SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
By HEATHER HADDON

PASSAIC — On Sunday morning, Eduardo Montano helped raised the Cuban flag in Passaic to mark the overthrow of Spanish colonial rule in 1902.

When Fidel Castro launched the Cuban revolution in 1953, Montano — now a Passaic resident— stood by his side, taking up a rifle and storming the Moncada Barracks that housed the island's military.

But like many Cuban immigrants, Montano's support for the revolution faded once communism triumphed on the island. In 1970, after the government seized his family barbershop in Havana, he, his wife and daughter fled Cuba, never to return.

"We knew things were getting worse," said Montano's daughter, Yolanda, as she sat next to her 89-year-old father. "They were trying to brainwash us."

To the sounds of salsa music, two dozen residents gathered at City Hall on Sunday to sing the Cuban national anthem and listen to short speeches by elected officials.

But to those attending the annual event, it was also a sad reminder of how communism cut short a system of democracy earned after centuries of Spanish colonialism. The political situation changed in February, when the 81-year-old Castro effectively passed leadership to his brother Raul. But most local Cubans see the Castros as one and the same.

"He is Fidel-light," said Manny Fuentes, 53, of Passaic as he stood with his wife outside City Hall. "The more Castro fades, the healthier Cuba will become."

For 400 years, the Spanish ruled Cuba. Anti-imperialist agitation swirled throughout the 1800s, but Spain refused to surrender one of its last colonies in the New World.

On May 20, 1902, Cuba received its independence through intervention from the United States. The country became a constitutional democracy, but instability persisted. In 1952, military leader Fulgencio Batista staged a coup. The next year, Fidel Castro, a politician and critic of Batista, gathered a guerilla army to overthrow his regime.

For months, Montano, the Passaic immigrant, met with other supporters to plan the attack. On the morning of July 26, 1953, Castro, Montano and 160 other men stormed the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. The military killed or imprisoned more than two-thirds of the rebels.

"We have very few weapons," remembered Montano, who was among the handful of men who managed to escape to neighboring farms with Castro. Later, Montano was arrested and spent more than a year in jail, he said.

In 1959, Castro's revolution triumphed. But Montano and hundreds of thousands of other Cubans eventually defected after they lost their land, businesses and freedom of expression. Some came to Passaic to work in the city's factories. The exiles established a Cuban club on Lexington Avenue and a chapter of Alpha 66, an organization seeking to overthrow Castro through militant means.

"If you don't fight for something, you don't get it," said Elsa Ybarra, 69, of Passaic, a leader in Alpha 66 who continues to attend the organization's national meetings.

Through the years, Passaic's once-vibrant Cuban community diminished and the flag raising event stopped. But a decade ago, some local Cubans revived it to celebrate their heritage.

"We hope and pray that finally we will be able to raise our Cuban flag on Cuban soil," said city Councilman Gerardo Fernandez, who is Cuban, as he stood before the flagpole on Sunday. "We are closer than ever to a free Cuba."

Since Raul Castro was elected into power in February, he has allowed Cubans to buy cellphones, receive text messages and participate in other new freedoms. But those attending the flag-raising mocked the changes, saying that few Cubans can afford a cellphone.

On Sunday, attendees tried to emphasize what they still retain from Cuba — their heritage and pride.

"We do this for the companionship of Cubans and Americans, and to not forget where we came from," said Lourdes Lopez, 37, of Passaic, whose father is from Cuba.