Every year, thousands of young people make a pilgrimage from the stairs of the University of Havana to the La Punta Memorial Mausoleum, where they were murdered, to pay tribute to them, and November 27, 1871, is always remembered.

That year was already languishing, barely three years after the start of the wars of independence on the island, when Spanish colonialism showed the most despicable side by claiming the lives of eight young people and thus plunging the country into mourning.

Accused of desecrating the grave of Spanish journalist Gonzalo de Castañon, the young students Alonso Alvarez de la Campa, Anacleto Bermudez y Piñera, Angel Laborde y Perera, Carlos Verdugo y Martinez, Carlos Augusto de la Torre y Madrigal, Eladio Gonzalez y Toledo, Jose de Marcos y Medina, and Juan Pascual Rodriguez Perez were sentenced to death.

Several historians said the trial and murder of those students was the main action taken against the civilian population to suppress support in Havana for the Liberation Army, which at the time was holding Spanish troops at bay.

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