Then, less than two weeks later, government journalists published a book labelling one of Cuba's leading human rights activists, Elizardo Sánchez, a double-dealing state secret agent. In a closed state like Cuba, it is impossible to corroborate sources and ascertain how much of this is false government propaganda. However, certain facts about both men are irrefutable.
The known facts about Gutiérrez Menoyo
Gutiérrez Menoyo was a former comrade-in-arms of Fidel Castro. He fell out with him in the mid-1960s. He was arrested and convicted of conspiring to overthrow Castro. He served 22 years in jail before being exiled after Spanish prime minister Felipe González interceded on his behalf.
In 1993, in Miami, Gutiérrez Menoyo founded an opposition organisation called Cambio Cubano (`Cuban Change'), which advocated a peaceful transition to democracy. On 7 August 2003, he visited Cuba. Before boarding his return flight to Miami, he announced to his family that he intended to stay to fight for democracy. Some leading dissidents criticised his move. One of these was Elizardo Sánchez, who reacted by citing government involvement: `It could be that this was a decision taken at the highest level within the island,' he said.
The known facts about Elizardo Sánchez
Elizardo Sánchez was born in 1944 in Santiago de Cuba. He was a member of the anti-Batista resistance and a staunch follower of Fidel. He became a professor of Marxism before becoming disenchanted with the régime in the 1970s, since when he has been a vocal critic of human rights abuses.
He was jailed for four years in the early 1980s. In 1987, he founded and directed the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, which supplies international organisations like Amnesty International with summaries on human rights developments on the island.
Truth or fabrication?
Gutiérrez Menoyo has had a fractious relationship with Cuba's domestic dissident movement from his exile in Miami, which could explain why he is distrusted amongst those seeking change on the island. He has accused dissident groups of being manipulated by the US Interests Section in Cuba rather than pursuing an independent opposition.
It seems very unlikely that he has been working as a government informant, but his arrival in Cuba is bizarre. As Ninoska Pérez Castellón, leader of the Miami-based Consejo por la Libertad de Cuba (CLC) says: `This has to have been approved by Fidel Castro, who is the dictator in Cuba.'
The book, 'El Camaján' ('The Rogue'), written by government journalists Arleen Rodríguez and Lázaro Barredo, purports to describe Elizardo Sánchez's life from his initiation into the dissident movement in 1977 up to and including his role as a government spy, using the codenames Juana and Eduardo since 1997.
The journalists argue that he informed on dissidents and foreign journalists and exposed CIA agents. They include photographs showing Sánchez apparently being decorated with the ministry of the interior (MINIT) distinguished service medal for his work by a Cuban intelligence service colonel, who he embraces. Given the notorious unreliability of photographic evidence, this should, however, be treated with considerable caution.
Sánchez, 59, says the book is a malicious plot to discredit him. Cuba's most famous dissident, Oswaldo Payá, who has attended several high-profile international functions, dismissed the accusation against Sánchez as 'not worthy of comment'.
It could be that Sánchez, the president of the Cuban committee of human rights and national reconciliation, with his extensive links to the international press and foreign diplomats, was deemed 'too big' to arrest during Castro's March crackdown on political dissidents, so the book was considered the best way to sully his reputation.
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