest days of
the revolutionary struggle against President Ful9encio
Batista. She was one of only two women who participated
in the attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de
Cuba led by Castro on 26 July 1953--the birth of the
revolution.
Santamaria's connection with the anti-Batista strug-
gle was laden with personal tragedy and suffering. Many
of the 160-man attacking force were killed; Saiitamaria's
brother, Abel, and her fiance, Boris Luis Santacoloma,
were captured and tortured to death. Santamaria also
was captured and forced to endure the tortures of her
Santamatia later stood trial with Fidel
*The source of Vie above copyrighted photograph is Bohemia, 31 October
1975.
22 August 1980
 and Raul Castro and the few other survivors of the abor-
tive attack, and was sentenced to seven months imprison-
ment.
After her release, she became known as "the girl of
Moncada"; a legend of courage, sacrifice, and tion
built around her. Santamaria. however. was it
Moreover, she saw a world in i ere
the tragedy of Moncada.
Nonetheless, Santamaria
felt a debt to her dead men an a quiccen . of the
ideal for which they had perished. She became the in-
strumental force behind the formation of Castro's 26th
of July Movement following Castro's release from prison
in 1955, and she served on its national directorate.
Her tireless organizational work made her one of the
most important figures in the rebel movement. She was
largely responsible for organizing and securing funds
for the Sierra Maestra guerrillas, and without her the
revolutionary struggle might never have gotten off the
ground. By the fall of 1958, hunted by Batista's police,
she fled to the United States where she continued to
raise funds for the rebel movement until victory was
achieved in January 1959.
During the early years of the revolution, Santamaria
maintained a prominent public position befitting her
,prestige and close friendship with Castro. She was the
only woman on the national directorates of the two orga-
nizations that preceded the Cuban Communist Party (PCC)--
the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations and the United
Party of the Socialist Revolution. When the PCC was
'founded in 1965, she was named to its Central Committee.
In 1976 she was elected deputy to the National Assembly
and appointed to the Council of State.
Santamaria's political influence, however, was more
nominal than real. She never belonged to the close-knit,
all-male group of Cuban policymakers, but her former
husband, Armando Hart, is a member of the Politburo and
her brother Aldo is Chief of the Cuban Navy and Vice
Minister of the Armed Forces. Her influence appears to
have been limited to having her friends appointed to
22 August 1980
 various government positions. The job that occupied
most of her time and effort--director of the Casa de las
Americas, an intellectual-cultural institution--had al-
most no political content. Her involvement with national
and international women's groups also was almost devoid
of any significant political substance. Even in the
cultural field, Santamaria's role did not extend into
*The source of the above copyrighted photograph is Coronet Magazine,
April 1959.
22 August 1980
 the policymaking area, and her counsel probably was not
sought during the cultural retrenclunent of the early
1970s, when a number of Cuban intellectuals were re-
pressed severely for their mildly critical positions
vis-a-vis the revolution. Her death, however, may cause
further despair among Cuban intellectuals, already hard-
pressed by the regimw's ideological rigidity.
There is no evidence to suggest that Santamaria was
dissatisfied with her status in the Cuban hierarchy.
The "girl of Moncada" continued to be recognized with
the undiminished respect and prestige of a revolutionary
heroine.
of personal unhappiness from ;;I I 1~ f"r~
one of its heroes, blamed it on I Hcrydes Sonfamoria
(February 1980)
*The source of the above copyrighted photograph is Bohemia,
29 February 1980.
Many questions remain un-
answered about SantamariP.'s
death. The manner of her sui-
cide has not been revealed by h . o
Cuban authorities. Thegovern-
ment, clearly embarrassed by ~.'
such a dramatic demonstration
22 August 1980
 But it also expressed its disapproval by
re.usin to give her a state funeral suitable to her
status. Del? vexing the eulogy at her funeral, Politburo
member Juan Almeida left no doubt that Santamaria violated
a basic revolutionary ethical principle by selfishly com-
mitting cuicide: "As a matter of principle, we revolu-
tionaries cannot agree with suicide. The life of a rev-
olutionary belongs to his cause and his people and he
should devote it to service until the last atom of energy
and the last second of life." For one whose much vaunted
personal sacrifices and dedication on behalf of the rev-
olution had been held up for so long as an example for
other Cubans, this was a particularly significant indict-
ment.
Santamaria's suicide could be perceived by some of
the Cuban public as a final act of despair--the most
personal statement that the revolutionary dream for
which she had sacrificed so much was shattered. She
ut enary
could be seen as a casualty of the saggingir one
elan affecting many sectors of the pop
the dramatic
highest levels of the country's leadership,
manner of Santamaria's death two days after the 26 July
celebrations is likely to reinforce a sense of malaise
at this juncture in Cuba's 21-year-old revolution. Com-
ing on the heels o Celia Sanchez's amaria s
suicide also might
The Future for Women
Despite the often-claimed liberating impact of the
revolution on Cuban women, they have remained effectively
excluded from the leadership. No woman has ever served
on the party's Politburo or its Secretariat. Out of a
total of 124 Central Cormittee members and alternates
selected in 1975, only 11 (8.9 percent) were women; more-
over, five of these were alternates, clearly a second-
ranking position.
The deaths of Celia Sanchez and Haydee Santamaria
accentuate the underrepresented status of women on the
country's government group. The next PCC congress sched-
uled for December 1980 may elect more women to the Central
Committee, but it is doubtful that female representation
I
22 August 1980
 in governing bodies will improve significantly in the
foreseeable future. Moreover, Sanchez and S&ntamaria
were more than ;just Central Committee members; they were
irrepaceable heroines of the revolution and role models
for Cuban women. Their loss could hamper government ef-
forts to motivate women toward greater sacrifices on
11 1
behalf of the revolution.
22 August 1980