14ymedio, Havana, 20 April 2023 — Just three days after a poster against the regime in El Vedado was attributed to the clandestine group known as El Nuevo Directorio (END), on Thursday someone wrote “No to the PCC” [Communist Party of Cuba] on the facade of the building located on Humboldt 7 Street, where several of the young assailants of the Presidential Palace were killed in 1957.
The sign was painted with large black letters on the ground floor of the property, in a state building under repair that has boards over the windows, near the plaque that commemorates the 1957 event.
On its Twitter account, the movement explained that the sign was a tribute to the members of the Student Directory, one of the organizations opposing Fulgencio Batista under the direction of José Antonio Echeverría, and that they wanted to remember the “massacre” that was carried out in that same place by the Batista police “with an action against the Castro dictatorship.”
In its publication, END said that on April 20, 1957, the young people Juan Pedro Carbó Serviá, Fructuoso Rodríguez Pérez, José Machado Rodríguez and Joe Westbrook Rosales “were intercepted” on Humboldt 7, where they had hidden after the assault on the Palace, and there they were “riddled with bullets, without weapons to defend themselves.”
“Blood bathed the staircase of the building, where there was no compassion even at the request of the neighbors. The corpses were dragged into the street in a show of arrogance by Captain Estevan Ventura Novo, a famous torturer and murderer,” they said.
That event, the group explains, is a reminder of “how many young people have given their lives for the freedom of all” in Cuba, and they consider it a “fundamental” precedent for the struggles against “any dictatorship or tyranny that tries to impose itself on our people.”
Another photograph, shared on Thursday morning on the same Twitter account, showed that the sign had not yet been covered up by the political police.
Although it is a few miles from central places such as the Habana Libre and La Rampa, Humboldt Street is hardly ever used and is dark and not very busy at night.
Last Monday, El Nuevo Directorio painted a sign against the Communist Party at the entrance of the stadium of the University of Havana, on Ronda Street in El Vedado. As usual, they signed with the acronym END, which identifies the clandestine organization.
The message is the same as the one that appeared in the early morning of last March 23 a short distance away, in Aguirre Park. It was presumed to be by the dissident organization in a video disseminated on its social networks. In both cases, the sign was covered up by the police.
“Honrar, honra”: a los Mártires de la Masacre de Humboldt 7, los antecesores del Directorio Estudiantil, nuestro homenaje como mejor podemos honrarlos; con una acción contra la Dictadura Castrista #ABAJOLADICTADURACASTROCANEL pic.twitter.com/war0zhT8O4
— El Nuevo Directorio (@NuevoDirectorio) April 20, 2023
El Nuevo Directorio (@NuevoDirectorio) April 20, 2023
“Honor, honor: to the Martyrs of the Massacre of Humboldt 7, the ancestors of the Student Directory, our tribute as we can best honor them, with an action against the Castro Dictatorship.” #ABAJOLADICTADURACASTROCANEL—
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
