Ian Michael James
Half a century ago, confetti floated through the air in Havana as Fidel Castro arrived to the joyous cries of people celebrating the fall of a dictator. The bearded rebels who were welcomed as heroes included Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, commander of the Second National Front of the Escambray, a faction that had joined in the fight to oust President Fulgencio Batista. At the time, Eloy believed their revolution had brought Cuba freedom from a repressive regime.
Today Eloy looks back on those exuberant days of January 1959 with the rueful conviction that Cuba has since been frozen in a stifling sameness. His struggle against Castro has consumed much of his life – first trying to overthrow him and nowadays favoring dialogue to bring about change.
Eloy, who lives in Havana, is no typical anti-Castro leader. He often chided the Bush administration for its hard-line Cuba policies. At 74, he is trying to build an independent opposition. He isn’t allowed to form a political party or have a voice in the state-controlled media. But he believes it’s only a matter of time until Cuba’s entrenched system begins to break down and allow the island’s people to gradually regain their personal and political freedoms.
He is hopeful President Barack Obama’s initial steps to ease sanctions may hasten these changes. He is encouraged by Obama’s move against Bush’s isolationist policies — an opening Obama summarized to applause at the recent Summit of the Americas, saying, “The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba.”
Eloy has long seen the U.S. trade embargo as a failure and called for its elimination.
But now he says that unless Cuba shows willingness to make would be more productive. It has been a controversial position for Eloy, who has been vilified by some Cuban leaders in Miami for hoping – naively, they say – that talking with either Fidel or Raúl Castro can make a difference.
Eloy’s unflappable persistence impressed me a decade ago when we met in Miami, where I began interviewing him for my book “Ninety Miles: Cuban Journeys in the Age of Castro.” In his small office tucked away in a strip mall, he gestured with a cigarette as he explained how his group, Cambio Cubano, aimed to bring democracy to the island.
He waved a bundle of threatening notes he had received from exiles after meeting with Castro in 1995. They haven’t deterred him from trying to negotiate.
Now he suggests that Obama’s easing of restrictions on travel and money transfers could create the conditions for state controls to begin to loosen. Yet, it is still unclear how willing the Castros might be to engage in a genuine give-and-take. Raúl has offered to discuss “everything” with the U.S. government, but on equal terms and without negotiating Cuba’s one-party communist system. Obama’s suggestion that Cuba respond with a gesture such as releasing political prisoners met a cool response.
Eloy’s own demands for political freedoms in Havana have been ignored. His requests to meet again with Fidel or Raúl have gone unanswered for years. “They don’t give you a definite ‘no,’ but they also don’t tell you ‘yes’.”
They leave the door open, but not all the way, he says. This time Eloy hopes the Cubans will recognize their historic opportunity. “Cuba has to take some sort of step so that it doesn’t stymie the positive stance taken by Obama.”
[Ian Michael James is a journalist who lives in Caracas, Venezuela. He is author of “Ninety Miles: Cuban Journeys in the Age of Castro” (Rowman & Littlefield).] ©2009
