The Human Cost of Social Revolution:

[posei...@sympatico.ca]

 

From: <LavozdeC...@aol.com>
To: <Jose...@aol.com>
Subject: One of the chapters in Human Cost of establishment of socialism in Cuba
Date: Tuesday, April 17, 2001 11:18 PM

   â?oThe Human Cost of Social Revolution:
  The Black Book of Cuban Communismâ? [1]
  a work-in-progress by
  Armando M. Lago and Juan Carlos Espinosa
  
  
  BAY OF PIGS INVASION (April 17, 1961)
  Deaths documented by two or more independent sources
  
  Brigade 2506 members
  81        Killed in combat
    7        Missing in action
    9            Prisoners of war suffocated in tractor trailer
    7            Prisoners of war executed by firing squad
    1            Executed upon capture[2]
    8        Died at sea attempting escape
  2                Prisoners of war who died in captivity
  
  115      SUB-TOTAL FOR BRIGADE 2506
  
  Civilians (for political reasons â?"events taking place within 30 days of
  the invasion)
  103            Executions by firing squad
  14            Disappeared after being arrested[3]
  
   117     SUB-TOTAL FOR CIVILIANS
  
    
  **Casualties fighting on behalf of the Cuban government or civilians
  caught in the fighting remain undocumented / unknown.
  
  Armando Lago has authored numerous articles and monographs on regional,
  urban and transportation economics and co-authored The Politics of
  Psychiatry in Revolutionary Cuba (Transaction Publishers, 1991). A
  founding member of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, he
  served both as its President (1994-1996) and Treasurer (1990-94). He was
  President of Ecosometrics Inc., Adjunct Associate Professor of Regional
  and Urban Economics at Catholic University (1968-76), Economic consultant
  for the Stanford Research Institute and Operations Research Inc., and
  Chairman of the Board of the Greater Washington Ibero-American Chamber of
  Commerce (1985-94). He has a Ph.D.(1966) and an M.A.(1964) in Economics
  from Harvard University and currently resides in suburban Washington,
  D.C., where he works from a home office. 
  
  Juan Carlos Espinosa is the Director of the Felix Varela Center for Cuban
  Studies and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics at St.
  Thomas University in Miami, Florida. He has written extensively on Latin
  American and Cuban affairs. Formerly, he founded the Cuban Studies
  Association at the University of Miami and created its Institute for
  Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. Espinosa has a Ph.D.(A.B.D.) from the
  University of Miami, an M.A. in International Studies from the University
  of Miami (1995), a B.A. in International Relations from Florida State
  University (1981), and a Certificate in Slavic Studies from the
  University of Zagreb, Croatia (1981). 
  
  
  Summary prepared by Maria C. Werlau (4/16/01) for
  The Truth Recovery Archive on Cuba, an undertaking of the Free Society
  Project, Inc.
  For information, call M. Werlau (973)701-0521, A. Lago (301)229-8921 or
  J.C. Espinosa (305)474-6853.
 
 
  March 13, 2001 Update on      
  â?oThe Human Cost of Social Revolution:
  The Black Book of Cuban Communismâ?
  a work-in-progress by 
  Armando M. Lago and Juan Carlos Espinosa
  
  
  This is a work in progress and the figures change as research progresses.
   This effort documents loss of life cases during the Cuban Revolution, as
  reported in at least two independent sources, as per Voice of America
  guidelines.  It collects data beginning with the armed struggle against
  the Batista regime (1952) to the present.   Numerous sources have been
  used -existing lists from different sources (including that used for the
  Cuban American National Foundationâ?Ts Victims Quilt), press reports,
  prison memoirs, personal testimonies and others.
  
  The lists Mr. Lago is using mostly go up to 1994.  Many cases documented
  after 1994 inside the island have not been recorded systematically -i.e.
  full name, age, place of death, etc.- and cannot be included for this
  reason until further verification can be done. Most of these are
  extrajudicial assassinations. 
  
  DOCUMENTED AND REPORTED TOTALS TO DATE
  Documented deathsReported deathsCause of death
  3,4544,899Executed by firing squad
     7071,050Extra-judicial assassinations
       70     90Suicides of prisoners of conscience / dissidents (mostly in
  prison)
     425   543Other deaths in prison (guard brutality, lack of medical
  attention, natural causes)
       67   205Disappeared
     5661,055Killed in combat (including Escambray uprising)
  1,150    1,150    â?oBalserosâ? who died in the Caribbean and Guantanamo
  â?"actual number
  6,4398,992SUB-TOTAL
 
  
  
  MODEL APPROXIMATIONS
  Lowâ?"end estimateHigh-end estimateCause of death
  12,98812,988Cubans killed in internationalist solidarity  missions,
  mostly in Africa[i]
  64,91776,593Died in illegal exit attempts, mostly â?obalserosâ? [ii]
  77,90589,581SUB-TOTAL
 
  
   84,344                                    98,573                       
               TOTAL
  
  
  
  The book will have a chapter on the Batista period.  The above numbers
  don't include deaths caused by Batistaâ?Ts forces.  2,500 deaths have been
  documented by Mr. Lago for the Batista period -of which 300 are
  individuals murdered by Batista security forces, 2,200 are deaths
  resulting from military battles in the Sierra Maestra -including 25
  executed by Castroâ?Ts forces, mostly "guajiros" executed at the Sierra
  Maestra, primarily by Che and Camilo Cienfuegos.  The rest are mostly
  soldiers in Batista's army.
  
  
 
 
 
 
  [1] This effort documents loss of life cases during the Cuban Revolution,
  as reported in at least two independent sources, as per Voice of America
  guidelines.  It collects data beginning with the armed struggle against
  the Batista regime (1952) to the present.   Numerous sources have been
  used for the research -existing lists from different sources (including
  that used for the Cuban American National Foundationâ?Ts Victims Quilt,
  press reports, prison memoirs, personal testimonies and others.
  [2]Pilot Pete Ray was shot in the head (as revealed by an autopsy) after
  his plane was shot down.
  [3]More than 20,000 Cubans were rounded up and imprisoned all over the
  island as soon as the invasion began.
 
 
 
 
  [i] This figure is derived from actual numbers in all countries with the
  exception of wars fought in Ethiopia and Angola, where a model estimate
  was derived from actual deaths in relation to actual number of
  individuals sent on these missions.
  [ii] The number of "balseros" who've perished at sea is very difficult to
  corroborate. Francisco Chaviano, who attempted to collect this
  information inside Cuba, has been in prison for several years for this
  effort. The U.S. Coast Guard estimates the deaths at less than 20,000.
  Mr. Lago, a Harvard-trained economist specialized in econometrics,
  believes this estimate is seriously flawed. His estimate is extrapolated
  using the following methodology: 
  According to a study of the Oceanographic Institute of the University of
  Miami, 1 out of 4 balseros who leaves Cuba makes it out alive ( the U.S.
  Coast Guard also cites this proportion).  .4 of 4 is arrested by the
  Cuban authorities ( 10% according to Lourdes Urrutia of the University of
  Havana for events preceding the 1994 immigration accord). Therefore 1.4
  out of 4 survive the ordeal and 2.6 out of 4 don't make it.  33,000
  who've made it times 2.6 equals 85,800.  >>