Jorge Gutiérrez Izaguirre, a member of Brigade 2506 and former political prisoner from Cuba, has died in Miami

Jorge Gutiérrez Izaguirre, known among his fellow political prisoners as "The Sheriff," passed away at Kendall Regional Hospital in Miami, according to relatives who shared the news through a note circulated on social media. He had a long history of fighting against the Cuban regime, marked by his participation in Brigade 2506 and the years he spent in the island's prisons.

In the early 1960s, Gutiérrez traveled to the United States to join the group of exiles training with the aim of liberating Cuba from communism. He was assigned the number 2519 within Brigade 2506 and received training as a radio telegrapher before infiltrating the island to support the guerrilla movement of the Revolutionary Recovery Movement (MRR) in the plains of Matanzas.

At just 23 years old, he was wounded in combat and captured. A Castro tribunal sentenced him to death, which was later commuted to 30 years in prison. He served 18 years in the jails of the dictatorship, where he suffered beatings and torture for maintaining his status as a planted political prisoner. His inmate number at the Isla de Pinos prison was 29587.

In an interview granted to Martí Noticias in 2017, Gutiérrez explained the reasons that led him to abandon his fourth year of Law at the University of Havana to take up arms. “The direction the Revolution was taking toward communism was what drove us to give the best years of our lives,” he said at the time.

He recalled how, following the persecution of former allies of the revolutionary process and the arbitrary trials ordered by Fidel Castro, he realized that "the government that claimed to want the welfare of the people was not heading in the direction sought by a large part of the youth."

His arrest occurred in Calimete, Matanzas, during a confrontation with militiamen. Seriously injured by a bullet in the chest, he survived despite attempts to let him die in the military hospital.

He was accused of being a CIA agent and was convicted in case 406/61. Years after his release, he went into exile and continued his life in Miami, where he dedicated his time to keeping alive the memory of his fallen comrades and the Cuban political prisoners.

"The Sheriff" was a beloved figure among the exiles of Brigade 2506 and the Historical Political Prisoners. In 2016, during the commemoration of the 55th anniversary of the events at Playa Girón, he recalled the sacrifice of his generation and reaffirmed his commitment to the freedom of Cuba.

"Until his wife María, his children, relatives, and comrades of the Brigade, we extend our deepest condolences," states the farewell message published by his brothers in arms.