By Vanessa Bauza
Havana Bureau

HAVANA -- He is a former rebel commander turned counterrevolutionary. The founder of an exile paramilitary group turned peace activist.

Now, even in the autumn of his life, Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo, who served 22 years in Cuba's prisons before moving to Miami, continues to
reinvent himself and defy expectations.

On Thursday, in a characteristically quixotic move, Gutiérrez-Menoyo, 68, announced plans to live out his years in Cuba and work for
democratic reforms on the island, despite having no permission from Fidel Castro's government.

"I come to work toward the peace and reconciliation of all Cubans," Gutiérrez-Menoyo said minutes before saying goodbye to his wife and
three sons at Havana's José Martí airport. "I come to claim a legal space for the opposition ... and I know the task is not easy. There can be
no peace without freedom."

There was no immediate response from the Cuban government, which requires that Cuban-Americans apply for visas before visiting their
homeland, and in many cases, Cuban passports. Visas are usually good for a few weeks. It is unclear whether Castro will allow
Gutiérrez-Menoyo to remain on the island.

Gutiérrez-Menoyo and his family had traveled to Cuba on July 20 for a vacation and his visa was set to expire, he said. The decision, which
shocked supporters and detractors in Miami, was the fruit of a "well thought analysis," he said.

"For almost 10 years I have been asking for the right to move here with my family," he said. "They are leaving, but I have the hope that we
may be reunited in a not too distant future. Similarly, I hope one day Cubans can come and go freely from their country without the need for a
visa."

Asked if he wasn't being naive in thinking the Cuban government would allow him to stay and operate an opposition movement,
Gutiérrez-Menoyo replied, "The day I lose my dreams and naiveté I will be lost."

Farewell to family

Gutiérrez-Menoyo kissed his wife, Gladys, and their three sons before they boarded their charter flight to Miami. He whispered to the oldest, Carlos Alberto, that he
was now the man of the house.

"He has to behave as though he were the father even though he's only 13," he said.

Gutiérrez-Menoyo's daughter, Patricia Gutiérrez, who lives in Puerto Rico, wept Thursday morning after hearing the news of her father's decision. It was surprising,
she said, but entirely characteristic.

As leader of the Second National Front in Cuba's central Escambray mountains, Gutiérrez-Menoyo was one of the youngest rebel commanders to help defeat the
military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. In 1959, he arrived in Havana to a hero's welcome even before Fidel Castro and his guerrillas. However, he soon clashed
with Castro and in 1964 fled Cuba for Miami.

Determined to reverse his role in the revolution, Gutiérrez-Menoyo founded the exile paramilitary group Alpha 66 and in December 1964 returned to Cuba with a
small band of counterrevolutionaries eager to start an insurrection.

Gutiérrez-Menoyo and the others were captured within weeks of landing on Cuba's eastern shore and he spent the next 22 years in some of Cuba's worst prisons.

For years, Miami exiles hailed him as the epitome of an anti-Castro warrior. But Gutiérrez-Menoyo shocked supporters in 1986 when he emerged from prison
espousing a new commitment to peaceful reconciliation and dialogue. In 1995, he became the first exile opposition leader to meet with Castro and asked the Cuban
leader to open an office for his organization, Cambio Cubano, or Cuban Change. He was denied.

"I have been like a sandwich, buffeted by the extreme, intolerant left here [in Havana] and the extreme, intolerant right in Miami," he said in a recent interview with
the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Decision stuns some

Miami banker Bernardo Benes, who led several Cuban-American delegations in meetings with Castro during the Carter administration, was stunned by
Gutiérrez-Menoyo's announcement. He said Cuba's leadership would do well to take advantage of his presence during a time when dissident crackdowns and the
executions of three hijackers have left it increasingly isolated.

"If I were Fidel Castro I would sit down with him and see what could be done together," Benes said. "Some people think he [Gutiérrez-Menoyo] is crazy. I think
he's brave."

Longtime opposition leader Elizardo Sánchez was in Santiago's Boniato prison with Gutiérrez-Menoyo in the 1980's. By choosing to stay in Cuba,
Gutiérrez-Menoyo was exercising his civil right to determine his country of residence, Sánchez said, "a right that is denied to millions of Cubans on the island and in
exile."

However, Sánchez stopped short of welcoming the former rebel commander to the opposition movement and pointed to Gutiérrez-Menoyo's past statements that
many dissidents are either undercover Cuban agents or pawns of the U.S. Interests Section.

"Personally, I can't hide my reservations of Menoyo's political position," Sánchez said. "For years, in public declarations, he has tried to disqualify [the opposition]. If
he stays, he could either do civic work or create a fifth column, creating opposition to the opposition."

Andres Nazario Sargen, who founded Alpha 66 with Gutiérrez-Menoyo but did not follow his call for dialogue with Cuba's leadership, called the decision "a grave
mistake." "We have been friends since the hills of the Escambray when we fought against Batista," he said. "I don't think he will accomplish anything."

Vanessa Bauza can be reached at vmbauza1@yahoo.com

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