Antonio Guiteras: a symbol of heroism for Cuba

Cuban youth must find in Antonio Guiteras Holmes one of its most notable role models for the crucial role he played in the struggle for independence and social justice on the island during the first half of the 20th century and which he promoted since his student days.

Although he was born on November the 22nd, 1906 in the city of Philadelphia, United States, the provinces of Matanzas and Pinar del Rio opened their doors to the young Guiteras, who decided to enter the University of Havana to graduate in 1927 as Doctor in Pharmacy with outstanding qualifications.

It was precisely from this educational institution, cradle of the nation’s youthful rebellion, that he led insurrectionary mobs against the Machadato regime together with Julio Antonio Mella, joined the University Student Directory and, later on, led important actions from the East of the country with the aim of motivating the masses to overthrow the tyranny.

Guiteras’ socio-political ideology led him to assume the Ministry of Government, War and Navy of the country once the Machadist dictatorship was undermined, promoting during the so-called Government of the Hundred Days innovative measures for the benefit of workers and students, and detractors of corruption, indiscipline and other scourges.

At that time, Septembrismo was the manifesto he published to condemn the factors that originated the failure of that provisional government and where he exposed the revolutionary guidelines of his ideology, as well as the pressures of the then head of the Army, Fulgencio Batista and the servility of the mandate to U.S. interests.

Likewise, in the face of Batista’s rise, his anti-imperialist thinking and revolutionary vision prevailed when he founded La Joven Cuba, an organization whose program pondered sovereignty and justice based on the postulates of socialism.

Unfortunately, after an intense struggle for the independence of the Island, while he was preparing a new libertarian restart, a cowardly denunciation led to his assassination on May 8th, 1935, together with his companion Carlos Aponte Hernández, by Army forces in El Morrillo, Matanzas.

This prominent leader, whose vision, courage and dedication to the revolutionary cause immortalized his imprint and turned him into a symbol of resistance and heroism for present and future generations, was barely 28 years old.

Written by Yadiel Barbón Salgado.