Secret Missions to Cuba: Fidel Castro, Bernardo Benes, and Cuban Miami [Paperback]

Prof. Robert M. Levine (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1403960461 | ISBN-13: 978-1403960467 | Publication Date: October 4, 2002 | Edition: 1st

This groundbreaking story is told through Bernardo Benes—a lawyer who joined the refugee exodus from Castro's Cuba in 1960. Benes quickly became one of the leading voices advocating the integration of Cubans into the city's Anglo, old-boy power structure. In 1978, Cuban Intelligence recruited him as an emissary between the Carter administration and Cuba. He did the same for the CIA under Reagan in the early 1980s. In all, Benes made seventy-five secret trips to meet with high-ranking Cuban officials, spending about 150 hours face-to-face with Fidel Castro. The 1978 dialogue resulted in the release of 3,600 Cuban political prisoners and the right for Cuban exiles to visit family members on the island.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Where interest in Cuba and Cuban American politics is strong, this analysis by the director of the University of Miami's Center for Latin American Studies will circulate and cause controversy. Attorney Bernardo Benes briefly held a post in the Castro government but left for Miami in November 1960. There Benes worked in banking and with civic groups such as United Way and agitated for Cuban American causes. Between 1977 and 1986, with the blessing of the Carter and Reagan administrations, Benes made more than six dozen trips to Cuba, meeting with Castro himself. Benes' most notable achievements were Castro's 1978 decision to free 3,600 political prisoners and an agreement that permits Cuban exiles in the U.S. to visit their families (and Cubans to visit their U.S. relatives). But Miami's Cuban American leaders viciously attacked Benes for "dialoguing" with Castro. Levine suggests that Benes' secret missions and the rancorous community response form the background for the Elian Gonzalez hysteria and George W. Bush's hairbreadth "victory" in Florida. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Levine’s detailed and extensive reporting should stand as a valuable contribution to 20th century history.”—Miami Today

“...this book is a masterpiece of history and reporting which fleshes out one of the great human dramas of our time. Fascinating!”—Edna Buchanan, Pulitzer Prize Winner for General Reporting

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (October 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403960461
• ISBN-13: 978-1403960467
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,716,274 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh expose of US-Cuban relations under Carter and Reagan, September 20, 2001

By 

Jose Zalvidar (Pembroke Pines, Fl.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Missions to Cuba: Fidel Castro, Bernardo Benes, and Cuban Miami (Hardcover)

This well written, meticulously researched book reveals startling information about negotiations between Washington and Havana during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many of these negotiations have never been mentioned, notably an effort during Reagan's presidency to steal Cuba away from the Soviet orbit. The book provides an honest and probing portrait of Miami's Cuban exile community, and its inability to cope with some of its members who believed that only through dialogue could meaningful relations be opened. The chilling story of how the dialogers were ostracised needs to be read by anyone concerned with issues of freedom of speech and expression. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An astonishing human story among Cuban exiles, September 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Secret Missions to Cuba: Fidel Castro, Bernardo Benes, and Cuban Miami (Hardcover)

I was moved by the travails of Bernardo Benes,who put his life and family at risk because insensitive right-wingers in the Cuban exile community in Miami turned him into a paraih because he dared talk with Cuba's Castro in behalf of political prisoners and dialogue.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, probing, fascinating book, September 28, 2001

By 

Fernando Entin (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Missions to Cuba: Fidel Castro, Bernardo Benes, and Cuban Miami (Hardcover)

This book masterfully exposes the venality of the right-wing Cuban exile power brokers, especially the suffocating voices of Spanish-language radio in Miami. I can attest to the fact that the book is wholly on the mark. It reveals details about the exile experience that are astonishing, and also very sad. This is the best book I have ever read on the subject, and also on the precarious, often bad-faith relationship between Washington D.C. and Havana.