Ileana de la Guardia, a Cuban neuropsychologist living in Paris and daughter of Minint Colonel Antonio "Tony" de la Guardia Font, spoke with CiberCuba about the emotional impact left by her father's execution by the Castro regime on July 13, 1989, when she was studying Psychology at the University. "No one is prepared to lose their parents, especially when you are still young and your parents are young. My father was 51 years old," she said.
When asked by journalist Tania Costa about how she experienced those moments, Ileana de la Guardia responded calmly: "For me and for the whole family, it was very difficult, very hard." She also emphasized that the blow was especially brutal given the conditions in which it occurred, in a country without real legal guarantees. "When this happens suddenly, when you live in Cuba, where we know there isn’t enough legal protection, it’s a very strong emotional shock."
Tony de la Guardia was executed alongside the general of the FAR Arnaldo Ochoa Sánchez, Captain Jorge Martínez Valdés, and Major Amado Padrón Trujillo, as part of the so-called Cause Number 1 of 1989, a military process in which the regime officially accused them of drug trafficking and treason. The death sentences were handed down just a week before the executions. The entire process lasted one month, from June 12, 1989, when they were ordered to present themselves at the Ministry of the Interior under the pretext of being congratulated, until they were shot at Baracoa beach on July 13 of the same year.
Ileana de la Guardia has previously reported that the trial was summary, without effective legal defense, and that the drug trafficking charge against her father did not even carry the death penalty under the Cuban Penal Code in effect at that time. She has also recounted that Fidel Castro visited her father in prison and promised him that "everything would stay within the family" if he confessed, a promise that was never fulfilled.
In this interview with CiberCuba, Ileana de la Guardia described the process as a deliberate operation of image destruction. "It was a process where, from beginning to end, they sought to humiliate and degrade their image to justify the executions," she noted.
Being the firstborn placed an additional burden on her. "Being the eldest daughter gave me the strength to continue supporting the family and face the situation, because I saw it as a responsibility," she explained.
The twin brother of his father, Patricio de la Guardia, was also tried in Case No. 1 and sentenced to 30 years in prison, a sentence he completed in June 2019. Later, in Case 2, the then Minister of the Interior, José Abrantes, was implicated.
In the interview, journalist Tania Costa explained that the idea of discussing that dark episode in Cuba's history arose from a post published by Ileana de la Guardia on Father's Day. "When I read it, I thought, 'We need to address this when we are both ready to talk about such a sensitive topic,'" Costa explained at the beginning of the conversation.
Ileana de la Guardia is a member of Cuba Próxima and president of the Cuban Democratic Convergence DFrente, an opposition platform that brings together various civil and political organizations of Cubans in exile. In December 2016, following the death of Fidel Castro, she summed up her position in a single sentence: “Fidel Castro ordered my father to be executed; I do not regret his death”.
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