Following the 1933 revolution in Cuba, the military government of Fulgencio Batista executed a 19-year-old man. It was the first and only time in the island’s history that a Cuban Jew had been summarily tried by a military tribunal and executed.

Although accused of terrorist activities, Jaime Greinstein’s only crime was to oppose the Batista military regime.

Like many of his generation, Jaime became captivated by the “Revolution of 1933.” Although shortlived (1933-34), the revolution had a tremendous impact. It gave university students a taste of power and catapulted them into the mainstream of politics. It created an awareness among the students and the populations at large of the need, as well as the possibility, for rapid and drastic change. It weakened foreign domination of the economy, and opened new opportunities for several national sectors hitherto prevented from obtaining a bigger share of the national wealth because of Spanish and American presence and control.

Furthermore, the state’s involvement in the management of the economy was accelerated and new impetus given to the rise of organized labor.

In the years following, the generation of 1930, as those revolutionaries that held power were known, experienced the harsh facts of Cuba’s power politics. The students expected the beginning of a new era of morality and change. They learned better.

Dominated by the army, Cuba’s political life returned to the corruption and old ways of the past. To govern Cuba, Batista chose as allies many of the old politicians expelled from power. Opportunistic and unscrupulous individuals assumed important government positions, corruption continued, repression and terrorism flourished. The years of struggle and suffering seemed in vain.

Cuba’s youth felt disillusioned and frustrated. Most abandoned their earlier idealism and found comfort in professional and business ventures. Some departed for foreign lands, never to return to their tragic island. Others accepted radical ideologies such as communism or fascism. Several, however, broke with their past and shared in the spoils of office. Desiring to continue fighting for their frustrated revolution, many organized or joined political parties or groups that espoused the ideas of the revolution. A few used violence to oppose the new regime.

One of the groups hoping to keep alive the revolutionary tradition and to oppose the rise of the military was Joven Cuba or Young Cuba. Led by Antonio Guiteras, former Interior minister in the revolutionary government, Guiteras founded a clandestine organization bringing together radical and alienated students and youth. The group continued the tacticts of urban violence so successfully employed in the past.

The Batista regime, with Carlos Mendieta as its titular president, reacted brutally. Students were persecuted and arrested. Some escaped to the United States. Guiteras himself was spotted while trying to leave Cuba and killed on May 9. Jaime also tried to escape but was captured by Cuba’s military. Intending to make an example and squash opposition, a military tribunal sentenced him to death. No appeal. He was executed in Oriente province on April 11, 1935.

Jaime belonged to a Jewish family that had migrated from Poland to Buenos Aires at the turn of the century. Hoping to perhaps come to the United States, they moved to Cuba in 1909. There, two boys and two girls were born. Cuba was hospitable to foreigners. Immigration was encouraged. Tropical life was pleasant, without the harsh winters of Argentina and the heavy competition from thousands of migrants from Europe.