The Associated Press

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- The Cuban government may return the body of an
executed revolutionary to his hometown by early next year, U.S. Rep.
Marcy Kaptur said.

Acting on pleas by relatives, Cuban government workers have found what
appears to be the grave of William Morgan, once known as the "Yanqui
Comandante," in a Havana cemetery.

Forty-one years after he was killed by Fidel Castro's firing squad,
Morgan's body could be released to his widow, Olga Goodwin, in Toledo
early next year for burial in a family plot, said Kaptur, who met with
President Castro on April 12.

"The government of Cuba tried hard to meet our requests," the Toledo
Democrat told The Blade for a Sunday story. "We are pleased they have
honored those promises."

The Blade first reported in March on the efforts of the Cuban-born Goodwin
to retrieve her husband's remains.

Morgan led a band of young guerillas in the Cuban revolution and was
revered in Cuba for fighting to put Castro in power. But he was executed
by firing squad in 1961 at age 33, when he opposed the new government.

"Morgan was a real fighter, but more than that, he is still seen as
someone who defied Castro, and he paid with his life," said Enrique
Encinosa, a Cuban author who lives in Miami.

Goodwin was imprisoned in Cuba nearly 12 years after Morgan's death.
She left in 1980, came to Toledo and later remarried.

Goodwin, 66, said she was grateful for Kaptur's help, but is concerned
about the safety of relatives in Cuba.

"I don't want problems for my family because of this," she said. "I have
worries. But I'm hoping that sometime next year, we can bring William
back."

Steve Katich, an aide to Kaptur, said the Cuban government recently
notified her office that the remains were found in a marked grave in a
132-year-old graveyard with more than 300,000 tombs.

"We are trying to work out the details about getting it back here," Katich
said, including discussions with the U.S. State Dept., which must approve
the return because Morgan had been stripped of his U.S. citizenship.

The Medical College of Ohio has agreed compare DNA from the remains
with samples from Morgan's relatives.

            Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved.