Eduardo Chibás

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Eduardo René Chibás Rivas (August 15, 1907 - August 15, 1951) was a Cuban politician who used radio to broadcast his political views to the public. He primarily denounced corruption rampant during the governments of Ramon Grau and Carlos Prío Socarrás which preceded the Batista era.

Chibás is considered to have had influence on Fidel Castro's views but his name is not mentioned in today's Cuba because he was avowedly anti-communist. He committed suicide in August of 1951, during a radio broadcast (though he was not on the air) after denouncing a corrupt cabinet minister. His funeral was attended by thousands and it has been speculated that he might have been a contender for the 1952 presidential elections. Batista took the government by force on March 10, 1952.

In 1947 he formed the Ortodoxos party which had the goal of exposing government corruption and bringing about revolutionary change through constitutional means. Castro also joined as he considered Chibás as his mentor. Chibás lost the 1948 election for president, coming in third place. He was an extremely strong critic of that election’s winner, Carlos Prio. Chibas, who was also a senator, killed himself apparently because he claimed to have evidence that education minister Aurelio Sanchez Aurango was embezzling money, but the congressmen who were going to give him the evidence refused to do so and Chibas believed that killing himself was the only way he could apologize for his inability to keep his promise. On August 5, 1951, during the radio broadcast on which he was expected to present the evidence, he instead talked about other topics, warned that Batista might attempt a military coup, and made a farewell statement. He was planning to have the radio listeners hear the gunshot that would kill him, but he was cut off the air because his speech was too long. Chibas was initially expected to survive but he died in a hospital of his wounds ten days later. He is buried in the Colon Cemetery, Havana.