Coliseo de la Ciudad Deportiva Jesús Sosa Blanco 1959 trial

Jesús Sosa Blanco (1907/08 – February 18, 1959) was a colonel in the

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n army under

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; ; born Rubén Zaldívar, January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...

. After

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

came to power on February 16, 1959, Sosa was arrested and charged with having committed 108 murders for Batista. His show trial took place in the

Coliseo de la Ciudad Deportiva Coliseo de la Ciudad Deportiva is an indoor sporting arena located in Havana, Cuba. Built in 1957, the Coliseum is one of the most important works of Cuban Civil Engineering. It is located at the intersection of Boyeros and Vía Blanca avenues in ...

, before 17,000 spectators. The trial was televised. Prior to his execution he was heard to say that the scenes were "worthy of ancient Rome".Courtois, Stephane, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panne, Karel Bartosek, and Jean-Louis Margolini. ''The Black Book of Communism Crimes, Terror, Repression''. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Massachusetts: President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1999. Print. On February 18, he was found guilty and executed. After his trial, other trials and executions were no longer broadcast live.

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...

attended the trial and execution and used the incident as the basis for his 1975 novel, ''

The Autumn of the Patriarch ''The Autumn of the Patriarch'' (original Spanish title: ''El otoño del patriarca'') is a novel written by Gabriel García Márquez in 1975. A "poem on the solitude of power" according to the author, the novel is a flowing tract on the life of a ...

''.

In popular culture

Rachel Kushner Rachel Kushner (born 1968) is an American writer, known for her novels ''Telex from Cuba'' (2008), ''The Flamethrowers'' (2013), and '' The Mars Room'' (2018). Early life Kushner was born in Eugene, Oregon, the daughter of two Communist scientists ...

's 2008 novel ''Telex from Cuba'', Sosa Blanco is described as having been convicted and imprisoned for murdering his wife, mother-in-law and sister-in-law before Batista released him to help establish the Rural Guard.

References

External links

Trials Make 'roman Holiday' (1959)

1959 - Military tribunal puts Batista colonel Sosa Blanco on trial in the Havana Sports Palace of Cuba.
1900s births 1959 deaths Cuban soldiers Year of birth uncertain People executed by Cuba by firing squad Executed Cuban people 20th-century executions by Cuba {{Cuba-mil-bio-stub

In popular culture

See also

References

External links