Eduardo Chibás

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Eduardo René Chibás Rivas (1907 in Santiago de Cuba - August 16, 1951 in Havana, Cuba) was a Cuban politician who used radio to broadcast his political views to the public. He primarily denounced corruption rampant during the governments of Ramón Grau and Carlos Prío Socarrás which preceded the Batista era. He believed corruption was the most important problem Cuba faced.

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. However, Fidel Castro wrote an essay praising him, published in the Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde on August 26, 2007.^[1]

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 Prío Socarrás.

On August 5, 1951, during the radio broadcast on which he was expected to present the evidence supporting his claim that education minister Aurelio Sanchez Aurango was embezzling money, he instead talked about other topics, warned that Fulgencio Batista might attempt a military coup, and made a farewell statement. Chibas, who was also a senator, killed himself during this broadcast as the congressmen who were going to give him the evidence in support of his claim refused to do so and Chibas believed that killing himself was the only way he could apologize for his inability to keep his promise. 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. 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.

His parents were Eduardo Justo Chibás Guerra and Gloria de Rivas Agramonte. His younger brother, Raúl Chibás (b 1914 in Santiago de Cuba), took over Ortodoxos party after he died.