Alfredo
Duran was born in Cuba
in 1939. He left Havana
after Fidel
Castro gained
power and joined the anti-Castro community in Florida.
Duran,
a member of the Brigade
2506, took part
in the Bay of Pigs. He later said:
"We landed on the beach on the evening or the night of April
17, full of hope. We believed that we were going to win or die. We
never believed that we were going to lose and live." Duran was
captured and held prisoner until the American government agreed to
pay the ransom.
Duran
became a lawyer when he returned to the United States.
He remained active in the anti-Castro movement and eventually became
president of the Veteran's Association of Brigade 2506.
Alfredo
Duran in 1963
In
the early 1990s Duran began to urge negotiations with Castro's government.
In 1993 he was expelled from the Veteran's Association of Brigade
2506 for "reasons associated with his public statements indicating
his willingness to go to Havana to discuss the history of the Bay
of Pigs invasion.". As a result Duran established the Cuban
Committee for Democracy (CCD).
In March, 2001, Duran was
a member of a United States delegation that visited the scene of the
Bay
of Pigs battle.
The party included Arthur Schlesinger
(historian), Robert Reynolds, (the CIA station chief in Miami during
the invasion), Jean Kennedy Smith (sister of John F. Kennedy), Wayne
S. Smith (a U.S. diplomat stationed in Havana) and Richard
Goodwin (Kennedy political adviser and speech writer). Duran later
commented: "This has been a very emotional time, especially discussing
with the colonel in charge of the operation the very intense fighting
that took place in this spot."
Alfredo
Duran and Fidel
Castro
in 2001
Alfredo
Duran
is currently vice president and managing director of Miami’s
WYHS, Channel 69, the first station to launch English-language locally-produced
programming.
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
(1)
Alfredo
Duran interviewed by PBS
in 2001.
PBS: Are you still active in the Bay of Pigs Association?
Alfredo
Duran: I was president of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association for
two years in a row, and I continued to be active in the association
until approximately four or five years ago, when I was more or less
thrown out of the association for being what the Cuban community calls
a "dialogado," which is a person who wants to establish
a dialogue with the Cuban government to bring about a transition towards
democracy in Cuba. To the right wing or more conservative community
here in Miami, a dialogado is the worst thing that you could be called.
It implies that you're a traitor.
PBS: But you were pretty
right wing. . . .
Alfredo Duran: I was pretty
conservative, pretty right wing. You have to remember that, in the
1960s and 1970s, I, as most of the Cuban-Americans or Cubans who were
here in Miami, was working within the context of the Cold War. We
really became a part of the confrontation between the Soviet Union
and the United States and, as such, we became very, very conservative,
and very, very right wing. I started changing in the 1980s when I
saw that we were getting to a stage where Cuba needed a transition
that was peaceful without confrontation. I no longer believed that
Cuban-Americans should invade Cuba. I no longer believed that Cuban-Americans
should kill other Cubans. I believe that we should work towards a
transition.
But I did not make the
decision to come out and be very open about it until the demise of
the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union disappeared, I came to the
conclusion that, for the first time in the history of Cuba, Cuba could
act independently of the influence of any foreign nation. In the beginning
it was Spain, then it was the United States, then it was the Soviet
Union. This particular moment in time was too precious not to take
advantage of it. We would never achieve our own political and social
maturity until Cubans were able to resolve their differences by themselves.
So I became very active in the process of advocating for a dialogue
with the Cuban government.
PBS: What did you then
expect from the United States?
Alfredo Duran: Cubans lived
under the absolute certainty that the United States would not allow
a communist government to exist within 90 miles of its coast. Like
most of the Cubans, we believed that the United States would take
some kind of action to either invade Cuba or destabilize the Cuban
government. We firmly believed that.
Looking back, of course,
it did not happen. Now, I'm glad that it did not happen. It would
have been very bad for the United States government to invade Cuba.
It would have been very bad if the United States government destabilized
the government in Cuba, the way that it was done in Guatemala and
in other countries in Latin America, which essentially retarded the
whole maturation process of those countries. The Cuban government
has got to evolve, and it's got to change because of the activity
of we Cubans, not of any foreign power.
PBS: Are many Cubans still
waiting for the US to intervene?
Alfredo Duran: This whole
sector of the more conservative community does. But they're wrong,
because the United States will not invade Cuba. The United States
is going to do what's in the best interest of the United States, and
rightly so. That is what all great powers do. What we Cubans must
do is make sure that we don't depend on anybody to resolve what is
in our own best interest. And I don't think any activity that is sponsored
by any foreign power is in the best interest of any nation. We have
to resolve it by ourselves.
(2)
Alfredo
Duran interviewed by USA
Today (15th December, 2003)
Q: Why should we believe that the Cuban dictator would allow Cubans
in the island freedom and a better way of life if the US embargo is
lifted, when he has done business with every other country in the
world while the people of Cuba suffer? Why can't he pay his external
debt to all of these countries? What good is a free education (if
one can call it free) when you have no opportunities to benefit from
it?
Alfredo Duran: The Cuban
embargo has been in place for about 42 years. It's a policy that has
not worked to achieve its stated purpose, which is to bring about
a transition towards a democracy in Cuba. It's a policy that hasn't
worked in the past, it's not working now, and will not work in the
future. It has only served as a Berlin Wall around Cuba, to keep it
from being contaminated by new political, social and economic ideas.
It has also served as an excuse to the government on which to blame
its failures and keep Cubans from achieving civil rights and democracy.
Q: What does your group
advocate vis a vis American-Cuban relations?
Alfredo Duran: The Cuban
Committee for Democracy stands for an end to the embargo, because
we believe it goes against the best interest of both the United States
and the Cuban nation. We also stand for normalization of relations
between the United States and Cuba, and between the government of
Cuba and its own people. We believe in a peaceful transition towards
democracy in Cuba, and a dialogue of all Cubans on and outside the
island to achieve that transition without the interference of any
foreign government.
Q: I don't know anything
about the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association, but I imagine it's probably
a fairly conservative group. How did you go from being their president
to working with the CCD?
Alfredo Duran: I came to
the conclusion that it was about time that Cubans stopped killing
each other. The history of Cuba has been a violent one since the beginning
of the republic. At the time that the Soviet Union dissolved, I realized
that it was the first time in the history of Cuba that there was no
interference from any foreign power in the affairs of Cuba. First
it was Spain, then the United States, then the Soviet Union. Now,
no country had influence over Cuba, and it was about time that we
Cubans resolved our problems by ourselves. If we're not capable of
doing that, it means we have no political maturity. At that point
I came out for a dialogue amongst all Cubans with the Cuban government,
to try to resolve our own problems.
(3)
BBC
report, Cold
War foes revisit battle scene (21st March, 2001)
Former enemies who fought each other 40 years ago have together revisited
the site of one of the key battles of the Cold War, the Bay of Pigs
in southern Cuba.
The visit was the culmination
of a three-day conference designed to investigate the causes of the
conflict, what went so badly wrong for the US-backed forces and the
lessons to be learnt from it.
Among those taking part
were historians from both Cuba and the United States, Arthur Schlesinger
and Richard Goodwin - both former advisers to the then US president,
John Kennedy - soldiers from both sides and President Fidel Castro
himself.
During the first two days
in Havana previously classified documents were exchanged.
In the Cuban papers were
transcripts of the telephone communications between President Castro
and his military commanders during the battle.
They showed how closely
involved he was, the tension of the moment and the joy when, after
more than 60 hours of fighting, it became obvious that the invasion
had been defeated.
The US documents chart
in detail the humiliation felt at the nature of the defeat and the
embarrassment caused to President Kennedy.
One State Department paper
puts the blame for the debacle squarely on the CIA, which trained
the invasion force.
It said: "The fundamental
cause of the disaster was the Agency's failure to give the project,
notwithstanding its importance and its immense potentiality for damage
to the United States, the top-flight handling which it required."
It added: "There was
failure at high levels to concentrate informed, unwavering scrutiny
on the project."
In the aftermath of the
failed mission, another US paper lays out the early plans to destabilise
the Cuban government - a plan which became known as Operation Mongoose.
This included a number
of bizarre schemes, including one to put powder in Fidel Castro's
shoes to make his beard fall out and another which included exploding
cigars.
The document suggested
that the most effective commander of such an operation would be the
then attorney general, the president's brother, Robert Kennedy.
Among those searching for
answers in Cuba was the Kennedy's sister, Jean Kennedy Smith.
Walking the beaches of
the Bay of Pigs, she said the conference had been a big boost in helping
to bring peace between Cuba and the United States.
Another of the US delegates was Alfredo Duran, one of the invading
force 40 years ago.
He faced the man he tried
to overthrow, Fidel Castro, as well as other Cuban defenders.
As he stood on the beach
he said: "This has been a very emotional time, especially discussing
with the colonel in charge of the operation the very intense fighting
that took place in this spot."
The beaches along the Bay
of Pigs in southern Cuba are now littered with sunbeds and overlooked
by luxury hotels.
But there is plenty to
remind the visitor that this was the scene of an important battle...
as the Cubans see it the victory of a small country against an imperialist
oppressor.
For the Americans it was
a humiliating defeat that helped to shape its Cold War strategy for
the next generation and its policy towards Cuba until now...
There was much talk at
the conference of how President Kennedy was reluctant to back the
invasion.
One of his former advisers
who came to Havana, Arthur Schlesinger, said the president felt obliged
to go ahead since he had inherited the plan from the previous Eisenhower
administration.
"I advised against
it," said Mr Schlesinger, "But my advice was not heeded."
In the aftermath of the
failed invasion, any hopes of reconciliation with the United States
died and President Castro moved closer into the Soviet camp.
The tension increased,
culminating the following year in the Cuban missile crisis when the
Soviet Union tried to station nuclear missiles in Cuba, pointing at
the United States.
(4)
Anita Snow, Cold
War Adversaries Gather in Cuba (23rd March, 2001)
President Fidel Castro
sat alongside ex-CIA operatives, advisers to President Kennedy and
members of the exile team that attacked his country four decades ago
as former adversaries met Thursday to examine the disastrous Bay of
Pigs landing.
Dressed in his traditional
olive green uniform, Castro read with amusement from old US documents
surrounding the 1961 invasion of Cuba by CIA-trained exiles, which
helped shaped four decades of U.S.-Cuba politics. Some of the documents
were analyses of a young, charismatic Castro.
Castro arrived in the morning
as protagonists sat down to start a three-day conference on the invasion.
Participants at the meeting - which was closed the media - said he
was still there in the evening.
The Cuban president personally
greeted former Kennedy aide and American historian Arthur Schlesinger,
but made no public statement.
Participants later said
that at one point, Castro read aloud from a once secret memorandum
to Kennedy about his own visit to the United States as Cuba's new
leader in 1959.
"`It would be a serious
mistake to underestimate this man,''' Castro read with a smile, said
Thomas Blanton of the National Security Archive at George Washington
University.
"With all his appearance
of naiveté, unsophistication and ignorance on many matters,
he is clearly a strong personality and a born leader of great personal
courage and conviction,''' Castro read, according to Blanton. '``While
we certainly know him better than before Castro remains an enigma.'''
Blanton said Castro told
the group he believed the actual aim of the invasion was not to provoke
an uprising against his government but to set the stage for a US intervention
in Cuba. Blanton said a member of the former exile team, Alfredo Duran,
agreed.
Among the newly declassified
documents about the April 17-19, 1961, event was the first known written
statement by the Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) calling
for the assassination of Castro.
In one document released
Thursday in connection with the conference, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
warned Kennedy in a letter sent the day after the invasion began that
the "little war'' in Cuba" could touch off a chain reaction
in all parts of the globe.''
Khrushchev issued an "urgent
call'' to Kennedy to end ``the aggression'' against Cuba and said
his country was prepared to provide Cuba with "all necessary
help'' to repel the attack.
Trained by the CIA in Guatemala,
the 2506 Brigade was comprised of about 1,500 exiles determined to
overthrow Castro's government, which had seized power 28 months before.
The three-day invasion
failed. Without US air support and running short of ammunition, more
than 1,000 invaders were captured. Another 100 invaders and 151 defenders
died.
Blanton called the conference
"a victory over a bitter history.''
Other key American figures
attending were Robert Reynolds, the CIA station chief in Miami during
the invasion; Wayne Smith, then a US diplomat stationed in Havana;
and Richard Goodwin, another Kennedy assistant, who with Schlesinger
considered the invasion ill-advised.
On the Cuban government's
side were Vice President Jose Ramon Fernandez, a retired general who
led defending troops on the beach known here as Playa Giron, and many
other retired military men.
(5)
Cuban
Committee for Democracy Mission Statement (2004)
The Cuban Committee for Democracy (CCD) is an organization founded
in 1993 by the moderate Cuban-American community in the United States.
The CCD was created to facilitate the necessary environment for a
peaceful transition in Cuba to a society that unequivocally favors
political pluralism and respect for civil, social, and political rights.
In doing so, the Cuban Committee for Democracy will (1) promote and
protect the sovereignty of the Cuban nation, (2) encourage the reconciliation
of Cuban society, and (3) promote the moderate and progressive sector
of the Cuban-American population.
The CCD focuses its work
on the importance of dialogue and mutual respect, and applies these
principles to its work with Cuba as well as within the Cuban-American
community in the United States. Working within the Cuban-American
community, the CCD encourages political tolerance for all opinions
within the community, a basic tenet that has been missing for many
years.
Since the end of the Cold
War, many Cuba analysts have agreed that US policy towards Cuba is
not driven by international concerns, but rather by domestic ones.
Those domestic concerns reflect the success of conservative Cuban-Americans
in mobilizing political support for an agenda that favors the isolation
and punishment of the Cuban people because of their government.
For many years, there has
been a general impression throughout the US, and especially with policymakers,
that the Cuban-American community is a monolithic, uniformly conservative
one that opposes all change to current US policy towards its homeland.
While a large number of Cuban-Americans support this position, there
are numerous and diverse opinions within the community.
Recognizing that US policy
reflects the perceived opinion of this diverse community, the CCD
was established to demonstrate to the Cuban-American community, to
policymakers, and to Cuba that there is growing support for a reevaluation
of US-Cuban relations.
The CCD believes in the
sovereignty of the Cuban nation, and works to eliminate all threats
to the island’s sovereignty. In the United States, these threats
include official government positions and rhetoric from the Cuban-American
community that condition our relationship with Cuba on specific governmental
reforms. The CCD believes the Cuban people have the right to decide
their future, independent of threats from other nations and communities.
The CCD believes in the
reconciliation of the Cuban nation. Cubans who live on the island
and Cubans who left Cuba must begin to forge a common agenda based
on the future of Cuba rather than focus on differences if the nation
is to progress. To do so, the CCD encourages Cuban-Americans and Cubans
to forgive past wrongs, to respect political differences, and to celebrate
the common links of our history and culture.
The CCD believes in promoting
a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba. Though the CCD will not
make proposals for this transition, as we feel that Cubans must make
such decisions, we advocate for a system that respects political,
civil, and social rights. The CCD works to promote these same criteria
in making democracy among the Cuban-American community a reality as
well.
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