Says he'll work for `peace and reconciliation'

  BY LUISA YANEZ, OSCAR CORRAL AND ADRIANA CORDOVI

  Former Cuban political prisoner and rebel leader Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo, who has lived in Miami for the past 17 years, announced in Havana on Thursday that he has decided to remain in Cuba to live so he can launch an internal opposition movement.

  Gutiérrez-Menoyo made his announcement as he and his family, who were visiting Havana, prepared to board a return flight to Miami. It comes five months after the government of Fidel Castro cracked down on the island's dissident movement, sending dozens to prison.

  There was no immediate response from the Cuban government. Gutiérrez-Menoyo, 68, who was once one of Castro's trusted rebel leaders in the early days of the
  revolution but later split with the Cuban leader, was born in Madrid and is a Cuban citizen. He has permanent U.S. residency.

  Gutiérrez-Menoyo was a cofounder of Alpha 66, the exile community's first paramilitary group, in the early 1960s. He was captured in Cuba in early 1965 and spent 22 years as a political prisoner.

  Gutiérrez-Menoyo now heads the more centrist group Cambio Cubano, which promotes dialogue with Cuba. He told reporters at Havana's José Martí International Airport he was ending his exile in Miami to work toward a peaceful transition in Cuba.

  ''I'm publicly declaring my right to stay in Cuban territory,'' he said.

  FOUR-PAGE MANIFESTO

  Armed with a four-page manifesto titled ''Message to all Cubans for a New Revolution,'' Gutiérrez-Menoyo said: ``I come to work for an open agenda in favor of peace and the reconciliation of all Cubans.''

  In the manifesto, he explained his actions:

  ''My decision to not go back to exile and instead settle in Cuba definitely comes as direct result of a careful and profound analysis of the country's situation and from an understanding that I can be more useful here than abroad,'' he said in the document. He added that no government was ''manipulating'' him.

  His wife, Gladys, and three school-age sons boarded the plane for Miami International Airport without him. On arrival they were met by reporters Thursday morning.

  ''I support my husband 100 percent,'' Gladys Gutiérrez-Menoyo said.

  Later, at a press conference at the couple's southwest Miami-Dade home, Gladys Gutiérrez-Menoyo tearfully told reporters that she learned of her husband's intention to remain in Cuba at the last minute at the airport, where it was not unusual for reporters to interview him as he left the island.

  ''I found out when he was telling them. I was shocked,'' she said in her living room, flanked by her three sons, Carlos, 13, Alex, 11, and Miguel, 9. The family had flown to Cuba for a 17-day getaway.

  In a prepared statement, she urged Miami exiles to support her husband.

  ''Do not be fooled. This is a very serious step he has taken. A risky decision made in the middle of much tension in Havana,'' the statement said.

  She said her husband did not discuss his decision with anyone -- including the Cuban government. She said her husband has always sought ''legal opposition space'' on the island.

  Gutiérrez-Menoyo's daughter, Patricia, said in a phone interview from Puerto Rico that she too was shocked by her father's decision. She feared he may now face prison in Cuba again.

  ''This time he goes with more powerful weapons than back then,'' she said. ``Moral values, ethics, and a desire for peace and reconciliation. He knew how to make war when it was time. Now years later, with greater maturity, he firmly believes that peaceful means are required.''

  But some Miami exiles have long considered Gutiérrez-Menoyo to be soft on Castro. His organization is seen as far more left of center than the majority of exile groups, most of which oppose any dialogue or contact with Castro's government.

  After breaking rank with Castro, Gutiérrez-Menoyo lived in Miami, where he became the military leader of 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.

  His lukewarm relationship with the more hard-line members of the Cuban exile community prompted some to look at his bold move Thursday with suspicion and disdain, though others called him a patriot.

  ''I'm very disappointed with Menoyo,'' said Huber Matos, another fellow rebel leader who followed Castro and was imprisoned for 20 years after criticizing the Cuban leader. "He is not the man he used to be. To me, he is allowing himself to be used by Fidel to make it look to the world that the opposition is allowed to exist in Cuba, while we know that those who oppose the government are punished.''

  Ernesto Díaz, who founded the paramilitary group Alpha 66 in 1961 with Gutiérrez-Menoyo and later served several years in a Cuban prison with him, said he and
  Gutiérrez-Menoyo parted company in 1993 when Gutiérrez-Menoyo started talking about dialogue with the Cuban government.

  ''I respect his decision,'' Díaz said. "But to go to Cuba and place yourself in the government's hands is ineffective. I think he is losing much politically, and his prestige as a revolutionary warrior.''

  Other prominent Cuban exiles received the news of Gutiérrez-Menoyo's maneuver with skepticism and caution.

  ''Menoyo has many faces,'' said José Basulto, founder of Brothers to the Rescue. ``I don't see him as opposition, but as someone who collaborates with Castro.''

  Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, said Gutiérrez-Menoyo had to ''beg'' to return to his country, where he ironically helped bring about the government that is there today.

  ''Menoyo has very few friends,'' Garcia said.

  MORE SUPPORTIVE

  Others were more supportive. Alfredo Durán, secretary of the Cuban Committee for Democracy, an exile group opposed to the U.S. embargo of Cuba, said
  Gutiérrez-Menoyo has always wanted to open an office in Havana for Cambio Cubano.

  ''He is a Cuban patriot, as he always has been,'' Durán said. ``You have to take your hat off to his courage. He is there nonviolently and simply wants to exercise his civil rights and to live in his country.''

  In Cuba, the reaction was also mixed. Some dissidents welcomed Gutiérrez-Menoyo's entry into their ranks, while others were skeptical.

  ''This is a cause for many Cubans. Even though he's not a Cuban, his love of this country has been proven,'' Cuba's best-known opposition leader, Oswaldo Payá, said in a telephone interview Thursday.

  Like Gutiérrez-Menoyo, Payá is fighting for the right for all Cubans to be allowed to come and go from their homeland when they wish.

  ''But dissident work has been going on. This is not something that starts now,'' Payá said. ``There are many who have already been working for this on the island.''

  Another well-known dissident, Vladimiro Roca, the son of a longtime Communist Party leader, said in a phone interview from Havana that Gutiérrez-Menoyo has never reached out to him during his many visits to the island.

  ''We don't know his intentions,'' Roca said. ``If he's going to be allowed to stay here and form an opposition group, that is something that had to be approved in the
  highest levels, probably even by Fidel.''

  Herald translator Renato Perez and the Associated Press contributed to this report.