Man Who Boosted Castro Talks Now Calls Him a ‘Beast’

Ana Veciana

Miami News Reporter

The controversial Hialeah minister who paved the way for the 1978 talks between Fidel Castro and Cuban exiles has done “a 180-degree turn” and is now denouncing the talks and calling the Cuban leader “an unscrupulous beast.”

The Rev. Manuel Espinosa, pastor of the Christian Evangelical Reformed Church, also said more than 6,000 Cubans have been imprisoned for political reasons since 1978 – almost twice the number of political prisoners who were to be released as a result of the “dialogue.”

Demanding Castro’s resignation, Espinosa called the exiles’ trips to Cuba “a farce of the Cuban government” and said he had names of several Cuban agents in diplomatic circles and working for Havanatur, the Panamanian-based travel agency which sells trips to Cuba.

Espinosa, who once advocated normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba, would not identify the Castro agents until a press conference scheduled at the Columbus Hotel today “for security reasons.”

Asked what caused his change of mind, the minister said, “It is not a change of mid. It is my true position. It has always been. Before, I had to disguise my true feelings in order to get close to the Cuban government and to get the freedom of political prisoners.”

In September 1978, Castro said Espinosa had influenced him to try to bridge the gap with Cuban exiles. A month later, the historic “dialogue” between exiles and Castro took place in Havana and both parties agreed on the release of political prisoners, the reunification of families and trips to the island.

Espinosa and other participants in the dialogue have continuously defended the dialogue from accusations by anti-Castro leaders that it is a farce. Dialogue participants have said the 3,600 political prisoners Castro promised to release were most of the political prisoners held in Cuban jails, while others say thousands of prisoners remain there.

The minister’s turnabout surprised the Latin community. Fellow dialoguistas of the Committee of 75 – the group implementing the agreements of the dialogue – said they could not explain the change.

“I’m shocked,” said The Rev. Jose Reyes, president of the Committee. “I don’t know how one day he can advocate and participate in our activities and then do a 180-degree turn and say something else. At this point, I’m speechless. I don’t know where he’s coming from. He never told me or any member of the committee about this. This is ridiculous.”

Another member of the committee, who asked that his name not be used, told The News, “I wonder what he is up to now. I heard the news on the radio and that’s how I think most other members heard about it. He hasn’t even had the courtesy of telling the committee.”

Anti-Castro leaders who have opposed the dialogue from its beginning in the fall of 1978 are looking at Espinosa’s turnaround skeptically.

“Is this some kind of joke?” asked Fico Rojas, press secretary for Brigade 2506, the Bay of Pigs Veterans. “I don’t believe a word that man is saying. He is speculating and banking on the emotions of the Cuban community. He wants the exiles to believe him but how can we when he has been hollering about the normalization of relations with Cuba since 1976?”