The Miami Herald
July 15, 2004

Dissident seeks movement 'free of foreign influence'

Exile leader Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo said he stayed in Havana during a visit last summer to seek legal status for an internal opposition movement.

BY NANCY SAN MARTIN

Former Fidel Castro supporter, later political prisoner, still later Miami exile and now Havana resident Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo says he spends most of his days talking with other Cubans who, like him, believe democracy is inevitable in the communist-ruled nation.

He also travels to the provinces to establish ties with dissidents, stays in contact with an unidentified Foreign Ministry diplomat who serves as his liaison to the government and grants interviews to foreign journalists in Havana.

And when the friends who allow him to stay in their homes become nervous from the publicity, he moves to another house.

''I stay as long as I can, then I move on to another home,'' Gutiérrez-Menoyo, 69, told The Herald Wednesday during a short stop in Miami on the way back to Havana from a trip to his native Spain -- the latest stage in his surprising political evolution.

BEGINS TO PARTICIPATE

The founder of Cambio Cubano, a Miami organization that seeks democratic change through dialogue, announced during a visit to the island last summer that he would remain to launch an opposition movement that he hoped the government would recognize.

Nearly a year after the daring move, Gutiérrez-Menoyo has been allowed to stay in Cuba, the government has invited him to various gatherings and allowed him last month to visit Spain, with assurances that he could return.

But he has had little success in launching his opposition movement, and has not been embraced by some of the other prominent dissidents in Cuba.

Still, he says he has made some headway. In May, he was invited to participate in a migration conference in which the Cuban government invited several hundred Cubans living abroad.

''I was able to . . . publicly make demands on issues like the need to create an opening in Cuba, and other needs in a nation with many needs,'' Gutiérrez-Menoyo said, adding that after the gathering Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque told international journalists that the government regarded him as someone pursuing change through peaceful means.

''That all represents advances,'' said the Madrid-born Gutiérrez-Menoyo, who has Cuban citizenship. He fought alongside Castro's guerrillas in the late 1950s, then spent more than 20 years in prison after criticizing the Castro government. He later moved to Miami, where he lived for 17 years.

Looking relaxed and confident during the Herald interview, Gutiérrez-Menoyo said he is taking his time forming partnerships with other dissidents on the island to sidestep government charges that Washington is behind them.

''I'm being very careful to identify dissidents who are completely independent from any foreign influence.'' he said. ``I'm getting to know them and they me and we are finding common ground so we can work together. Transition in Cuba depends on Cubans, not a foreign force.''

His unexpected announcement at Havana's José Martí International Airport last August came as a shock to his friends and family, which remained in Miami, particularly because it came five months after a crackdown that sent 75 dissidents to jail.

But he was confident that he would not be thrown in prison also.

`TOTALLY INDEPENDENT'

''For a long time, the repression in Cuba was targeted against all those dissidents who are known or had traveled to other nations,'' he said. ``My case is different. I have no links to any government or entity. I represent a totally independent movement, and in Cuba there would be no justification for arrest.''

While some exiles in Miami have alleged that he's part of a Castro government effort to establish a ''tame'' opposition, some dissidents on the island appear to have accepted him.

''I see him like another government opponent,'' dissident leader Vladimiro Roca said by phone from Havana. ``Some people may see him with suspicion, but to me he is another Cuban. I wish him luck with his effort. Whatever can be done to open spaces here is always positive.''

Asked why he has not joined forces with some of the prominent dissidents on the island, Gutiérrez-Menoyo said: ``I've met with most of them. There can be disagreement within the various groups and that is OK. It shows diversity.''

He also applauded the petition drive known as the Varela Project, which seeks a referendum on democratic reforms. But, he added, ``it served its function, played a positive role in terms of publicity . . . and died at birth.''

Gutiérrez-Menoyo said he will remain in Cuba as long as necessary to continue to push for democratic change, which he said is possible even with Castro in power.

''It's a question of timing,'' he said. ``They dollarized the economy and allowed foreign investment when they didn't want it. Eventually, they will have to accept transition even if they don't want it.''