Sixto Batista Santana

Cuban military and political figure. He was a General of the Army Corps of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.

He was born in San Luis, Santiago de Cuba. His father was originally from Lanzarote, Province of Las Palmas, having fled Military Service, and his mother from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. From childhood he helped his father with farm work, cutting sugarcane and working in mines. He joined the Cuban Revolution in February 1957 along with some fellow workers, although without contact with the leadership of the July 26 Movement.

He made contact with the movement between March or April 1957 through doctor Mariano Esteban Lora, who belonged to the July 26. His first activities were collecting weapons and sabotage. Upon being discovered by police, he fled days before the strike of April 9, 1958, along with another compañero, delivering two M-1s, three shotguns, four revolvers, one Springfield and ammunition to the Rebel Army. With the failure of the Strike, he remained without direction until a new one was created; however, he took up arms on June 13, 1958. He joined the Third Front and later with Ramón de Guaninao where the Captaincy was located.

Batista Santana passed through Palma Soriano, El Cobre and San Luis, which was under the jurisdiction of the Third Front headed by Revolutionary Commander Juan Almeida. Later, he joined Column 9 under the orders of Félix Duque. Subsequently, he served as guide for that same column when Almeida attempted to lead it to the Majaguabo region. He participated in the ambush at Puerto de Moya in order to prevent an army convoy from crossing the Ventura bridge on the Central Highway, heading toward Palma.

After the combat at the Moya Bridge, the same night Fidel Castro promoted Duque to commandant, who in turn made Batista first lieutenant on December 16, 1958. Upon the fall of Fulgencio Batista, he was ordered to advance during the night toward the eastern capital via Matayegua, El Escandel, Caney and Santiago. Fidel met with a group of officers in El Escandel, among whom was colonel José Rego Rubido. Batista Santana was the guard who watched the main entrance to the meeting. Upon its conclusion, he departed for La Habana via Santiago. He was sent 2 months later as company chief to the Tactical Forces of Santiago in the search for and capture of mercenary groups that landed in Baracoa.

In Tranquilidad, a town near Sierra Loreto, Yerba de Guinea, the Division chief, captain Ricardo Arturo Cisnero Díaz Jotor informed them that Raúl Castro had punished the entire division, disarming it after a group of rebel soldiers became intoxicated, so they had to depart for Minas del Frío and from there to El Turquino. In December 1960, as battalion chief he returned to Yerba de Guinea and later attended a political school in Siboney, Santiago de Cuba, where activists from the Popular Socialist Party were located. With the Bay of Pigs Invasion he became operations officer of the Army, leading a division created due to the war.

Later, Batista Santana was sent to an officers course in Matanzas, subsequently to Santiago and Baracoa. After attending the War College he was sent to the Border Brigade, first heading the General Staff and later as its chief. After 6 months he was appointed chief of the Political Section of the Eastern Army and in 1972 took a 4-month course in the Soviet Union. Upon his return he was chief of the Political Section of the Western Army until 1976, when he became Raúl Castro's aide on matters of the war in Angola. He was sent to Angola in mid-March 1976, until he was appointed chief of the Political Directorate of the FAR, a position he held until 1984.

In 1984, he was entrusted with the political task of directing the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, a responsibility he held until 2003, when he returned to leadership activities in the Ministry of the FAR. He was a member of the Council of State from 1993 to 1998.

In the afternoon hours of June 29, 2014, he died as a victim of a painful illness. Of his own volition, his body was cremated and his ashes were displayed in a family ceremony on June 30 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., in the Pantheon of the Veterans of the Necropolis of Colón in La Habana.

Decorations
He was awarded various decorations, among which the following stand out:

Medal of Combat Fighter of the Clandestine Struggle and War of Liberation.
Ernesto Che Guevara Order of the First Grade.
Antonio Maceo Order.
First Class Internationalist Combat Fighter Medal.
First Class Eliseo Reyes Medal.
Order for Service to the Homeland.

Positions Held
He was a cadre of the revolution who, due to his capacity, knowledge and experience, not only fulfilled tasks in the Revolutionary Armed Forces, but in other institutions of the country.

Company Chief of the Tactical Forces of Santiago de Cuba in the search for and capture of mercenary groups that landed in Baracoa.
Battalion Chief in Yerba de Guinea.
Operations Officer of the Rebel Army.
At the Border Brigade he headed the General Staff and later was its chief.
Chief of the Political Section of the Eastern Army.
Chief of the Political Section of the Western Army.
Second Chief of the Cuba Mission in Ethiopia.
Chief of the Executive Secretariat of the Defense and National Security Commission of the Central Committee.
Chief of the Political Directorate of the FAR.
Chief of the Political Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior.
National Coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution.