BY ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
  Associated Press

  HAVANA - A former rebel commander turned opposition leader who returned from exile last week to live permanently in Cuba said this weekend he has been contacted by officials here, but declined to provide details of the discussions.

  Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo, who fought alongside Fidel Castro in the Cuban revolution, then later spent 22 years in Cuban prisons after breaking with the regime, also declined to say who he spoke with.

  ''Logically there would have been some contact,'' Gutiérrez-Menoyo told The Associated Press in an interview here late Saturday afternoon. ``I understand that initially my attitude created irritation in the highest ranks.''

  Gutiérrez-Menoyo, 68 years old and nearly blind, would say only that he assured authorities that he did not intend to ''destabilize'' the island's socialist system.

  After breaking rank with Castro, Gutiérrez-Menoyo lived in Miami, where he became the military leader of the anti-Castro group Alpha 66. In late 1964, he landed in Cuba with three men in hopes of launching an armed uprising. But he was captured and sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to 30 years. In 1986, after 22 years, the Cuban government released him, honoring a request from Spain's prime minister at the time, Felipe González. Gutiérrez-Menoyo lived in Spain for a while but eventually resettled in Miami.

  The Castro government in recent years has had a respectful but cautious relationship with Gutiérrez-Menoyo, who has traveled here occasionally to visit family. He met with Castro himself in 1995.

  It still remained unclear whether officials would allow him to remain permanently in Cuba and operate his Cambio Cubano, what he says is an ''independent'' opposition movement.

  ''In this country, there are intelligent people who think that my presence here can be beneficial to change the image of a government that has repressed the opposition,'' he said.

  Gutiérrez-Menoyo said that being able to talk with Cuban officials about his intentions was ``an acceptable starting point.''

  Gutiérrez-Menoyo had a visa for three weeks when he arrived here on July 20 with his wife and three school-age sons. Born in Spain, he holds a Cuban passport and has legal U.S. residency.