Center for International Policy

Wayne Smith Comments on the article:

Not an `approved dissident,' he fights U.S. and Castro too
By Gary Marx, Chicago Tribune, 3/15/05

In his article on Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, Gary Marx quotes Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart as saying that "Menoyo is a mercenary for whomever will pay him. Now he is a dissident who advocates for Castro's positions." Menoyo is a man who with his own guerrilla group, the Second Front Escambray, fought against Batista, then briefly became a member of the Castro government. Seeing Castro's drift toward the Soviets, he defected, went to Miami, organized a new guerrilla group, returned to Cuba in 1964 and fought in the mountains against Fidel. Captured arms in hand, he spent 22 years in prison. Released in 1986, he came to Miami and founded Cambio Cubano, but his intention was always to return to Cuba to lead a legal opposition party. Seeing that time was passing him by, in 2003 he went back to Cuba and decided to stay to try to carry out his original plan. It was a daring thing to do for he did not have the Cuban government's authorization. They could have arrested him at any point. Rather than that, they tolerated his presence, but have not legalized his status and certainly not authorized the opening of a Cambio Cubano office. Still, Menoyo feels that he is gaining ground and will eventually win out, thus pushing the envelope.

I have visited with him several times during trips to Cuba. He lives with first one friend, then another, and receives a bit of money from his family. It is something of a hand-to-mouth existence, but he believes it is worth the sacrifice.

For Diaz-Balart to suggest that Menoyo is a mercenary who is being paid to lead this uncertain existence in Cuba is ludicrous. It is also unseemly, coming from a man, Diaz-Balart, who has never risked anything for the cause -- not money, not his life, not anything. He has always lived and worked in the comfort and safety of Miami. While Menoyo was suffering in prison, Diaz-Balart was going to parties in Miami. Menoyo is four times the man Diaz-Balart will ever be.

Wayne S. Smith