Manuel Aurelio Tavárez Justo, known as “Manolo,” was a lawyer, Dominican political leader, and revolutionary who symbolized the final resistance against the dictatorship of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo.
Justo was born on January 2, 1931, in Monte Cristi. He studied law at the University of Santo Domingo and organized the June 14 Movement (1J4), a political group inspired by the failed expedition of 1959.
The clandestine struggle began, Manolo and members of 1J4 were imprisoned and tortured in 1960. Released in 1961, he proceeded to reorganize 1J4. On November 21, 1963, he led a guerrilla uprising with a group of comrades from 1J4 who ventured into the mountains against the de facto regime of Donald Reid Cabral that was installed after the coup d’état to Juan Bosch.
Justo was shot and killed on December 21, 1963, at age 32, in Las Manaclas.