A Guide to the Alfredo Sánchez Echeverría Papers on Aureliano Sánchez Arango

Finding aid created by Nelissa E. Caraballo-Ramos

University of Florida Smathers Libraries - Special and Area Studies Collections

October 2020

Biographical/Historical Note

Alfredo Sánchez Echeverría was born in Miami, FL on July 13, 1936. From 1958 to 1960, he studied electrical engineering at the University of Havana. He is married to Gladys Chinea Bartlett and had one daughter, Lela Estrella Sánchez.

Since 1960, he joined the fight against the Fidel Castro regime from the organization "Frente Nacional Democrático (Triple A)". After a shooting with the police in 1961, he was arrested by the Intelligence Directorate ("Dirección de Inteligencia G2"). He served 14 years of a 30-year sentence in different Cuban prisons. His wife Gladys Chinea Bartlett, was also arrested and served 10 years of a 20-year sentence in prison.

In 1975, he was released from jail and in 1977 emigrated to Venezuela. Returning later in 1980 to the United States where he completed his engineering studies at Florida International University (FIU).

Aureliano Sánchez Arango was born in Havana, Cuba on June 7, 1907 and died in exile in Miami, FL on April 23, 1976. He was married twice, first with Estrella Echeverría Acosta (1907-1961) with whom he had two children: Alfredo and Delia "Lela" Sánchez Echeverría and his second marriage was with Raquel del Valle (1924- ) and they had one child: Aureliano Sánchez Arango, Jr.

Aureliano Sánchez Arango was a lawyer, politician and professor. Since the 1920s, he was involved in fighting dictatorships in Cuba and Latin America. In 1927, he was one of the organizers of the "Directorio Estudiantil Universitario" (DEU, Directory University Student), to protest against the extension of powers of President Gerardo Machado. In 1929, he organized another group of students who were to become the new DEU and in 1931, he was one of the founders of "Ala Izquierda Estudiantil" (Student Left Wing), an organization committed to bringing down the Machado dictatorship.

In 1934, Aureliano Sánchez Arango graduated as a lawyer from the University of Havana. He taught classes in Havana, United States, Costa Rica and Ecuador.

In 1948, he was appointed Minister of Education under the administration of Carlos Prío Socarrás and Minister of State in 1951. During this time, he was accused by the founder of Partido del Pueblo Cubano Ortodoxo, Eduardo Chibás of stealing money from the Department of Education. Faced with the impossibility of showing evidence against Aureliano Sánchez Arango, Chibás committed suicide by shooting himself during a radio broadcast on August 5, 1951.

In 1952, after Fulgencio Batista coup d'état against Carlos Prío Socarrás, Sánchez Arango founded the "Frente Nacional Democrático (Triple A)". This organization sought to fight against the regimen of Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro. The "Triple A" had different delegations in the United States, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico, Jamaica and Spain.

In June 1960, Sánchez Arango along with other anti-Castro Cubans exiles founded the counterrevolutionary organization "Frente Revolucionario Democrático (FRD)". Its main purpose was to overthrow Fidel Castro and to reestablish a democratic government in Cuba. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) trained and sponsored the group and organized the invasion operation known as the Bay of Pigs invasion. Three months later, he resigned from the organization and denounced the intervention and motives of the United States in the invasion.

During the 1970s, while in exile in Miami, FL he continued teaching and giving lectures in high schools and universities. He was also an advisor to diplomatic representations of Venezuela and Costa Rica. Throughout his life, he maintained very close relationships with Venezuela's president Rómulo Betancourt and Costa Rica's former president José Figueres, and with other leaders and members of different social democratic parties in Latin America.

Scope and Content

The Alfredo Sánchez Echeverría Papers on Aureliano Sánchez Arango dates from 1789 to 2019, with bulk dates from 1960 to 1976. The materials include correspondence, personal and professional documents, photographs, newspapers, clippings, magazines, articles and audiovisual materials. The collection consists mostly of newspaper clippings and correspondence. The majority of the documents are photocopies, with few originals.

The collection is useful to researchers interested in Cuba during the government of Carlos Prío Socarrás, Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro, anti-Castroism and counterrevolutionary groups in the United States.

The collection is arranged by topic in seven series:

Series 1: "Personal and Professional" contains biographical materials, certificates, identification cards, personal papers of Alfredo Sánchez Echeverría and documents related to Estrella Echeverría Acosta. The professional papers include conferences, interviews, speeches and writings, Minister of Education and State files, labor and union organizations files, teaching, and posthumous files. It also contains a photocopy of a travel diary written from the ship "El Aurora/ Nelva" and invitations to political events. It also includes a book written by Lela Sánchez Echeverría on the Eduardo Chibás/ Sánchez Arango controversy.

Series 2: "Correspondence" contains family letters, general and political correspondence. It also includes correspondence from Rómulo Betancourt and José Figueres where they discuss topics related to Cuba, Aureliano Sánchez Arango and Alfredo Sánchez Echeverría.

Series 3: "Subject Files" contains documents related to Costa Rica, Cuba, Cuba-USA relations, Cuba-USSR relations, Venezuela, and political literature.

Series 4: "Collected News Clippings" contains articles written by and about Aureliano Sánchez Arango, clippings on topics such as: communism and socialism, Bay of Pigs invasion, Fidel Castro, counterrevolutionary organizations, Venezuela, Eduardo Chibás, Cuban political prisoners, USA politics, and various columns written by Cubans in exile. It also includes two magazines "El Mundo ¡Extra!", and "Carteles", and the newspapers of the "Frente Nacional Democrático (Triple A)" organization.

Series 5: "Counterrevolutionary Organizations" contains materials related to eight counterrevolutionary organizations in exile: Frente Nacional Democrático (Triple A), Frente Revolucionario Democrático (FRD), Frente Unido de Liberación Nacional, Junta Revolucionaria de Liberación Nacional, Movimiento Insurreccional de Recuperación Revolucionaria (M.I.R.R.), Rescate Democrático Revolucionario (RESCATE), Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionario (M.R.R.), and Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Auténtico). It also includes correspondence of political prisoners who were members of "Frente Nacional Democrático" (Triple A).

Series 6: "Photographs" contains portraits, film negatives, family photographs, and events such as the book presentation of "La Polémica Infinita". It also includes CD-ROM's with photographs of Aureliano Sánchez Arango at different political events from 1930 to 1976.

The childhood photographs of Estrella Echeverría Acosta were likely part of the unbound children's scrapbook located in folder 1 in the oversized box 16. These pictures were removed and stored together in box 15, folder 20.

Series 7: "Audiovisual Materials" contains cassettes tapes, CD-ROM's and DVD's. It contains speeches, interviews with Aureliano Sánchez Arango, Alfredo Sánchez Echeverría, Ernesto Botifoll, Tony Santiago, Emilio "Millo" Ochoa, and other members of "Frente Nacional Democrático (Triple A)". It includes four documentaries: "Aureliano" (2006), "Normadentro" (2011), a documentary about the life of José Antonio Echeverría and a documentary about the smuggling of weapons in Cuba through the ship "El Aurora/ El Nelva". It also contains interviews by Lela Sánchez Echeverría to different associates of Aureliano Sánchez Arango for her book "La Polémica Infinita" (2004).

Box 16 contains oversized documents.

This collection also includes electronic records containing duplicated documents and documents with original content, which have yet to be processed and made available. Please contact the archives for more information.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by topic.

Access or Use Restrictions

Access

The collection is open for research.

Related or Separated Material

Reina Peñate de Tito Collection, at the University of Florida.

Carlos González Blanco Collection, at the University of Florida.

Rafael Martínez Pupo Papers Relating to Comandos Mambises, at the University of Florida.

Manuel Ray Oral History Collection , at the University of Florida.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Alfredo Sánchez Echeverría Papers on Aureliano Sánchez Arango, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Acquisition Information

Alfredo Sánchez Echeverría donated the collection in 2019.

Processing Information

The electronic records from this collection are currently unprocessed. Please contact the archives for more information.

Selected Subjects and Access Terms

Anti-communist movements.
Counterrevolutionaries.
Cuba.
Frente Nacional Democrático, Triple A.
Frente Revolucionario Democrático (FRD).
Political prisoners.
Politics and government.
Revolution (Cuba : 1959).
Sánchez Arango, Aureliano, 1907-1976.

For further information, please contact: Special Collections Access Services.

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