Little is known about the murder of the Spanish Prime Minister by an Italian anarchist to avenge the death of Dr. Jose P. Rizal some eight months after our national hero’s execution by the Spanish authorities. On August 8, 1897, one Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Senor Canovas del Castillo of Spain was shot to death in front of his wife by an Italian national named Michele Angine Golli. Del Castillo was lounging at the public bath of San Agueda in Barcelona when Golli approached him and fired at the top government official. Upon his arrest, Golli readily admitted that he shot the Prime Minister to retaliate against the execution of his fellow Barcelona anarchist, Rizal, on December 30, 1896.
Del Castillo’s wife, who was with her husband when he was shot, immediately accosted Golli while her husband was lying prostrate and dying on the ground. Golli said to the wife: “I respect you because you are an honorable lady. But I have done my duty, and I am now easy on my mind, for I have avenged my friends and brothers at the Montjuich.” The whole of Europe was horrified as reported by the New York Times on its August 9, 1897 issue. Golli was later found guilty and executed for his crime. Montjuich Castle was a fortified prison in Barcelona, like Bastille, where anarchists and revolutionaries were incarcerated. Once found guilty of the crime, the convicts were executed inside the compound by shooting them at the back. Similar to what the Spanish executioners did to Rizal except that he had the presence of mind to make a sudden turn as the shots rang out. In Rizal’s time, only the traitors were shot at the back.
When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, Dr. Rizal, upon advice of his good friend Ferdinand Blumentritt, volunteered his medical services to serve in Cuba where the war was raging. When his request was approved by the Spanish Governor General Ramon Blanco, Rizal left Dapitan where he was exiled and boarded a boat, Isla de Panay, to Cuba in September 1896. Blanco even gave Rizal a letter of recommendation addressed to the Ministry of War in Spain, since Rizal would serve under the Spanish medical corps, which read in part: “His [Rizal] conduct during the 4 years he remained in Dapitan has been exemplary, and he is, in my opinion, the more deserving of pardon and benevolence in that he is in no way involved in the chimerical attempt we are deploring, neither in the conspiracy nor in any of the secret societies that have been formed.” Blanco was referring to the incipient uprising of the Katipuneros under Andres Bonifacio following the discovery of the Katipunan in August 1896, less than a month before Rizal set sail to Cuba. However, while his ship was crossing the Mediterranean Sea, the ship captain placed Rizal under arrest upon order of the Minister of the Colonies who sent Blanco and the ship captain a telegraphic transfer. Through pressure of the friars in the Philippines, Rizal was accused of being the secret leader of the revolution, which was gaining ground while he was travelling. Rizal was arrested and confined in Montjuich Castle when his vessel bound for Cuba docked in Barcelona on October 6, 1896. Rizal was sailed back to Manila to face the charges lodged against him. His arrest made news in Spain, particularly in Barcelona. This obviously did not escape Golli’s attention who had a number of fellow anarchists imprisoned and suffering inside the Montjuich Castle. Rizal’s vessel, SS Colon, arrived in Manila on November 8, and immediately Rizal was imprisoned in Fort Santiago. In less than two months, Rizal was found guilty of high treason, rebellion, and other crimes and was sentenced to death. Governor General Camilo Polavieja decreed the execution of Rizal by firing squad at 7 a.m. on December 30, 1896 on the field of Bagumbayan, Manila. Golli, who definitely idolized our national hero, diligently followed Rizal’s case and was shattered by Rizal’s execution. He vowed to take revenge, which resulted in the Prime Minister’s assassination. Only recently, the cell where Rizal was detained in Montjuich was refurbished and opened to the public. It was named the “Sala Jose Rizal.”
Aside from writing his immortal poem, “Mi Ultimo Adios,” he also penned separate letters to his father, mother, his brother Paciano, and close friend Blumentritt, and told them: “I am going to die with a tranquil conscience.” How many of us can mumble the same parting words on our deathbed?
You may wonder why a total stranger and a foreigner at that, an Italian anarchist, would be so affected by Rizal’s martyrdom to kill the Spanish Prime Minister at the cost of his life. Maybe another great Filipino could give us a glimpse of Rizal’s greatness. Rafael Palma, 22 years old at that time, personally attended Rizal’s execution in Bagumbayan field and recorded this entry in his diary, describing Rizal’s final steps to his death: “He walked with noble bearing, his body was upright, erect yet without affectation. To me that represented his whole character—inflexible, daring. I could understand why he did not bend neither to tyranny nor to death.”