Murder on the Rue Dauphine

map of Cuba with Quivican locator.

Ramon Martinez was born in 1961 in the small Cuban town of Quivican, 25 miles from Havana. His birth came two years after Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and company forced General Fulgencio Batista to flee the island nation.

Under Castro's communist regime, Cuba officially became an atheist state. Although religion wasn't banned entirely, it was certainly suppressed. To get good paying state jobs, Cubans had to become members of the Cuban Communist Party. To join the party, they had to disavow religion. Catholicism, the country's majority faith, was tolerated, but only barely.

Father Martinez

Ramon grew up dreaming of becoming a Catholic priest.

In 1968, two of Ramon's aunts who lived in New Orleans sent his parents enough money for them to take Ramon and leave the country. At that time, Castro was still letting Cubans emigrate to the United States. Seven-year-old Ramon and his parents settled in New Orleans.