Ileana de la Guardia, daughter of Colonel Antonio "Tony" de la Guardia Font—executed on July 13, 1989, alongside General Arnaldo Ochoa during the notorious Case Number One orchestrated by Cuba’s communist regime—shared a revealing episode in an interview with Tania Costa. According to her, this incident underscores the predetermined nature of the trial's outcome.
De la Guardia recounts that even before the trial commenced, Raúl Castro delivered a televised speech where he spent a significant portion attacking General Ochoa. He criticized Ochoa’s views as being out of sync with Cuban values and suggested that "such a general" should relocate to Eastern Europe.
The situation grew even more telling, in her view. "Then, at one point, he shouts 'Down with Ochoa!' and slams the table," recalls Tony de la Guardia's eldest daughter, vividly describing the scene.
The most startling moment, however, came at the conclusion of Castro’s address. According to the neuropsychologist, Raúl Castro openly admitted, "What will appear in tomorrow's Granma newspaper will not align with what I'm saying here; it will be the official version."
This public confession of dual narratives—one for the regime and one for history—is what Ileana de la Guardia finds "astonishing."
Adding to this, she expresses a strong suspicion: "I also get the impression that Raúl Castro was under the influence because the speech was truly disorganized, impulsive, and repetitive."
This broadcast occurred prior to the formal commencement of the military trial on June 30, 1989. To Ileana de la Guardia, this alone indicates that the outcome—the four executions on July 13—was predetermined by the regime.
The Political Purge Behind Case Number One
Case Number One is widely regarded by analysts and relatives of the convicted as a political purge orchestrated by the Castro regime to eliminate voices within the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior that favored Soviet-style Perestroika reforms.
Ileana de la Guardia maintains that her father openly discussed the "need for change" before his arrest, acknowledging that the Cuban communist system, like the Soviet counterpart, "wasn't working."
In this context, she asserts: "I believe it was a process where Raúl Castro and Fidel Castro aimed to eradicate those 'Perestroika-like' positions within the Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, despite their denial of such perspectives."
Drug trafficking, she argues, was merely a pretext. The actual goal was to silence those questioning the regime from within the military apparatus.
Tony de la Guardia was 51 at the time of his execution. His twin brother, Patricio de la Guardia, received a 30-year prison sentence in the same case. In a subsequent parallel trial, Case Number Two, then Interior Minister José Abrantes was tried and later died of a heart attack in prison.
Ileana de la Guardia describes the proceedings against her father and General Ochoa as a deliberate attempt to "humiliate and tarnish" the defendants' reputations to justify their executions, in a setting where, she asserts, genuine legal protection or effective defense was absent.
Understanding Case Number One and its Implications
What was Case Number One in Cuba?
Case Number One was a political trial orchestrated by the Castro regime in 1989 to eliminate military and political figures within Cuba who were perceived to support Soviet-style reforms.
Why were Tony de la Guardia and Arnaldo Ochoa executed?
They were executed as part of a political purge aimed at silencing dissenting voices within the Cuban military who questioned the regime’s continuity. The official charge was drug trafficking, but many believe it was a pretext.