José Basulto touts nonviolent tactics

 José Basulto is best known for saving Cuban rafters with his Brothers to the Rescue flights. But his life was action-packed even before he founded that organization: At age 20, he was a CIA agent who helped organize resistance against Fidel Castro in eastern Cuba. He later helped support anti-Sandinista contras in Nicaragua.

 Basulto was able to escape the attack by Cuban MiGs on Feb. 24, 1996, that downed two of the three planes that he led. Four of his comrades died, and Basulto, 61, has crusaded ever since to bring Castro, Cuba's leader, to justice for their deaths. But some surviving family members blame Basulto for leading the aircraft into harm's way.

 In a recent interview with a Herald reporter, he discussed Cuba's future and the nonviolent tactics he says he now espouses.

 Q: How do you think the end will come for Fidel Castro, especially in light of his recent fainting spell? He turned 75 this month.

 A: The end of Fidel will not be by death. His mental capacity will deteriorate. I have cases in my family of Alzheimer's disease, or dementia, and it seems to me this is the route for him. The fainting spell is another matter -- probably the result of that green battle jacket with the Kevlar armor underneath. Everybody is vulnerable, but his collapse shook all of us and showed us we are not prepared. It was a reminder not only to us but to the people in Cuba, including those around Castro and those who have opposed him for many years, that we should all be concerned because we don't know what happens next.

 Q: What kind of strategy is most appropriate for Brothers to the Rescue and your friends here in Miami in terms of helping bring about change in Cuba?

 A: What we are proposing is the use of nonviolence as an instrument of change. If Fidel is gone, there would be a crackdown -- some very dark days for members of the opposition . . . Nonviolent action would be the only way out. Unfortunately, here in exile we still lean on the U.S. government, hoping it will show the way. But history shows that it won't. Cubans have to realize that the best way to oppose the Cuban government is through nonviolent organizing. [Basulto showed a 78-page religious tract on nonviolent struggle and two booklets of similar length on people power-style resistance, which he said he has been sending to Cuba]. We are not going to be sending arms. We are against that.

 Q: Are you talking about organizing protest marches and sitdown strikes?

 A: That all depends. Maybe it may be possible to have a parallel government in Cuba. Whatever it is to bring about change, it must be purely Cuban.

 Q: There is a sudden flood of Cubans coming to Florida by boat. Why is that?

 A. It is true that it is seasonal. But I believe there is a connection with the fainting spell. People in Cuba are afraid. They worry about their future after Castro. . . . They don't know if Raúl [Castro, Fidel's brother and presumptive heir] could hold it together. They know that the U.S. would be trying to stop the exiles from going over to rescue relatives. . . . The U.S. is worried too -- about a big influx of refugees, about a civil war in Cuba which might force the U.S. to intervene. It is a mess.

 Q: Is President Bush up to the task of indicting Fidel Castro for the shoot-down, as you and the relatives of your dead friends have said they want?

 A: I don't know how much of a pragmatist Mr. Bush is. But we have already sent three letters to George W. Bush asking for the rule of law to take place and for the
 indictment on murder charges of Castro. I was one of the Cuban community leaders invited to the White House recently. I went with Eva Barba [mother of dead flier Pablo Morales]. I personally gave George Bush a letter in an envelope. But I've heard nothing. I think the U.S. can indict Castro, and it would be a good thing. Even if they could not arrest him, it would prevent him from moving around. . .

 Q: Have you had contact with family members [of the Brothers to the Rescue victims] since the trial ended in the case of the Cuban spy network in Miami? Some appear to still blame you for the deaths of their relatives.

 A: Well, Eva Barba has contact with me. The attitude of the others is beyond my control. They have their own angle, which I care not to speculate on. But this hurts
 because I feel that they should have been among the first to join Brothers to the Rescue to assist us in pursuing justice against Castro. They portray their family members as strictly on a humanitarian mission, but it was obvious to everyone that we were trying to bring change to Cuba. Mario de la Peña was a participant in a Martin Luther King seminar on nonviolence. Armando Alejandre gave a letter to his relatives in which he said he asked us to take him because he believed we were going to do a demonstration [drop leaflets over Cuba] . . . though we had no plan to do that.

 Q: Is Brothers still flying missions to find rafters?

 A: We fly occasionally, two or three times a month or when someone calls us to say they know a relative has left Cuba by boat but he hasn't turned up. It doesn't make much sense to fly because most of the refugees are coming in at night. Also, our funds have decreased because we depend on donations and that has fallen off. . . .

 Q: Some Cuban spies have been arrested. Are there more in Florida?

 A: Miami has hundreds, if not thousands, of spies. Maybe most of them are not full-rated spies -- professional ones -- but at least they are members of the intelligence services of Cuba or they send information and are taking assignments from Havana.

                                    © 2001