Luis Miranda, presente!

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

Luis Miranda Photo: Granma 2003

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: “Always 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.”

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.

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

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 O’Brien, 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:

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

“Born 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.

“‘After 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,’ explains Miranda. ...

“‘After the arrival in the United States of Batista’s henchmen and military staff we faced many problems, above all with the counterrevolutionary organizations La Rosa Blanca and Omega 7, the most aggressive.

“‘Maintaining 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 Américas 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.

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

“‘They 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.’

“He 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.

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

“Luis 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.

“Miranda 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.

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

“In 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. ...

“‘In 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.

“‘In 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 couldn’t go to the authorities because of all the lengthy explanations this would involve and so the wound became infected.

“‘In 1982, whilst I was leaving the Cuban diplomatic mission—when it was located on 67th St. and Park Avenue—there 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.’”

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, ¡presente!

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