Jorge Agostini
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Jorge Agostini Villasana | |||||||||||||||||
Born | pistol shooting | 5 February 1910|||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||
Olympic finals | 1948 Summer Olympics | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Jorge Agostini Villasana (5 February 1910 – 9 June 1955) was a Cuban military and government official, leading revolutionary, and athlete.
Early life
Jorge Felipe Agostini Villasana was born 5 February 1910 in Mayarí, Cuba. Early in his life, Agostini became active in military activities. In September 1926, at the age of sixteen, he entered the Mariel Naval School, where he would graduate in 1931 as an alférez de fragata (frigate lieutenant).[2] He was then assigned to the gunboat Patria, and later to serve directly under the orders of the Chief of the Northern Naval District of Cuba.[2]
Agostini opposed
Spanish Civil War
Agostini left the United States for Spain in 1937 to fight in defense of the
However, as the war turned in favor of the Falangists, the Republican forces tasked Agostini, now with the rank of colonel, as among the chiefs responsible for the transfer of the International Brigades to Barcelona and ultimately out of Spain later that year. Upon reaching France through the Pyrenees with other ex-combatants as well as refugees, Agostini was detained by French forces in camps for processing for an extended period before finally being released to Cuba in 1940.[2]
Return to Cuba
After returning to Cuba, Agostini would travel to the United States now as an economic rather than political emigrant. He resided on the small merchant cargo ship Mambí, of which he was appointed captain.[2] On 19 February 1941, he was reinstated in the Cuban Navy with his former rank and subsequently appointed professor of artillery at his alma mater, the Mariel naval school, and later as head of the Boca de Mariel post.[2]
After the outbreak of
The June 1944 election of
In 1947 he joined the "Cayo Confites" plan to depose neighboring Dominican dictator
Athletics career
As his governmental duties reduced during this period from the end of Grau's term and into Prío's, Agostini turned his focus back to international competitive athletics, especially
Alongside his fencing career, Agostini also practiced competitive pistol shooting. He was a frequent champion for Cuba in caliber 22, 38 and 45 shooting. He also was part of the National Team in the
On 9 March 1952 he arrived in
Insurrection activities
Immediately following his 1952 release from custody, Agostini began his insurrectionary activities against the second Batista dictatorship, as he had previously against the first regime. He covertly established contacts with soldiers and officers who had been discharged from the armed forces (navy, army) and police by Batista's allies and accomplices.[2]
Agostini's established international reputation and prestige led him to be accepted by many leading figures from other organizations, mainly from the
In June 1954 Juan Manuel was arrested and interrogated by Batista's forces regarding Agostini's whereabouts and activities. Once released, Juan Manuel informs Agostini. The house where Agostini was hiding is then raided, however he had time to hide inside a water tank on the roof and later jumped over several rooftops to reach the Nuestra Señora de Lourdes clinic in
Agostini then became an asylee in the Mexican Embassy and arranges to go into exile in Mexico. On 22 August, he then went to the United States, and coordinated with contacts in the US and in Mexico to attempt to join any potential expedition to Cuba, though none materialized. He returned to Miami and then Cuba at the end of December 1954 and began strengthening his insurrection network to include
Death
On 9 June 1955, Agostini was at the home of Dr. René de la Huerta, a leading member of the influential
While he was held in detention, an argument ensued between the head of the National Police Investigations Bureau, Colonel Orlando Piedra, and the head of the Naval Intelligence Service, Julio S. Laurent over which respective body held jurisdiction over the handling of Agostini. Laurent demanded that Agostini be turned over to him, claiming superior orders. Without waiting for an answer Laurent went to a car and pulled Agostini out. He resisted and Laurent struck him in the face with the end of his submachine gun, causing Agostini to fall and break his right cheekbone.[2] Laurent and Sergeant Heriberto Izquierdo then executed him.[2] Forensic autopsy reports documented twenty-three perforations for close-range shots of less than one meter.[7]
Response
Agostini's death sparked public outrage against the Batista regime and was a significant escalation in mobilizing the Batista opposition. The event was widely reported by national Cuban newspapers, including extensive coverage from the widely circulated La Calle for several days following the news.[8][9][6][10]
With the mounting press coverage and social responses, Agostini's burial on Saturday 11 June would become a political event. It was headed by the leaders of the FEU along with dozens of militants from the Civic Front of Marti Women. Many participants in attendance sang the National Anthem at his grave at the time of burial.[2]
Rising revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, then a young lawyer who was recently released from incarceration, seized on the event to make the case against Batista's regime to the public.[6] He penned an article titled "Frente al terror y frente al crimen" ("Facing Terror and Facing Crime") that was published on 11 June.[9] In it he wrote "Jorge Agostini was assassinated, there is no doubt."[10] He went on to call the act "monstrous political assassination" and described Agostini as "the new martyr of the struggle for national liberation."[9] After making his case against Batista, Castro closed by calling for national mobilization in favor of his own Revolution as "the only correct tactic."[9]
Other anti-Batista figures would also speak out in the aftermath of Agostini's death, including José Antonio Echeverría and René Anillo, both leaders of the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE).[2] Several Batista opposition parties in the Cuban Congress also denounced the killing with the Parliamentary Committee of the Authentic Party addressing a letter to the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Justice in which they demanded the broadest possible impartial investigation of what occurred.[2]
Agostini's widow, Emma Surí, initiated a legal case where she presented a private accusation to the Emergency Court of Havana. This resulted in the ordered the release of Dr. Huerta and two others who has been accused by the police, but the court refused to hear the case against the government bodies accused in his killing and passed them to the Investigating Court of the Fourth Section, where Judge Waldo Bacallo initiated a case in which Julio Laurent was listed as the main defendant in the murder of Agostini.[2] Manuel Antonio Varona Loredo, President of the Authentic Party, assumed the representation of Agostini's widow and acted as prosecutor in the summary.[2] After several months, shortly before concluding the investigation of the case to determined the guilt of Laurent and Heriberto Izquierdo, the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice abruptly invalidated the civilian capacity to continue hearing the case and transferred it to the military jurisdiction, where it was quickly dismissed.[2]
Personal life
Jorge Agostini was married to fellow Cuban athlete Enma Gloria Surís Ramírez.[2]
They had two children, Rodolfo Jorge and María Teresa and he also had a daughter, Sonia Agostini Fuentes, from a previous marriage.[3]
References
- ^ "Jorge Agostini, mucho más que un campeón de florete" (in Spanish). Cuba Debate. 2 September 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al "Agostini Bio".
- ^ a b c "Agostini Bio 2".
- ^ ISBN 9781570036729.
- ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Jorge Agostini". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Agostini Bio 3".
- ISBN 978-1845137731.
- ^ La Calle. 10 June 1955.
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(help) - ^ a b c d Castro, Fidel (11 June 1955). "¿Frente al terror y frente al crimen?". La Calle.
- ^ a b "Agostini Bio 4".
External links
- Jorge Agostini at Olympedia
- Jorge Agostini Villasana at Olympics.com