Dissident Returns to Cuba to Challenge Castro's Rule

Just to add some context to this story..

Eloy Gutierrez-Menoyo is a Cuban "exile", and a former member of a Miami based anti Castro terrorist group, Alpha 66, that has set off bombs in Cuba as well as landing armed groups to commit acts of terrorism on the island. He was caught and served time in the Cuban prison system, and then left for Miami as an "exile".

Get this.. he went back to Cuba FOR A FAMILY VACATION and has decided to stay in Cuba.


Hmmm.. 1)just how is it that the tyrannical government of the evil Dr Castro allows "exiles" who have "fled" Cuba (as well as Miami based terrorists) to return for a vacation? - 2) why do "exiles" who have "fled" the tyrannical Castro regime return for family vacations? - 3) just why is it that Americans cannot do the same thing?


Q - Are American citizens 'second class' citizens while Cuban-Americans are 'first class' citizens in regards to our travel rights?

A - Yes



Dissident Returns to Cuba to Challenge Castro's Rule
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29098-2003Aug7.html

Eloy Gutierrez-Menoyo, a rebel leader in the Cuban revolution who long ago broke with Fidel Castro's government and served 22 years in prison, said Thursday he was returning from exile to operate an opposition movement.

Gutierrez-Menoyo, who traveled to the communist island several weeks ago for a family vacation, said he would stay to promote democracy.

(snip)

In 1964, he landed in Cuba with three men in hopes of launching an armed uprising. But he was captured and went on to spend 22 years in Cuban prisons.

Since the 1980s, he has lived in exile, most recently in Miami.

more from your article:

Gutierrez-Menoyo has been granted permission several times to make nonpolitical family visits to his homeland in recent years.

His Cambio Cubano movement, which promotes dialogue and reconciliation among Cubans of all political stripes, including Castro's government, is seen as far more centrist than most opposition groups.

Menoyo founded the "Cambio Cubano" group in opposition to the idiots in CANF. Menoyo thinks that Castro betrayed the Revolution, and he wants to go back to the goals of the Revolution, which were rather Leftist but not as Leftist as Castro.

Menoyo fears that the Miami Mafia will try to turn post-Castro Cuba into pre-Castro Cuba.

The US has never supported Menoyo!

BTW, Menoyo was not born in Cuba!

On edit:

Here is Cambio Cubano, "Cuban Change":

http://www.cambiocubano.com/

Later, his brother was killed when they attacked the Presidential palace in an attempt to overthrow Batista a few years before the revolution took power.

His daughter lobbied for years to get him freed from prison and finally with the help of the Spanish Prime Minister he was released and exiled to Spain. I think he lived in Spain and Puerto Rico for a while before returning to Miami in 1986 to a hero's welcome. What a surprise to the *exiles* when he denounced violence and started promoting dialog as the only means to settle the differences. That he's alive today is a miracle given the bombings and assasinations that have gone on in Miami with ANYONE who dares goes against the CANF party line.

---

THE MIAMI HERALD

EX-PRISONER GETS HERO'S WELCOME

Sunday, March 15, 1987

Section: LOCAL

Edition: FINAL

Page: 1B

JAY GAYOSO Herald Staff Writer


Illustration: photo: crowds hold signs welcoming Eloy GUTIERREZ*
Menoyo, Eloy GUTIERREZ Menoyo embraces friends in the audience,
GUTIERREZ Menoyo (ran 1A)


Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo spent 22 years in Fidel Castro's prisons under conditions
designed to break his spirit. Now free, he wanted a quiet return to Miami.

His friends wouldn't have it.

Saturday, three months after his release from prison and more than two decades
after he left Miami to overthrow the Communists, he found himself before an
emotional crowd at Tropical Park in South Dade. With no speech prepared, he got
on a makeshift stage in the stadium infield and passionately spoke for 25 minutes
about continuing his fight to overthrow Castro and to win the release of fellow
political prisoners.

"The Cuban revolution is fractured," said Gutierrez Menoyo, 53. "We must get
together. We must never forget that we are brothers in making Cuba free."

Local leaders such as Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez, Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez
and Miami Beach Beach Mayor Alex Daoud presented Gutierrez Menoyo with
proclamations from their cities.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

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Thank you.

NYer99
DU Moderator

when I read this in your links from Cambiocubano! It was written in July of 2000. Seems like a century ago, doesn't it?

(snip) Republicans defected by the score from their party's traditional pro-embargo stance and this week handed a dual victory to the coalition of farming interests, business groups and Democrats trying to lift American sanctions.

Both chambers of Congress approved the sale of food and medicine to Cuba. And the House went one step further, seeking to allow American tourism to the island by barring money to the federal agencies that enforce against it.

None of the provisions are expected to win final approval before September, if ever. But they signal an important change in how American decision-makers view Cuba, possibly the most momentous shift since 1994, when the Clinton administration first decided to intercept Cuban refugees at sea and send them home.

And, the experts and lawmakers say, the change raises the likelihood that the next president and Congress will feel freer to remove the remaining restrictions on ties with Havana.

"Clearly the barriers are coming down," said Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a hemispheric forum in Washington. "The people who want to hold onto the structure of the embargo are slowly losing the game."

An administration official predicted the trade ban would likely be eliminated after the November elections, no matter who controlled Congress or the White House. (snip/...)

http://www.cambiocubano.com/july_22.html

Who could have foreseen what _Bush would do to our Cuba policy?

Sorry

Sorry

:silly:

Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, founder of Cambio Cubano, confronts a force as
powerful as Castro: The exiles who condemn his moderate views

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/1993-08-04/feature.html/1/index.html

Menoyo has always been a sane voice in an insane city, Miami!!

Link?

This article is from New Times, I remember when Menoyo arrived in Miami, he had no bitterness. He always sounded like a great person to me.

Great article.

I've heard of this guy. Isn't he one of the ones who went to Cuba for the anniversary of the Bay of Pigs, and had to live with his hostile "exile" friends upon return? I'd say he's a lot stronger than they.

Haven't read it yet, only looking around. Coming back to read it quietly later tonight. Thanks.

:kick: :kick:

Hi Judi,

How's things? I haven't been posting much, but I couldn't help but jump into this one. I'm headed North tomorrow for a few days so who knows when I'll get back here to DU. Been buried at work and going to the Southwest for most of the month of September. I was gonna go to New England but I bagged the idea for the Desert Southwest instead.

Peace!! :-)

Here's the article:

<clips>
...Gutierrez Menoyo and Major William Morgan were contacted by Batista's people. The approach made to these two men was of this nature: "You have been neglected by Fidel, after all you did for him in the struggle against Batista! He ignores you. But we will give you money and the aid of Trujillo and the U.S. to remove Castro!"

Behind this argument was the assumption that money interested Morgan and Gutierrez Menoyo more than the revolution. But Morgan and Gutierrez Menoyo were completely loyal to Fidel in March 1959, and they reported everything to him. Castro told them to go ahead in the plot until the time came to smash it. Morgan went to Miami in May 1959 and was given $70,000 in cash, which he gave to the revolutionary government.

Trujillo's role in the plot was to furnish men and planes. A certain Father Posada, a Spaniard close to Trujillo, came to Havana from the Dominican Republic and established himself in a hotel. Castro had his suite wired, and his talks with Gutierrez Menoyo and Morgan were recorded. Fidel followed the plot with interest and glee. Finally Castro, Morgan, and Gutierrez Menoyo decided to use the Cuban city of Trinidad and its airport as the trap; they established a radio contact with Trujillo and invited him to send a planeload of Dominican army officers to "the rebel base" from which Castro was to be destroyed. Trujillo, the master plotter, fell for all this. His officers came, saw the base and city in the hands Of 2,000 "rebels," and reported favorably to their master.

Gutierrez Menoyo later told of a conversation he had with Trujillo by short-wave radio: "We hold Trinidad and the airport," Trujillo was informed. "We are ready to begin and we will win." Trujillo was delighted. "What do you need?" he asked. "More planes, machine guns, etc.," was the reply....

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/morgan/lopez-fresquet.htm

Menoyo is on the far right in this photo with Che.

Unbelievable.

Great to hear from you again! You have an unmistakable grasp of Cuban/American relations and history. It's an event when you show up. The rhythem changes instantly.

Do you have any idea when they're going to bring up the travel ban in the Senate again? Also, don't forget the annual unanimous (other than the U.S., Marshall Islands, and Israel!) repudiation of the embargo at the U.N. in November!

You are lucky to be heading to the Southwest. One can spend tons of hours on the internet, pouring over photos of the desert landscapes there. No doubt you'll get some outstanding photos. Really envy you.

I found one photo of Gutierrez Menoyo and Fidel Castro during his trip to Havana to observe the 40th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs:



Also found this enormous pile of information on the Bay of Pigs, in detail, from recently declassified documents. Remember reading it was a big deal when some American officials showed up in Havana, and met some of the Cuban officers who had actually been shooting at them during the invasion! It was said to be an illuminating experience. This information was exchanged at that meeting. I think Fidel Castro also offered material they had kept which comprised their own records, also.

It contains so much information it'd take quite a while to scan. It mentions a lot of bombing the U.S. did in Cuba before the Bay of Pigs, as well as destroying sugar cane fields, etc. A whole lot of wicked chicanery. It also mentions E. Howard Hunt, a guy who was involved in Watergate, in the '70's.

One article I'd like to post here contains an account by Richard Goodwin, an aide to President Kennedy, of his personal meeting with Che Guevara. It covers an actual discussion they had, in which Che Guevara discussed reparations for nationalized property. This was held in 1961 or so, so it refutes the charge by rightwingnuts that Cuba simply stole property and made no effort to repay. In fact, if anyone wants to know more about this, it would be worth his/her time to look into it, searching. We were lied to on this count, too, as you know. (Involved parties living in other countries DID get reparations, a fact Osolomia has also pointed out here before. (Can't get the copy function to work. I've tried this before, another time, and think it's because it's formerly secret gummint info, or something, so I can't copy clips.)
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/19610822.pdf

Here's the National Security Archive on the Bay of Pigs, released March 22, 2001. Our official Cuba position surely went to hell in a handbasket after _Bush invaded the White House.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/cuba.html

To me, this guy is very interesting. Definitely one who walks to the beat of his own drummer and as Guajira said, a SANE voice in the surreal and violent world of el exilie. I read a letter of his in the MNT when Elian was here that parralled my own thinking. I wrote him and he answered. I did a lot of research on him and have articles that date back to the early 1960s. They live on my hard drive and I can send them if anyone is interested. This guy has been talking peace since the early 1990s when folks in Miami who talked peace were getting bombed with alarming regularity. If there is one thing this man does NOT lack, it's cojones.

Here's an article from the NYTs about his meeting with Castro in 1995. It's posted to Cambio Cubano's website www.cambiocubano.com and there's more there if anyone is interested. He's been trying to negotiate with the Cuban government to have an office for Cambio Cubano in Havana for years. It will be interesting to watch this unfold. I read, perhaps in Bernardo Bene's book, that one of the reasons Castro met with Menoyo is that he was never funded by the CIA.

<clips>
MIAMI, June 27 --Fidel Castro said "You have let your hair grow long."

Eloy Gutierrez-Menoyo said, "It's not my style, but mi wife likes long, so long it is." With that, and a handshake, two adversaries who last saw each other 30 years ago, when Mr. Castro put Mr. Gutierrez-Menoyo in prison for 22 years, sat down to talk about Cuba and its future.
They met for more than three hours last week in Havana, the first time Mr. Castro has received an opposition exile leader.

Mr. Gutierrez-Menoyo, a guerrilla commander in the Cuban revolution who now heads Cambio Cubano (Cuban Change), an organization that advocates a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba, said that the granting of a meeting he had sought for the last two years demonstrated Mr. Castro's desire for political change. But experts on Cuban affairs, including some Clinton Administration officials, said it remained to be seen whether it was a significant overture.

In an statement in which he defended his decision to repatriate Cubans who flee the island on boats and rafts, President Clinton today reaffirmed his support for the American trade embargo against Cuba but said "we are prepared to respond with our own carefully calibrated response" if Cuba takes steps to institute "far-reaching political and economic reform."

A senior Administration official said Mr. Gutierrez-Menoyo's visit had yet to prove to be something more than an "individual interaction" and did not constitute a meaningful change under the President's policy.

http://www.cambiocubano.com/castroconfers.html

How could he not be begrudged for that? I mean, the story is all good and stuff, but damn...

that he holds no animosity and was able to return and face the man, once his friend and allie, who became his jailer. No matter how you cut it, that take COJONES. The meeting also says much about Fidel, who viewed this man as a traitor. A speech Menoyo made in Havana in 1995 reveals much about the former Commandante and his ability to resolve the past and change.

<clips>

...Fellow Cubans:

I have said and I repeat: I do not hold any resentment against those I fought and fired at, as I do not hold any resentment towards my jailers who went beyond their duties and forgot that the Revolution was to be constructed over the fraternal motto of "liberty and bread without terror". Because it is also true that with our firm posture while imprisoned we won the respect of many and even the most faithful pro-government element in the penal system were witnesses of our integrity at the hour of revindicating our revolutionary identity in front of those who were bent on calling us a "traitor" and "counterrevolutionary".

But, where are we today? Where have we reached? The fact that we are participating in this reunion reveals our will to understand both sides in a very difficult moment. The vast range of possible claims and mutual reproaches should disappear before our patriotism if we are capable of understanding that the Cuban nation and our national identity are in jeopardy.

If certain forces of the extreme right accomplish the imposition of their views on the United States, the pressure over Cuba will increase in direct proportion to the unmeasurable hatred of the island's enemies. These are the same forces that cut budgets destined to social programs in the name of neoliberal politics. These are the same forces that have caused the inequity of profits that affect 40% of North Americans and whose policies have allowed that the amount of poor children in the U.S. rise to 12 million.

When Cuba has discarded orthodox communism, when Cuba moves with caution towards decentralization and begins to embrace certain market incentives, its enemies of the extreme right intent not only on getting rid of Fidel Castro, but also in conquering and humiliating Cuba, will resort to coercive measures designed to promote social unrest.

The predatory eagle that wishes to sink its claws over the island is now called Helms-Burton. With the Soviet Union non-existent, that eagle reacts as if the ideological-geopolitical alliance of the past is still a reality with Cuba. It is an eagle that does not know the decorum and dignity with which Cuba has resisted and its only weakness is that it eats from the hand of the extreme right of Miami.

I propose a formula to vanquish these forces and to make the Nation greater: Let us be free!...

http://www.cambiocubano.com/thecubans.html

If anyone should know about this, it's definitely someone of Menoyo's stature:

"The question of the monitors of Human Rights has repeatedly gained the antagonism of the Cuban government. I recognize that in some cases the human rights monitors are bonded to North American and foreign interest groups, which has tainted their integrity and independence. But not all these monitors have changed impartial credibility for dubious alliances."

Very, VERY interesting. I've believed this for a long time, after studying their amazing arbitrary judgements on Cuba vs. truly savage U.S.-supported dictatorships. Wow.

Thanks.

More detail about why he's staying and interesting comments by *opposition* on the island. He is also writing his biography.

<clips>

...''I reject any kind of destabilising movement or those that work for the interests of foreign powers or governments,'' said Gutiérrez Menoyo, who describes himself as a ''peace activist.''

He also said that from a legal standpoint, he is not breaking any laws by staying in Cuba. ''I am coming home. I cannot remember, nor do I wish to remember, how long I was away,'' he added.

''I am returning here with the aim of forging a space from which to legally work to build a future of pluralism and coexistence. Cubans should no longer be denied the prosperity they deserve,'' he added.

Activist Vladimiro Roca, who spent five years in prison on charges of ''sedition'' and now forms part of the dissident group Todos Unidos (United All), described Gutiérrez Menoyo's decision as ''brave.''

http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=19582

---

CIP's Wayne Smith and Eloy Guitierrez Menoyo, former political prisoner in Cuba and head of "Cambio Cubano"

The original Cuban Communist Party was led by Blas Roca. The party had a long history in Cuban politics, and were part of a coalition government in the 1930s.

When Castro consolidated power, the old Communist party was absorbed by the current CP, but not without a fight with the old guard (who were more traditional Marxist-Leninist). Did I ever mention Che Guevara's infatuation with Stalin, or when he tried to place a wreath in Stalin's grave on the Kremlin wall (this was after Nikita Krushev had denounced Stalin).

It is a long and complex story, and this is not the place to discuss things like the purge of the Escalante brothers, and the exiling of the old guard, and the way the USSR turned its back on long-time communists. This is story of shades of gray, not black and white.

Communism is not monolithic, and communists are not made from the same mold. Unlike the Miami rabble!

He was a target for the hardright "exiles." A police report:

(snip)
CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE BUREAU
INTELLIGENCE UNIT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE NO: CIB-305
DATE: June 21, 1995
DETECTIVE: L. Rodriguez
TELEPHONE:

The following information has been received by this office:

During the past week Eloy Gutierrez-Menoyo, head of the moderate Cuban exile Organization CAMBIO CUBANO, traveled to Havana, Cuba, where he met with representatives of the Cuban government (inclusive of Fidel Castro). According to newspaper reports, Gutierrez-Menoyo's visit to the island signals the beginning of reconcialiatory interaction between Cuban exile organizations and Cuban government officials. Newspaper sources cite Gutierrez-Menoyo's accomplishment as the turning point which will eventually lead to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

Local Cuban exile anti-Castro organization leaders have denounced the aforementioned meetings as being just another ploy orchestrated by Cuban government officials for the purpose of discrediting exiled anti-Castro organizations. In addition, Spanish radio stations have continuously branded Gutierrez-Menoyo as a traitor and have incited Cuban exiles to conduct demonstrations against Gutierrez-Menoyo and CAMBIO CUBANO.

On this day a credible source contacted this office and revealed that Gutierrez-Menoyo would be arriving from Cuba on Friday, June 23, 1995. The source further stated that several exiled organizations (inclusive of Unidad Cubana and Alpha 66) would conduct disorderly demonstrations at Miami International Airport during the course of Gutierrez-Menoyo's arrival. Cambio Cubano officials were contacted by members of this office and denied said arrival. It is believed that Gutierrez-Menoyo will be arriving sometime early next week.

Due to the sensitivity of this issue, the Intelligence Section will monitor all information related to this matter and will forward additional details as they become available. (snip/)

http://cuban-exile.com/doc_301-325/doc0315.htm

Aren't Cuban Americans also Americans?

You could go too if you wanted to.

"why do you make a distinction between Cuban Americans and Americans. Aren't Cuban Americans also Americans?"


It is the US government that makes the distinction.

Cuban-Americans are allowed to go to Cuba while non Cuban-Americans and non Cuban "exile" resident aliens are not allowed to go, by the US government.

Cuban-Americans & Cuban "exile" resident aliens have their FULL travel rights (to go to Cuba) while the rest of us do not have equal rights.


By that reckoning, non Cuban-Americans are second class citizens

It is US law that makes the distinction between Americans and Cuban Americans. Cuban Americans have more rights than Americans when it comes to Cuba. I think that law is unconstitutional because Congress cannot enact laws that give more rights to some citizens over others.