Roland Masferrer
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Rolando Arcadio Masferrer Rojas (1918–1975), was born on July 12, 1918, in Holguin, former
Oriente Province Oriente (, "East") was the easternmost province of Cuba until 1976. The term "Oriente" is still used to refer to the eastern part of the country, which currently is divided into five different provinces. Fidel and Raúl Castro were born in a sm ...
,
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 ...
, better known simply as Rolando Masferrer, was a
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 henchman, lawyer, congressman,
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
publisher and a political activist. He was killed in
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, on October 31, 1975 (57 years old).


Family

He married Lucila Montero and they had two children: Alejandro (Alex) (died as a homeless in NY) and Liudmila. Rolando had two brothers: Rodolfo and Raimundo. All emigrated to the U.S. with Rolando on January 7, 1959.


Cuba 1930s

Masferrer was a member of the leftist revolutionary Joven Cuba organization as a
teenage Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...
r. He participated in an assassination attempt on Colonel Jose Eleuterio Pedraza, chief of Cuban National Police in 1936. He was a member of Cuba's Communist Party ( Popular Socialist Party) since 1935, but he was expelled in 1945 and later he became an anti-communist. He was assistant editor of Hoy (Today), the Cuban communist daily, since 1939 until 1945. Later he published a socialist weekly called Tiempo en Cuba (Time in Cuba).


Civil War Spain

He formed part of the
Abraham Lincoln Brigade The Abraham Lincoln Brigade ( es, Brigada Abraham Lincoln), officially the XV International Brigade (''XV Brigada Internacional''), was a mixed brigade that fought for the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War as a part of the Internationa ...
in the
Spanish civil war The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
in 1937. He was wounded in the left foot in
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
, and in
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is said to have been an
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for
International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...
much feared for the thumping of his wounded gait when he approached his victim. He was lame for the rest of his life.


1940s Cuba

He graduated as a lawyer from the
University of Havana The University of Havana or (UH, ''Universidad de La Habana'') is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first ...
with honors (Dolz Award) in 1945. Masferrer also participated, with
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 ...
and over 1,000 Cubans, in the aborted
Cayo Confites expedition The Caribbean Legion ( es, Legión del Caribe) was a group of progressive Latin American leaders, exiles, and revolutionaries in the 1940s, with the aim of overthrowing dictatorships across Central America and replacing them with democratic govern ...
of 1947, which sought to overthrow
Rafael Trujillo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( , ; 24 October 189130 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (, "The Chief" or "The Boss"), was a Dominican dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from February 1930 until his assassination in May 1961. He ser ...
, the authoritarian leader of the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
. He was a rival of Castro in the bloody feuds of the trigger happy action groups in Havana and subject of one failed attempt by Castro and others to kill to him in 1948. Masferrer was elected to the
Cuban House of Representatives The Congress of Cuba () was the legislature of Cuba from 1902 until the Cuban revolution of 1959. The Congress consisted of the 150-member Chamber of Representatives (''Cámara de Representantes'') and the 54-member Senate (''Cámara del Senado' ...
for the Republican Party in 1948. He was fluent in English and was appointed as an English teacher at Marianao High School in 1946. Many people think that this was a
sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval chu ...
. He was founder and leader of the Movimiento Socialista Revolucionario (MSR) that became a gang.


1950s Cuba

Masferrer was a staunch supporter of Cuban dictator
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 the latter seized power in 1952. He was a Senator for the
Partido Auténtico The Cuban Revolutionary Party – Authentic ( es, Partido Revolucionario Cubano – Auténtico, PRC-A), commonly called the Authentic Party ( es, Partido Auténtico, PA), was a political party in Cuba most active between 1933 and 1952. Although th ...
(1954-1958) in the Batista government and the leading founder of
Los Tigres de Masferrer LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...
, a paramilitary organization set up to protect Batista from guerrilla groups and to support Batista militarily. In this period he published two papers Tiempo in Havana and Libertad in Santiago de Cuba which insulted
Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
, but without positive reaction among other leftwing Spanish Civil war exiles. p lo During the final years of the last Batista regime to (the end of 1958), Masferrer and his tigers operated in Oriente province; often, it is said, out headquarters in Victoria de las Tunas, others say in Santiago, Manzanillo and Bayamo where he had an array of exotic weapons including very lethal large caliber "air rifles." At times his followers penetrated the Sierra Maestra with stealthy silence, terrifying some local
Escopeteros During the Cuban revolution, escopeteros were essential scouts and pickets from the Sierra Maestra and other mountain ranges to the plains. The "escopeteros" were responsible for semi-continuously holding terrain against smaller sized Batista pat ...
who without time to react or appropriated weapons to face him fled before his forces; then the "tigres" vanished. In this fashion the Tigres apparently too stealthy to be opposed raided and killed throughout the foothills of the Sierra Maestra. He is known to have threatened
Franciscan priests , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
in
Manzanillo, Cuba Manzanillo is a municipality and city in the Granma Province of Cuba. By population, it is the 14th-largest Cuban city and the most populated one not being a provincial seat. Geography It is a port city in the Granma Province in eastern Cuba on t ...
(de Paz, pp. 81–82). The Cuban government of Fidel Castro accused Masferrer of 2,000 killings (disputed), but also says that the Tigres were careful to remove all evidence. Masferrer was ingenious and intelligent, he plotted to buy "La Hacienda Sevilla" and divide up the land so as to reward the local guajiros for informing on Fidel Castro in the first months of his operations in the
Sierra Maestra The Sierra Maestra is a mountain range that runs westward across the south of the old Oriente Province in southeast Cuba, rising abruptly from the coast. The range falls mainly within the Santiago de Cuba and in Granma Provinces. Some view it a ...
. This connection may or may not explain the attempted betrayal of Castro by Agrarian Organizer Eutimio Guerra. Regardless that Masferrer had been a Communist supporter, 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 ...
seized power in Cuba on January 1, 1959, Masferrer had to abandon the island. He fled on his yacht Ola Kun II, an old former
US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, multi ...
vessel with his family and over 20 followers on January 1, 1959, arriving in
Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...
, Florida. He received asylum in the U.S. and settled in Miami. Castro accused to Masferrer of stealing
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
17 million (disputed), and requested to the US government the extradition of Rolando to Cuba. Castro's request was denied.


US 1960s and 1970s

In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, he befriended
Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
bosses such as Santo Trafficante, as well as union leader
Jimmy Hoffa James Riddle Hoffa (born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975; declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971. F ...
. He established the 30th of November organization, with the purpose of
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Castro. Masferrer was also known for mistreating Cubans residing in
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, extorting money from them for what he said was "to help Cuba". On September 26, 1960, Masferrer sent an expedition of four boats to Cuba. One boat reached Cuba, three Americans: Allan D. Thompson, Anthony Zarba and Robert O. Fuller were caught and eventually executed In December, 1960, the ''
Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...
'', reported that Masferrer was leading a small group of fifty three people who were polishing their killing skills at a ranch owned by multi-millionaire
Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
. Masferrer might have intended to hire a few of them for his organization. In the early 1960s, Masferrer was associated with ''El Tiempo'', a Spanish-language newspaper, edited by S. Ross, in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. In 1961, Masferrer met with President
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
, presumably to talk about Castro and the situation in Cuba. But Kennedy disliked Masferrer's radical and fanatical personality, and the two never established any publicly known conversation after that. In 1967, Masferrer plotted and accumulated weapons to invade
Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
so as to have a base, free of US law, to attack the Castro government of Cuba which had foiled direct attempts to land (Project Nassau or Operation Istanbul). Masferrer was imprisoned 2 years for that in the U.S. (1970-1972). He owned a security agency in Miami, and published the weekly Libertad (Freedom). The Castro government had sentenced him to the death penalty in 1959. Masferrer was killed by the explosion of his car by dynamite placed in it (
car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...
) on October 31, 1975. Fidel Castro arranged the attack, and it was carried out by Colonel Rodriguez, a member of Cuban Contra-intelligence.


Notes


References

Morán Arce, Lucas 1980 La revolución cubana, 1953-1959: Una versión rebelde Imprenta Universitaria, Universidad Católica; de Paz-Sánchez, Manuel 2001. Zona de Guerra. España ante la Revolución Cubana. Litografía Romero. S.A. Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain Ros, Enrique 2003 Fidel Castro y El Gatillo Alegre: Sus Años Universitarios (Coleccion Cuba y Sus Jueces) Ediciones Universal Miami {{DEFAULTSORT:Masferrer, Rolando 1918 births 1975 deaths Opposition to Fidel Castro Deaths by car bomb in the United States Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in the United States Abraham Lincoln Brigade members People murdered in Florida Male murder victims