POLITICAL MURDERS IN CUBA- -BATISTA ERA COMPARED WITH CASTRO REGIME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00429A000300030015-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 1, 2005
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: January 21, 1963
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2005/06/01 : CIAIRDP79T00429A000300030015-8
21 January 1963
SULJECT Political Murders in Cuba-_8
Compared with Castro #egive
I. it is estimated that roughly 20,tlO politically-
i.ssspired murders and deaths during revolutionary actio
Occurod during 8atista's last term in Office--l March 19S
to 31 December 1938. However no accurate estivate is
possible. st of these deat~ss took plane during 1957 and
1958 as Castro's revolutionary throat became pvogressival.y
wore potent and as the Batista regime sought to counter it,
with a campaign of terror. As regime-inspired terrorism
mounted,, anti-Batista groups engaged in counter terroris
against regime supporters and by said-1958 killings had
become widespread and general throughout the country. The
regime's caepaign of terror got out of control and the
government in Havana probably had no clear Idea of how many
killings the police and army forces were committing.
Similarly, the anti-Batista forces--which by amid-1958 had
upport of 0 to 90 percent of the population--had
control over the acts of counterterrorism being com-
against proBatista elements throughout the country.
The estinato of 20,000 deaths for political reasons
during the Batista era includes only 4 relatively small
number killed in actual military encountoi?s between the
atista-Castro forces.
;i-Castro exile groups estimate that .since Castro
coming to power In January 1959,, there have been nearly 2,S O
easc tl ns.. some $00 executions have been publicly announced
by the regime. There is no information to permit an accurate
estimate of the numbers of executions. but it I s known that
there have been many nor* than those publicly announced. In
addition, there have been many, perhaps several hundred, anti-
Castro resistance fighters killed by the militia and police
Approved For Release 2005/06/01 : CIA-RDP79T00429A000300030015-8
 Approved For Release 2005/06/01 : CIA-RDP79T00429A000300030015-8
tt.ered encounters, especially in the uouatni
of Las Villas province. In addition, there have boon sporadic
killings by anti-Castro forces of Castro's ellitiswen and
ether officials. However, the large-scale campaigns of eur-
dots and terrorise characteristic of the last years of the
Batista regime have not occured during the Castro regime..
Approved For Release 2005/06/01 : CIA-RDP79T00429A000300030015-8