Cubans recall assassinations of medical students in 1871

Cubans on Wednesday recall the 153rd anniversary of the assassination of eight medical students, one of the most atrocious crimes committed by the Spanish colonial regime in Cuba. 
 
As is traditional, hundreds of students will make a pilgrimage today from the steps of the University of Havana to the monument, at Prado and Malecon in Old Havana, that commemorates the vile assassination.

On November 24, 1871, the first-year medical students were waiting at the Anatomical Amphitheater for their professor Pablo Valencia, who was supposed to give a class. When they learned he would be late, some of them decided to attend Dr. Domingo Fernandez Cubas’s dissection practices.

According to historical records, others visited the cemetery near the school and walked through its courtyards. One of them, Alonso Álvarez de la Campa, took a flower from the front of the cemetery’s offices, which caused the anger of the guard Vicente Cobas.

Cobas accused those students of scratching the glass that covered the niche where Spanish journalist Gonzalo Castañon’s remains were buried.

The students were arrested and tried in a summary trial and the verdict was not accepted. A second oral hearing sentenced five of the imprisoned youth and three others were chosen at random to the maximum penalty.

The eight students sentenced to death were led to La Punta esplanade, with their hands cuffed and a crucifix between them, where the execution took place.