Terrible Day of 1871 in Cuba Ties Two Brothers

Sancti Spíritus, Cuba: Two brothers experienced the horrors of the Spanish colonial regime in Cuba, one of them was among the eight medical students shot on a day like today but in 1871 in Havana, Prensa Latina publishes.

Luis Felipe Le Roy, in his book One Hundred Years of 71. The Shooting of the Students, points out that “The event that motivated the tragedy only had political overtones insofar as they were falsely accused of having desecrated the tomb of the idol of the volunteers”.

The worst of all is that three were chosen at random, a lottery in which a 17-year-old student left the city of Matanzas, who was not in the capital of the country on the day of the supposed desecration of the grave of Spanish journalist Gonzalo Castañón .

Fermín Valdés Domínguez, friend of the Cuban National Hero José Martí (1853-1895), was sentenced to six years in prison and vindicated the memory of his innocent companions who died or were convicted.

At age 20, Carlos Augusto de la Torre Madrigal, who was born on July 29, 1851 in Puerto Príncipe (present-day Camagüey) was chosen at random and shot, while his brother Alfredo was born on August 4, 1850 in Sancti Spíritus. .

Both were children of Esteban de la Torre, a native of Puerto Príncipe, and Manuela Madrigal Mendigutía, of Sancti Spíritus.

The father owned the La Candelaria sugar mill in Sancti Spíritus and rural and urban farms that provided him with the resources to send his sons Alfredo and Carlos Augusto to Havana to study, María Antonieta Jiménez, Historian of the City, says.

Alfredo had better luck than his brother in the disastrous events, because despite the fact that in 1871 he was 21, in the registration he appeared with 19 for which he was sentenced to four years in prison, as agreed for those under 20, then he was pardoned by the King and went abroad.

He graduated as a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery in France in 1883, and after returning to Cuba he would never leave his hometown, where he lived for many years in the former Calle Real No. 11, until his death on April 15. from 1902.

Federico Capdevila defended the innocent students at the first council of war.

Life wanted the honorable Spanish officer, married to Isabel de los Dolores Pina Estrada from Spiritus, to reside in a large house in this central city from 1871 to 1873, according to a plaque at the entrance of the building that today houses a cultural institution.

Another plaque (1947) on the facade of the Independence House No.158 recalls the brothers Carlos Augusto and Alfredo de la Torre Madrigal, united by blood ties, the same vocation and a sad story.