Javier Calvo Formoso was born on Octuber 7, 1937 in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. A few months later, his parents moved to Havana, Cuba. Javier began attending the Colegio de Belén at the age of 7, when his family moved to Marianao, a city west of Havana.

In third grade he played the role of “Gran Caballero” at the festivities of Innocent Saints’ Day on December 28, 1946. An outstanding student, Javier became a distinguished member of the Academia Literaria Avellaneda and was one of the few students to graduate with degrees both in Arts and Sciences. He was the Salutatorian of his graduating class and selected to deliver a commencement speech at his graduation on June 16, 1955.

Upon graduating from Belén, Javier began to study Medicine at the University of Havana and joined the Agrupación Católica Universitaria (ACU). In December 1956, while his in second year of medical school, the government closed down the University due to increasing political unrest. Javier then attended the Catholic University of Villanueva as a Psychology major in order to advance in his plan to become a psychiatrist. At that time, Javier became a member of the Directorio Revolucionario, a student organization involved in underground political activities to overthrow the dictatorial regime in power at that time. In the Fall 1958 he began teaching Psychology to the third year secondary school students at the Colegio de Belén.

On December 26, 1958, with Captain Manuel Zabalo, a former guerrilla fighter from the Escambray mountains in central Cuba and three other members of ACU (Julián Martínez Inclán, Ramón Pérez and Jose Ignacio Martí Santa Cruz), Javier left Havana and traveled to the northern section of Pinar del Río, the westernmost province of Cuba. The group was arrested in the town of Bahía Honda and was transferred to the Army post at Las Pozas, where all were savagely tortured and later carried on a military transport to the foot of Pan of Guajaibón, the highest mountain in the region. In the early hours of December 28, 1958, they were hanged by a military unit under the command of Lieutenant Valerio Dupeyron.

Prior to his departure, Javier had written a beautiful text for the third Nativity scene of a Christmas exhibit at the Agrupación Católica Universitaria where he expressed his deep religious convictions.

Honored at the Belen Jesuit Wall of the Martyrs on May 20, 2009 for his ultimate sacrifice during the struggle against oppression, Javier Calvo Formoso is a luminous example of all the men and women who, inspired by their Christian principles, gave up their lives in pursuit of Cuba’s freedom.