[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 14909-14910] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]26 OF JULY MOVEMENT ______ HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of florida in the house of representatives Friday, July 27, 2001 Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, yesterday marked another anniversary of the tragic events of July 26, 1953, when Fidel Castro, along with a band of supporters, attacked a military barracks in eastern Cuba in order to make a name for himself, causing the deaths of dozens of Cubans in what will doubtless be considered as a national day of mourning in Cuban history. An acute observer of 20th century Cuban history, long-time journalist and writer Jack Skelly, has written a very interesting account of some of the tragic circumstances surrounding the 26th of July, 1953, and the so called ``26 of July Movement'' . It was published in yesterday's Miami Herald and I submit it for the record for the benefit of my colleagues and the American people. The Men Who Left the 26th of July Movement (by Jack Skelly) One more 26th of July--count them. It has been 48 years since Fidel Castro, his brother Raul, 17 men and two women attacked Moncada, the Cuban army barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Twenty soldiers were killed. Fidel Castro and five others escaped to the nearby hills, where they soon were captured, tried and sentenced to 15 years each. However, in May 1955, they were freed in a general amnesty by the Cuban Congress. Castro then went to Mexico to prepare for the Dec. 2, 1956, invasion of Cuba with 81 men. Now once more Castro will be in the center where he will recount in a three -or four-hour speech (if he can endure that long) the glories of that 26th of July and the events that led up to the great victory on Jan. 1, 1959, when the revolution took over from the Batista regime. Sadly, Castro will not be able to tell his audience that most of the leaders of the 26th of July movement ``are at my side today.'' The original 26th of July movement disappeared almost immediately after Castro sold out to the Soviet Union and the Cuban Communist Party. The democratic members of the movement who fought side by side with him in the Sierra Maestra mountains and were in the underground in the cities and towns are dead, in jail or in exile. [[Page 14910]] BETRAYED COMRADES The following are some of the original members who were double-crossed by Castro: *Maj. Sori Marin, author of the original agrarian-reform program, who fought alongside Castro in the mountains, was caught conspiring with other rebel army officers who had fought to restore democracy and freedom to Cuba. He was executed on specific orders of Castro himself several days before the Bay of Pigs invasion, April 17, 1961. *Maj. Victor Mora saved Fidel, Raul, Che Guevara and other survivors when they landed from Mexico on Dec. 2, 1956. A Sierra Maestra native, Mora led them around the Cuban Army to a safe haven high up in the mountains. After the victory, it didn't take Mora long to realize that he and others had been sold out by Castro. Caught conspiring, Mora was sentenced to 10 years. Once released, he escaped to the United States, where he lived modestly in Little Havana. *Pedro Luis Diaz Lanz flew weapons from Venezuela and Costa Rica to Castro's ``eagle's nest'' in the mountains. After victory, he was named Castro's personal pilot. But soon he complained to Castro that Raul and Guevara were indoctrinating his air force men in Marxism. Tipped that Castro had ordered his arrest, Diaz Lanz and his wife, Tania, and brother barely escaped to Miami in a sailboat in June 1959. Weeks later, Diaz Lanz became the first ``26-er'' to testify before a U.S. Senate committee, accusing Castro of selling out the revolution to the Soviet Union. *Maj. Huber Matos, a school teacher turned guerrilla fighter, was one of the genuine heroes in the fight against the Cuban army. In October 1959, 10 months after the revolution came to power, Matos sent a letter of resignation to Castro, complaining that communists, who had not lifted a finger to oust the Batista regime, were taking over the revolution. Castro ordered a court martial in which Matos was accused of being a ``counterrevolutionary.'' After serving a 20-year sentence, Matos came to Miami, where he has been one of the leaders of the Cuban Forum. *Jesus Yanes Pelletier was a sergeant in the Cuban Army assigned to Boniato Prison, where Castro was sent after being sentenced for attacking the Moncada barracks. Yanes Pelletier was ordered to poison Castro's food. He refused, was given a dishonorable discharge and then Joined the 26th of July movement. When the revolution arrived, Castro made Yanes Pelletier a captain in charge of his personal guard. Soon Yanes Pelletier became disenchanted with the communists and began conspiring. He was caught and in 1977 was sentenced to 15 years. He refused to leave Cuba and was the vice president of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights before his death last year. *Among the saddest cases--and there are hundreds in every city, town and village in Cuba--is that of Mario Chanes de Armas. He had impeccable credentials as a founder of the revolutionary movement with Castro before the attack on the Moncada barracks. Chanes de Armas survived the Moncada attack, trained in Mexico, came over on the yacht Gramma and lived to greet Castro in Havana when the conquering heroes arrived on Jan. 9, 1959, on top of a U.S. Sherman tank. The movement disappeared after Castro sold out to the Soviet Union and the Communist Party. Chanes de Armas could have had any position he wanted in the revolutionary government, but he opted to return to his work in a brewery. For two years he watched his former leader betray their movement. Finally, he spoke against the communists. He was tried as a ``counterrevolutionary,'' and on July 17, 1961, was sentenced to 30 years. After spending six years in solitary, he was released exactly 30 years to the date of his imprisonment. In 1993 he was united with his four sisters in Miami. Although he doesn't belong to any exile political group, he forms part of a group of former prisoners who travel throughout Latin America talking to heads of states about the reality of Castro's Cuba. ____________________