José Antonio Echeverría (1932-1957)

Student leader and revolutionary, also known as “Manzanita,” born in Cárdenas, where he attended the Marist Brothers’ school and the public high school.  He entered the University of Havana’s architecture school and soon became involved in student and national politics.  He became one of the leading opponents of Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship, and as president of the Federación Estudiantil Universitaria he led many demonstrations against it.  In 1955 he traveled to Costa Rica to defend the regime of José Figueras, under attack by forces supported by Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza.  After his return to Cuba, he established the underground Directorio Revolucionario for the violent overthrow of the Batista dictatorship, through sabotage, terrorism, and assassination.  In 1956 he led a delegation to sign a cooperation agreement with Fidel Castro in Mexico, known as the Mexican Letter.  On March 13, 1957, Echeverría and followers of ex-President Carlos Prío Socarrás attempted an uprising: while some attacked the Presidential Palace, Echeverría led a takeover of a major Havana radio station, Radio Reloj. Unaware that the Presidential Palace attack had failed, he broadcast an announcement that Batista was dead, and his regime brought down. Minutes later the police shot  and killed Echeverría and wounded several of the other students with him.