Huber Matos: El comandante de la libertad
Como fusilarlo, dado su prestigio, hubiese sido demasiado escandaloso,
lo condenaron a 20 años de prisión
jueves, febrero 27, 2014 | Luis Cino Álvarez
LA HABANA, Cuba.- Huber Matos, como otros muchos cubanos, ha muerto sin
ver el final de la larguísima noche sobre nuestra patria. Pero en su
caso cumplió a cabalidad la obra de la vida que decía Martí.
Hasta el último minuto de su extensa vida, lo dedicó a la lucha contra
la dictadura y por la libertad de su pueblo.
A Huber Matos, el comandante de la columna 9, cuyas acciones fueron
decisivas para la victoria rebelde, quisieron eliminarlo de la Historia
por oponerse a la instauración de un régimen totalitario. Por borrarlo,
lo borraron hasta de las fotos de los primeros tiempos del régimen
revolucionario, donde aparecía a la vera de Fidel Castro.
La carta de renuncia a su cargo, por estar en desacuerdo con el rumbo
comunista que tomaba la revolución, quisieron presentarla como una
conjura. Fue una farsa el juicio sumario que le siguieron. Lució muy
burdo el máximo líder, cuando declaró en aquel proceso contra Matos y lo
acusó de alta traición, sin que tuviera oportunidad de defenderse.
Como fusilarlo, dado su prestigio, hubiese sido demasiado escandaloso,
aún en aquel año 1959 en que se fusilaba a diestra y siniestra, lo
condenaron a 20 años de prisión. Resistió con firmeza y dignidad. Los
maltratos y las huelgas de hambre no consiguieron hacer huella en él.
Tan pronto llegó al exilio, creó Cuba Independiente y Democrática.
Hace poco más de una década, su libro Como llegó la noche fue leído con
la avidez que da lo prohibido por miles de cubanos, que pudieron
entender quién fue realmente Huber Matos y por qué el régimen pretendió
hacerlo desaparecer de sus anales.
Las veces que tuve el privilegio de hablar con él, fue receptivo y muy
lúcido, a pesar de su avanzada edad. No dudé en llamarlo comandante; en
su caso ese grado alcanzaba una connotación que trascendía por mucho lo
meramente militar. Para los que aspiramos a una patria con libertad y
democracia, Huber Matos siempre será el comandante de la libertad.
Source: Huber Matos: El comandante de la libertad | Cubanet -
http://www.cubanet.org/destacados/huber-matos-el-comandante-de-la-libertad/
Friday, February 28, 2014
Huber Matos Benitez, Cuban opponent of Castro, dies at 95
Huber Matos Benitez, Cuban opponent of Castro, dies at 95
By Laura Wides-Munoz, Published: February 27
Huber Matos Benitez, who helped lead the Cuban Revolution as one of
Fidel Castro's key lieutenants before his efforts to resign from the
burgeoning communist government landed him in prison for 20 years, died
Feb. 27 at a hospital in the Miami area. He was 95.
He had a heart attack, his grandson Huber Matos Garsault told the
Associated Press.
Mr. Matos was a 34-year-old rice farmer and teacher — and an opponent of
Cuban dictator Gen. Fulgencio Batista — when Castro led a failed
uprising in 1953. Mr. Matos later joined Castro and served as a
commander in the Sierra Maestra mountains.
The two clashed on occasion, but Mr. Matos claimed that at one point
Castro named him third in line for leadership after Castro's brother
Raúl and ahead of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Mr. Matos maintained.
In a May 2009 interview with the AP at his home in Miami, Mr. Matos said
he joined the revolution hoping to restore democracy to his country,
which the island experienced only briefly before Batista led a coup in
1952. Mr. Matos, who had been a professor of education, first traveled
to Costa Rica to obtain weapons and ammunition for delivery to Castro's
forces before eventually joining the rebels in the mountains. He was
captured in 1957 by Batista forces but was able to escape, according to
his family.
The revolution overthrew Batista on New Year's Day 1959, and Mr. Matos
rolled into Havana at Castro's side. But within months a disillusioned
Mr. Matos wanted out of the new government, fearing the Castros and
Guevara were steering the country toward communism, and that Fidel
Castro had no intention of holding free elections as he had promised.
"There was another agenda," Mr. Matos told the AP in 2009. "Fidel said
one thing for the public, and the steps he took were another story."
When he first tried to resign, Castro wouldn't let him. In October 1959,
Mr. Matos was arrested and convicted of treason. He was told he would
face the firing squad but believes he was sent to prison instead because
Castro feared he would become a martyr.
In his book, "How Night Fell," Mr. Matos described being tortured and
kept for years in isolation. He was released in October 1979 and was
reunited with his wife and four grown children. He initially lived in
Caracas, Venezuela, where he founded the group Independent and
Democratic Cuba, and later moved to Miami.
"The revolution didn't have to become a catastrophe," Mr. Matos said.
"If [Castro] would have brought reforms within the democratic framework,
Cuba would have been a great country."
Source: Huber Matos Benitez, Cuban opponent of Castro, dies at 95 - The
Washington Post -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/huber-matos-benitez-cuban-opponent-of-castro-dies-at-95/2014/02/27/7286b03a-9fe2-11e3-9ba6-800d1192d08b_story.html
By Laura Wides-Munoz, Published: February 27
Huber Matos Benitez, who helped lead the Cuban Revolution as one of
Fidel Castro's key lieutenants before his efforts to resign from the
burgeoning communist government landed him in prison for 20 years, died
Feb. 27 at a hospital in the Miami area. He was 95.
He had a heart attack, his grandson Huber Matos Garsault told the
Associated Press.
Mr. Matos was a 34-year-old rice farmer and teacher — and an opponent of
Cuban dictator Gen. Fulgencio Batista — when Castro led a failed
uprising in 1953. Mr. Matos later joined Castro and served as a
commander in the Sierra Maestra mountains.
The two clashed on occasion, but Mr. Matos claimed that at one point
Castro named him third in line for leadership after Castro's brother
Raúl and ahead of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Mr. Matos maintained.
In a May 2009 interview with the AP at his home in Miami, Mr. Matos said
he joined the revolution hoping to restore democracy to his country,
which the island experienced only briefly before Batista led a coup in
1952. Mr. Matos, who had been a professor of education, first traveled
to Costa Rica to obtain weapons and ammunition for delivery to Castro's
forces before eventually joining the rebels in the mountains. He was
captured in 1957 by Batista forces but was able to escape, according to
his family.
The revolution overthrew Batista on New Year's Day 1959, and Mr. Matos
rolled into Havana at Castro's side. But within months a disillusioned
Mr. Matos wanted out of the new government, fearing the Castros and
Guevara were steering the country toward communism, and that Fidel
Castro had no intention of holding free elections as he had promised.
"There was another agenda," Mr. Matos told the AP in 2009. "Fidel said
one thing for the public, and the steps he took were another story."
When he first tried to resign, Castro wouldn't let him. In October 1959,
Mr. Matos was arrested and convicted of treason. He was told he would
face the firing squad but believes he was sent to prison instead because
Castro feared he would become a martyr.
In his book, "How Night Fell," Mr. Matos described being tortured and
kept for years in isolation. He was released in October 1979 and was
reunited with his wife and four grown children. He initially lived in
Caracas, Venezuela, where he founded the group Independent and
Democratic Cuba, and later moved to Miami.
"The revolution didn't have to become a catastrophe," Mr. Matos said.
"If [Castro] would have brought reforms within the democratic framework,
Cuba would have been a great country."
Source: Huber Matos Benitez, Cuban opponent of Castro, dies at 95 - The
Washington Post -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/huber-matos-benitez-cuban-opponent-of-castro-dies-at-95/2014/02/27/7286b03a-9fe2-11e3-9ba6-800d1192d08b_story.html
Prominent art dealer - Paintings stolen from Cuba’s National Museum of Fine Arts now in Miami
Posted on Thursday, 02.27.14
Prominent art dealer: Paintings stolen from Cuba's National Museum of
Fine Arts now in Miami
BY DAVID SMILEY
DSMILEY@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Works of art recently discovered stolen from the collection of the
National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana are for sale in South Florida,
according to a prominent Cuban art collector.
Miami art dealer Ramon Cernuda, owner of a large private collection of
20th Century Cuban paintings, said Thursday that he has found at least
11 paintings in Miami that belong to the collection of Cuba's Museo
Nacional de Bellas Artes. He said he learned of the theft after
purchasing a stolen painting by Vanguardia artist Eduardo Abela.
"We called the museum authorities and spoke at length with two museum
officers," said Cernuda, who has a history of reporting stolen art.
"They discovered through our call that this painting had been stolen.
Because of our call it was also discovered they had lost other works
stolen from their warehouse."
Cernuda was unsure of the totality of the crime, which he said occurred
at a museum warehouse. The blog Cafe Fuerte, citing sources, puts the
number of stolen pieces at close to 100.
Contacted Thursday, museum spokeswoman Diorca Diaz said she was not
authorized to comment. She referred a reporter to the Center for
International Press, which did not respond to an email. Likewise, an FBI
spokesman did not comment Thursday and an Immigration and Customs
Enforcement spokesman said investigators were unaware of any artwork in
Miami stolen from the museum's collection.
Several local collectors and gallery owners said they had heard little
to nothing of pieces stolen from the museum. But the reported thefts
would appear to be the latest example of the complications of trading
and collecting Cuban art in Miami, where the authenticity and ownership
of such pieces can be suspect, in part because of the large number of
artworks confiscated by the government during the Cuban Revolution.
"I've been dealing with Cuban art since the mid-'50s and we're very,
very, very careful about what we take in," said Virginia Miller, whose
Coral Gables gallery is currently showing an exhibit of Cuban art from
the 1950s to 2013.
Miller, whose gallery recently hosted two curators from the museum, was
among Miami collectors who said they'd heard nothing of the reported
thefts. But others said they'd received word of stolen art being hawked
in recent days.
Cernuda said he came across the first piece of museum art two weeks ago
when he purchased Abela's Carnaval Infantil from another gallery, which
he declined to name. He began to suspect the painting was stolen when he
found a book that listed the art as museum property.
After confirming the painting was stolen, Cernuda said he checked around
South Florida and found another 10 museum paintings in one location, all
by the the well-known Leopoldo Romañach. He declined to name the location.
"To see three or four of those works together is not common," he said.
"And I saw 10 that had been cut with, like, an Exacto knife. The thieves
didn't even bother to take out the nails from the stretchers."
Cafe Fuerte reported that the Romañach works were confirmed by a second
U.S. art dealer, though none who spoke to the Miami Herald and El Nuevo
Herald Thursday said they'd seen any stolen pieces.
This would not be the first run-in with stolen art by Cernuda, a
colorful collector whose paintings were once confiscated and then
immediately returned by the U.S. Government in a Cuban embargo flap.
Four years ago, he tipped off the FBI when a nurse tried to sell him
seven paintings that had been reported stolen from a Miami storage unit.
Works confiscated by Communist regimes frequently turn up in Miami,
according to Tania Mastrapa, a consultant who specializes in researching
ownership history — or provenance — for prospective buyers. Mastrapa
said museum heists, which have been reported before at the Havana
institution, are usually committed with the knowledge of the government.
Cernuda, speaking to the Herald from Spain, said he has yet to call U.S.
authorities. He said he intends to return the painting to the museum
when he gets back from Spain, and has asked them to document the stolen
paintings with Interpol, which keeps a database of pilfered art.
"We have recommended to the national museum they fully report the theft
to Interpol and request and consider the cooperation of the FBI so these
works, which are property of the national museum, be returned to the
museum."
El Nuevo Herald reporter Maria Perez contributed to this report.
Source: Prominent art dealer: Paintings stolen from Cuba's National
Museum of Fine Arts now in Miami - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/27/3963969/prominent-art-dealer-paintings.html
Prominent art dealer: Paintings stolen from Cuba's National Museum of
Fine Arts now in Miami
BY DAVID SMILEY
DSMILEY@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Works of art recently discovered stolen from the collection of the
National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana are for sale in South Florida,
according to a prominent Cuban art collector.
Miami art dealer Ramon Cernuda, owner of a large private collection of
20th Century Cuban paintings, said Thursday that he has found at least
11 paintings in Miami that belong to the collection of Cuba's Museo
Nacional de Bellas Artes. He said he learned of the theft after
purchasing a stolen painting by Vanguardia artist Eduardo Abela.
"We called the museum authorities and spoke at length with two museum
officers," said Cernuda, who has a history of reporting stolen art.
"They discovered through our call that this painting had been stolen.
Because of our call it was also discovered they had lost other works
stolen from their warehouse."
Cernuda was unsure of the totality of the crime, which he said occurred
at a museum warehouse. The blog Cafe Fuerte, citing sources, puts the
number of stolen pieces at close to 100.
Contacted Thursday, museum spokeswoman Diorca Diaz said she was not
authorized to comment. She referred a reporter to the Center for
International Press, which did not respond to an email. Likewise, an FBI
spokesman did not comment Thursday and an Immigration and Customs
Enforcement spokesman said investigators were unaware of any artwork in
Miami stolen from the museum's collection.
Several local collectors and gallery owners said they had heard little
to nothing of pieces stolen from the museum. But the reported thefts
would appear to be the latest example of the complications of trading
and collecting Cuban art in Miami, where the authenticity and ownership
of such pieces can be suspect, in part because of the large number of
artworks confiscated by the government during the Cuban Revolution.
"I've been dealing with Cuban art since the mid-'50s and we're very,
very, very careful about what we take in," said Virginia Miller, whose
Coral Gables gallery is currently showing an exhibit of Cuban art from
the 1950s to 2013.
Miller, whose gallery recently hosted two curators from the museum, was
among Miami collectors who said they'd heard nothing of the reported
thefts. But others said they'd received word of stolen art being hawked
in recent days.
Cernuda said he came across the first piece of museum art two weeks ago
when he purchased Abela's Carnaval Infantil from another gallery, which
he declined to name. He began to suspect the painting was stolen when he
found a book that listed the art as museum property.
After confirming the painting was stolen, Cernuda said he checked around
South Florida and found another 10 museum paintings in one location, all
by the the well-known Leopoldo Romañach. He declined to name the location.
"To see three or four of those works together is not common," he said.
"And I saw 10 that had been cut with, like, an Exacto knife. The thieves
didn't even bother to take out the nails from the stretchers."
Cafe Fuerte reported that the Romañach works were confirmed by a second
U.S. art dealer, though none who spoke to the Miami Herald and El Nuevo
Herald Thursday said they'd seen any stolen pieces.
This would not be the first run-in with stolen art by Cernuda, a
colorful collector whose paintings were once confiscated and then
immediately returned by the U.S. Government in a Cuban embargo flap.
Four years ago, he tipped off the FBI when a nurse tried to sell him
seven paintings that had been reported stolen from a Miami storage unit.
Works confiscated by Communist regimes frequently turn up in Miami,
according to Tania Mastrapa, a consultant who specializes in researching
ownership history — or provenance — for prospective buyers. Mastrapa
said museum heists, which have been reported before at the Havana
institution, are usually committed with the knowledge of the government.
Cernuda, speaking to the Herald from Spain, said he has yet to call U.S.
authorities. He said he intends to return the painting to the museum
when he gets back from Spain, and has asked them to document the stolen
paintings with Interpol, which keeps a database of pilfered art.
"We have recommended to the national museum they fully report the theft
to Interpol and request and consider the cooperation of the FBI so these
works, which are property of the national museum, be returned to the
museum."
El Nuevo Herald reporter Maria Perez contributed to this report.
Source: Prominent art dealer: Paintings stolen from Cuba's National
Museum of Fine Arts now in Miami - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/27/3963969/prominent-art-dealer-paintings.html
Lining a Dictator's Pockets
Lining a Dictator's Pockets
No good would come of lifting the embargo on Cuba.
By Jorge Benitez Feb. 27, 2014
Based on a new poll it commissioned on U.S. relations with Cuba, the
Atlantic Council issued a report recently calling for a "policy shift"
that would end the U.S. embargo on the Castro regime. But when asked to
respond to the statement that "after more than 50 years of no U.S.
relations with Cuba the Castro regime remains in power," 51 percent of
those polled want to keep the current policy in place.
Nevertheless, the key issue is not whether the embargo is popular.
Rather, the main question is, would dropping the embargo better serve
the interests of the United States? The answer to this question remains
a strong "no," because ending the embargo would be bad business,
strengthen an oppressive government and abandon American values.
The U.S. should not normalize trade with the Castro regime for the plain
and simple reasons that his ventures lose money and his government is an
international "deadbeat." Any economic partnerships with authoritarian
regimes are morally suspect, but making deals with the Castro government
is pouring billions of dollars down the drain. In 1986, Cuba defaulted
on its multibillion dollar debt to the Paris Club of nations. That debt
is now estimated to be around $37 billion and the Castro government
refuses to pay it. A couple of months ago, Russia had to write off 90
percent of Cuba's $32 billion debt. That's almost $29 billion dollars
that Castro will never pay back to Moscow. In November, Mexico wrote off
$340 million of Cuba's debt to its development bank, Bancomext. It is no
wonder that, according to Moody's, Cuba's credit rating is Caaa1, which
means worse than highly speculative and a "substantial risk" to investors.
It makes no business sense to drop the embargo for the sake of trading
with a government that reneged on so many loans its credit rating is now
at the subprime or "junk bond" level. Yet, loans are what would be
necessary to "normalize" relations with Cuba. The embargo allows for
U.S. food and humanitarian supplies to be sold to Cuba. In fact, the
U.S. is currently the fifth largest exporter to Cuba. The big difference
is that, according to the embargo, the Castro government must pay for
all U.S. imports with cash, no credit allowed.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the economy.]
This brings us to the most overlooked and dangerous factor in trading
with Cuba. Most of the Cuban economy is owned by the Castro government
and all foreign trade is channeled through agencies that support the
regime. For example, all foreign companies must pay wages in hard
currency (dollars or euros) to the Cuban government, and from those
wages the state pays in local currency (Cuban pesos) a small percentage
to the individual employees. As a report by the Brooking Foundation
described it: "If the firm pays the employment agency $500 a month and
the employment agency pays the workers 500 pesos, over 90 percent of the
wage payment disappears in the currency conversion; the effective
compensation is instantly deflated to $21 per month." Brookings said
this may be "the world's heaviest labor tax." Or as one Cuban worker
disclosed: "In Cuba, it's a great myth that we live off the state. In
fact, it's the state that lives off of us."
This is why decades of trade between Cuba and market economies in
Europe, Canada and Latin America have only lined the pockets of the
Castro government and not produced any of the promised political or
economic benefits for the people of Cuba. This is what "normalized"
relations with Cuba looks like. If the U.S. dropped the embargo, our
companies would join those from around the world that pay dearly to the
Castro regime as it exploits the Cuban people. It is this corrupt
system, not the embargo, which deprives the people of Cuba of the
benefits of trade and the skill of their labor. As the U.S. argued in
the United Nations, "the Cuban Government's own policy was the largest
obstacle to the country's own development, concentrating political and
economic decisions in the hands of the few and stifling economic growth."
Ending the embargo on the Castro regime would be a blow not only to
American wallets, but also to American values. The American people want
"free trade with free people," not manipulated trade that strengthens an
authoritarian government's oppression of its people. The Castro regime
is on its last few breaths and the Cuban Spring will soon come to
millions who will remember that for decades the U.S. chose solidarity
with the Cuban people instead of business partnerships with the dictator
in Havana.
Jorge Benitez is director of the NATOSource blog and a senior fellow at
the Atlantic Council.
Source: Lifting the U.S. Embargo on Castro's Cuba Would Be a Mistake -
US News -
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2014/02/27/lifting-the-us-embargo-on-castros-cuba-would-be-a-mistake
No good would come of lifting the embargo on Cuba.
By Jorge Benitez Feb. 27, 2014
Based on a new poll it commissioned on U.S. relations with Cuba, the
Atlantic Council issued a report recently calling for a "policy shift"
that would end the U.S. embargo on the Castro regime. But when asked to
respond to the statement that "after more than 50 years of no U.S.
relations with Cuba the Castro regime remains in power," 51 percent of
those polled want to keep the current policy in place.
Nevertheless, the key issue is not whether the embargo is popular.
Rather, the main question is, would dropping the embargo better serve
the interests of the United States? The answer to this question remains
a strong "no," because ending the embargo would be bad business,
strengthen an oppressive government and abandon American values.
The U.S. should not normalize trade with the Castro regime for the plain
and simple reasons that his ventures lose money and his government is an
international "deadbeat." Any economic partnerships with authoritarian
regimes are morally suspect, but making deals with the Castro government
is pouring billions of dollars down the drain. In 1986, Cuba defaulted
on its multibillion dollar debt to the Paris Club of nations. That debt
is now estimated to be around $37 billion and the Castro government
refuses to pay it. A couple of months ago, Russia had to write off 90
percent of Cuba's $32 billion debt. That's almost $29 billion dollars
that Castro will never pay back to Moscow. In November, Mexico wrote off
$340 million of Cuba's debt to its development bank, Bancomext. It is no
wonder that, according to Moody's, Cuba's credit rating is Caaa1, which
means worse than highly speculative and a "substantial risk" to investors.
It makes no business sense to drop the embargo for the sake of trading
with a government that reneged on so many loans its credit rating is now
at the subprime or "junk bond" level. Yet, loans are what would be
necessary to "normalize" relations with Cuba. The embargo allows for
U.S. food and humanitarian supplies to be sold to Cuba. In fact, the
U.S. is currently the fifth largest exporter to Cuba. The big difference
is that, according to the embargo, the Castro government must pay for
all U.S. imports with cash, no credit allowed.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the economy.]
This brings us to the most overlooked and dangerous factor in trading
with Cuba. Most of the Cuban economy is owned by the Castro government
and all foreign trade is channeled through agencies that support the
regime. For example, all foreign companies must pay wages in hard
currency (dollars or euros) to the Cuban government, and from those
wages the state pays in local currency (Cuban pesos) a small percentage
to the individual employees. As a report by the Brooking Foundation
described it: "If the firm pays the employment agency $500 a month and
the employment agency pays the workers 500 pesos, over 90 percent of the
wage payment disappears in the currency conversion; the effective
compensation is instantly deflated to $21 per month." Brookings said
this may be "the world's heaviest labor tax." Or as one Cuban worker
disclosed: "In Cuba, it's a great myth that we live off the state. In
fact, it's the state that lives off of us."
This is why decades of trade between Cuba and market economies in
Europe, Canada and Latin America have only lined the pockets of the
Castro government and not produced any of the promised political or
economic benefits for the people of Cuba. This is what "normalized"
relations with Cuba looks like. If the U.S. dropped the embargo, our
companies would join those from around the world that pay dearly to the
Castro regime as it exploits the Cuban people. It is this corrupt
system, not the embargo, which deprives the people of Cuba of the
benefits of trade and the skill of their labor. As the U.S. argued in
the United Nations, "the Cuban Government's own policy was the largest
obstacle to the country's own development, concentrating political and
economic decisions in the hands of the few and stifling economic growth."
Ending the embargo on the Castro regime would be a blow not only to
American wallets, but also to American values. The American people want
"free trade with free people," not manipulated trade that strengthens an
authoritarian government's oppression of its people. The Castro regime
is on its last few breaths and the Cuban Spring will soon come to
millions who will remember that for decades the U.S. chose solidarity
with the Cuban people instead of business partnerships with the dictator
in Havana.
Jorge Benitez is director of the NATOSource blog and a senior fellow at
the Atlantic Council.
Source: Lifting the U.S. Embargo on Castro's Cuba Would Be a Mistake -
US News -
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2014/02/27/lifting-the-us-embargo-on-castros-cuba-would-be-a-mistake
Second member of Cuban Five spy ring freed from U.S. prison
Posted on Thursday, 02.27.14
Second member of Cuban Five spy ring freed from U.S. prison
BY JAY WEAVER
JWEAVER@MIAMIHERALD.COM
A second member of the "Cuban Five," the Castro-directed spy ring that
infiltrated South Florida military installations and the exile community
in the wake of the Cold War, was released from federal prison Thursday
and was expected to be deported soon to Cuba.
Fernando Gonzalez, 50, was convicted for acting as an illegal Cuban
agent at a 2001 espionage trial of the five men in Miami. He and the
others are considered "heroes" in Cuba, which is planning festivities to
honor them this weekend.
The highly controversial case strained already poor U.S.-Cuba relations
not only because the five Castro agents infiltrated South Florida, but
also because they were linked to the Cuban government's 1996 shoot-down
of two Brothers to the Rescue planes that killed four exile pilots over
the Florida Straits.
Gonzalez, who was serving an 18-year sentence, was released from an
Arizona federal prison early Thursday after more than 15 years behind
bars because of time off his term for good behavior and other factors.
Gonzalez, known to U.S. authorities by his alias, Ruben Campa, is the
second member of the Cuban Five to be released from prison. Rene
Gonzalez, who is not related to Fernando Gonzalez, finished his prison
sentence in 2011 but spent more than a year on probation in the U.S.
until a federal judge allowed him to return to Cuba. Rene Gonzalez, a
Chicago native with dual U.S.-Cuban citizenship, renounced his U.S.
citizenship after returning to Havana.
"This is slightly different because [Fernando] Gonzalez is not a U.S.
citizen," said Maggie Khuly, sister of one of the Brothers to the Rescue
shoot-down victims, Armando Alejandre Jr. "I would imagine Cuba will
welcome him with open arms."
Fernando Gonzalez was turned over immediately to the custody of
immigration officials, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement
spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez. For security reasons, she said she could
not disclose exactly where he was being held or when he would be
returned to Cuba, but a deportation order has already been issued.
Fernando Gonzalez was part of a 14-person "Wasp Network" sent by
then-Cuban President Fidel Castro to spy on South Florida. They were
indicted in 1998 on charges of conspiracy, espionage and failure to
register as foreign agents in the United States. Five of the original
defendants pleaded guilty following the FBI investigation and were
deported. Four others were fugitives.
The other remaining defendants, who came to be known as the Cuban Five,
faced trial and were convicted.
Trial testimony showed they sought to infiltrate the headquarters of the
U.S. Southern Command and military installations in the Florida Keys.
They also reported on Cuban exiles and politicians opposed to the
communist government in Havana, prosecutors said.
Havana maintained that the agents posed no threat to the U.S. government
and were only monitoring militant exiles to prevent terrorist attacks in
Cuba. The most notorious of those was a series of bombings of Havana
hotels that killed an Italian tourist in 1997.
In response to Gonzalez's release, Cuba plans a concert Saturday night
at the University of Havana in honor of the five men.
The Communist Party newspaper Granma published interviews Thursday with
two of Gonzalez's friends back home. Rafael Hojas said he and Gonzalez
knew each other as young students and crossed paths on international
missions in Africa.
"I hope he spends as little time as possible in an immigration jail and
can enjoy as soon as possible his mother, his wife, his family, and
we'll see when we might be able to meet," Hojas was quoted as saying.
Gonzalez's mother, Magali Llort, told The Associated Press that she
sometimes thinks her son's release is a dream "but luckily it's a great
reality."
"But we can't feel satisfied with Fernando arriving and Rene having
come," she said. "We have to keep up the fight so that the rest, their
brothers, are here."
The Cuban Five have sometimes been linked to the case of American Alan
Gross, who has spent four years in a Cuban prison after he was arrested
while working covertly to set up Internet access for the island's Jewish
community. He was working as a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for
International Development, which Cuba considers bent on undermining its
government.
Cuba has suggested it might swap Gross for the Cuban Five, but
Washington has rejected any such deal.
Khuly, who has been an unofficial spokeswoman for the shoot-down
victims' families, said they would oppose any exchange of the remaining
three Cuban spies imprisoned in the United States.
"Our main concern is that Gerardo Hernandez stay in the United States
and that there be no exchange involving him," Khuly told The Miami
Herald Thursday. "The other two are also of concern."
Hernandez is serving a life prison sentence on a murder-conspiracy
conviction for his role in the 1996 killings of the four Brothers to the
Rescue pilots. For years, the organization had dropped pro-democracy
leaflets over Cuba and assisted Cuban migrants trying to reach the
United States.
Khuly said the only exchange that the victims' families would consider
would be for the two Cuban Air Force pilots who shot down the Brothers
to the Rescue planes over international waters and for the Cuban general
who gave the order. They have been indicted in Miami federal court.
Fernando Gonzalez was originally sentenced to 19 years. But a Miami
federal judge reduced that by one year after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals said he was wrongly labeled a supervisor of other spies.
Two other men sentenced to life on espionage conspiracy convictions also
had their terms lowered as a result of that same court order. U.S.
District Judge Joan Lenard reduced Antonio Guerrero's sentence to 22
years and Ramon Labanino's to 30 years in prison.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Second member of Cuban Five spy ring freed from U.S. prison -
Cuba - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/27/3963790/second-member-of-cuban-spy-ring.html
Second member of Cuban Five spy ring freed from U.S. prison
BY JAY WEAVER
JWEAVER@MIAMIHERALD.COM
A second member of the "Cuban Five," the Castro-directed spy ring that
infiltrated South Florida military installations and the exile community
in the wake of the Cold War, was released from federal prison Thursday
and was expected to be deported soon to Cuba.
Fernando Gonzalez, 50, was convicted for acting as an illegal Cuban
agent at a 2001 espionage trial of the five men in Miami. He and the
others are considered "heroes" in Cuba, which is planning festivities to
honor them this weekend.
The highly controversial case strained already poor U.S.-Cuba relations
not only because the five Castro agents infiltrated South Florida, but
also because they were linked to the Cuban government's 1996 shoot-down
of two Brothers to the Rescue planes that killed four exile pilots over
the Florida Straits.
Gonzalez, who was serving an 18-year sentence, was released from an
Arizona federal prison early Thursday after more than 15 years behind
bars because of time off his term for good behavior and other factors.
Gonzalez, known to U.S. authorities by his alias, Ruben Campa, is the
second member of the Cuban Five to be released from prison. Rene
Gonzalez, who is not related to Fernando Gonzalez, finished his prison
sentence in 2011 but spent more than a year on probation in the U.S.
until a federal judge allowed him to return to Cuba. Rene Gonzalez, a
Chicago native with dual U.S.-Cuban citizenship, renounced his U.S.
citizenship after returning to Havana.
"This is slightly different because [Fernando] Gonzalez is not a U.S.
citizen," said Maggie Khuly, sister of one of the Brothers to the Rescue
shoot-down victims, Armando Alejandre Jr. "I would imagine Cuba will
welcome him with open arms."
Fernando Gonzalez was turned over immediately to the custody of
immigration officials, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement
spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez. For security reasons, she said she could
not disclose exactly where he was being held or when he would be
returned to Cuba, but a deportation order has already been issued.
Fernando Gonzalez was part of a 14-person "Wasp Network" sent by
then-Cuban President Fidel Castro to spy on South Florida. They were
indicted in 1998 on charges of conspiracy, espionage and failure to
register as foreign agents in the United States. Five of the original
defendants pleaded guilty following the FBI investigation and were
deported. Four others were fugitives.
The other remaining defendants, who came to be known as the Cuban Five,
faced trial and were convicted.
Trial testimony showed they sought to infiltrate the headquarters of the
U.S. Southern Command and military installations in the Florida Keys.
They also reported on Cuban exiles and politicians opposed to the
communist government in Havana, prosecutors said.
Havana maintained that the agents posed no threat to the U.S. government
and were only monitoring militant exiles to prevent terrorist attacks in
Cuba. The most notorious of those was a series of bombings of Havana
hotels that killed an Italian tourist in 1997.
In response to Gonzalez's release, Cuba plans a concert Saturday night
at the University of Havana in honor of the five men.
The Communist Party newspaper Granma published interviews Thursday with
two of Gonzalez's friends back home. Rafael Hojas said he and Gonzalez
knew each other as young students and crossed paths on international
missions in Africa.
"I hope he spends as little time as possible in an immigration jail and
can enjoy as soon as possible his mother, his wife, his family, and
we'll see when we might be able to meet," Hojas was quoted as saying.
Gonzalez's mother, Magali Llort, told The Associated Press that she
sometimes thinks her son's release is a dream "but luckily it's a great
reality."
"But we can't feel satisfied with Fernando arriving and Rene having
come," she said. "We have to keep up the fight so that the rest, their
brothers, are here."
The Cuban Five have sometimes been linked to the case of American Alan
Gross, who has spent four years in a Cuban prison after he was arrested
while working covertly to set up Internet access for the island's Jewish
community. He was working as a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for
International Development, which Cuba considers bent on undermining its
government.
Cuba has suggested it might swap Gross for the Cuban Five, but
Washington has rejected any such deal.
Khuly, who has been an unofficial spokeswoman for the shoot-down
victims' families, said they would oppose any exchange of the remaining
three Cuban spies imprisoned in the United States.
"Our main concern is that Gerardo Hernandez stay in the United States
and that there be no exchange involving him," Khuly told The Miami
Herald Thursday. "The other two are also of concern."
Hernandez is serving a life prison sentence on a murder-conspiracy
conviction for his role in the 1996 killings of the four Brothers to the
Rescue pilots. For years, the organization had dropped pro-democracy
leaflets over Cuba and assisted Cuban migrants trying to reach the
United States.
Khuly said the only exchange that the victims' families would consider
would be for the two Cuban Air Force pilots who shot down the Brothers
to the Rescue planes over international waters and for the Cuban general
who gave the order. They have been indicted in Miami federal court.
Fernando Gonzalez was originally sentenced to 19 years. But a Miami
federal judge reduced that by one year after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals said he was wrongly labeled a supervisor of other spies.
Two other men sentenced to life on espionage conspiracy convictions also
had their terms lowered as a result of that same court order. U.S.
District Judge Joan Lenard reduced Antonio Guerrero's sentence to 22
years and Ramon Labanino's to 30 years in prison.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Second member of Cuban Five spy ring freed from U.S. prison -
Cuba - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/27/3963790/second-member-of-cuban-spy-ring.html
Huber Matos - The passing of a Cuban patriot
Posted on Thursday, 02.27.14
Huber Matos: The passing of a Cuban patriot
BY FRANK CALZON
FRANK.CALZON@CUBACENTER.ORG
It was 1958, and he was a schoolteacher and a small rice grower near the
Sierra Maestra mountains in Cuba's easternmost province. Unhappy with
Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship, he carried rifles to the rebels amid
the produce of his farm.
Alerted that Batista's police were after him, he went into exile in
Costa Rica. He returned on a small aircraft bringing in weapons. The
aircraft landed at Cienaguilla in the foothills of the mountains. He
joined the guerrilla war and rose to the rank of Comandante, the highest
rank in the Rebel Army. Two years later he broke with Fidel Castro over
the issue of communism.
Condemned to 20 years by a kangaroo court, he served his sentence,
became a symbol of the Cuban opposition to totalitarianism and went into
exile. His name was Huber Matos, and he died in Miami on Thursday at the
age of 95.
The revolution came to power in January 1959 after Batista fled. In a
triumphant march into Havana, surrounded by thousands of cheering,
adoring Cubans, was Fidel Castro. At his side, on top of a tank, stood
Matos. After Matos parted ways with the L íder M áximo, his image
promptly disappeared whenever that photograph was used by Cuba's media,
but elsewhere the original remains as proof of historical truth.
As time went by, just like under Josef Stalin, the history of the
revolution was rewritten on a regular basis, and names and provocative
photographs disappeared from the public record. Besides Matos, the first
hand-picked president of the Revolutionary Government (exiled), minister
of agriculture (executed), chief of the Revolutionary Air Force
(exiled), and several comandantes were executed over the issue of
communism. Some, realizing how many of their friends had died in vain,
committed suicide.
After the 1959 victory, Fidel Castro named Matos military governor of
Camaguey province. Raúl Castro was named governor of Oriente province
and Comandante William Gálvez, later executed for opposing communism,
governor of Matanzas.
Shortly after Fidel named his brother Raúl head of the Cuban Armed
Forces, Matos, concerned about the growing infiltration of the rebel
army by communists, resigned his army commission. In a private letter to
Fidel Castro, he wrote: "I don't want to become an obstacle to the
Revolution and I believe that, facing the option of adapting myself or
to resign to prevent greater misfortunes, the honest and 'revolutionary'
thing to do is to leave," he wrote, adding: "If after my dedication to
the country, I were to be ambitious or to conspire, this could be a
motive for me to regret not being one of the many comrades who died in
the struggle."
If Matos still harbored hopes that Fidel Castro was not fully cognizant
of what was happening, they were quickly dashed when Fidel publicly
denounced him for slandering the revolution and ordered the takeover of
the city of Camaguey by the armed forces.
Matos had gone home, where, despite urging from his military officers to
fight back, he waited patiently for his arrest.
Commander Camilo Cienfuegos, head of the Rebel Army, arrived in Camaguey
and met with Matos. After appraising the situation in the military base,
he told Matos that he would explain to Fidel that there was no
conspiracy and everything was peaceful and normal in the city.
Cienfuegos took off in a small aircraft but disappeared on an overland
flight and was never found.
Fourteen of Matos' officers resigned. One committed suicide. Matos and
others were eventually tried by a military court, with Fidel Castro as
the main accuser. He claimed Matos had committed treason by lying about
the revolution. The implication was that by raising the issue of
communism, which at the time Castro had been denying, Matos was
providing fodder for the revolution's critics, including the United
States, which had early on objected to the Revolutionary Tribunals and
executions.
The National Leadership of Fidel Castro's 26 of July Movement resigned,
and Matos was sentenced to 20 years in prison, together with other
officers. He served his sentence, went into exile, and founded
Independent and Democratic Cuba, his political movement. He wrote his
memoirs, How Night Fell.
With his passing, another of the iconic figures of the Cuban
insurrection has died. Sadly, many of Matos' generation believed in
Fidel Castro and died on behalf of a democratic revolution that never was.
Frank Calzon is executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, based
in Washington, D.C.
Source: Huber Matos: The passing of a Cuban patriot - Other Views -
MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/27/3963680/huber-matos-the-passing-of-a-cuban.html
Huber Matos: The passing of a Cuban patriot
BY FRANK CALZON
FRANK.CALZON@CUBACENTER.ORG
It was 1958, and he was a schoolteacher and a small rice grower near the
Sierra Maestra mountains in Cuba's easternmost province. Unhappy with
Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship, he carried rifles to the rebels amid
the produce of his farm.
Alerted that Batista's police were after him, he went into exile in
Costa Rica. He returned on a small aircraft bringing in weapons. The
aircraft landed at Cienaguilla in the foothills of the mountains. He
joined the guerrilla war and rose to the rank of Comandante, the highest
rank in the Rebel Army. Two years later he broke with Fidel Castro over
the issue of communism.
Condemned to 20 years by a kangaroo court, he served his sentence,
became a symbol of the Cuban opposition to totalitarianism and went into
exile. His name was Huber Matos, and he died in Miami on Thursday at the
age of 95.
The revolution came to power in January 1959 after Batista fled. In a
triumphant march into Havana, surrounded by thousands of cheering,
adoring Cubans, was Fidel Castro. At his side, on top of a tank, stood
Matos. After Matos parted ways with the L íder M áximo, his image
promptly disappeared whenever that photograph was used by Cuba's media,
but elsewhere the original remains as proof of historical truth.
As time went by, just like under Josef Stalin, the history of the
revolution was rewritten on a regular basis, and names and provocative
photographs disappeared from the public record. Besides Matos, the first
hand-picked president of the Revolutionary Government (exiled), minister
of agriculture (executed), chief of the Revolutionary Air Force
(exiled), and several comandantes were executed over the issue of
communism. Some, realizing how many of their friends had died in vain,
committed suicide.
After the 1959 victory, Fidel Castro named Matos military governor of
Camaguey province. Raúl Castro was named governor of Oriente province
and Comandante William Gálvez, later executed for opposing communism,
governor of Matanzas.
Shortly after Fidel named his brother Raúl head of the Cuban Armed
Forces, Matos, concerned about the growing infiltration of the rebel
army by communists, resigned his army commission. In a private letter to
Fidel Castro, he wrote: "I don't want to become an obstacle to the
Revolution and I believe that, facing the option of adapting myself or
to resign to prevent greater misfortunes, the honest and 'revolutionary'
thing to do is to leave," he wrote, adding: "If after my dedication to
the country, I were to be ambitious or to conspire, this could be a
motive for me to regret not being one of the many comrades who died in
the struggle."
If Matos still harbored hopes that Fidel Castro was not fully cognizant
of what was happening, they were quickly dashed when Fidel publicly
denounced him for slandering the revolution and ordered the takeover of
the city of Camaguey by the armed forces.
Matos had gone home, where, despite urging from his military officers to
fight back, he waited patiently for his arrest.
Commander Camilo Cienfuegos, head of the Rebel Army, arrived in Camaguey
and met with Matos. After appraising the situation in the military base,
he told Matos that he would explain to Fidel that there was no
conspiracy and everything was peaceful and normal in the city.
Cienfuegos took off in a small aircraft but disappeared on an overland
flight and was never found.
Fourteen of Matos' officers resigned. One committed suicide. Matos and
others were eventually tried by a military court, with Fidel Castro as
the main accuser. He claimed Matos had committed treason by lying about
the revolution. The implication was that by raising the issue of
communism, which at the time Castro had been denying, Matos was
providing fodder for the revolution's critics, including the United
States, which had early on objected to the Revolutionary Tribunals and
executions.
The National Leadership of Fidel Castro's 26 of July Movement resigned,
and Matos was sentenced to 20 years in prison, together with other
officers. He served his sentence, went into exile, and founded
Independent and Democratic Cuba, his political movement. He wrote his
memoirs, How Night Fell.
With his passing, another of the iconic figures of the Cuban
insurrection has died. Sadly, many of Matos' generation believed in
Fidel Castro and died on behalf of a democratic revolution that never was.
Frank Calzon is executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, based
in Washington, D.C.
Source: Huber Matos: The passing of a Cuban patriot - Other Views -
MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/27/3963680/huber-matos-the-passing-of-a-cuban.html
Former Cuban revolutionary Huber Matos is dead
Posted on Thursday, 02.27.14
Former Cuban revolutionary Huber Matos is dead
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
ACHARDY@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Huber Matos, a former Fidel Castro commander who later broke with the
Cuban revolution and served two decades in prison before going into
exile, died in Miami early Thursday. He was 95.
The cause of death was a "massive heart attack," according to a lengthy
statement released by the family shortly after his death at 4 a.m.
Matos had been taken to Kendall Regional Hospital Tuesday and the next
day asked to be disconnected from an oxygen system so he could "say
farewell to his wife María Luisa Araluce, his children and
grandchildren," the family statement said.
Later Wednesday, Matos took calls from supporters in Cuba, including a
group of activists who sang the Cuban national anthem over the phone,
the statement said. It added: "His last words were 'The struggle
continues, long live a free Cuba' "
Matos' death closes one of the most significant chapters in Cuban
history. Matos, a schoolteacher, joined the Castro revolution against
Fulgencio Batista and helped provide weapons to rebels by staging supply
flights from abroad.
Matos also embodied the widespread disillusion that many Cubans felt
toward Castro when it became clear early on that the revolution was
turning toward Communism. In 1961, three years after Batista fled Cuba,
Castro openly acknowledged the "Socialist character" of the revolution.
But in his autobiographical book, How the Night Arrived, Matos says he
began harboring doubts about Castro and the revolution only seven months
after Castro took over.
"I believe steps have been taken toward establishing a dictatorial
government, probably of a Marxist nature," recalled Matos of his
thoughts in 1959 in his book, published in 2002.
Castro ultimately ordered Matos' arrest and he ended up spending 20
years in prison. In 1979, he was released and quickly flew to Costa
Rica, where his wife and children had lived since the 1960s.
The family then resettled in Miami.
After his death Thursday, the family revealed that in a letter he wrote
before dying, he says he wants to be buried in Costa Rica. But the
letter also says, according to the family, that he wants to be
disinterred and reburied in his Cuban hometown of Yara, about 450 miles
southeast of Havana, once democracy reigns on the island.
"I want to make my trip back to Cuba from the very land whose people
always displayed solidarity and affection toward me," Matos wrote in his
last letter, a sort of political testament to be disclosed after his
death. "I want to rest in Costa Rican soil until Cuba is free and from
there go to Yara, to join my mother and reunited with my father and the
Cuban people."
Source: Former Cuban revolutionary Huber Matos is dead - Cuba -
MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/27/3962840/former-cuban-revolutionary-huber.html
Former Cuban revolutionary Huber Matos is dead
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
ACHARDY@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Huber Matos, a former Fidel Castro commander who later broke with the
Cuban revolution and served two decades in prison before going into
exile, died in Miami early Thursday. He was 95.
The cause of death was a "massive heart attack," according to a lengthy
statement released by the family shortly after his death at 4 a.m.
Matos had been taken to Kendall Regional Hospital Tuesday and the next
day asked to be disconnected from an oxygen system so he could "say
farewell to his wife María Luisa Araluce, his children and
grandchildren," the family statement said.
Later Wednesday, Matos took calls from supporters in Cuba, including a
group of activists who sang the Cuban national anthem over the phone,
the statement said. It added: "His last words were 'The struggle
continues, long live a free Cuba' "
Matos' death closes one of the most significant chapters in Cuban
history. Matos, a schoolteacher, joined the Castro revolution against
Fulgencio Batista and helped provide weapons to rebels by staging supply
flights from abroad.
Matos also embodied the widespread disillusion that many Cubans felt
toward Castro when it became clear early on that the revolution was
turning toward Communism. In 1961, three years after Batista fled Cuba,
Castro openly acknowledged the "Socialist character" of the revolution.
But in his autobiographical book, How the Night Arrived, Matos says he
began harboring doubts about Castro and the revolution only seven months
after Castro took over.
"I believe steps have been taken toward establishing a dictatorial
government, probably of a Marxist nature," recalled Matos of his
thoughts in 1959 in his book, published in 2002.
Castro ultimately ordered Matos' arrest and he ended up spending 20
years in prison. In 1979, he was released and quickly flew to Costa
Rica, where his wife and children had lived since the 1960s.
The family then resettled in Miami.
After his death Thursday, the family revealed that in a letter he wrote
before dying, he says he wants to be buried in Costa Rica. But the
letter also says, according to the family, that he wants to be
disinterred and reburied in his Cuban hometown of Yara, about 450 miles
southeast of Havana, once democracy reigns on the island.
"I want to make my trip back to Cuba from the very land whose people
always displayed solidarity and affection toward me," Matos wrote in his
last letter, a sort of political testament to be disclosed after his
death. "I want to rest in Costa Rican soil until Cuba is free and from
there go to Yara, to join my mother and reunited with my father and the
Cuban people."
Source: Former Cuban revolutionary Huber Matos is dead - Cuba -
MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/27/3962840/former-cuban-revolutionary-huber.html
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