[NYTr] Luis Miranda, Cuban Revolutionary in New York, Dead at 78
 
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:36:05 -0600 (CST)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Workers World - Nov 15, 2007
http://www.workers.org/2007/us/miranda-1122

Nice Photo at the URL above:

Luis Miranda sits top right behind Che Guevara
in this group photo.

Luis Miranda, Presente!

The Cuba solidarity movement in the United States, as well as the Cuban
people, have lost a wonderful beloved friend and leader.

On Nov. 13, Cuban revolutionary Luis Miranda, who lived in New York,
died after a long illness at the age of 78.

Luis, affectionately called Miranda by many of his friends and
comrades, was the President of Casa de las Americas, a cultural and
political center in New York City dedicated to Cuban and Latin American
art and politics since 1987.

Some of his friends and allies said online upon news of his death:
bAlways a fighter in the struggle for sovereignty of his beloved Cuba,
Luis was steadfast in his support for the Cuban Revolution. He was a
comrade and friend to many and will be greatly missed.b

Since 1959, Luis Miranda has been a loyal supporter of the Cuban
revolution. In fact, Miranda wanted to return to Cuba after the triumph
of the Revolution. He stayed in the U.S. as an assignment, to play a
role in defending the Revolution. When rich, privileged Cubans, most of
them white, fled the revolution in loyalty to the capitalist system,
the role of revolutionary Cubans in the U.S. became pivotal.

These pro-capitalist, pro-U.S. Cubans strongly believed that the
Revolution would be short lived and that they would return shortly to
Cuba. They believed that the ouster of the cruel ruler Fulgencio
Batista, who had ran Cuba for the sake of the U.S., would be the major
change in Cuba.

What they did not know was that not only would Batista be ousted, but
wholesale capitalist relations would be ousted from Cuba and a
pro-worker society free of imperialist dictation would take hold.

These rich privileged Cubans would become principal pawns for U.S.
imperialism. Many of them were trained and financed to carry out the
Bay of Pigs attack against Cuba.

For five decades, Miranda, along with many others, filled the gap of
Cubans in the U.S. who defended the Revolution. His voice was loud and
clear despite great sacrifice, even of his life.

Even before the Revolution triumphed Luis was a supporter of the
movement. At Casa de las Americas, Luis organized meetings in New York
City for the July 26th Movement.

Sally ObBrien, a well-known WBAI personality who has produced a program
on Cuba for years, posted an article about Luis that ran in Granma in
2003. It reads:

bLuis Miranda, Casa president since 1987, has a long history of
struggle in the concrete jungle of this noisy city.

bBorn in Havana in 1928 and resident in the United States since 1948,
Miranda affirms that the Cuban emigrant community, not by chance but
with a thorough understanding, has defended the Revolution because it
knows the Cuba of yesteryear where hunger, misery and prostitution were
rife.

bbAfter the visit by Fidel and Juan Manuel, we began our struggle for
the Revolution with the sale of bonds to fundraise and send money to
Cuba,b explains Miranda. ...

bbAfter the arrival in the United States of Batistabs henchmen and
military staff we faced many problems, above all with the
counterrevolutionary organizations La Rosa Blanca and Omega 7, the most
aggressive.

bbMaintaining our position was very difficult because those people had
every kind of protection. They destroyed our Casa Cuba at the end of
1959 but, all the same, we celebrated the triumph of the Revolution and
always organized events for Jan. 1 and July 26, as well as the victory
at the Bay of Pigs and other dates. In 1962, we changed the name to
Casa de las AmC)ricas but had to leave our place at 93rd St. and
Columbus, where we had been for five years. We moved to 17th St. and
Broward. We were in that building for a couple of years until the U.S.
authorities threw us out for being subversive. We then moved to 18th St
and Broward.

bbLater we moved to 14th St. and Sixth Avenue where we have been for
the last 30 years.

bbThey have made life very difficult, not just for me but for many
other comrades. The 1960s and 1970s were critical ones in terms of
those aggressive attitudes. Immigration and the U.S. government caused
us a lot of problems because we defended the Revolution.b

bHe added that during this time, the U.S. authorities and
counterrevolutionaries were extremely repressive in New Jersey; they
could not accept that a venue in support of Fidel that opened its doors
to U.S. and Latin American left-wing groups and societies could exist
in New York.

bMany comrades and their relatives were injured or received constant
threats and insults by phone.

bLuis Miranda went on to recall that at the end of the 1970s, they
marched on the Pentagon in Washington and police on horseback charged
them. They damaged his spinal column. They said that the police horses
had bolted and came to a halt over the bodies of several protestors.

bMiranda tells of how the Novo brothers and terrorist groups in New
Jersey attacked them several times in broad daylight and the sad thing
was that the authorities never did anything to try and control them.

bIn 1960, an explosive device was planted in the Casa that completely
demolished the building. Another exploded in the Casa de las AmC)ricas
during the 26th of July celebrations in 1978, breaking windows in the
entire block and causing major damage to the building.

bIn 1983, a device placed inside the Musical Academy on 14th St. was
deactivated. Later came another that could have blown up the entire
block. However, just a few hours before, the police caught two
terrorists some who confessed to the crime and a further explosion was
prevented. ...

bbIn 1960 when Fidel came to New York, a group attacked us with sticks
and chains on 125th St. They struck me in the face and I almost lost an
eye. They have attacked us so many times with every possible type of
weapon that both my hands are scarred from those encounters.

bbIn 1978, I was shot in the hip. I was coming out of a meeting in the
Casa and someone fired from a nearby building. We couldnbt go to the
authorities because of all the lengthy explanations this would involve
and so the wound became infected.

bbIn 1982, whilst I was leaving the Cuban diplomatic missionbwhen it
was located on 67th St. and Park Avenuebthere was a couple on the
street and the woman came running towards me, crying out to me to help
her, but then she grabbed my arms. The man then stabbed me with a
knife. I managed to ward off the blow but I was still wounded close to
my heart. They fled and with a lot of effort, I managed to get myself
to the house of a friend of mine, a doctor, who put three internal and
three external stitches on the left nipple.bb

Miranda dedicated his entire life to the Cuban Revolution. He was a
brave and loyal fighter. His boisterous laugh and booming voice will
sorely be missed at every picket line, every demonstration, every rally
for Cuba. Luis Miranda, B!presente!

Articles copyright 1995-2007 Workers World. Verbatim copying and
distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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