POLITICS-CUBA: No Meeting with Castro for Moderate Exile Leader

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Aug 9 1999 (IPS) - Opposition leader Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo concluded his fourth visit to Cuba without securing a meeting with President Fidel Castro, with whom he had hoped to renew dialogue in his search for a legal space for political activity by internal dissidents.

But Gutierrez Menoyo, in exile since 1986, said he would not lose hope or give up. “If there is an extreme right that has not tired after 40 years of practicing the route of confrontation, I won’t tire either.

“I’m leaving without being able to pick up the reins of dialogue again, but I will do so on my next trip,” said the former comrade-in-arms of Castro in the struggle to overthrow the regime of Fulgencio Batista (1952-58).

Gutierrez Menoyo later spent 22 years in prison after staging an armed uprising against the Castro regime.

In an interview with IPS, the opposition leader described the position of Cambio Cubano – the organisation he has headed since its founding in the United States in 1993, which advocates dialogue with Cuban authorities – as “coherent and civilised.”

“The important thing is to sit down to analyse things,” he stressed. “If we allow intelligence, not intolerance, to win out, we will find solutions in the end and reach the conclusion that we can agree to disagree. We want the best for this country.”

Gutierrez Menoyo warned, however, that the route of dialogue was thorny and full of hurdles, among which he mentioned “incomprehension and lack of communication” on the part of Cuban authorities.

In his view, “it would be splendid for the close of Fidel Castro’s history” that the president himself be the one to initiate the political changes – “the only route for Cuba to reinsert itself into the Western world.”

But the opposition leader stated that “the U.S. confrontation with Cuba” did not contribute to the efforts of his political grouping, which is also opposed to the embargo in effect against Havana for nearly four decades.

During his three-week visit, Gutierrez Menoyo met with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, several ambassadors, and representatives of the internal opposition, which he said had been unable to grow and constitute the backbone of a larger movement due to the lack of possibilities for carrying out legal activity.

Since his 1986 release from prison, brought about through efforts by the Spanish government, Gutierrez Menoyo first visited Cuba in June 1995, when he held a lengthy meeting with Castro, to whom he expressed his desire to live once again in Cuba.

He has visited on three occasions since then, and says he is able to “move throughout the territory and meet with anyone I want,” although he has been unsuccessful in his bid to obtain authorisation to live in Cuba and install a Cambio Cubano office here.

The stay of Gutierrez Menoyo, his wife Gladys and their three children coincided with the celebrations surrounding the 46th anniversary of the failed attack by the rebels on the Moncada barracks, which nevertheless helped Castro strengthen the movement that triumphed on Jan 1, 1959.

During the Jul 26 celebrations, Castro challenged Washington to reach a bilateral accord on the fight against drug trafficking, which Gutierrez Menoyo agreed would be beneficial because drugs are “an international scourge.”

Underlining the potentially strategic position of Cuba for blocking the transit of drugs through the Caribbean towards the United States, the opposition leader said he was “completely in agreement” with Castro on that issue.

He also stressed that migration was a concern shared by both Washington and Havana.

“Neither of the two countries has an interest in breaking” the migration agreements signed in 1994 and 1995, said Gutierrez Menoyo. “But there are factors conspiring” against the agreements, he said, adding that there are “certain economically powerful groups” keen on creating conflicts in that area.

Furthermore, the situation in Cuba today constitutes a breeding ground for emigration, and “there is always the threat of a mass exodus, which no one wants.”

But while the United States would not tolerate an exodus of illegal emigrants, Cuba is fully aware that it must prevent such an occurrence, which could bring “new, and much more violent, friction” between the two countries.

Gutierrez Menoyo said he was in favour of working out differences in an organised and orderly manner. “Although we are against the system reigning in Cuba, we don’t want destabilisation or the collapse of this country.”

A “confrontation would be like giving the coup de grace and losing the country,” which Cambio Cubano does not want. “The time for war has ended, and the Pope and all responsible institutions are in favour of peace.”

With respect to holding the 9th Ibero-American Summit in Havana in November, Gutierrez Menoyo said the participating presidents “will have the brilliant opportunity to bring another message and another language to the people of Cuba.”

“I respect the motivations of each, but we must say ‘present!’,” he replied to a query on the possibility of several presidents excusing themselves from the gathering on the basis of discrepancies with the Cuban government.

On the personal plane, Gutierrez Menoyo said he harboured no hatred or malice for his years in prison in Cuba. “It was my lot to lose, and that’s that.”