Rubén Batista Rubio

Young Cuban revolutionary. He was the first student martyr in the struggle against the tyranny of Fulgencio Batista following the military coup of March 10, 1952.

He was born in Cacocum, the former province of Oriente. As a student at the Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza, he stood out for his intelligence and his rapid assimilation of subjects. He was a lover of sports, especially baseball and chess. To these qualities he added a rebelliousness against injustices.

He moved at a young age to the city of Guantánamo in 1937, because his father needed work at the U.S. Naval Base in this eastern zone. He continued his primary studies privately in this city, through preparatory studies for entrance to the Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza. In the 1949-1950 school year, he was one of the participants who supported the student strike during this same period.

He enrolled in October 1950 at the School of Architecture at the University of Havana. His revolutionary concerns were expressed at that time with active participation in student activities in solidarity with the struggle of the Puerto Rican people.

To pay for his studies in the capital, Rubén began working as a blood transfusionist in the blood bank at Calixto García Hospital. In 1952 he enrolled in Electrical Engineering. That was the year of the Batista coup, to which Rubén was firmly opposed.

After finishing his studies at that institute, he moved to Havana in 1952 and entered the Faculty of Architecture. At the university, the January 10 committee was created to commemorate the fall of Julio Antonio Mella. The students, observing this anniversary, placed a bust with the image of the founder of the Federation of University Students (FEU) on the staircase of the University of Havana. Given the political act that was taking place on this date, it was interrupted by the forces of the army of Fulgencio Batista. Four days later the bust was desecrated with tar, which filled the students with indignation. At the corner of 23rd and L streets, demonstrations were held with an effigy representing the dictator, in response to the act of desecration that had taken place.

During the incidents, some armed students confronted the guards, while others engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the army and were repressed by the water cannon truck. In this incident several young people were injured, among them Rubén Batista Rubio, who received a bullet wound to the abdomen. Admitted to Calixto García Hospital, a battle began to save his life, lasting 29 days. His life was cut short on February 13. Throughout this time his comrades did not abandon him. José Antonio Echevarría, Fructuoso Rodríguez and even Renato Guitart, who traveled from Santiago de Cuba, all visited him.

In January 1953, on the commemoration of the 24th anniversary of Mella's assassination, university students unveiled a bust of the hero in the small plaza in front of the University staircase. At dawn on the 15th, the bust was found desecrated, which provoked an outpouring of indignation among the young people. Very soon the university hill and surrounding streets became violent scenes of clashes between police and students. They decided to regroup at the University and march in a demonstration toward the monument erected in memory of the 8 medical students murdered in 1871 by the Spanish colonial regime.

The repressive forces tried to stop the demonstrators, who were being joined by men and women from the people. On San Lázaro and Prado streets, the young people were met with powerful water sprays, but it was not possible to stop their advance. At that moment the police resorted to weapons and began firing at the unarmed students. Some fell wounded, among them Rubén Batista, a bullet penetrating his intestines.

The revolutionaries and all progressive sectors expressed their repudiation of the repressive attitude of the regime's forces. At the moment they were delivering their statements condemning the act to the COCO radio station, Doctor Fidel Castro and the president of the FEU, Álvaro Barba, were arrested.

Rubén was admitted to the Clínica del Estudiante. Numerous people visited him daily there, including Fidel himself, to inquire about the wounded man's health. All care was in vain. After a long and painful agony, that student full of energy and intelligence ceased to exist. It was February 13, 1953. He became the first martyr in the struggle against Batista's tyranny.

Rubén's body was laid out in the Aula Magna of the University of Havana, where he was given an honor guard. A crowd of 20,000 people accompanied his remains to the Colón necropolis. Leading the demonstration was a line of women dressed in black, carrying a banner that read:

The blood of the good is not shed in vain.

Source: Ecured